http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14382240&BRD=1395&PAG=461&dept_id=546876&rfi=6

Sitting among the darkened audience seats of the Schwartz Auditorium in Cornell University's Rockefeller Hall, waiting for Cambridge theoretical astrophysicist Sir Martin Rees to arrive, one could not help but be drawn to the brightly lit stage below. There on the projection screen before us was a large, singular image, a visage of the most famous scientist in history, Albert Einstein.

Taken in 1947 by his friend Philippe Halsman, the photograph depicts the Einstein most associate with the man: His wavy white hair, drooping mustache, and eyes which one cannot quite decide if they are inquiring, tired, sad or all three.

As we in attendance looked at Einstein, it was hard not to believe that this icon of knowledge was staring right back at - and through - each one of us. It may have only been a projected image from decades ago, with the actual man and mind behind it long gone, but such is the legend of this former Swiss patent clerk turned genius of the modern world that one almost instinctively wonders what he is thinking about. Does Albert Einstein know something about us and the wider reality that makes him look so questioning and even sad?