February 20, 2021
Albert Einstein
Biography
- March 14, 1879: Born in Ulm, Germany. Full name is Hans Albert Einstein.
- Very imaginative and dreamy as a child.
- Was considered a poor and disobedient student in school because he asked too many questions.
- Always enjoyed spending time alone, hiking in the woods, and thinking.
- Enjoyed playing the violin.
- Loved learning math.
- Studied in Milan, Italy, where his curiosity and questions were welcome.
- Wrote several scientific papers at an early age, but they were ignored due to his youth.
- 1905: A year sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (‘miracle year’), Einstein published four groundbreaking papers.
- Moved to Switzerland, where he was very happy and met his first wife.
- Had an odd appearance because he did not care what others thought of appearances. Did not comb his hair; often forgot his keys; often forgot to eat.
- Returned to Germany where he met his second wife, Ilse.
- Developed the Theory of Relativity, $E = mc^2$, which unified our understanding of energy, matter and light.
- Moved to the US due to threats on his life by the Nazis.
- Recommended that the US develop the atomic bomb because although he opposed militarism, he felt it would be even worse if the Nazis developed it first.
- Supported the creation of Israel as a homeland for Jews (and all others of the region).
- Opposed the creation of a Jewish state with a military and borders because of his fear of what extreme nationalism would do to Judaism.
- Condemned Zionist acts of terrorism against Palestinians.
- Was happily married for many years to Ilse, and until her death.
- July 9, 1955: Signed the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, warning about the dangers nuclear weapons
- In later years, lived quietly alone in Princeton, and continued to play his violin.
- April 8, 1955: Died quietly while working on an equation.
Science Sources
- https://www.space.com/17661-theory-general-relativity.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_relativity
- https://www.livescience.com/58245-theory-of-relativity-in-real-life.html
- https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-relativity-einstein-s-mind-bending-theory-explained-ncna865496
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/einsteins-theories-relativity
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/einstein-relativity-thought-experiment-train-lightning-genius
- https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/einstein-general-relativity-theory-questioned-ghez
Humanitarian Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Albert_Einstein
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%E2%80%93Einstein_Manifesto
- https://pugwash.org/1955/07/09/statement-manifesto/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05004-4
- https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=33590
Video: Albert Einstein (11 min)
Video: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (13 min)
Video: Einstein — Theory of Relativity (49 min)
Selected Quotations
“It is not enough to teach a specialty. Through it one may become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality.”
“It is essential that students acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. They must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise they — with their specialized knowledge — more closely resembles well-trained dogs than a harmoniously developed people. They must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions and their sufferings, in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual fellow people and to the community.”
“These precious things are conveyed to the younger generation through personal contact with those who teach, not — or at least not in the main — through textbooks. It is this that primarily constitutes and preserves culture. This is what I have in mind when I recommend the ‘humanities’ as important, not just dry specialized knowledge in the fields of history and philosophy.”
“Overemphasis on the competitive system and premature specialization on the ground of immediate usefulness kill the spirit on which all cultural life depends, specialized knowledge included.”
“It is also vital to a valuable education that independent critical thinking be developed in young human beings, a development that is greatly jeopardized by overburdening them with too much and with too varied subjects (point system). Overburdening necessarily leads to superficiality.”