 At the university some of the leading academics in Scotland were among Lang 's tutors : the Greek scholar Richard Claverhouse Jebb , the physicist William Thomson ( who was later created Lord Kelvin ) and the philosopher Edward Caird . Long afterwards Lang commented on the inability of some of these eminent figures to handle " the Scottish boors who formed a large part of their classes " . Lang was most strongly influenced by Caird , who gave the boy 's mind " its first real awakening " . Lang recalled how , in a revelation as he was passing through Kelvingrove Park , he expressed aloud his sudden conviction that : " The Universe is one and its Unity and Ultimate Reality is God ! " He acknowledged that his greatest failure at the University was his inability to make any progress in his understanding of mathematics , " to me , then and always , unintelligible " . 
