Graduate Anecdotes - Joseph Schumpeter

This is an anecdote told by John Hemmingway of the great Harvard Economist Joseph Schumpeter.

Though a genius by any definition of the word, Schumpeter was unable to teach. He would lecture for a few minutes then stop, run his hand across his bald head for a few minutes, then state "no that's wrong." Then proceed to lecture again for a few minutes, only to come to a full stop after which he would spend a few minutes pondering until he came out of his reverie to announce again that he had been wrong. Once again he would begin lecturing, stop himself, think for awhile, inform the class that he had been wrong. And this would last for hours. Hemmingway said of this that he may not have learned much about economics from Schumpeter, but he sure learned what it was like to be a genius.