[H]e had a profound effect on thousands of individuals who took his courses - who in turn affected others. Undoubtedly the ripples from the stones he dropped eventually touched some of today's leading libertarians.The entire obituary of Galambos written by Browne is must reading. Browne says a lot of negative things about Galambos, but at the end of reading the obituary, the thought lingers: Who was this guy? And the next thought is: Boy, I wish I could have sat in on one of his courses. They aren't any notes of his class. Browne reports, Galambos was very protective of his ideas and never put anything in writing. Indeed, Browne tells us:
He was a fascinating mixture of contrasts. He combined a brilliant mind with an ungracious personality. He was an astrophysicist who taught social science. He preached the importance of respect for intellectual property, but freely lifted the ideas of others without giving them credit. He was dishonest, but he inspired others to be more honest. He disdained the word "libertarian" while turning thousands of people into libertarians. He was an insensitive teacher, and yet he apparently changed the lives of most of the people he taught.
He required every student entering one of his courses to sign a contract agreeing not to divulge any of the course ideas without permission from Galambos - and not even to use the ideas, in business or elsewhere, without permission.Thus, it came as a great surprise to me that one of the Galambos courses was recorded and is now online. The course was delivered in 1966 and titled The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine and Your Freedom.
Among many other points in the fascinating lecture series, Galambos makes clear that he believes that it was Thomas Paine not Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence. He has me convinced.
Further, Galambos makes a very strong case for Paine being the intellectual inspiration for the American revolutionists taking such a libertarian path.
The series is 3 sessions long, broken up into 7 tracks. It very much worth the time to listen to the entire series. You can find it here.
1961 founder of the Free Enterprise Institute? No wonder that obit was confusing, as the FEI, if memory serves me right, has done its fair share of contribution to the ongoing economic situation in recent decades. This doesn't mean his lectures et al aren't interesting and perhaps true in parts, but I would suggest keeping both eyes wide open when taking a look, many in the circles of DC are known for proclamations that when summed up simply state, "Do as I say, not as I do."