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→Back story
Robert Stadler seems to have received a typical [[college]] education in [[physics]]. He probably did so under an accelerated program: early admission to college, and "acceleration credits" granted to him by virtue of his scores on entrance and advanced-placement examinations. (The Advanced Placement Examination program of the College Entrance Examination Board would be applicable today.) But along the way, he never developed any social skills. He would later say that he had "no talent or taste for dealing with people." To put the matter bluntly, he was a "nerd," and developed a desire to isolate himself from his fellow human beings. He would take this desire to an unhealthy, and philosophically unsound, extreme.
Robert Stadler seems to have received a typical [[college]] education in [[physics]]. He probably did so under an accelerated program: early admission to college, and "acceleration credits" granted to him by virtue of his scores on entrance and advanced-placement examinations. (The Advanced Placement Examination program of the College Entrance Examination Board would be applicable today.) But along the way, he never developed any social skills. He would later say that he had "no talent or taste for dealing with people." To put the matter bluntly, he was a "nerd," and developed a desire to isolate himself from his fellow human beings. He would take this desire to an unhealthy, and philosophically unsound, extreme.
At the age of 27, Stadler published a paper on the nature of cosmic rays that turned every other theory about them on its head. This won for him, three years later, recognition as the foremost theoretical physicist of that era. In 1931, at the age of thirty-two, he became Professor and Chairman of Physics at the Patrick Henry University (not to be confused with the real-life [[Patrick Henry College]]), which was located in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]]. He would hold that position for eight years.
At the age of 27, Stadler published a paper on the nature of cosmic rays that turned every other theory about them on its head. This won for him, three years later, recognition as the foremost theoretical physicist of that era. In 1931, at the age of thirty-two, he became Professor and Chairman of Physics at the Patrick Henry University (not to be confused with the real-life [[Patrick Henry College]]), which was located in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]]. He would hold that position for eight years. And in a sense that he never understood, his fame went to his head. He convinced himself that he was ''entitled'' to his fame, and to the adulation that the public lavished on him.
In his last four years at that institution, he had three extraordinary students who he was never to forget. First, the three came to him when they were sixteen years old. Second, they majored in physics and in [[philosophy]], a demanding double major and a highly unusual choice.
In his last four years at that institution, he had three extraordinary students who he was never to forget. First, the three came to him when they were sixteen years old. Second, they majored in physics and in [[philosophy]], a demanding double major and a highly unusual choice.
Those three students were, of course, [[Francisco d'Anconia]], [[Ragnar Danneskjold]], and [[John Galt]].
Those three students were, of course, [[Francisco d'Anconia]], [[Ragnar Danneskjold]], and [[John Galt]].
The peculiar educational choices that these three made necessarily compelled Stadler to corroborate with Akston to devise a curriculum that those three could reasonably follow, and to seek from the school's senior dean certain required-credit waivers. Had Stadler taken the time to have his ''own'' close conversations with Hugh Akston, he might have come to understand how ''necessary'' was the choice that those three students made. Perhaps then he would have gained insight into his own attitudes, and come to embrace the trading principle that John Galt, especially, understood almost instinctively. He might have understood why three young men of such disparate backgrounds could form the most steadfast friendship on the entire campus. (Ragnar Danneskjold was a [[Norway|Norwegian]] aristocrat, Francisco d'Anconia was the heir to a great business empire, and John Galt came from a ''very'' modest background.) If he had learned from them the valuable lesson that they might have been able to teach him, his own history would have been vastly different. He would ''never'' have suggested the establishment of a [[State Science Institute]]. And even if he could not advocate effectively for human freedom, when such advocacy might have been most important, he probably would have joined John Galt's great [[strike]]. And the country would never have seen anything as dreadful as [[Project X]].
But Robert Stadler did none of these things. What he did instead, sent the country further along the path to tyranny, and himself on a path toward utter destruction.
== The State Science Institute ==
== The State Science Institute ==