The Story of
Albert
Einstein
(1879-1955)
Contents
Introduction pg.4
2.The Backward boy pg.5
3.The Munich Gymnasium pg.6
4.Alone in Munich pg.7
5.School in Switzerland pg.8
6.The student pg.9
7.The teacher with No-one to teach pg.10
8.The Patent Office pg.12
9.Recognition at last pg.14
10.Professor Einstein pg.16
11. The Jewish problem pg.17
12. Zurich again pg.18
13. War pg.19
14. Einstein-Zionist pg.21
15. Travel and the Nobel Prize pg.23
16. The fugitive pg.25
17. American citizen pg.27
18. Conclusion pg.29
1.Introduction
This is a short
biography of Albert Einstein presenting the life of this remarkable man in a
way most likely than appeal to children.
Albert Einstein's interest in the mystery of science was
first aroused by pocket compass given to him at the age of five. At school and
university in Germany
and Swisszerland he studied physics and held post as a university professor. In
1919 he became famous for his Theory of Relativity. This challenged sir Isaac
Newton's ideas, which for 200 years had held the field.
He now began to take an active part in Zionist affairs,
particularly in connection with the Hebrew
University, and traveled
to many countries, greeted by huge crowds and sometimes by threats against his
life. When the Nazis came to power he came first to England
and then went to U.S.A., and
the advice he gave to President Roosevelt in 1939 enable America to produce atomic bomb before Germany.
After the War his reputation as a great Jew was so high that he was approached with
a view to his succeeding dr. Weizmann as President
of Israel, but he felt unable to accept.
In 1955 he died at his own house from Princeton in U.S.A.
2.The backward
boy
Einstein's
family moved from Swabia, a South West Germany district, to Ulm
and after three years to Munich.
After leaving Ulm, the little Einstein
started to cry because he does not want to leave Ulm. A year after they arrived to Ulm the Einstein
family had a new baby-a girl named Maja.
When he was two years old he could only say three
words: Mama, Dada and Baba. When he was
three his family engaged a governess to help him to mak 12312d38m e progress with his
speech, but he did not made any progress until five. Since his childhood he seemed
to be a different child: he did not like the usual games for the children
(playing at soldiers, because he did not liked the orders)
When Albert was five years old, he developed a bad
cold which keep him in bed. The governess tried to play whit him but he quickly
get boarded. All this time he was missing Maja, because she was not
allowed to play with him, because of the germs she could take.
The only thing that Albert paid attention was the
silver compass brought by his father. He was fascinated by the iron needle pointing
in the same direction. He asked his father why the compass did not change his
way and his father replied that he was too young to understand that.
Albert's
parents wanted for him to study in a mixed class .They think the common life of
the classroom would make Albert more lively and less dreamily and wrapped in
his mind. He hated learning by heart because his entire question was never answered.
To be more happy his father him engaged a violin teacher, but he got bored very
soon. Passing from a year to another year he managed entering in the secondary
school to Munich Gymnasium where he hopes that his entire question would have
an answer.
3.The Munich Gymnasium
First lesson that Albert had to Munich Gymnasium was
in Latin Grammar and he discovered that the Gymnasium was not how he thought it
would be. No pupil was an individual, only part of the class. After a week
Albert's class had a literature lesson with Mr.Ruess, who was different than
the other teachers and the class could take part as much as the teacher to the lesson.
Albert was so delighted by Mr. Ruess class that he left some task incomplete to
be punished and to continue the lesson with Mr. Ruess
In a winter after-noon, his uncle Jakob has started to
teach, the little Einstein, algebra. Learning Algebra was funny for Albert and
he never got borred. All what he was learning was like a piece of
"jigsaw-puzzle, to be fitted into place and bring him one step nearer to
completing the picture".
During the summer holiday a boy from Gymnasium came to
visit him and they talked about geometry and how hard it was. Albert convinced
Heinz that he liked geometry and this lent him a book of geometry. After
getting home he opened the book and after some pages he found it very interesting.
He gradually begun to over strip his classmates at math but to the other he was
behind. At school he was not happy, but he found another way to be happy.
Geometry was the reason and the other reason was the Mozart's music which he founded
as beautiful as geometry.
At fourteen years Albert
begun to think seriously to religion. At religion classes he was moved by a
special part of the Bible. His parents were not Orthodox, and Albert had been never pushed to go to synagogue
against his will or to sit through Hebrew services he could not understand. All
the time Albert was preoccupied with his mathematics and music and religion was
no problem for a short time.
In one evening at supper his mother told to Albert that
they needed to moved to Italy
because the factory would be closed. In Italy his father and his uncle Jakob
have arranged to start a new business. Albert would remain in Munich
to continue his studies and to obtain a diploma in maths.
4.Alone in Munich
After his family moved to Italy, Albert
missed them in all the way. For the other boys this opportunity was the total
freedom, but for Albert the departure
of his family isolated him. The older he got he found mechanically learning a
thing that he could not understand. To a Grammar Latin class he refused to say
what he pretends he had learned.
The letters from his parents were
regularly and the description that his mother made of Italy let Einstein think that the Italy
was a paradise. Albert had thought better and he realized that he could go to
university in Italy or Switzerland
without a diploma from Gymnasium. He tried to find an idea to go in Italy
and after a time he hit on the idea of visiting a doctor to see if he could
obtain a medical certificate stating that is was essential that he should stay
with his family and his plan succeeded. He need to obtain a certificate from
his math master affirming that Albert's mathematical knowledge and prowess
qualified him, for admittance to an educational establish for advance study. All
what Albert need for leaving to Italy
was the aprouvement from the headmaster from Gymnasium? He planned to go to the
headmaster to ask his permission a week before he left but it happened early
to a Geography lesson when the headmaster invited him in his office. After
talking about his accommodation the headmaster give him the biggest news that
he had the permission to go in Italy.
5.School in Switzerland
It was wonderful
for Albert was wonderful to be with his family again. He found Italy
exactly how his mother described it in her letter. Italians were totally
different from the Germans, they acted from they own nature and Albert found sympathetic
to his own nature. After visiting a part of Italy
he returned home and his father broke the news to him that the business had
failed again and he was going to make another start in Pavia.
After selling the house they bought a
new house in Pavia.
After a conference with Albert, his
father, his mother and his uncle Jakob they came to the conclusion that Albert would gain more easily in a technical college
than at a university. The place for continue his study was the famous Swiss
Federal Polytechnic in Zurich
and he wrote at once to ask permission to take the exam. The test was in
mathematics and languages. He wrote his answers without undue worry. He was
very sure that he would pass the exam, but he failed to language. He was very
confused and he did not know what would happen with his future and with his
career, but for his surprise a letter arrived from the principal of the Zurich
Polytechnic asking him to go to see him.
To Zurich the first moments with the headmaster
dismissed any hopes that he was going to accept him. The headmaster told to Albert that he was impressed by his knowledge to math
and gives him another chance next year. For a year Albert found an alternative
going to a school in Aarou. The first day in the new school was not how he expected
to be, the pupils were treated as independent individuals as in his dreams. For
each subject there was separate room with all what a student needed to be interested in that subject.
Chemestry room was interested Albert the
most, and he felt it would be easy to make friends. There the students were
asked what they do when they finish the school. One said that he will be a
doctor, another one said that he will be a dentist, another said that he will
be a teacher and finally when Albert' turn came he did that he would be a math
and physics teacher .
At the end of the school period Albert
started to learn for Polytechnic and in autumn of 1896 he entered the
Polytechnic gates for the first time as a student, certain that the important
part of his life was just about to begin.
6.The student
To
Polytechnic Albert was very happy
studying only physics and mathematics. His little spare money he spent on textbooks.
Albert had sat up half the night reading and taking notes and relaxing for a
short time. He was thinking again to focus
his work. After a time Albert lost his
interest learning mathematics.
There Albert
made two special friends a boy and a girl. The boy was an Australian and his
name was Fiedrich
Adler. The girl was from Hungary
and her name was Mileva
Maritsch and Mileva loved Albert but she never showed her love.
At the beginning of 1900 Albert took his final examinations and he applied for
the post of assistant to a teacher who had shown great interest in his work.
Before publishing the results Albert,
Fiedrich and Mileva sat in one of Zurich's
cheerful cafés, The Café Metropole to discuss what would happen with their
future .Albert said that he would stay in Zurich,
Fiedrich said that he had had a post in
secondary school and Mileva said that he was forced to go back to Hungary.
After finishing their caffee they had gone to Polytechnic to see the results
The result was not so good for Albert. He did not obtain the post for which he had
applied, Mileva could not put herself together and had tears in her eyes.
7.The teacher
with No-one to teach
Fiedrich said to Albert that he should go to see the Professor, and to
ask him why he did not obtain the post. After visiting him Albert obtained only
a letter of recommendation. He sooner found a job at a technical school in the
industrial town of Winterthur.
His twenty-first birthday was close, and he felt he should
be facing the future cheerfully. He had every hope of being a Swiss citizen by
his birthday on March 14th. Having Swiss nationality was bound to
help him in finding employment. His papers came through a few days before his
birthday, and he went to see his family in Italy. Before leaving Zurich he left an advertisement
to a newspaper:"
Tutor in mathematical subject
wanted for two boys"
When he returned from Italy the letters were waiting him.
He liked teaching and he thought the chance of giving individual tuition was a
splendid one. His employer was himself a teacher at a local Gymnasium, and he
kept boarding-house for some students. It was two of these students he hoped to
employ Albert.
Albert packed his small bag again and set off to Schaffausen. He
always enjoyed traveling and the scenery to Schaffausen was especially varied
and picturesque. Schaffausen itself was a famous beauty spot with many natural waterfalls
and tourist came from all over Europe to see
them. When he arrived at Schaffausen a lady had expected him.
The Doctor was not home, but he had left instructions for Albert
to make himself comfortable until his return. The Doctor"s home was great. The
maid left him and returned ten minutes later with a pot of coffee and a jug of
cream and a slice of home-made cake, which made Albert
suddenly nostalgic for his mother cooking.
He drank the coffee and ate the cake as he unpacked and put
away his few clothes. He had not been able to afford any new ones for a long
time. With luck, this job would last and he would be able to buy a new one.
Deciding to take a short stroll and learn the local geography of the city was interrupted
by two boys-Will and Louis. Those two boys proved to be the kind of pupils
Albert had hoped for. For Albert was a
pleasure to teach them and they had results immediately. Albert
was happy and he liked his employer and he found the food as excellent as his
room. At the end of second month the two boys were allowed to return to their
class for mathematic, and continuing with their coaching from Albert.
Giving suggestion to the owner of the boarding-home, Albert
and the owner had a little conflict and the Doctor fired him only because he
want to work in his own way.
Albert returned to Zurich,
and searched for work again, but he found it more difficult than before. He
attended interviews and was politely rejected. One position ha had particular
hope for a similar post to the one in Schaffausen. But he was rejected because
he was not a Swiss by birth. More than that they made differences between
religion and nationalities.
8.The Patent
Office
Albert had never experienced
anti-Semitism before. He put himself all kind of question about this problem
and why people made differences between nationalities, and question without answers
and a question that he could not understand was that why people are not appreciated
for their knowledge. He putt himself this question in cafe near the Polytechnic.
And suddenly appeared a person who wanted to offer him a cup of coffee. This person
was one of his old student friends, Marcel Grossmann.
After talking about work Albert said that he did not own any job.
Marcel said him that he could introduced him to Mr. Haller, the
director of the Patent Office in Berne. Marcel asked him if he was free to go to Berne for an interview and Albert
replied that he hope that Mr.
Haller would employed him because
he had not the return fare.
After a week Albert received a letter from the director of
Patent Office asking him to come in Berne as soon as possible. When he arrived to Berne, Marcel
introduced him to Mr.
Haller. The interview was a long
one. They talk not only about the job, but also about the religion, politics
and many less intellectual topics and at the end of interview Mr. Haller said that
the post was his and his paycheck would be £250 a year.
Albert would have to sort through the ideas brought by
hopeful inventors to the Patent Office to give legal protection for all
inventions registered with them, so no one could reproduce. Mr. Haller
offered to help him to find a place to live. He said that he needed only a room
and he would be very happy. After saying that he thought it over and with his salary
he could afford more than a room and even a wife. In that moment Albert's mind turned to Mileva Maritsch.
So in that night Albert wrote to her his proposal of marriage not at all
romantic, but telling her the reason why
they should become husband and wife.
Mileva did so and accepted. They had a quiet civil wedding,
and for the first time in four years Albert
had a proper home to go when the working day was over. This was a joy for
Albert to return to his family life after such a long period of living alone.
A short time after his marriage Albert received a letter
asking him to go at once in Italy.
His father was dying. Albert felt like he would never be really happy, but at
the end of the year Mileva gave birth to a boy and Albert was thrilled beyond
measure. He sent postcards to all his friends to announce the birth of the
little Albert
Another happy moment for Albert
was the arrival in Berne of his sister, Maja.
She had gone to Berne to study Romantic Literature, after she had study in Paris and London.
Einstein had an idea himself, and for nights on end he
worked at it, first on paper and after that in materials, and finally he
produced an apparatus for recording small electrical charges which he duly
registered to Patent Office. He made friends with a lot of people in Berne. He made him a group of friends who heard for the
first time the beginnings of Albert's
Theory of Relativity, which was later recognized one of the most important
discoveries of modern science.
In 1905, five years after Albert's
arrival in Berne, he published the results of
his scientific researches.
9.Recognition at last
Although Albert gave
up his German citizenship, But it was in Germany that this scientific genius
was first recognized. At the Research Centers in Berlin
and in Breslau, famous institutions which were
among the leaders of scientific work, the name "Einstein" was already known. A
scientist, Rudolf
Ladenburg, traveled to Berne to
persuade Albert to take part in the
Natural Science Session which was to be held that summer in Salzburg.
In Swisszerland
Albert was achieving recognition.
In Zurich the
leading physicist Professor
Kleiner read Albert's
papers and realized that they were the work of a genius.
No-one could be appointed until he had first been a privatdozent.
Any young men who had the qualifications could apply for permission to teach at
the University. Those post were not paid so only people with financial means
could take up such a post
Albert could because he earned enough in his job and he
could give his lectures at times which would not interfere with his job. Professor Kleiner
had written to him suggesting that he should be privatdozent at Berne University.
After discussing with Mileva them agreed that he should become a privatdozent because
it was one way to get full recognition. He had no difficulty in getting himself
appointed a privatdozent. More difficult for himself was to find time to
prepare the lectures.
The post of Professor for Theoretical Physics at Zurich University
become vacant and Professor Kleiner, how he had promised to Albert when he went
to Berne. Albert's name was put toward , and
to the Board which had previously rejected him, proposal their own
candidate-none other than Albert's old friend, Fiedrich Adler, who was a
privatdozent in Zurich.
Fiedrich, in spite of the fact that he wanted the post, he
knew that Albert was the right person for it, and he realized that his ability
as a research physicist did not bear even the slightest comparison to
Einstein's.
During his last week in Berne,
Albert received an enormous envelope and without reading it he crumpled it up
and threw it to the wastepaper-basked.
This enormous envelope was his invitation to a celebration to Geneva. After few days an old friend come to
Berne and Albert turned with him in Geneva. He was attending the
inauguration as an Honorary Doctor there. For him it was a great honor, but he discovered
that he was to march in a procession
with over two hundred guest of honor, all wearing their academic apparel Albert had with him his straw hat, his
clothes and his suit.
One memorable July that the citizens of Geneva were to see among the splendidly
dressed academic celebrities was a man
in a shabby grey suit, his robes.
10.Professor
Einstein
Albert was
surprised and pleased to discover that the flat he had rented in Zurich was on the floor
above Fiedrich
Adler's. His best friend became a
newspaper editor, but he still enjoyed scientific discussion.
In
Zurich Albert was much poorer then he was in Berne,
in spite of his success and socially elevates position, but everything was more
expensive in Zurich.
For earning some money Fiedrich gave him
the idea to give private classes and that money would help him. And after a few
days two students came to him..
Albert's greatest friend was Professor Adolph
Hurwitz. He was much older than Albert.
This Professor was his teacher in his student years. He had not expected the
Professor to remember him, and he was flattered when the Professor recognized
him. Mr. Hurwitz invited Albert
to sing with the professor chamber music recitals every Sunday. He invited
Albert to spend some time with his family..
When Edward was only a few months old
Albert was offered the post of Professor of Theoretical Physics at the German University
in Prague.
After discussing with his wife they decided that Albert should accept the job. Albert promised to Mileva that they would come back
to Zurich.
Albert was totally unlike the average
German professor. At the reception given for his arrival in Prague, held to at a luxurious hotel, the
porter mistook him with the electrician. Albert tried hard to adapt to the
customs of the University and what was expected of him.
Einstein made a
number of friends nevertheless and among them a Professor of Sanskrit. He made
musical among to the musicians, and in his leisure time he would play informal concerts
in private houses.
He was content enough with his life in Prague except that he held
he would never be able to make Mileva happy. In Prague he brought face to face with a problem
he found incredible and terrifying-the problem of the Jews
11.The Jewish
problem
It was not until in 1910 that Albert
realized that the Jews were in any way singled out from the rest of community
in which they lived-not only by the people with money like in Zurich, but by the majority of the people.
Prague
was a very particular city in those days
and the entire population had taken sides like two rival schoolboy gangs. One
was Czech and another was Austrians. Both taught at University and because of their
hostility the University was divided into two separate institutions and even
two professors of everything. When it came to considering Jews, the Germans
were even more muddled.
Albert had always kept out of racial and
political intrigue but he found himself in the middle of a web. His closer
colleague was a brilliant mathematician, George Pick. He was a Jew, too, with
twenty years older than Albert and he
died in a Nazi concentration camp. Before dying Georg
introduced Albert to his musical
friends, this meant that Albert could
play again. Taking part in a chamber-music recital made him temporally forget
the conflict from Prague.
He had another group of friends, all Jews. They were among the first Zionist,
Jews who wanted a Jewish nation in Palestine.
Most of the clever, young Jewish men were writers or
artists or scientists, and Max, Hugo-the University librarian, Albert and a
fourth Franz Kafka, were always among those who met daily in a coffeshop.
Nohel,
his assistant from Bohemia,
made Albert change his mind. The later told Albert some disturbing stories
about anti-semis and Albert started to wonder if his friends ha something on
their side.
After two years in Prague, Albert
was offered a post at the Polytechnic and he accepted. Albert's departure from Austria
had not been expected by his colleagues. The papers from Prague
wrote that Albert had been persecuted by the professor at the University or
other said that he had left because he was a Jew and he had been treated badly
by the Government, but the real reason was that Minerva's greatest desire was
to return to Zurich.
12.Zurich
again
Albert loved being back in Zurich. There was a triumph, too, and being
the prize of the Polytechnic after being turned down for failing the entrance
examination. He was delighted to work with Marcel Grossmann, his old student
friend who find him the job in the Patent Office.
Einstein's
research was exciting too. He had a new Theory of Gravitation and he hoped
before long to be able to publish his results. He had the chance of explaining
his work in Brussels,
where for the first time he had meet many scientist from all over the world. In
this group of scientists were included the renowned Marie Currie, who
discovered the radium.
Albert
and Marie had written to each other
after the meeting in Brussels
and they planned a holiday to take their children on a mountaineering holiday. Marie had two daughters. Mileva could not go with
them because she needed to stay with Edward. Albert
and Mileva knew that their marriage had failed and that they were not happy
together.
The holiday was wonderful, and Albert returned to Zurich mentally and physically refreshed.
When the new academic year had begun Albert
was lecturing again to Polytechnic. At the end of November he receive an
invitation to a conference in Vienna,
asking him to explain the Theory of Gravitation
He was delighted to have the opportunity of
visiting Vienna.
There he wanted to meet Ernest Mach, a philosopher and a physicist who influenced his activity, but this was
forced to an early retirement twelve years before. He had become paralyzed from
the waist down. He lived in a pleasant suburb of the city. Albert wrote to Mr.
Ernest saying that he was coming to Vienna
and asked if he might visit him.
As soon as Albert
finished his speech to the conference he took a horse-drawn bus to the
outskirts of Vienna
where the Professor lived. He found the Professor house and a landlady opened
the door and directed him upstairs.
He knocked at the door and a gruff voice
invited him in. Professor
Mach was sitting in a wheel-chair.
He had a large face with flourish features, and there was a sly amiability
about the expression in his eyes. They soon had a discussion about the doctrine
which had puzzled Albert for years. It was a most successful and happy visit
and Albert returned to Zurich very satisfied with his stay to Vienna.
13.War
At the conference in Vienna
it had been suggested to Albert to work in Berlin as director into a research institute.
This institute was called Royal
Prussian Academy
of Science.
For Albert it was a wonderful chance,
not only financially but it also gave him
freedom to work unhindered by lecturing. At the same time he would be in contact
with the foremost scientists and mathematicians who constantly visited Berlin.
There was only one worrying and
disturbing element in this rosy future. If Albert went to Berlin
he would have gone alone because Mileva had decided to remain in Zurich with her sons.
Their marriage has been miserable and if Albert would go to Berlin to put end marriage to their marriage.
Albert loved his children, but he had thought that personal problems were insignificant
compared those of the universe so he decided to go to Berlin.
He wrote a simple letter to the Royal
Academy of Science thanking them for
that opportunity. He went to Berlin
in April, 1914, ready to develop himself to his research.
In Berlin he felt very much alone. The marriage
with Mileva was legal broke. He had
arrived in Berlin
in the spring. In August the Germany Army marched into Belgium and the First World War had
begun. In Berlin
excited crowds thronged the streets, confident in the supremacy of the nation. Albert did not join them, he loathed war. Many
colleagues of Albert began their researches investigating types of explosives
and poison gas, Many of them left their work and joined to the army.
The newspapers in Berlin were full of Germans victories and
praise for soldiers. But at home the most vital problem was food. Food was
short, so short that soon the majority of citizens were suffering from
malnutrition, and Albert was one of
them. He had to spend periods in bed, and if had not been for the kindness of a
friend, Hedwing Born, he might could have got a lot worse
Albert
had some relations living in Berlin,
an uncle and an aunt and a cousin named Elsa.
They had come from Swabia as long ago as his
own parents had. He was glad to have a place to go for a good meal. He was interested
in meeting Elsa again because it was years not seeing her.
Albert found that Elsa had two girl from a previous marriage.-Ilse and Margot those
two girls become the substitute for his own sons. Elsa
was proud of her cousin, but she could not understand his work. She likes to
help him by making life easy For
Albert it seemed quite natural to ask Elsa to marry with him he was wry happy
with Elsa and he had not lived in such comfortable surrounding had his meals so
regularly since he was a boy.
Albert
had not forgotten his responsibilities towards Mileva and his sons, and of the
wartime were difficulty of transferring money from Germany
to Switzerland so he begged
her to bring the boys and come to live in Germany, but she refused.
14.Einstein-Zionist
1918 was a happy year for Albert.
He spent the summer holiday with his sons, whom he had not seen for four years.
Edward was still only a boy but Albert
was almost a man. He said to his father that he went to fallow the Zurich
Polytechnic
In 1919 there appeared a headline in the
Times" Revolution in Physics. Newtonian ideas were overthrown". From that day Albert Einstein
become famous in the entire world. He realized that he had been forced into a
position of responsibility. Albert
knew that whatever he said in public would be reported in the newspaper.
Albert was managed to keep his private
life and he was able to bring his mother from Italy to stay with him. She was very
old now and she enjoyed to be with his soon. They talked for hour about the
days when they had lived in Munich and Milan. While she was
staying in Berlin,
Albert's mother became seriously ill,
and after a short time she died. Her death upset Albert
very much and he was greatly disturbed by news in the outside world. The whole
year become fixed in his memory-the year in which he lost his mother and
actively took up the cause of Zionist.
The war might have been over, but
anti-semitism had not declined in Germany. Albert
had always doubts about Zionist. He did believe that nationalism, it led to war
and the wrong sorts of feelings. If Palestine was to become
anew nation for Jews, would it really help mankind? Palestine was not large enough, and he envisaged
trouble with the Arabs who lived there. The British Government had said they would support the plan. And all over the
world the Jews were unlike in their effort to achieve the goal, to have their
own country, not to be forever the rather unwelcome visitors in those belonging
to other people.
He went to Vienna, and he found that his old friend Fiedrich Adler
was in prison for life, having assassinated one of the head of Government by
shooting him during a dinner in a big hotel.
Albert returned to Berlin, were he was more of a public figure
than ever.
Not long after he arrived home he received an
invitation from Chaim
Weizman, leader of Zionist and
professor to University in Manchester -to go
with him in United States to
raise money for a Hebrew
University-. It was very
important for the Jewish people and he wanted to contribute something else to
the world beside scientific discoveries. All this time he took Elsa whit him.
America was a country in which he
felt that one day he might happily live. He was a convinced new that his stay
in Germany was not
permanent-from that moment no Jew could or should consider Germany his home.
15.Travel and
Nobel Prize
Albert seemed destinated to travel. No sooner was he home from
U.S.A .than he received an invitation to go to England. The Minister for War, Lord Haldane, wanted Albert to give some lectures and meet British scientists.
He accepted this invitation and he went to England..
The Archbishop of Canterbury had heard
that Albert was in England and had written to Mr. Haldane asking for an
introduction, and Mr.
Haldane accepted. He put him next
to Albert at the table and they were soon deep in conversation.
The question of Relativity puzzled a
lot of people. An American offered a prize of five thousand dollars for the
best essay on the theory. The prize was such a generous one that the response
was overwhelming. The prize was won by an Irishman who worked in a Patent
Office which was a coincidence as it was in a Patent Office that the theory
first began.
Albert started to travel again, this
time in France.
France
was still considered as an enemy in spite of the war had been over for four years. It was a gathering of admirers who
had come to welcome him.
Albert
gave a public lecture at the College de France in Paris. There he met
with his old friend Marie Currie. Albert
enjoyed visiting France.
On his return from Paris,
Albert found an invitation from Zurich
awaiting him. He would have gone to Zurich,
the city he had considered his home but he was tired. He wrote to Zurich to announce that he
could not go.
Albert
had been asked to visit China
and Japan and he was going
to take the opportunity of seeing Palestine
too. For Albert and Elsa it was an exciting time. While they were in China
he learned of an honor awaiting him at home. The Swedish Academy
had awarded him the Nobel Prize for Physics in his Quantum Theory-perhaps the
greatest tribute of all.
After five days Albert and his wife
went to Japan
where they stayed three months. He loved the country and the people who seemed
so moderate and relaxed in comparison with the Europeans. He admired the
Japanese love of art and theatre.
Albert's lecture was always attended
by hundreds of students, and as they could not understand German, an
interpreter translated for them. The first lecture took four hour and Albert was quite upset, but this attitude had changed
to the second one/
In February Albert
went to Palestine.
Palestine was
administrated by British. Albert was
invited by the High Commissioner, Sir
Herbert Samuel,
to stay with him. Sir
Herbert had a very difficult job.
He had to keep the peace between Jews and Arabs.
Although Albert
had worked hard for the Zionists, he was not popular with everyone in Palestine. He wanted to
see all aspects of the country. He went to see the city of Tel-Aviv. The head community was a girl of
twenty-two, by the name of Miriam. Albert had known this girl in Prague, but when she was younger.
Albert and Elsa traveled by ship from Palestine to France,
and then they went to Spain.
In Spain Albert had the privileged to meet the King. In June Elsa accompanied
him to Gothenburg in Sweden
where he received the Nobel Prize award. The sum of money was sent to Mileva to
help her and the two boys.
16.The fugitive
Since his visit in America
nearly ten years before Albert had wanted to go back in America. He was invited to spend
three winters in California.
He was delighted. In December he and Elsa
left for the United States,
spent a winter in the sunshine and returned to Berlin in spring. Albert was very happy
dividing his time between the two countries.
In January, President Hindenburg appointed a new Chan
cellar, Adolph Hitler. The policy of this new Government was that of the
State's supremacy, over every aspect of life. One of the first steps the Government
took to realize their policy was to sack any teacher or professor that they
considered "unfit" for the post. The ones they considered unfit were Jews-even
a person who had one Jewish grandparent was a "non-Aryan" and he lost his job.
The Germans who had idolized Albert
now began to hate him with a fierce, fanatical hatred. He was considered to be
the lieder of a secret movement against the Government. His theories were
re-examined and presented as 'Jewish' and 'Bolshevist'.
Albert decided he
would not return to Berlin, and when he left Pasadena he went to a
Belgian seaside resort, Le Coque. He wrote to the
Academy in Berlin
resigning his post. They stayed in Le Coque until
autumn. Albert played his violin with a group of musicians wich included the
talented Queen of the Belgians.
Albert's fears
were not for himself but for humanity, yet he had good reason to be afraid. Le Coque was near German border and in a simple expedition
he could be killed. The Belgian Government and Royal Family had decided to give
Albert a bodyguard, and two powerfully builds. Crack-shoot men were sent to his
house to watch them day and night.
A German sent a letter to Albert asking for a meeting. Albert refused to meet him. The German continued to
send him other letters. Elsa decided she
would meet him and find out what this man wanted.
Elsa met this man and assured the German that this was an
error ,but was disturbing to know that the Nazis believe Albert to be the
leader of an opposition political party.
Albert did not intend to stay long in Belgium. He had been offered posts in
Paris, Spain
or America.
He visited London where an Academic Council had
been formed to aid these refugees, and spoke on "Science and Liberty" at a meeting at the Albert Hall.
As he stayed on the platform the vast audience of seven thousand people spontaneously
stood up to greet him.
From England,
together with Elsa and his secretary, Helen Dukas.
Albert went to America
where he finally decided to live. He was interested in the Institute for
Advance Studies in Princeton, an institution devotated entirely to research, and
having no prejudices, racial, political or national.
Elsa found a house
with a large garden a mile and a half from institute and Albert
often used to walk to work along the pleasant avenue. Albert loved America
and did not fall in the least homesick. But Elsa
was not so adaptable. She never accepted that she was living in America.
In 1936 she became suddenly ill and died. Without her Albert felt that all his links with Germany were severed. In that year Marcel Grossman,
his friend died too. He continued to live in Princeton
with his two stepdaughters.
In 1938 Germany
invaded Czechoslovakia.
In 1939 Poland and England
declared war. In 1939 too, Albert
wrote a letter to President Roosevelt
saying that he discovered the way to produce the atomic bomb. America was not yet at war but she
was supporting the Allies in every possible way. Albert
suggested to President Roosevelt
that America
should work urgently to produce an atomic weapon.
17.American
citizen
Einstein became an American citizen in 1941 and in his new
country he was now something of a myth. A girl wrote him a letter asking if he
was really a person or a kind of fairy story. Everything Albert
did or said was magnified and given importance.
In 1941 the Japanese suddenly bombed the American Fleet at
Pearl Harbor, thus bringing the United
States into the war. In 1945 an atomic bomb
was dropped to Hiroshima in Japan. Albert
was horrified at the misery and devastation the bomb had caused. The war was now
over. Events had made it imperative for U.S. to develop and use the secret
of its manufacture must be kept and never used again.
Albert had not
been well for some times. His heart was bad and the doctors in Princeton had
sent him in Brooklyn to have an operation to
diagnose the exact trouble. The diagnose was not a happy one. Albert might die at any time. No-one could say how
long he had left.
In 1952 Britain
had given up her Mandate for Palestine, and a
new nation Israel,
come into being. Albert's old friend Chaim Weizmann
was the first President. He died in November 9th. The Israeli
Ambassador, Mr. Abba Eban, telephoned Washington to talk to
Albert to propose him to be the
President of Israel. Albert refused polite..
On his seventy-four birthday the Cake Baker's Union of the New York presented him
with a cake made in the shape of books. In spit of the doctor's gloomy prophecy, Albert was still
tolerantly well and able to enjoy his birthday.
Albert's last
birthday was in 1955. In April he signed an appeal sent him by the English
philosopher, Bertrand Russell, entreating Governments to renounce nuclear war,
signed by eminent scientist from all over the world including Professor Juliet-Curie,
Marie Curie's son-in-low, who married Eve. All his life Albert
had supported principles like this one.
When the recent supply of Russian and Czech arms to Egypt had made Israel's position very insecure. Albert offered to explain Israel's point of view on the radio
and television. On 27 April
Albert's suggestion were put in effect
and was declared Israel
Independence Day. A few days before Albert
become ill were taken to Princeton hospital
where he refused an operation. The treatment he had there relieved his pain and
he felt well enough to work. Within a
few hours he had telephoned his secretary to bring his glasses and papers to
the hospital and asked to see Margot. She arrived in a wheelchair.
Over the week-end he felt even better, and was delighted to
see his son Albert. On Sunday night it
seemed as if he would recover. He was cheerful and alert, and when he turned
the out light to sleep, his remained work..
At midnight he was sleeping peacefully. At one o'clock, quite his heart stopped
beating,
There was no public funeral. Albert
had expressly wished it. He wanted no monuments or vast weeping crowds. He was cremated on the day he died,
and only his closet friends and relatives were there for the ceremony.
Three months later, when the scientists 'appeal for peace was released to the world's Press, with
Albert's name posthumously among the signatures, it was apparent that the ideas
he believed in and fought for had not died with him.
. Conclusion
Ever since the dawn of history men have
been fascinated by the heavenly bodies. The sun dominated our lives rising and
falling down every day with perfect regularity. Next in importance comes the
moon, and then there are the planets, including the earth, which resolve in
orbits round the sun. Finally became the fixed star.
The Greeks tried to provide a description
of the way in which the planets moved, but these descriptions were largely incorrect.
The great astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria made a description what was accepted
without question. In the 17th century have been improved instruments
of observation which had convinced the men that the Greeks picture could not be
true.
In 1687 Sir Isaac
Newton introduced the idea of a
force, named gravity, acting throughout the entire Universe. In 1845 a
remarkable test of Newton's
theory came. It had been noticed by astronomers that the planet Uranus is
cycling round the sun. They have discovered a new planet that makes the Uranus
not following exactly the path expected.
Einstein
suggested that our whole map of space and time "require altering, but only a
mathematician can fully understand this". Einstein
had an important contribution to physical science. At the age of 25 he put
forward new ideas on the nature of lights, of electricity and molecular motion. All these contributions established
the reputation of an ordinary scientist.
Bibliography:
The story of Albert Einstein by Gillian Freeman
Albert Einstein by
Albrecht Folsing
Einstein by J Bernstein
Einstein - a life by D Brian
Albert Einstein by U Charpa
Einstein: The Life and Times by R W Clark
A Einstein, The collected papers of Albert
Einstein. Vol. 1 : The early years
