The short answer is, “Who knows. Ask one.” However, there are markers I’ve noticed over many years having worked with and read about a few of them. a. Finding the “genius” solution is more than just picking up the right pebble on the beach. It is rejecting what doesn’t work. Researching a topic means sifting and winnowing idea after idea. The genius can reject the bad ideas quickly and move on. There is an anecdote about John von Neumann, who worked on the “Super,” H-bomb, and with the military. The report is that some engineers were working on a project for months, and one day handed it to von Neumann. He rifled through the pages for a few minutes, looked up and said it wouldn’t work. After months more of work, the engineers concluded, it doesn’t work. This is legend to the point that, “If Johnny says it will work or not, that is it.” BTW, Von Neumann was considered the best mathematician of the 20th century. Johnny had a great memory and one night at a party he got into an argum
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