The Most Fascinating Thing I Have Read This Week
...is about the economist Joseph Schumpeter and written by Wolfgang F. Stopler in his book, Joseph Alois Schumpeter: The Public Life of a Private Man:
Schumpeter always took his teaching seriously. His Czernovitz students--unlike his Graz students--adored him--as well they might since he fought a duel with a librarian to gain them better access to books.Thomas McGaw fills in some of the details:
Schumpeter had given out heavy assignments, the librarian had refused to allow the students to check out the assigned books, and when Schumpeter threw a tantrum (he was only 26, and had just started teaching), the librarian challenged him to a duel. Schumpeter won the duel by cutting a small slice out of the librarian's shoulder. The two men later became good friends, and the students got access to the books.
