Purls before time 1

I know of a physicist who would have disagreed with Bobby Henderson ("Have you been touched by the Monster's noodly appendage yet?", September 2). This scientist said he had "a humble admiration of the illimitable superior Spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. The deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning Power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe". The physicist who said that was Albert Einstein.

We could all learn from the context of Einstein's use of the words "humble" and "incomprehensible". We should be humble before thinking on the origins of such an incomprehensible universe, for in this we are each thinking of our own creation and purpose. I would add "awe".

John N. Sutherland
University of Abertay Dundee