&gt; That&#x27;s the problem with graduating so early and following your initial studying path.<p>I don&#x27;t think the choice of study path is a problem. After all, he was doing this for 20 years and does not have a problem with what he was teaching.  He has a problem with the people that benefited or did not benefit  from his work.  ... &quot;Why don&#x27;t you do something more meaningful with your life?&quot; ...<p>The real problem is he thought life would be perfect, that there would be no problems he would have a hard time solving, that everything would be as imagined.<p>And the early success did give him false visions of grandeur and an amazing world.  Early success just was not sustainable.  In the end, the reality that overcame was that life sucked and will continue to suck.  Only little pockets of joy exist here and there. Especially when you are a bleeding edge researcher.