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Preface
Most people with some interest in the history of science know that in 1903, Albert Einstein,
unable to nd a job at the university, started working as an ‘assistant examiner’ in the
patent ofce of Berne, where he worked efciently enough to be able also to produce four
papers, one on Brownian motion (now a standard topic in the actuarial profession exams
on derivatives) and three on relativity theory and quantum mechanics (not on the syl-
labus). According to one biographer (Isaacson 2007), an opportunity had also arisen for
Einstein to work in an insurance ofce, but he hastily turned that down arguing that that
would have meant ...