[neutralino]

Originally Posted by yossarian

well, that was not the right words...didn't he leave the scientific community to do other things, surf etc? I guess I meant he isn't working within the field he may have just provided the largest breakthrough in 40+ years to.

It's correct that Lisi was not working in academia when he made this breakthrough, however I think it's media hype trying to draw the links with Einstein. From what I gather, Lisi did not enter academia after his PhD since he disagreed with being forced into string theory, so he left to go and surf (or whatever he does). Still, I doubt he did this entirely on his own: I know he went to Perimeter at least once, and has been in contact with John Baez and Lee Smolin amongst others. It's an incredible achievement, even if it turns out to be incorrect, but not done by an academic nomad.