He is known as one of the most intelligent
men to walk this earth, yet his private life
was nothing short of chaotic.
He was the world’s most celebrated scientist,
yet he shunned the limelight.
He ushered in the atomic age, yet he was a
lifelong pacifist.
In this week’s Biographics, we delve into
the contradictory life of Albert Einstein.
Early Life
Hermann and Pauline Einstein, a Jewish couple
married three years earlier, welcomed their
first child, Albert, on March 14, 1879.
Six weeks after his birth they moved from
Ulm, Germany, to Munich, as a result of failed
business endeavours.
In Munich, Hermann joined forces with his
brother in an electrical engineering business
which was propped up by Pauline's parents.
Three years later they had their second child,
Maria.
With the influence of his musically talented
mother, Albert started musical studies at
the age of five, learning the piano and then
the violin the following year.
Einstein developed an appreciation for music
at an early age, and later wrote: "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."
He was enrolled in a Catholic school in 1885,
switching over to the more advanced "Luitpold-Gymnasium"
in 1888, now known as the Albert Einstein
Gymnasium.
He proved to be an adequate, but by no means
an outstanding student.
By 1894, the electrical manufacturing business
that Albert’s father and uncle ran was facing
seriously difficulty.
For the last decade they had been making DC
current componentry.
But now C current was gaining ascendancy and
demand for their services had dried up.
With no incoming coming in, Hermann made the
decision to move the family to Italy, where
job prospects looked brighter.
However, 15-year-old Albert stayed behind
to complete his schooling in Munich.
Albert did not enjoy his schooling and often
butted heads with the strict rote teachers.
He chafed at the strict discipline and the
lack of freedom for creative thought.
The subjects that were taught to him held
no interest – except for mathematics.
He had a natural affinity with the subject
and quickly mastered the work that was presented
to him.
A Physics Prodigy
From around the age of twelve, Albert began
teaching himself advanced mathematical concepts,
starting with algebra.
His father engaged a tutor, Max Talmud, but
soon Albert was out-thinking even him.
Talmud presented the boy with a geometry textbook.
He later commented . . .
"[Einstein] had worked through the whole book.
He thereupon devoted himself to higher mathematics...
Soon the flight of his mathematical genius
was so high I could not follow."
Einstein started teaching himself calculus
at 12, and as a 14 year old he says he had
"mastered integral and differential calculus".
Soon after his family's move to Italy, Einstein
forged a doctor’s note which convinced the
principal of the Luitpold Gymnasium to allow
him to quit the school and join his family
in Italy.
He still had a year to go before completing
his required schooling.
In an attempt to skive out of attending his
last year of high school, Albert took an entrance
exam at "The Swiss Federal Polytechnic University"
in Zurich.
He came out with excellent results in Maths
and Physics but failed in every other subject.
His scores in physics and maths were so outstanding
that they caught the eye of the school’s
principal.
He encouraged the family to send Albert to
the renowned "Kantonsschule" school in Aarau,
Switzerland, to increase his knowledge.
It was arranged for the seventeen-year-old
to stay with the family of the professor of
the school, Jost Winteler.
During his year with the Winteler’s, Albert
fell in love with Winteler’s daughter, seventeen-year-old
Marie Winteler.
They had a brief romance, which came to an
end when Marie moved to Olsberg to start her
teaching career.
University and Marriage
Having found his academic passion, Albert
applied himself to his studies in Switzerland.
He passed the Swiss Matura with outstanding
grades in physics and mathematics and then
reapplied to the " Swiss Polytechnic University"
in Zurich.
This time he passed and was admitted into
a four-year physics and mathematics teaching
diploma program.
It was around this time that Albert also renounced
his German citizenship in order to avoid the
compulsory military training that he would
face in a few months when he turned eighteen.
Albert soon became friends with the only girl
in his class, Mileva Maric.
They both shared a love for science, being
at the top of their class.
Mileva spent a semester in Heidelberg, Germany.
While she was away, she and Einstein wrote
each other almost every day.
Once she returned, their friendship turned
into a relationship.
Einstein's parents opposed the union due to
the difference in religion, culture, and age.
As the couple’s relationship flourished,
Mileva started to struggle in her studies.
In 1900, Einstein passed the final exam, but
Mileva failed.
Afterward, she worked at raising her knowledge
so she could retake the test.
It was around this time that she found out
that she was pregnant.
Meliva decided to move in with her parents.
In early 1902, she gave birth to their daughter,
Lieserl.
No one is sure what happened to Mileva and
Albert's daughter, with many thinking she
was either adopted or died of Scarlet Fever.
Albert struggled to find a teaching position
following his graduation.
This was partly due to the fact that he had
alienated many of his tutors over the four
years of his studies.
He gave off the impression that they had little
of value to impart to him and preferred to
do his own independent study.
He finally secured a job but one that was
totally unrelated to his course of study,
and thought by his contemporaries to be below
him.
Having gained his Swiss citizenship, he became
eligible to work for the Swiss government.
He secured a position as a clerk in the Swiss
Patent Office for Intellectual Property.
The Patent Office
Einstein’s job was to assess patent applications
for all manner of devices.
Quite a number of the patent applications
involved the transmission of electric signals
and the electro-mechanical synchronization
of time.
These concepts gelled with Einstein’s area
of personal fascination and served as the
impetus for his investigations exploring the
nature of light and the relationship between
space and time.
While his days were filled with the analysis
of patent applications, Einstein spent his
evenings working on his scientific theories.
He started a discussion group with a few friends,
Conrad Habicht and Maurice Solovine, that
he called ‘the Olympia Academy’.
Albert and Mileva reunited in 1903 and got
married that same year.
The couple went on to have two sons, Hans,
born in 1904, and Eduard, who arrived in 1910.
The Miracle Year
1905 was a turning point for Albert Einstein.
Over the last couple of years, he had been
building a reputation as an up and coming
intellect among the scientific community.
In April of 1905, he completed his thesis,
in association with a Professor of Experimental
Physics by the name of Alfred Kleiner.
Einstein received a Ph.D from Zurich University
shortly thereafter.
During the second half of 1905, Albert produced
four scientific papers.
The subjects of his dissertations were Photoelectric
Effect, Brownian Motion, Special Relativity,
and The Equivalence of Mass & Energy.
Each of them was received enthusiastically
by the intelligentsia.
However, it was the fourth paper that gave
the world its most famous equation . . .
E = MC2
E stands for Energy, M for mass and C2 for
the speed of light times itself.
What it meant in practical terms was that
mass could be changed into energy and vice
versa.
As a result, tiny packets of mass could be
converted into huge bursts of energy.
The 26-year-old Einstein had, with the publication
of his paper on the equivalency of mass and
energy ushered in the atomic age.
Among those who heaped praise upon Einstein
for his work was one of the most pre-eminent
quantum theorists of the day, Max Planck from
Germany.
His backing gave Albert instant credibility.
He began receiving speaking requests from
all over Switzerland, along with offers of
teaching positions.
His days at the patent office were over.
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Multiple Positions
Einstein worked the lecture circuit and then
took up a position as a lecturer at the University
of Bern in 1908.
During that year he returned to his alma mater,
the University of Zurich.
The university authorities were so taken with
the budding genius that they created a position
just for him, as an associate professor in
their theoretical physics department.
He transferred there from Bern University
in 1909.
Two years later, Einstein gained a full professorship
when he took up a position at the Charles-Ferdinand
University in Prague.
To take up the position, he had to take out
Austrian citizenship.
But he would only remain in the position for
twelve months.
Over that time, he published a total of eleven
scientific papers.
Then, in 1912, he returned to the University
of Zurich where he took up a full professorship
in the theoretical physics department.
He was able to work alongside his long-time
friend and collaborator Marcel Grossman.
As well as teaching the laws of thermodynamics,
he also lectured on analytical mechanics.
That same year Einstein began an extra-marital
affair with his first cousin, Elsa Lowenthal.
Einstein was not there much for his family,
putting all his time and energy into his work
and research.
For several years he had been emotionally
distant from Mileva.
Recently, letters were found that he wrote
in 1910 to his first love, Marie Winteler.
In them, he professed his undying love for
her and lamented the life that they had missed
out on together.
Settling in Germany
In 1914, Einstein uprooted his family yet
again as he took up a position at the Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute for Physics located at the
University of Berlin.
He would remain in Germany for the next 19
years and was soon was appointed director
of the Institute.
The position gave him professorship without
teaching duties, which afforded him time to
work on his scientific studies.
Another major draw for the return to Germany
was that it allowed him to be closer to his
mistress, Elsa.
Towards the end of 1914, Mileva moved back
to Zurich with her sons, after finding out
about her husband's affair and coming to the
realization that Albert was not a capable
family man.
Einstein divorced Mileva in April of 1919.
Then in June, he married his cousin, Elsa.
In 1916, Einstein published his theory of
general relativity.
This was a groundbreaking achievement in the
world of physics.
It theorized that what we see as the force
of gravity actually results from the curvature
of space and time.
As a result, the earth is not actually being
pulled toward the sun by gravity but the interaction
of space and time which dictates how the earth
moves.
Einstein predicted that light from another
star would be bent by the Sun’s gravity.
During a solar eclipse in 1919, that prediction
was confirmed.
The publicity that surrounded the confirmation
of his theory went round the globe and, for
the first time, the name Albert Einstein became
known worldwide.
Worldwide Fame
In the early 1920’s, Einstein became a celebrity
among the scientific community in America.
He was invited to New York to kick off a three-week
lecture tour in April, 1921.
He lectured at Columbia and Princeton, among
other places of learning.
He also managed to get in a tour of the White
House.
Einstein’s first impression of America was
a positive one.
Shortly after his return, he published an
essay called, ‘My First Impressions of America’.
In it, he wrote . . .
What strikes a visitor is the joyous, positive
attitude to life ... The American is friendly,
self-confident, optimistic, and without envy.
In 1921, Einstein’s popularity reached a
new high when he was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Physics.
Because his theories on general and special
relativity were not yet widely accepted, the
award was given for his explanation of the
photoelectric effect.
Throughout the 1920’s Albert and Elsa undertook
a number of international tours that saw them
being received in such far flung places as
Singapore, Japan and Palestine.
In December, 1930, he made a second trip to
the United States.
This time he wanted to fly under the radar,
feeling that he had received far too much
attention on his first visit.
But try as he may, he still found himself
being overwhelmed with offers to speak and
invitations to receive awards.
All of them were turned down.
However, when he tried to slip into New York
City, he couldn’t avoid the celebrity of
being awarded the keys to the city by Mayor
Jim Walker.
When he visited the New York Riverside Church
he was surprised to find that the congregants
had created a life-sized statue of him.
He then moved on to California, where he was
introduced to a number of movie stars, including
Charlie Chaplin.
The two men remained lifelong friends.
On one occasion, Chaplin and Einstein appeared
together in public to great applause.
Einstein turned to Chaplin and said . . .
They are cheering us both.
To this, Chaplin replied . . .
They are applauding you because none of them
understands you and applauding me because
everybody understands me.
Leaving Germany
Back in Germany things were beginning to look
ominous.
With the rise of the Nazi party, the rights
of Jews rapidly diminished.
They were no longer permitted to hold positions
of authority, so Einstein was removed from
his directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.
Despite being the most famous scientist on
the planet, he couldn’t even teach in the
local secondary school.
While he was on an overseas tour, his home
was raided by the Gestapo.
In February 1933, Einstein was on another
tour of the United States with Elsa.
With Adolf Hitler having been proclaimed Chancellor
of Germany just a few weeks earlier, Albert
knew that there was no future for him in the
country of his birth.
The couple sailed to Belgium in March.
Upon arrival in Antwerp, Einstein went directly
to the German consulate and renounced his
German citizenship.
The Nazis later sold his boat and converted
his cottage into a Hitler Youth camp.
The Einstein’s rented a house in De Haan,
Belgium for a couple of months.
During that time, news of the Nazi book burnings
reached them.
It was reported that all of Albert’s writings
had been consumed in the flames.
A German magazine published a list of enemies
of the state which included Einstein.
Alongside his name was the caption ‘not
yet hanged’ offering a $5,000 bounty on
his head.
In July, 1933, Einstein was invited to London
for six weeks at the request of an old British
naval officer friend.
While there, he had an audience with Winston
Churchill.
He asked for British assistance to bring as
many Jewish scientists out of Germany as possible.
Winston was immediately receptive.
Over the coming years, Einstein used his influence
to arrange for placements of more than a thousand
scientists in teaching positions at universities
outside of Germany.
On his return to Belgium, Einstein was offered
a resident scholarship at Princeton University.
In October, 1933 he and Elsa sailed again
for the United States.
Einstein took up the position at Princeton
University in the Institute for Advanced Study.
In 1935, he was granted permanent residency
in America.
His US citizenship was granted in 1940.
In 1935 a new tribulation arose for Einstein.
His wife Elsa was diagnosed with heart and
kidney problems.
The following year she died.
This was to be his biggest trial yet.
Albert was not one to show his emotions.
It was said by his friend, Peter Bucky, that
Einstein even shed a tear after Elsa's passing.
Throughout their whole friendship, he had
never seen Albert cry once before this moment.
The Atomic Bomb
In 1939, a couple of young Hungarian scientists
named Leo Szilard and the discovered the science
behind an atomic bomb.
They tried informing those in positions of
power, but they had no influence, so they
were ignored.
Then they decided to reach out to someone
who would have credibility with those in high
power.
That was when they contacted Einstein.
Szilard and Wigner explained their theory
to Einstein, and he was quick to understand
the concept.
Szilard wrote a letter to President Roosevelt
with Einstein's signature on it.
The letter urged America to create the first
Atomic Bomb before Germany did.
It is generally agreed that the addition of
Einstein’s signature was a key influencer
in President Roosevelt’s adoption of the
atomic bomb development project that was known
as the Manhattan Project.
The US Government launched the Manhattan Project
in December, 1941.
Amazingly, Einstein’s application to be
a part of the project was turned down.
The reason that the originator of the theory
upon which the bomb was based was denied access
to the program was that he was a German and
there were those who thought that he might
be a spy for the Nazis.
On August 6 and 9th, 1945, the Atomic Bomb
was used on the Japanese cities Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, killing at least 129,000 people.
Five months prior his death, Albert said that
his greatest mistake in life was signing the
letter to President Roosevelt concerning the
Atomic Bomb . . .
"I made one great mistake in my life... when
I signed the letter to President Roosevelt
recommending that atom bombs be made; but
there was some justification - the danger
that the Germans would make them."
Einstein was never comfortable about his fame.
He once said...
In the past it never occurred to me that every
casual remark of mine would be snatched up
and recorded.
Otherwise I would have crept further into
my shell.
By the time he was settled into his life in
America, however, he realized that he was
able to use his celebrity status as a vehicle
toward promoting important causes.
Einstein had been a life-long pacifist and
humanitarian.
Now he used his platform to bring these causes
to the fore.
During the 1940’s, he gave his support to
the cause of civil right in the United States.
He considered racism to be the ‘worst disease’
in America.
He joined the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and
became friendly with civil rights activists
W.E.B DuBois.
When DuBois was arrested in 1951, Einstein’s
offer to be a character witness was enough
to get the case dismissed.
In 1946, he was awarded an honorary degree
from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, which
was the first in America to award degrees
to Black students.
He considered racism America's "worst disease,"
seeing it as "handed down from one generation
to the next".
Einstein also spoke out against anti-Semitism.
He developed a friendship with the first prime
minister of the new state of Israel, David
Ben Gurion.
Regarding prejudice against Jews in various
parts of the world, he said . . .
There are no German Jews, there are no Russian
Jews, there are no American Jews...
There are in fact only Jews.
The End of Einstein
He did not believe in a personal God who concerns
himself with the actions of humans.
He did say, however, that "I am not an atheist",
preferring to call himself an agnostic.
When asked if he believed in an afterlife,
Einstein quipped, "No.
And one life is enough for me."
And that life would end on the 17th of April
1955, at the age of 76.
He had been suffering from internal bleeding
caused by the rupture of an abdominal aortic
aneurysm, which had previously been reinforced
surgically.
The night before his passing at Princeton
Hospital, when offered surgery Einstein said,
"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."
In a memorial lecture in 1965, nuclear physicist
J. Robert Oppenheimer summarized his impression
of Einstein: "He was almost wholly without
sophistication and wholly without worldliness
... There was always with him a wonderful
purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn."
