After Heinlein graduated from the Naval Academy (class of 1929) he was assigned to the USS Lexington, homeported in San Diego.
While there, he was considered as a candidate to be a Rhodes Scholar. Problem -- Heinlein had got married to Elinor Curry on what seems to have been a whim, and Rhodes Scholars were supposed to be unmarried.
Question: If RAH had not taken that abrupt step, and he had won the appointment, what would he have done at Oxford? Would he have studied astronomy? Met Frederick Lindemann? Argued religion with Tolkien?
The prospects seem astounding. Would RAH have avoided sea duty on destroyers afterwards, keeping him in the Navy? Gotten involved in the social scene of Washington or New York?
While there, he was considered as a candidate to be a Rhodes Scholar. Problem -- Heinlein had got married to Elinor Curry on what seems to have been a whim, and Rhodes Scholars were supposed to be unmarried.
Question: If RAH had not taken that abrupt step, and he had won the appointment, what would he have done at Oxford? Would he have studied astronomy? Met Frederick Lindemann? Argued religion with Tolkien?
The prospects seem astounding. Would RAH have avoided sea duty on destroyers afterwards, keeping him in the Navy? Gotten involved in the social scene of Washington or New York?