ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)

by Frank X. Mullen Jr.

In 1905, a 26-year-old patent clerk in Switzerland published five papers about physics that knocked the scientific world on its ear. In a flurry of activity that still awes physicists and historians, the humble clerk unseated Isaac Newton as the world’s most remarkable genius and set the stage for the technological miracles of the 20th century.

He was Albert Einstein, whose wild-haired image has come to symbolize genius, even though most people, then as now, are unable to explain his theories of matter and energy, magnetism and gravity.

Newton described the behavior of the cosmos in the language of mathematics. Einstein then used mathematics to replace the Newtonian system with his own paradigm. He showed that the universe is not a static place, but that measurements of time and distance vary systematically. Space and time are not absolute, and the universe we inhabit where all things are relative is not the one Newton described.

Einstein showed we live in a quantum universe, one built out of tiny, discrete chunks of energy and matter. In addition, he figured out that energy and matter are linked in the most famous relationship in physics: E = mc2. Matter and energy, he explained, are different manifestations of the same thing.

If he had only worked that one year – 1905 – his legacy would be inestimable.

But for the next several decades he stayed on the cutting edge of physics and then spent the remainder of his life searching for the holy grail of science: a unified field theory. That theory would describe both the forces that hold the celestial bodies in their orbits and the forces that keep molecules spinning in their places. It eluded him and continues to be a mystery.

Einstein, a German Jew, fled the Nazis for the U.S. in 1933 and took up residence in Princeton, N.J. At the time, Einstein wrote that he will "only stay in a country where political liberty, toleration and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule …the liberty to express one's political views orally and in writing, toleration and respect for every individual opinion." He later wrote that the power of the United States flows not only from its economic and military prowess, but also is a result of free citizens' "zeal, patience, spirit of comradeship and (their) talent for cooperation."

He wanted to fully be a part of that spirit. He became a citizen in 1941.

He became a media darling and even today, more than a half century after his death, he has one of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

His private life was troubled. He was twice a failure as a husband and three times a failure as a father. He said he thought too much with his head and not enough with his heart. He was a pacifist and yet his atomic theory and his 1939 letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the stage for the advent of the atomic bomb.

He was beloved by people who had never met him. Somehow the public was able to accept two Einsteins: the kindly grandfather with a genius IQ and the pacifist socialist who condemned the military and spoke of world government and universal disarmament.

When asked to explain his genius, Einstein often said his accomplishments came about because he “always remained a child.” He said that like Newton, he was eternally a boy walking on a beach, marveling at intricate seashells at his feet and wondering about the waves, the wind and the stars above.

RECOMMENDED READING

Einstein, Albert. The World As I See It. Filiquarian Publishing, LLC, 2007.

Einstein, Albert. Albert Einstein: Out of My Later Years, Through His Own Words. Castle Books, 2005.

Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe. Simon & Schuster, 2008.

McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Ordinary Genius: The Story of Albert Einstein. Twenty First Century Books, 1995, 2006. (Children’s Book)

Neffe, Jürgen and Farrar, Shelley Frisch. Einstein: A Biography. Straus and Giroux, 2007.

FRANK X. MULLEN, JR

Frank X. Mullen, Jr. is a journalist, author and historian living in Reno, Nevada. He is an investigative reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal and also teaches journalism classes at the University of Nevada, Reno. In Chautauquas around the nation, he has portrayed Babe Ruth, Henry VIII, Albert Einstein, Huey Long, Benedict Arnold, Edward R. Murrow, John C. Fremont and J.P. Morgan. He is a 1979 graduate of Metropolitan State College of Denver, and holds a master’s degree from the University of Nevada. Mullen, the author of The Donner Party Chronicles, has won many state and national journalism and writing awards.

BULLETS:

Einstein:

• Developed theories that would lead to nearly all the major technological advances of the 20th century.

• Cared deeply about humanity as a whole, but was a failure in his personal relationships and usually kept to himself.

• Developed the theory of nuclear fission, but never worked on the weapons that would come from that theory.

• Considered himself a “secular” Jew and did not observe religious ritual, but was a Zionist who was once offered the presidency of Israel.

EINSTEIN QUOTES:

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction."

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice with the universe."

"Peace can not be kept by force; it can only be achieved through understanding.”

EINSTEIN TIMELINE

1879    Albert Einstein is born to Hermann and Pauline Einstein in Ulm, Germany.

1895   Albert attempts to skip high school by taking an entrance exam to the Swiss Polytechnic, a top technical university, but he fails the arts portion. His family sends him to Aarau, Switzerland, to finish high school.

1896   Albert leaves high school at age 17 and enrolls at the ETH (the Federal Polytechnic) in Zurich, were he  falls in love with Mileva Maric, a Hungarian classmate.

1902    In January, Mileva gives birth to their daughter, Lieserl, whom they eventually put up for adoption. Albert takes a job at the Swiss Patent Office.

1903    Albert and Mileva marry in January and subsequently have two more children.

1905   "Annus Mirabilis" – Einstein's "Miracle Year."  His papers published in a scientific journal include the “Special Theory of Relativity” and “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies."

1912    The Einsteins move to Zurich where Albert is given a position as a professor of Theoretical Physics at the ETH.

1914    Einstein becomes director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin. The family moves there in April, but Mileva and the sons return to Zurich after three months. Divorce proceedings begin. In August, World War I starts.

1915    Einstein completes the General Theory of Relativity.

1919    Albert divorces Mileva and marries his cousin Elsa. On May 29, a solar eclipse proves Einstein's General Theory of Relativity works.

1922    He is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for 1921.

1933    Albert and Elsa leave Nazi Germany for the United States. They settle in Princeton, New Jersey, where he assumes a post at the Institute for Advanced Study.

1939    Einstein writes a famous letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning of the possibility of Germany's building an atomic bomb and urging nuclear research.

1940    Einstein becomes an American citizen.

1955   Einstein dies of heart failure in Princeton on April 16.