Einstein…Albert Einstein, often thought to be one of the greatest scientists and minds of the modern era of science. He was a theoretical physicist who presented the ‘Theory of Relativity’, all kids study in High School. Dr.’E’ won The Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921,
“for his services to Theoretical Physics” and his theory on the photoelectric effect.
I read a biography about him when I was in Middle School and it was his life that caught my interest, not just the scientific theories he postulated. He was a weird guy all the way back to his childhood in Germany. Maybe I should say he was an interesting person with quirks and a ‘secret life’ many perhaps do not know about.
From the moment of his birth he was looked at as being different. His own mother thought he looked deformed. She thought that his head was too large compared to his body and mis-shaped. He grew into it and eased his families suspicion he was mentally slow.
When he was growing up young Albert barely spoke. He muttered words under his breath and once again the family, though he had mental deficiencies. Family accounts report he never started talking in sentences until he was around 9 years old.
Albert applied to enter the Swiss Federal Polytechnical School (Eidgenssische Technische Hochschule or ETH) at age 17. He passed the math and science sections of the exam, but failed the rest of the test (history,geography,languages, and more). Young Albert went to trade school for a year then retook the exam and entered ETH.
He was an academic genius in certain areas, but his personal affairs were quite….quite bawdy! He had an affair with a student friend and she had his illegitimate
daughter(Lieserl) a year before they married. He never saw the child. The fate of the child is unclear from his writings and the ‘secret’ was kept a secret by the child’s mother and her family.
Einstein married Mileva (mother of his secret daughter) and they had 2 sons, Hans and Eduard. His academic re-known made him a popular commodity and he traveled extensively. This caused the marriage to be strained, plus he was really in love with his cousin, Elsa. So he and Mileva became estranged. Then, Albert came up with a strange ‘contract’ for his estranged wife: “These are the condition whereby we can continue to live with one another –
A. You will make sure
1. that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order;
2. that I will receive my three meals regularly in my room;
3. that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only.
B. You will renounce all personal relations with me insofar as they are not completely necessary for social reasons”
There’s more, including “you will stop talking to me if I request it.” She accepted the conditions. He later wrote to her again to make sure she grasped that this was going to be all-business in the future, and that the “personal aspects must be reduced to a tiny remnant.” And he vowed, “In return, I assure you of proper comportment on my part, such as I would exercise to any woman as a stranger.” (from the biography by Walter Issacsons -Einstein:His Life and Universe)
He eventually divorced his first wife and married his cousin Elsa, but had considered marrying her daughter from her first marriage (Ilse). Ilse did not wish to marry the old professor, though. Elsa, knew of Albert’s wandering eye and numerous affairs(which he wrote about in his journals), but looked the other way. He was quite a ladies man with women in every University ‘port’, so to speak. One of his secret ladies he referred to as “the Russian spy” lover. Women were attracted to the professor his entire life. Why not? He was Albert Einstein and they weren’t many, if any like him in the world.
It is interesting to note he did not win a Nobel Prize for his theory of relativity.
He declined the Presidency of Israel when offered to him in 1952.
There is an element named after the professor, discovered in 1952, einsteinium.
Several of his quotes I have hanging in my office seem to really tell about the man Albert Einstein:
“The crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship material success as a preparation for his future career.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
“There is only one road to human greatness: through the schools of hard knocks.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
My final reflection of this man I admire are some of his words I reflect on each day…
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited , whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
