Saed News: An 89-year-old man from the U.S. state of Rhode Island has finally achieved his dream of earning a PhD in physics after two decades of effort.
According to SAEDNEWS, citing various news sources, Manfred Steiner successfully defended his dissertation at Brown University. He said: “I finally succeeded, and it was the happiest moment of my life to complete it.”
Steiner, originally from Austria, became familiar with the work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck during his teenage years in Vienna, which sparked his interest in becoming a physicist.
After World War II, his mother and uncle advised him to study medicine instead. He received his medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1955 and moved to the United States just weeks later, where he built a successful career in blood disorders.
In the U.S., Steiner studied hematology at Tufts University and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), eventually becoming a full professor at Brown University’s medical school.
After retiring from medicine in 2000, he returned to Rhode Island and began pursuing an undergraduate degree in physics at the age of 70.
Now approaching his 90th birthday, Steiner is deeply happy about his achievement and says studying physics was a lifelong dream. He stated: “When I was about to retire from medicine, I did not want to rest or just play golf; I wanted to pursue my long-standing dream.”
Although Steiner is not the oldest person in the world to earn a PhD, his success has inspired many at Brown University. He encourages others to follow the path they truly love.
