Winners of the competition include Teller, Leo Szilard, von Karman, … So this emergence was hardly a coincidence.
Hungary at the turn of the 20th century was well poised to create the intellectual legacy it had in math and physics in the coming 100 years:
http://www.batmath.it/matematica/raccolte_es/ek_competitions...
"His students included Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus and Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus), Phil Kettner of Lȧȧz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, Charlie Hunter and David Turin."
One of these men are not like the others.
Some of the best managers and mentors I've met have a combination of both an eye for talent but also an ability to truly believe in someone, and sometimes just having someone believe in you can really turn someone's confidence, career, and even life around.
Everyone 'shows up' at some point in their life. Some march to the beat of their own drum and continue to drive from inside, while others are lost because the hesitation in 'am I even doing this right?' was left unanswered.
Truthfully, this is the most infuriating thing about social media -- there are true moments of brilliance that they see on a daily basis (when someone choses to sign off, how they replay a certain section of a podcast, following links and references made in other mediums, etc) that we could be highlighting and praising... yet none of them do.
> Leonardo da Vinci became an apprentice [of Verrocchio] by the age of 17 and remained in training for seven years. Other famous painters apprenticed in the workshop or associated with it include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci#Verrocchio's...
Like many, I've shone the spotlight on or helped many eventually successful people and it's part of "being involved" and using your influence for good whether you're a teacher, coworker, publisher, influencer, or even just voting up posts on HN :-)
We all stand "on the shoulders of giants" but I suspect most successful people are stood on hundreds of giants rather than single pivotal figures.
Many cults start out with self-help gurus or educators who create closed groups with high demands. Cult leaders often promise special abilities to their students, if they just stick with them. The results are pretty much the opposite of what the parent is describing - the members are lost history and often don't achieve much and the narcissism of the cult leader defines the group. Unlike what the OP is describing - the proper teacher is more or less obscure and the network of students all go onto achieve highly.
I guess this is just a long, roundabout way to say that humility and skill amplify much farther than even genuine skill and charisma. Maybe there's something to also be said about the altruism of a good teacher versus the high-demands of a cultic following.
For one, they were all Ashkenazi too. [0]
[0] https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/26/the-atomic-bomb-consid...