Albert Einstein. Everyone I personally know has heard of him…but how much do we really know about him aside from the fact he developed the theory of relativity and was you know, an overall genius?
Born in 1879, Albert was born in Ulm, a city in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg to his parents (Ashkenazi Jews). Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of 5. At 8 years old, he transferred to Luitpold-Gymnasium where he received advanced education. During Albert’s early years, he felt hypnotized by two “wonders”. His compass (the invisible forces that could deflect the needle) and the 2nd, geometry. These two mysterious fascinations led him down a road that most would avoid turning down.
His father and uncle owned a company that manufactured electrical equipment, and in 1894 the company tendered for a contract to install lighting in Munich – unsuccessfully. This lost bid forced them to sell the factory and seek new opportunities. The Einstein family moved to Italy, though Albert (only being 15 years old) stayed behind to finish his schooling. His father pushed him to study electrical engineering, but Albert found the schools routine far from agreeable. The school implemented humdrum, repetitive learning to enforce memorization, but Albert found it destructive to keep those creative juices flowing.
In 1894 he left the school and joined his family in Pavia, writing essays and studying physics. Albert obviously excelled at math and began teaching himself algebra, geometry, and calculus. Right before his 13th birthday he discovered original proof of the Pythagorean theorem…obviously this little discovery propelled him to higher mathematic levels. At 14 he mastered integral and differential calculus. Albert is on a roll, I’d say!
At the age of 16, Albert took the entrance exam for the Federal polytechnic school in Switzerland. He failed to meet the standard at French, chemistry and biology, but as we’d expect, his marks surpassed in the physics and math sections. The principal allowed him into the polytechnic on the condition he complete his secondary education, which placed Albert with the Winteler family for lodging during school. He fell in love with the daughter of the family, Marie, though nothing long lasting grew of this deep interest.
In 1896 Albert renounced his citizenship of the German Kingdom of Wurttemberg to avoid conscription into military service. At his graduation he was acknowledged for his top grade of 6 in history, physics, geometry, and descriptive geometry. Alas, at only 17 he enrolled in the four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma program. The same program included five other polytechnic graduates, but this group included just one female, Mileva Maric. The pair enjoyed learning together, sharing personal discoveries and eventually became lovers. Nothing like some good geometry to get you in the mood, eh?
In 1903 the pair married and just a year later, Hans Albert was born in Bern, Switzerland. In 1910 their second son arrived, Eduward. Despite the growing family, Albert had been writing letters to his old crush, Marie Winteler and a few months before Eduward was born, he revealed, “I think of you in heartfelt love every spare minute and am so unhappy as only a man can be.” Well then… that’s disappointing. Just when you start to imagine this cozy family of 4.
Albert was on the road often, speaking at international conferences. He and his wife often argued about finances and despite Albert’s intellect, he seemed to continue to put himself into unwise situations. In 1912 he began an affair with Elsa Lowenthal, who was his first cousin. When his wife, Mileva, discovered his infidelity, she returned to Zurich, taking her children with her. As the pair had spent 5 years apart, they were granted a divorce in 1919. As part of the divorce settlement, Albert agreed that if he won a Nobel Prize, he would give the money he received to Mileva. And just a 2 mere years later, this agreement was fulfilled after winning the Nobel Prize for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
The same year that his divorce was finalized, Albert married his first cousin (ew) Elsa. He was of course unsatisfied and began an affair with a secretary, named Betty Neumann. His new wife, Elsa, remained loyal (or perhaps, remained in denial) and followed him to the United States. In 1935 Elsa was diagnosed with kidney problems and just a year later, passed way. There is a volume of letters from Albert to a multitude of woman that he was romantically involved with…based on my count, at least 5. Obviously, Albert liked to keep more than just his mind active. Anywho…
Back to some of the more “kind” things we all like about Albert…triumphs! Albert was absorbed with formulating a theory of gravity in terms of the curvature of space time. In 1915 he completed the general theory of relativity, which he was extremely proud of. He reached a milestone after all!
The leading British newspaper (The Times) printed: “Revolution in Science – New Theory of the Universe – Newtonian Ideas Overthrown”. Immediately following, Albert essentially became a world-renowned physicist. In the 1930’s, physicists frantically considered whether his equation E = mc2 stimulated the possibility of atomic bombs being made. Physicist Leo Szilard pushed Albert to send a letter to President Roosevelt, encouraging him to develop the atomic bomb. Roosevelt wrote back, advising that the Uranium Committee would study the issue. There are masses of detailed scientific accomplishments that Albert achieved…but in efforts of avoiding a much too long and wearisome reading blog article, go google the rest… if you’re curious.
During a visit to the US, he realized he would not be able to return to Germany with the Nazis new chancellor, Adolf Hitler. The Gestapo was repeatedly raiding his family’s home in Berlin. The German government passed laws barring Jews from official positions, including teaching at universities. Only a month after this life changing news, Albert’s publications were targeted by the German Student Union in the Nazi book burnings. Albert’s name was included in a German magazine as one of their many enemies with the phrase, “not yet hanged”, which offered a $5,000 bounty for his head.
He became a US citizen in 1940 after getting settled at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He was grateful to now have the freedom of stating his opinion without social barriers. He encouraged those around him to be more creative and uninhibited. Albert did notice a few things he felt compelled to speak on that he was not supportive of though. Racism. He considered racism America’s worst disease.
Albert visited Lincoln University in 1946 which was historically a black college. Lincoln was the first university to grant college degrees to African Americans in the U.S. Albert commented on his disapproval towards racism and noted that he “did not intend to be quiet about it.” He related, “Being a Jew myself, perhaps I can understand and empathize with how black people feel as victims of discrimination”.
So! Do you eat meat? Albert didn’t. Well, at least not during the latter portion of his life. He felt supportive of the principal behind vegetarianism and agreed that the benefit was for more than solely aesthetic and moral reasons. “…it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.” In 1954 he wrote in a letter, “So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It almost seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.”
In 1955, at the age of 76, Albert experienced internal bleeding, caused by a rupture in his abdomen, that was revealed to be an aortic aneurysm. He refused surgery saying, “I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”
Albert published more than 300 scientific papers and 150 non-scientific papers throughout his life. His achievements and unique perspectives are well recognized, along with the fact that Albert Einstein and the word “genius” go hand in hand. He had a love for music at an early age, and never lost it. “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music … I get most joy in life out of music.”
A nuclear physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer condensed his impression of Einstein as a person, “He was almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness … There was always with him a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn.”
References:
Albert Einstein | Biography, Education, Discoveries, & Facts | Britannica
Albert Einstein Quotes (Author of Relativity) (goodreads.com)