A Glimpse Inside The Enigma Of
Albert Einstein
by
Ron White
All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the
publisher, except where permitted by law.
All photos inserted in this ebook have been researched as being available for public
domain.
2
Forward
There has not been a human being in the last century that has contributed more toward
peace and wartime, science and philosophy than Albert Einstein. He is indeed the Man of
the Century, and a Man of the Ages – yet remains, to paraphrase Winston Church, “a
riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
Researchers have explored his life, scientists have dissected his brain, mathematicians
have tried to replicate and disprove his work, and generations have wanted to find the
secrets to his amazing brainpower. Despite many years of valiant efforts, Albert Einstein
will remain a man of mystery.
Albert Einstein was an amazing person, but still a human being – flawed, passionate,
grounded and yet focused. He lived his life with a zest that can be envied - and many
look at with awe. He was, without a doubt, one of the most revered men in history, and
he left a legacy that will endure forever in the fields of energy, gravity, light, and time.
The more I learn about him the more questions I have. It is always in my mind – was he
so brilliant because he was allowed the freedom as a child to question the world around
him, or was he born with natural abilities that made him so exceptional? I tend to believe
he was born a normal person, with the same brain capacity of most of us, but expanded
his brain’s ability through his curiosity, passion to find answers, and because he was
allowed the freedom to explore he took his enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge further
than most of us.
3
Table of Contents
1. Interest in Math and Science was Inherited …………………………… 5
2. A Precocious Child In An Uncomfortable Environment………………. 7
3. The Importance of Friendship……...………………………………...… 11
4. Education Is Not Confined To The Classroom………………………… 17
5. Major Discoveries, Patent, and Recognitions…..……………...…….... 20
6. Personal Conflicts and Disappointments.………….…………………... 23
7. Frustrations and Focus ………………………………………………... 25
8. A Simple Man In The Public Eye.…..………………………………… 27
9. Passion For Peace, Second Only To Work…………..……………...… 30
10. World War II – Einstein in Exile……….……….……………………. 34
11. Influencing Development of the Atomic Bomb……………………… 37
12. Continuous Battle For Peace and Disarmament…...…………………. 40
13. Risks, Failures and Criticism………………………………………… 43
14. “Aha” Moments, Music and Leisure…………………………….…… 46
15. How Einstein Saw The World……………………….……………..… 49
16. Einstein’s Final Years………………………………………………... 54
17. A Legacy and Life Lessons…………………………………………... 56
18. The Wisdom of Einstein - Famous Quotes………………………….. 58
19. Bibliography………………………………………………………….. 61
4
Chapter 1
Interest In Math and Science Was Inherited
Hermann Einstein (also known as Hermann Moos), father to Albert Einstein, was born in
Buchau, Württemberg on July 3, 1814 to Abraham Einstein and Helene Moos. At 14 he
attended secondary school in Stuttgart, Germany and was hoping to continue his
education in mathematics at the University, however due to financial reasons his family
demanded he go to work instead. He became a merchant’s apprentice in Stuttgart.
Pauline Koch, mother to Albert, was born in February 8, 1858 to Julius Doerzbacher,
who had accepted the family name Koch in 1842, and Jette Bernheimer. They were
Jewish. Her father was from Jebenhausen, now part of the city of Göppingen. Later he
lived in Cannstatt and, together with his brother Heinrich, made a considerable fortune in
the corn trade. They even became “Royal Württemberg Purveyor to the Court.”
In Cannstatt on August 8, 1876, when Pauline turned 18 years old, she married Hermann
Einstein. They soon and moved to Ulm, where Hermann became a joint partner in a bed
feathers company.
Albert Einstein was born, on March 14, 1879.
The following year the family moved to
Munich where his father and his uncle Jakob
founded an electrical engineering company
called Einstein & Cie. In 1881, Albert’s sister
Maria (nicknamed Maja) was born.
The Einstein brothers’ electrical company
manufactured a meter based on direct
electrical current (called dynamos), and was
instrumental in bringing electricity to Munich.
Einstein's parents - Hermann and Pauline
At that time, Munich was the capital of
Bavaria, a very Catholic city. They won to
light up the Oktoberfest in Bavaria for the first time, in1885.
A few years later, Hermann and his brother lost a bidding war to Siemens for an electrical
contract. Siemens was promoting an alternating current meter. It was at that time the
brothers’ fortunes started to change. They moved their company to Pavia, Italy in 1894,
and Hermann, Pauline and Maja moved to Milan, leaving Albert with relatives in Munich
to continue school.
By 1896, poor revenues forced the factory to close. Hermann founded another electrical
company in Milan, without his brother, and although business there was better, he relied
heavily on the Koch family (Pauline’s family) for financial help. By 1902 the stress of
financial struggles cause Hermann to move his family back to Germany.
5
Chapter 1 - Points To Ponder
1. Looking back, is there something in your life you would have liked to pursue, but
didn’t have the opportunity?
2. What’s stopping you from pursuing it now?
3. What would you do to support your family if circumstances caused you to change
careers or close your business? How would you handle it?
6
Chapter 2
A Precocious Child In An Uncomfortable Environment
Pauline Einstein was a well-educated woman who loved the music and the arts. She was
an excellent piano player, and started Albert out with piano and violin lessons when he
was five.
When Albert was four or five, as a way to console his son when he was ill, his father
showed him a pocket compass. Albert was mesmerized by the bauble, and the fact that
the needle continued to point north, despite turning the compass around and around. This
was his first encounter with science, and seemed to stick with him.
It is often reported that Albert did not speak until he was three or four. When his sister
Maria (called Maja) was born in 1881, Albert was two and he thought she was a toy, so
asked, “Yes, but where does it have its small wheels?” He could speak, he simply chose
not too very often.
Einstein was encouraged to find his own way from the time he was a toddler. His parents
allowed him to cross the street on his own when he was four, despite the danger (in those
days from horse and carriage as opposed to cars). He was not afraid to take risks. He had
a wonderment about him that endured throughout his life. It was this curiosity that
allowed him to question everything, and a determination to find the answers. His thirst
for knowledge was what led him to the most important discoveries of our time, and will
be the basis for many new discoveries from scores of
scientists from here on.
At age six Albert was enrolled in the Persschule on
Blumenstrasse, a Catholic elementary school in
Munich. His parents were not practicing Jews, and
were not concerned about the school’s religious
affiliation as much as they were the quality of the
education. Albert was the only Jew, but did well in
school. He kept his distance from his peers, choosing to
read in a corner or sit quietly away from the other
children, immersed in his own world. He was not at all
comfortable with the strict policies and military-like
drills that existed in the school.
According to Maja, who was her brother’s closest
friend, Albert liked to play with “puzzles, jigsaw
Albert and sister Maja
works, and building complex constructions with a
construction kit. He liked best building houses of cards, which he was able to build up to
14 stories high as a 10-year-old. He was less interested in wild and sportive games with
other children, and as he got older he began to read very much and was very
concentrated.”
7
When he was ten Albert was accepted into the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich. It was a
highly respected school that emphasized Latin and Greek, and were not as concerned
about math and science. Albert was extremely unhappy there, so looked outside the
school for other things to study. His Uncle Jakob lent him an algebra book, and sent him
math puzzles to solve. A friend of the Einstein family, a 21-year-old medical student
named Max Talmud, also lent him books on philosophy and popular science. Albert
eagerly devoured all these books and hungered for more.
Contrary to many reports, Einstein received decent grades, but was willful in nature and
had open contempt for rote learning and blind obedience to authority. Some teachers
thought him slow because he did not speak up immediately with the answers, but took his
time weighing all the options.
When time for recess, Albert often sat thinking and
observing instead of taking part in the activities. He
could sit and study the veins in a leaf, or look up at the
sky and wonder about the clouds. He did not fit into the
niche of a “normal” child.
After his death neuroscientists began to question
whether Albert Einstein had a highly developed, yet
mild form of autism, called Asperger’s Syndrome. He
had difficulty with social skills, seldom spoke until he
was three or four, and was preoccupied with complex
subjects like math, science and music. Due to the nature
of the “high mind set” connected to math and science,
people usually brushed off his behavior as simply being
“eccentric,” or having trouble communicating due to his
heavy German accent.
Albert at 14
On the other side of the coin are scientists, such as Glen
Elliott, a psychiatrist with the University of California at San Francisco, who doesn’t
believe Einstein had Asperger syndrome. “One can imagine geniuses who are socially
inept, and yet not remotely autistic. Impatience with the intellectual slowness of others,
narcissism and passion for one’s mission in life might combine to make such an
individuals isolative and difficult.” He possessed a wonderful sense of humor, which
most with Asperger’s do not have, although it has been found that a minority of them,
especially those intellectually gifted in mathematics, actually do have a highly developed
sense of humor.
It may never be determined if Einstein had Asperger’s syndrome or not. It is possible
that his genius was due to wiring that was different from most of us, but then again it
could simply be he was so intent on finding answers to as many questions as he could
that he simply didn’t have time to waste on mundane tasks, unless it served his ability to
unwind.
8
Albert was constantly asking questions and aggravating teachers. He was “his own
person,” and found the rote teachings of groupthink educators contemptible, which
prompted his Greek teacher, Joseph Degenhart, to say to him, “Your presence in the class
destroys the respect of the students.” Degenhart was not alone in his frustration with
Albert -whose most often asked question was, “Why?” Most often the teachers didn’t
know the answers themselves. After Albert learned to read he stopped asking so many
questions, and set out to find the answers on his own.
It was Degenhart who once told Albert Einstein that it didn’t make any difference what
profession he chose to pursue, “Nothing would ever become of you.”
To others this would leave a child feeling defeated and depressed. To Einstein it was a
form of liberation. He once said later on, “He who joyfully marches to the rank and file
has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for
him a spinal cord would have sufficed.”
By 11, Albert entered his religious phase, reading the Bible, composing short hymns to
God’s glory, and observing the strict kosher diet laws of Judaism. This fervor was shortlived, however, and midway through his training for his Bar Mitzvah, the passion for
science overtook his passion for religion. By the time he was 13 he actually began to
shun any type of organized religion, and all forms of dogma.
When the family moved to Italy they made arrangements for Albert to stay at the
Gymnasium in Munich to complete school before joining them. Growing unhappier with
school, after six months Albert persuaded a doctor to write an official note diagnosing
him with “neurasthenic exhaustion.” It gave him the opportunity to get away from the
increasingly military tension within the school. In addition, he was spurred on by the fact
that German law stipulated that if a
boy left the country before the age of
17 he would be exempt from military
service.
His parents were not happy with his
unexpected arrival in Pavia, especially
when he announced his intentions to
denounce his German citizenship as
well as his Jewish faith. He had been
growing more isolated and
independent. He promised his parents
he intended to study for entrance to the
Federal Swiss Polytechnic, an
advanced technical institute in Zurich.
Friends for life: Conrad Habicht, Maurice
Solovine and Albert Einstein, the
"Olympian Academy"
9
Chapter 2 - Points To Ponder
1. What would you do if a teacher spoke to you the way Degenhart did to Albert? Would
you allow it to hold you back, or would you take it as a challenge?
2. Do you think the educational system’s method of teaching is working? What would
you do to fix it? What steps have you taken to express your concerns?
3. How do you react when a child asks you a lot of questions? Do you simply brush them
away, or do you take the time to explain and give them an answer they will understand or better yet, help them find the answer on their own?
10
Chapter 3
The Importance of Friendship
Most biographies of Albert Einstein focus primarily on his work and philosophies,
providing little information about his personal life and close friendships, especially with
Michelle Besso, an engineer, and Heinrich Zangger, a professor of forensic medicine at
the University of Zurich. The influence these two men had on Einstein’s life, both
personally and professionally, were profound - and lasted throughout his lifetime.
Even though he seriously studied throughout the summer of 1895, Albert failed the
entrance exams to Zurich Polytechnic. He spent the next year in a Swiss secondary
school in Aarau preparing to retake the exam. He boarded at the home of one of the
teachers at the school, Jost Winteler, and spent a happy year getting along with the seven
Winteler children. By 1896, when he received his diploma, he had overcome his shy and
lonely gymnasium school days and become a confident and self-assured young man.
Despite Einstein’s bad experience in Munich schools, he enjoyed learning and his grades
were good. His parent’s non-restraint parenting skills fostered in him a desire to explore
and learn, which was able to keep the bad taste he had from the school systems from
holding him back. He enrolled in the Zurich Polytechnic in October of 1896, when he
was still six months short of turning 18, choosing to participate in a four-year teachers’
training course that would allow him to teach high school mathematics and physics. This
choice probably was a compromise between Albert and his parents, which would satisfy
their need for him to have an education where he could earn a living, and he could pursue
his study of math and physics.
While at Polytechnic he resided in student housing in the bourgeois district of Hottengen.
His maternal grandparents, the Kochs’, provided most of the 100 Swiss francs he lived
on.
Albert’s circle of friends was not large, but he made several influential and close friends,
including Marcel Grossman, Michele Angelo Besso, and Mileva Maric.
Grossman was a mathematics student, one year ahead of him in school. He came from a
liberal Swiss environment, and his father owned a factory in Zurich. Einstein admired
Grossman and thought him to be a model student, so relied heavily on his notes when it
came time to study for final examinations.
Michele Angelo Besso (Born May 25,1873) was a Swiss/Italian engineer of
Jewish/Italian descent. In 1896, Einstein and Besso met at an amateur musical gathering
in Zurich while both were studying at the Federal Polytechnic Institute. Besso was six
years older than Einstein, and they formed the closest relationship of Einstein’s life,
being a confidant for both his personal life and his research. He once called Besso “the
best sounding board in Europe” for scientific ideas. They both enjoyed playing the violin,
and Einstein respected Besso’s intelligence.
11
Besso encouraged Albert to study the works of Ernst Mach, a contemporary Austrian
philosopher and physicist who was noted for his contributions to physics and the study of
shock waves. Mach was a prominent figure in his time for his position on logical
positivism, and Einstein was drawn to his ideas through his criticism of Sir Isaac Newton.
Mach greatly influenced Einstein's approach, and later his theory of relativity.
A neighbor of Einstein’s, Fredrick Adler, formed a Mastermind Group. Throughout his
life Einstein had his group of like-minded people who thrived on the same interests and
could bounce ideas off each other. Einstein once said, “Small minds discuss people,
average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas”.
Due to his charismatic personality, Albert was popular with many of the women on
campus. Between the autumn of 1899 and the summer of 1900 he became involved with
Mileva Maric, a Hungarian student
three years ahead of him at
Polytechnic. Mileva was not
particularly brilliant, but a very
determined and hard-working
student.
In July of 1901, not long after their
graduation, Mileva told Albert she
was pregnant. Albert planned to
marry her, but his parents were
against the marriage because they
felt Mileva’s social standing was
beneath theirs.
Her family, on the other hand, was
very supportive of their plans to
marry; especially when they found
out she was pregnant. When the baby girl, whom they named Lieserl, was born in
January 1902,
Mileva and Albert, 1903
Mileva’s parents took the child, and after that the history of the little girl is non-existent.
Some say the child died from scarlet fever in 1903, while others speculate she was given
up for adoption. There is no record of her existence since then, or adoption papers to
prove one way or another. Albert never mentioned her after his last correspondence with
Mileva, where he expressed concern about the baby suffering from scarlet fever.
After graduation, Albert had problems getting a teaching position, primarily due to a poor
recommendation by a German professor (as well as high tensions in the area against
Jews). His friend from Polytechnics, Grossman, was finally able to help Albert secure a
position with the Swiss patent office in Bern.
12
Albert and Mileva continued to see each other, even after the baby was born. Once Albert
got his job at the patent office, in 1903, the couple married.
After completing the statistical and light quanta papers in 1905, Einstein finally was able
to put his mind fully to the problem of motion, something he had been thinking about for
some time. As he later recalled, he “felt a great difficulty to resolve the question... I had
wasted time almost a year in fruitless considerations...” Einstein’s turning point,
personally and for modern physics, came from Besso. He later related how this
unexpected turn had come about in a lecture he gave in Kyoto in 1922. “That was a very
beautiful day when I visited him (Besso) and began to talk with him as follows: ‘I have
recently had a question which was difficult for me to understand. So I came here today to
bring with me a battle on the question.’ Trying a lot of discussions with him, I could
suddenly comprehend the matter. Next day I visited him again and said to him without
greeting, "Thank you. I've completely solved the problem.”
It had become clear to Einstein during his exchange with Besso that the correlation of
time at different spatial locations is not absolutely defined, and there must be some form
of communication between these locations. This concept, of two dimensions working at
the same time (or parallel universes) came to be. Five weeks after their conversation
Einstein completed “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”, in which he presented
the special theory of relativity.
From his letters to Heinrich Zangger we are able to conclude that Einstein held a great
deal of trust in Zangger’s friendship, and sought out his advice on a number of things in
his life. “I was originally supposed to become an engineer, but the thought of having to
expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined,
with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me.” - 1918.
In 1911, Zangger was instrumental in getting Einstein appointed to a chair of theoretical
physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Later he wrote to Zangger, “The
more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks.”– May 20,1912.
Zangger, Besso and their families assisted with, and offered to be intermediaries for
Einstein and his first family during their five-year separation (coinciding with World War
I) while the family lived in Zurich and Einstein stayed in Berlin. They both participated
in decisions as to the care of Einstein’s mother, and he once wrote to Zangger, “My
mother has died...We are all completely exhausted. One feels in one’s bones the
significance of blood ties.” - March 1920.
The friends both also took care of Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Maric, and sons as they
went through malnutrition, economical hard times, and physical and mental health
problems. His youngest son, Edmund, was stricken with multiple physical ailments and
ultimately was institutionalization for mental problems.
The pair also were support systems for Einstein as he courted his second wife, and
cousin, Elsa Einstein, and wrote to his friend Besso, “The solitude and peace of mind are
13
serving me quite well, not the least of which is due to the excellent and truly enjoyable
relationship with my cousin; its stability will be guaranteed by the avoidance of
marriage.” - February 12, 1915.
Scientific topics remained an important aspect of their exchanges in the following years,
with Einstein reporting on progress in his work. Zangger invited Einstein to a conference
he was organizing on the concept of probability. They shared their mutual dismay at the
ravages of World War I, and addressed Einstein’s interventions on behalf of his friend
Friedrich Adler, who was awaiting sentence in Vienna for the assassination of the AustroHungarian Prime Minister, Count Karl Stürgkh.
Einstein kept his friends informed of his work over the years, and worked with them to
help other Jewish scientists get out of Germany prior to and during World War II. From
personal accounts released from his family only recently we are able to get to know more
about Einstein the man as he shared with his friends his political views, his attacks by
other scientists over his theories, and his distaste for the publicity he received.
Albert Einstein was not a reclusive man as he got older, and enjoyed a wide circle of
friendships and acquaintances. Unlike most scientists that many would call ‘geeks’ today,
Einstein thrived on socializing. He made friends easily, with his wit and upbeat attitude,
and he coveted them even more deeply than he did his marriages.
When you became a friend to Albert Einstein you held a loyalty others would envy.
Throughout his adult life people were constantly trying to exploit Einstein for their own
gain. Being a simple and humble man he shied away from the limelight, but did reach out
to people he enjoyed spending time with.
“Of all the communities available to us, there is not one I would want to devote myself to
except for the society of the true seekers, which has very few living members at any one
time.”—Albert Einstein, to Max and Hedwig Born, April 29, 1924.
One of those Einstein enjoyed company with was Gillett Griffin, who at the time he met
Einstein was a 25-year-old art historian who was working in Princeton University’s
graphic arts library. Einstein was 74 at the time, but took a shine to the young man that
lasted until his death. Griffin never was sure why Einstein liked him, he believed it was
because they had different interests, and he was at ease with not having the pressure of
‘shop talk’ around him all the time. “He knew that I was not using him, that everything
that was said was being held,” Griffin said. Out of a desire to respect Einstein's closely
guarded privacy, Griffin said he took no pictures of Einstein and chose not to write down
the contents of any conversations. Griffin said the friendship made him the “luckiest
person I’ve ever known.”
Einstein was a man of compassion. He gave the same degree of respect to everyone, no
matter what his or her station in life was. His friendships ranged from famous men to the
simple, and they all were treated equally. He was a man who cared about people, and was
always trying to ‘fix’ their problems – often to the chagrin of those who didn’t think they
14
needed ‘fixing’. Sometimes he got a little carried away, trying to repair the lives of those
he thought needed ‘help’, but it was always done out of affection.
A young man, Maurice Solovine, once replied to an ad Einstein had placed in the
newspaper for him to teach math lessons. Einstein took a shine to the lad and when he
was asked how much Solovine owed him, Einstein replied that he didn’t want his money,
however he did want his friendship.
Albert Einstein felt that small, daily acts of kindness were the basis for relationships,
whether they were amorous or plutonic, and he had a way of making people feel at ease
and accepted. He is quoted as saying: “Only a life lived for others is worth living.”
Max Planck had developed what we now know as the
‘quantum theory’. Einstein took Planck’s theory and
advanced it with his work on the photoelectric effect.
Some scientists were nudging Einstein to take credit for
Planck’s discovery. Einstein refused to take credit for
someone else’s work. Planck went on to win the Nobel
Prize for his work. Planck and Einstein later developed a
deep friendship. In later years Planck and Einstein had a
falling out, mostly due to a series of tragedies in Planck’s
life and his withdrawal and depression. Einstein was not
able to comfort his friend, and spent the rest of his life
regretting their separation.
Einstein was a playful soul, always interested in exploring
new things and taking an interest in what others were
doing. He enjoyed giving people puzzles and then watch
Figure 1: Max Plank and Einstein
as they attempted to solve them. He took great delight in
the energy and inquisitiveness of young people, and encouraged them to question and
seek answers. He defended his friends, and took great pride in developing new
friendships. Einstein felt friendship was one of the most precious commodities a person
could have.
In 1954, nearly 50 years after their discussion in the patent office, Einstein wrote to
Besso: “I consider it quite possible that physics cannot be based on the field principle,
i.e., on continuous structures. In that case, nothing remains of my entire castle in the air,
gravitation theory included..."
On March 15, 1955, Michelangelo Besso died at his home in Geneva. In a letter to his
friend’s family Einstein wrote, "Now Besso has departed from this strange world a little
ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the
distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion"
Einstein died only three weeks later, on April 18, 1955. Zaggner followed in 1957.
15
Chapter 3 - Points To Ponder
1. How do you go about making friends? Have you developed solid friendships in your
life? Are these people ones you can trust to have your back in a crisis?
2. Did these friends influence the path you chose? How?
3. Do you have a network of like-minded people you meet with to bounce ideas off?
4. Are you a listener or a talker? Explain.
16
Chapter 4
Education Is Not Confined To The Classroom
Einstein did not abandon physics. He continued studying it seriously in the laboratory of
the head physics professor at Polytechnic, Heinrich Friedrich Weber, who was best
known for his contributions to electrical engineering.
Although Einstein admired the professor's achievements, he was distressed to learn that
Weber was a rigid believer in classical physics, and was hopelessly old- fashioned.
Weber was dismissive of the advancements taking place in electricity and magnetism
since Helmholtz's laws of perception, conservation of energy and work in
thermodynamics the 1850s. Einstein felt he needed to continue his education independent
of Weber, so he read the works of Maxwell, Kirchoff, Hertz, Hemlholtz and other
contemporary physicists.
Weber, who was a German, disliked Einstein not only because he knocked heads with
him on physics ideas, but also because Einstein had denounced his German citizenship,
and tensions were high at that time against Jews. Weber also was angered because Albert
skipped his classes often, used his friend’s notes, and when he did attend class was
disruptive by telling jokes and being the class clown. It was due to Weber that Einstein
found it difficult to get a job after graduation.
Albert also was interested in the lectures of his mathematics professor, Hermann
Minkowski, whose influence later would be beneficial for Albert when he was coming up
with a strict mathematical formula to support his theory of relativity.
Friedrich Adler, the famous Austrian politician and revolutionary, lived near Einstein in
Zurich and they became fast friends. Their boys would often play together while Einstein
and Adler shared ideas. At times, their sons would get rowdy and it would be hard for the
two men to talk. While other parents might scold their boys and tell them to quiet down,
Adler and Einstein would climb into the attic to carry on their conversation. They
allowed their boys to grow and explore, even if they were noisy.
When Einstein was in his twenties he was asked, “Why do you ask such naive
questions?” He replied, “Because I was a slow developer and never received the stock
answers that children are given on physics and science.” He also stated that he first
pondered these mysteries of life while in his twenties, and was now able to give them
more thought than a child. This questioning mentality ultimately led to his discoveries.
His theories and ideas were all about creativity, taking an idea he had read about, asking
more questions, and coming up with solutions different than the ones that came before
him. One of his most famous quotes is, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Einstein put value on creativity. He made a working boxcar for his son out of shoestring
and some boxes. When he was down and out, and needed money, he posted an ad for
17
tutoring lessons. He once said that he would simply imagine it so, and then go about to
prove it. In other words the creative process occurred before the experiments.
Since Einstein accomplished some of the greatest thoughts of our time, an argument
could be made that he was one of the most creative people of all time. Credentials and
knowledge will do you little good if you lack the creativity to take advantage of them. He
once said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” He said this in
jest, because he had no problem giving credit where credit was due.
“CREATIVITY is seeing what others see and THINKING what no one else has thought.”
- Albert Einstein
He was a voracious reader, relying on reading all he possibly could in order to learn as
much as he could. By studying the works of Newton, Galileo and other scientists he
found more questions to seek answers to, and more discoveries to make. Without the help
of others even Einstein could not come up with some of his ideas. The source of his
biggest discoveries came from the works of Sir Isaac Newton, who once said, “If I was
able to see farther than others it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
Einstein always kept that in mind, and always felt there is no need to re-invent the wheel.
Everything we have is at our disposal somewhere in the universe, we simply have to learn
how to find it and make it our own.
He gladly gave credit to others. Great thinkers don’t pursue the credit; they pursue the
passion that gives them the credit.
He learned the value of LISTENING, saying that the person who talks the least learns the
most. He found by listening, and paying attention, you learn a lot more from others.
One of Einstein’s quotes: “Never regard your study as a duty, but as an enviable
opportunities to learn to know the liberating beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own
personal joy, and to profit the community for which your later work belongs.” In other
words, if you don’t like what you are doing you will not be successful at it, and will soon
lose interested and quit.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for
existing."” – Albert Einstein
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school,”
Einstein once said. He also made this statement, “The only thing that interferes with my
learning is my education.” His obvious dislike for formal education in no way meant he
was against becoming educated. He saw these as distinctly different concepts. He was
passionate about learning, and spent his entire life questioning traditional thinking in
order to find answers to the most complex of problems. His curiosity was constantly
taking him to new heights that would benefit humankind, and he encouraged the same in
others.
18
In later years (1930) Albert was speaking to a group of students and began by
encouraging them to ask questions, even if they seemed foolish. “There is no stupid
question,” is not simply a cliché. The fact that you asked the question shows you are
interested and want to learn the answer. Never stop questioning or exploring, it make life
exciting – and who knows, you may find out something that could revolutionize the
world!
On January 7, 1943 he received a letter from a 15-year-old girl, Barbara Wilson, asking
for help with a homework assignment. She soon received a curious reply: a page full of
unintelligible diagrams, along with an attempt at consolation: “Do not worry about your
difficulties in mathematics,” Einstein told her, “I can assure you that mine are much
greater!”
Chapter 4 - Points To Ponder
1. Do you follow your own path or blindly believe what you are told, read in the
newspapers, or hear on the radio?
2. Do you challenge authority if you feel something is wrong? What do you do about it?
How far would you go?
3. Are you a risk taker? When was the last time you took a risk?
4. Do you think you are a creative thinker? Give an example.
5. How well do you listen? Do you allow others to speak their mind, and try to
understand what they are trying to say?
19
Chapter 5
Major Discoveries, Patent, and Recognitions
While at the Swiss patent office, Einstein attended the University of Zurich, and received
his doctorate in psychics in 1905. He wrote a number of papers that would prove to
revolutionize physics. As it happened, 1905 became his most successful year when it
came to making discoveries.
Among the first discoveries for Albert Einstein, was the Brownian motion, based on work
in 1827 by botanist Robert Brown. Brown discovered, while looking under a microscope,
floating plant spores. He reasoned that the random movement related to molecules hitting
the spores. In 1905, Einstein became the first to offer statistical predictions in support of
random distribution and the motion of particles in fluid. Later challenged by others, their
experiments confirmed his theory.
He came up with the Photoelectric Effect in 1905. It was already known that when light
shines on certain substances, the substances gave out electrons. It was also known that the
number of electrons emitted from the substance increased when the light increased, but
their energy did not.
Einstein believed that under certain circumstances, light can be considered as consisting
of particles, but that the energy carried by any light particle, called a photon, is
proportionate to the frequency of the radiation. This idea, that the energy contained
within a light beam is transferred in individual units, or quanta, contradicted a hundredyear-old tradition of considering light energy a manifestation of a continuous process or
of its wave nature.
At the beginning, no one accepted Einstein’s
theory. It wasn’t until a decade later, when
American physicist Robert Andrews Millikan
confirmed Einstein’s theory through
experimentation, that his theory was accepted.
Another 1905 paper was an adaptation of
something he had written when he was 16. The
paper was called the “Special Theory of
Relativity,” which provided one of the first
dependable explanations on the interaction of
radiation and matter when observed
concurrently by bystanders moving at a
consistent speed, and the bystanders were
standing still. He based this theory according to
the principle of relativity. From this, he derived
the correct description of physical events within
various inertial frames of reference, which led
20
Albert Einstein, 1921
to his famous E=mc2 formula that he called “energy-mass equivalence.” It was this paper
brought notice by scientists all over the world, and Einstein was regarded as the “rising
star of theoretical physics.”
In the end, Einstein’s theory brought us a deeper understanding of the meaning of gravity.
Later Einstein expanded this theory to include applications across uniform and nonuniform systems of motion and the large-scale effects of gravity.
In 1919, from observations of a solar eclipse, Einstein’s theory about the relation of time,
space and the nature of gravity was proven and helped in the development of the theory
of quantum mechanics. It made international headline news, and launched Einstein into
the world of celebrity.
Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, "for
his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his
discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect,"
(photons) that showed how the photoelectric effect was
caused by absorption of ‘quanta’ of light (now called
photons).”
Most of Einstein’s inventions were more discoveries and
theories rather than inventions, but regardless, his
accomplishments throughout history are many. In
general, most of his contributions were in energy,
gravity, light, and time.
The Theory of Relativity opened up the world to
Einstein for other discoveries, such as the Bose-Einstein
Condensate (BEC). Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian
Official Nobel Prize Photo,
mathematician and physicist, sent a paper to Einstein
1921
offering his opinion on the Pank Law, concerning the
phase of matter relating to solid gas, liquid, plasma,
photons and the gas-like qualities of electromagnetic radiation. Einstein translated the
paper himself from English to German and submitted his generalized theory of an ideal
gas, made up of identical atoms and molecules in which the numbers of particles are
conserved. He submitted the work, in Bose’s name, to the publication Zeitschrift für
Physik, who published it. Einstein then went on to extend Bose’s ideas to material
particles (matter) in two other papers.
Using the Bose-Einstein Condensate in 1955, two scientists from the University of
Colorado at Boulder's NIST-JILA lab, Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, used the BoseEinstein Condensate to produce the first gaseous condensate – using cooled gas of
rubidium atoms. This discovery won them the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. Beyond that,
in 2010 the first photon BEC was observed.
21
One interesting discovery answered an age old question, "Why is the Sky Blue?” In 1911,
Einstein developed a detailed formula for the disbursement of molecules through diffused
light. According to Einstein’s theory, the “sky is blue partly because air scatters shortwavelength light in preference to longer wavelengths. Combined, these effects scatter
(bending in all directions) some short, blue light waves while allowing almost all longer,
red light waves to pass straight through. When we look toward a part of the sky not near
the sun, the blue color we see is blue light waves scattered down toward us from the
white sunlight passing through the air overhead.”
In 1916, Einstein expanded on his special theory of relativity. In turn, this resulted in the
General Theory of Relativity. By doing this, it allowed for the theories application across
uniform and non-uniform systems of motion. Ultimately, the general theory is concerned
with the large-scale affects of gravity.
The theory determines the equivalence of inertia and gravitational mass, allowing
scientists to better understanding how a gravitational field forms by curvatures produced
in space-time time material bodies, which is further determined by its curvature. Overall,
it leads to a deeper understanding into the meaning of gravity.
The only real “invention” Einstein came up, and the only patent he held, was for
something quite surprising. At a time when money was scarce and Albert, being a
practical man, was trying to find ways to bring income to live on as well as fund his
research, he and a former student, Leó Szilárd, invented a refrigerator. U.S. Patent
1,781,541 was filed on November 11, 1930 for an absorption refrigerator with no moving
parts, and requiring only a heat source to operate. There is no need for electricity, only a
heat source, such as a small gas burner. This refrigerator was suitable for outdoor
activities, and poor countries in need of refrigeration.
Throughout his life Albert Einstein, through his discoveries and influence, laid the
groundwork for countless works that revolutionized our world, and are still in use over a
hundred years later.
Chapter 5 - Points To Ponder
1. Do you understand the work Einstein was doing? How do you think his work may
have impacted your life?
2. What imprint have you made on your community? Give an example.
22
Chapter 6
Personal Conflicts and Disappointments
In 1902, Hermann Einstein (Albert’s father) died suddenly from a heart attack – probably
caused by financial stress. There was no reported impact his death had on Albert.
The year after Albert and Mileva married their first son; Hans Albert II was born (1904).
In his later writings, Albert referred to his oldest son as Bu, Adu, or Albert. In 1910 his
second son, Eduard, was born. They nicknamed him “Tede,” which is the Serbian word
for “child.”
For the next few years Einstein was very busy with his work, and didn’t have a lot of
time to spend with his family. Some thought him cold-hearted, but in fact he was a man
of many deep emotions. At times he simply was so immersed in what he was doing that
everything around him was relegated to distractions that kept him from his work. It put a
strain on their marriage, and caused problems with his relationship with his sons, which
he later came to regret. Promises made were often
forgotten or put off. Eventually the children stopped
looking forward to them.
Albert Einstein’s greatest disappointments had
nothing to do with his work. Private letters, released
in 2006 from the estate of his stepdaughter, Margot
Einstein, revealed the private thoughts of Einstein.
The tensions were getting heated politically so
Mileva took the boys and moved to Switzerland.
Albert was to follow later, when he completed his
work in Berlin. He never made the move to Zurich.
Figure 2: Eduard, Mileva and
Hans Albert II
Letters written by Hans Albert to his father initially indicated his love for Albert, and
how much he wanted to spend time with him. The letters showed Einstein’s personal and
professional struggles during this time. His sons had requested he visit them for Easter
vacation, and he had replied that the war was making it impossible for him to come then,
but he would come in July for a hiking trip in the Swiss Alps with his oldest son, Hans
Albert, and when his brother Tete was old enough they could make it an annual event.
He missed spending time with his sons as they were growing up. He wanted to be with
them as they learned math and piano. The breakup was not easy, and Albert thought
Mileva was poisoning their sons’ minds against him.
Tensions increased between he and is wife, and it seemed to be passed on to his sons
through letters that became colder and colder. Einstein believes Mileva was dictating the
letters to Albert because they were so much different than earlier letters from his oldest
son.
23
Later that year, Einstein had been planning to spend Christmas vacation in Zurich when
he received a letter from his son telling him he would rather go skiing. He expressed his
hurt feelings about the boy’s letters to his friend Heinrich Zangger, “I just received the
enclosed letter from my Albert, which upset me very much. After this, it’s better if I
don’t take the long trip after all rather than new bitter disappointments. The boy’s soul is
being systematically poisoned to make sure the he doesn’t trust me. Under these
conditions, by attempting any approaches I harm the boy indirectly. Come, dear old
friend, Lady Resignation, and sing me your familiar old song so that I can continue to
spin quietly in my corner!”
Einstein spent the Christmas of 1915 alone in his apartment in Berlin. That morning he
took out of his satchel some of the drawings his son, Hans Albert had sent him and wrote
the boy a postcard saying how much they pleased him.
He visited his boys the following Easter, as he had promised, and things went well. Both
boys were delighted to see him, and Einstein even wrote a note to Mileva thanking her
for making things go smoothly.
Albert and Mileva divorced in February 1919.
Four months after their divorce was final, in June of 1919, he married his cousin, Elsa
Einstein Lowenthal, a young mother of two girls, Ilse and Margot Lowenthal. Elsa’s and
Albert’s mothers were sisters, they had played together as children, and she had nursed
him when he was ill and suffering acute stomach pains and malnutrition, while he was
visiting at her father’s home in Zurich.
Elsa was the perfect companion for Albert, and made him happy. In 1933, Albert and
Elsa Einstein immigrated to Princeton, New Jersey. In autumn 1935, they moved to a
house at 112 Mercer Street. Shortly afterwards, Elsa developed eye swelling and was
diagnosed with heart and kidney problems. She died in their home, after a painful illness,
on December 20, 1936.
Chapter 6 - Points To Ponder
1. What are the greatest disappointments in your life?
2. If you could go back, what would you do differently now?
3. How did it impact your life from then on?
4. Looking back, have you ever hurt someone and regretted it later? Did you make
amends? If not, why? If so, how did it make you feel?
24
Chapter 7
Frustration and Focus
Note: In July of 2006 letters Albert Einstein wrote were unsealed and the public received
a rare glimpse into his private life of this unique individual. His stepdaughter, Margot
Einstein, held the private letters in her personal estate, and decreed they remain sealed
until 20 years after her death. They contained insight into a person who was not as
isolated as the public believed.
It was at the end of the summer that Albert realized his research on the new concept of
gravity’s role in the universe was flawed as to how objects moved through space and how
space is curved around the objects. After working on this for three years. he realized there
was a problem.
He confided in his friend, physicist David Hilbert, about his findings. Hilbert then took
the information Einstein had been given him in confidence and was racing to come up
with the correct equation first. Einstein was the better physicist, but Hilbert was the better
mathematician. This stab in the back came as a complete surprise to Einstein, and he felt
pressured to get the right answer before Hilbert did.
Einstein struggled relentlessly to come up with his theory, and went back to an earlier
strategy, which he presented to Berlin’s Prussian Academy of Sciences on four
successive Thursdays. He was also trying, during this time, to reconcile with his sons.
The stress was beginning to take its toll on him, so he decided to write a conciliatory
letter to his ex-wife in order to release the stress from the situation between him and his
sons so he could concentrate on his work. He also composed a tantalizing letter to Hilbert
to fuel their competition.
On November 25, Einstein presented a fourth lecture to the Prussian Academy titled “The
Field Equations of Gravitation.” It was, said Paul Dirac, the Nobel laureate pioneer of
quantum mechanics, “probably the greatest scientific discovery ever made.” Einstein’s
longtime friend, Dirac was another giant in the world of psychics, called it “the greatest
feat of human thinking about nature, the most amazing combination of philosophical
penetration, physical intuition and mathematical skill.”
Einstein was able to accomplish this amazing discovery while under extreme stress. It
just goes to show that he was able to separate his work from his personal life with his
ability to focus, and Einstein was laser focused! He focused all his energy on the task at
hand and stayed on it until it was complete.
He once took his son Hans Albert sailing, and became so focused on their discussion he
almost ran the boat into the shore. Another time he was so into a conversation that he ate
a whole plate of caviar before he even realized what he was eating.
He did not allow others to distract him, and learned the value of saying ‘No.’ Telling a
25
person “no” doesn’t have to be an insult, especially when it interferes with what you are
doing.
Albert also learned the value of time management and delegation. In order to save time,
Einstein would often skip meals. When he did cook he would prepare all food in the same
pan to save time. He also liked to dress himself in all white because, as he explained
when asked, it saved time when picking out an outfit.
When he dispensed jobs to others it wasn’t because he felt the jobs were beneath him, it
was simply because the task took him away from what he was trying to accomplish. He
didn’t try to do everything for himself, nor did he feel he was capable of doing
everything. He understood that some people were good at some things, and other people
had their own niche. By delegating lesser jobs to others he freed himself up to
concentrate on things that were important to him, and to others.
Discover what your talents are and focus on them. Find what you do best and spend your
time there, delegating other jobs so you don’t lose focus on the overall picture. Decide
what you want as a goal and then, if there are conflicts of time or outside influences that
block you from accomplishing that goal work to resolve them first, as Einstein did with
his wife. Is there something in your life that would distract you from taking advantage of
time management?
Chapter 7 - Points To Ponder
1. How stressful is your life? What measures do you take to release the pressure?
2. How good is your focus? Are you able to take care of your distractions so they don’t
interfere with your ability to follow through on a project?
2. Are you able to delegate jobs, or are you a micromanager? If you micromanage, what
are you afraid of? How can you change that?
3. How are you at time management? Give an example.
26
Chapter 8
A Simple Man in the Public Eye
“The secret to success is not getting what you want, but wanting what you have.” –
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a simplistic man who did not have much money, and found little
need for it except for basic comfort. He was so anxious to make new discoveries he
didn’t take time for mundane tasks like cooking or washing. It is often joked amongst his
friends that he washed his socks in the egg water to save time, and he cooked all his
meals in one pan.
Albert wanted a simple life, and he became a master at that. He became successful in the
things he had tried for, and strived to keep life simple. He also was a man of humor, so he
decided to whittle his definition of success into a mathematical equation that anyone
could understand. This was:
‘If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z.
X = work.
Y = play.
Z = keep your mouth shut.”
Looking at the three variables in
the equation, you can see how
Albert used this formula to his
advantage.



Work: Albert Einstein
had a tremendous work
ethic and because of that
gave more to society and
modern science than any
person in recent times. He
focused his full attention
on his work by being able
to deal with the
Albert Einstein, 1904 in Bern
distractions before he
went about concentrating on his work.
Play: Einstein did not work 24 hours a day. He made time for fun and relaxation.
His idea of fun may have been different than yours, but that doesn’t mean it still
wasn’t play. He enjoyed music, chess, sailing, heated discussions, family and
friends.
Keeping your mouth shut: Einstein thought the greatest learning tool a man
could have was the ability to listen to the world around him –through books,
conversation, or experimentation. When one is always talking one does not hear
others who have something valuable to contribute.
27
He obviously felt the way to true success was to balance your life with work, play and the
ability to know when to listen and when to speak out. He knew that “All work and no
play makes John a dull boy,” and Albert
Einstein was anything but dull!
Albert Einstein had nothing to prove. He felt
no need to be the “Chatty Cathy” he could
have been with his knowledge. It wasn’t
important to him to talk to everyone he met
and not talk over their heads to demonstrate
his IQ. Instead, he learned the value of respect
for others, consideration, quiet and solitude.
Dale Carnegie wrote a best selling book
entitled ‘How to Win Friends and Influence
People.’ One of the key premises of his book
was that everyone’s favorite subject is himself
or herself, and the sweetest sound to their ears
Messy desk of Albert Einstein
is the sound of their own name. Einstein knew
this, and realized he could influence others by choosing his spots to speak and validating
others by extending them the courtesy of listening.
“I have remained a simple fellow who asks nothing of the world; only my youth is gone—
the enchanting youth that forever walks on air.” - Albert Einstein to Anna MeyerSchmid, May 12, 1909.
One of the reasons Einstein was so popular was that he would take the most complex of
ideas and put them into terms the common man could understand. If he was making a
presentation to a group of laymen or students, he understood they might have trouble
following what he was trying to tell them. He thought it important to teach people so they
could understand, so he put explanation of his ideas into their simplest terms. An example
was when he tried to explain his ‘Theory of Relativity.’ He explained it this way: “When
you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot
stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours - that's relativity.” He did add that,
although it could be summed up simply, to really understand it takes a lot of study.
When Einstein accepted a teaching position at Princeton, and came to the United States,
someone once asked him if he needed anything. His humble reply was: “A desk, a pen, a
pad of paper, and a large wastebaskets for all my mistakes.” He was able to break things
down to the most basic of needs, and only cashed in on his fame when it would be of
benefit to others, never just for himself.
Einstein was a true leader of men. He lived by example, and never let his ego get in the
way. Because he was his own man he had no fear of others achieving, and actually
encouraged it. He wasn’t afraid they would be more important than he, for he scoffed at
his notoriety. He empowered others to work harder and find new ideas, for they allowed
28
him to seek new answers. Those who hold others back, or find fault with everything they
do, feel threatened and insecure. Einstein was never insecure!
"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself." – Albert Einstein
He never wanted, nor asked for fame. Einstein was uncomfortable with awards and
medals. He did, however, find value at times that his fame was able to help others. One
example was when his friend Besso was about to lose his job, Einstein wrote to his
employer. As a matter of fact, Einstein wrote letters to all sorts of important people to
help out his friends, including those in prison or hiding from the Nazis.
Understanding that success comes not from amassing great fortunes or getting your name
in the newspapers, Einstein constantly tried to put value into his life by giving back to
others. It was found out after the war that he was extremely involved in getting Jews out
of Germany, especially scientists, and finding jobs for them at universities in the United
States.
Chapter 8 - Points To Ponder
1. If you could simplify your life, how would you do it?
2. How do you feel you treat others who will not benefit you? Do you think this is an area
you need to improve upon? How do you think you can accomplish this?
3. Are you a listener or a talker? Do you use big words to impress, or speak to people in
terms they would understand (without talking down to them)?
4. If teaching a lesson, do you make sure those you are addressing understand, or just
continue on and get exasperated when they ask questions?
5. Who have you helped to achieve their goal? How proud did that made you feel?
6. Are you one to take the limelight off another’s success, or do you encourage them and
share in their joy of accomplishment? Give an example.
29
Chapter 9
Passion for Peace, Second Only to Work
Einstein saw war as the most inhumane thing one man can do to another. “He who
cherishes the value of culture can not fail to be a pacifist,” he is quoted as saying (in Die
Friedensbewegung. 1922).
Albert Einstein had two public passions. One was his groundbreaking work in science,
the other was for peace, to which he committed all his life. Both passions involved
journeys of discovery. When the two paths met, one of the great modern problems was
exposed: how responsible are scientists for the consequences of their discoveries?
”Science is a powerful instrument,” said Einstein. “How it is used, whether it is a blessing
or a curse to mankind, depends on mankind and not on the instrument. A knife is useful,
but it can also kill.” When asked if he thought peace was possible, he replied, “No, so
long as there are men there will be wars.”
He was a pacifist, and hated war and all that went with it. Growing up in Germany, in the
years leading up to World War I, he saw the coming of the war and chose to renounce his
German citizenship and claim status as a citizen of Switzerland in 1900. After the war he
maintained citizenship in both countries until 1933, when he once again broke his ties
with Germany. In 1940 he became an American citizen. This cross-country allegiance fit
with his belief in a world that should be
free of war and national fanaticism that
spawns distrust, hostility and war.
“I am not only a pacifist, but a militant
pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace...Is
it not better for a man to die for a cause in
which he believes, such as peace, than to
suffer for a cause in which he does not
believe, such as war?”—Albert Einstein,
said during an interview in 1931, and
reprinted in Einstein on Peace, pg.125
His idea of pacifism was to work toward a
Swearing in as a U.S. Citizen at the World
meeting of the minds, not through combat,
Trade Center in 1940.
to achieve peace, yet he understood human
nature. He also knew the value of getting
involved, and that the quality of life depends on people becoming active in the political
process by any means they feel comfortable. In other words, although in his heart
Einstein wanted to remain a pacifist, he knew the only way to make changes in the world
was to get involved.
30
He found himself immersed in politics in a number of ways throughout the years, despite
his feelings. “My pacifism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because
the murder of men is abhorrent. My attitude is not derived from intellectual theory but is
based on my deepest antipathy to every kind of cruelty and hatred.”
He knew the importance of being involved in politics, and it did not mean holding office.
The quality of his life, and that of his children and their children, would be in direct
proportion to the quality of the leadership of a government, and the compassion of its
ideas. He did not believe that one should sit in the stands of life and to stand idly by why
atrocities are taking place. “The mind that does not see the direct correlation between
casting a vote and their future must reexamine the facts.”
He once said, “ My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always
contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human
beings and human communities. I am truly a lone traveler and have never belonged to my
country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the
face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude… ”
When World War I began in 1914, Einstein had just
agreed to accept a high-ranking science post in
Berlin. He revolted against a group of nearly 100
famous German intellectuals who signed a
government-sponsored ‘Manifesto to the Civilised
World,’ supporting Germany’s attack on Belgium, a
neutral country. He was one of only three brave
enough to sign a peace manifesto against the
government. It was the first of many steps he took
in the next 40 years to promote anti-war movements
any way he could, and he was ostracized,
condemned and even threatened for it.
Twenty-five years after the war was over he wrote a
friend, “Do you remember when we took a trolleycar to the Reichstag, convinced we could turn those
fellows into honest democrats? How naïve we were,
even at the age of 40! It makes me laugh to think of
it.”
Shedding his Pacifist Wings, 1933
In the summer of 1922 the German minister of foreign affairs, himself a Jew who
preached nationalism, was assassinated. Einstein was warned by his friends to keep his
head down and be careful, but chose to ignore them and appeared publicly at the annual
rally of the 'No More War' movement in Berlin. That same year a German pacifist
handbook containing an article by Einstein was published. “Whoever cherishes the values
of culture cannot fail to be a pacifist.... The natural scientist responds to pacifist aims
because of the universal nature of his subject and his dependence on international cooperation. The development of technology has made the economies of the world
31
interdependent, so every war has world-wide effects.” This statement is even more true
today.
While visiting Japan in 1923 Einstein fell in love with the “wonderful people and the
beautiful land.” At the same time, Mussolini was taking over with his fascist dictatorship
in Italy; France had invaded the industrial area of the Ruhr valley in Germany,
demanding monetary compensation for damage during the war; and Nazism and racism
was taking root throughout Germany.
In 1920, Einstein was invited to join other famous intellectuals, including Marie Curie,
the discoverer of radium, to become a member of the League of Nation’s Committee on
Intellectual Co-operation. The goal of the committee was to appeal to the international
intellectuals to work for world peace. Believing “that science is and always will be
international,” Einstein was happy to join. When the League was unable to deal with the
French occupation of the Ruhr, he became disillusioned with the organization and asked
for them to remove him from their roster. He did not believe the League possessed the
strength to take any action that would go against the dominant nations and their agendas.
He still believed in the League’s principle, just not its
ability to take action. A year later, however,
characteristic of his honesty, he made the statement,
“I've come to feel that I was influenced more by a
mood of disillusionment than by clear thinking,” and
re-joined the Committee. He remained on the
committee until 1930, withdrawing again because he
felt the committee lacked any substantial power.
The members of the committee grew very fond of him.
“He was a delightful colleague. The only points on
which we had differences were due to his special
kindliness. He was unwilling to condemn anyone,”
said on member. The committee members were invited
to give a lecture to the students of Geneva University.
When it was Einstein's turn, he charmed them by
playing his violin instead.
He attended meetings regularly until 1930, when once
again he withdrew his support because he felt there
Einstein and Marie Curie, 1920
was a lack of determination by the other members. On
the League of Nations' 10th anniversary in 1930 he
said, “I am rarely enthusiastic about what the League has accomplished, or not
accomplished, but I am always thankful that it exists”.
After his much-publicized trip to New York City, where he met politicians, scientists and
other intellectuals, and received the key to the city, Einstein wrote an article about his
trip. He saw that “the United States is today the most powerful among the technologically
32
advanced countries of the world. Its potential influence on international politics is
incalculable. But America's people so far have not taken much interest in the great
international problems, chief amongst which was disarmament. The people of the USA
must realize that they have responsibility for the political development in the world. The
role of idle spectator is unworthy of America. In the long run it would be disastrous for
all of us.”
He remained dedicated to his science, and in his later years he continued to work for
peace as long as he could do it from his desk. He wrote letters of pleading to officials in
Finland, Bulgaria, Poland, and the High Commissioner for Palestine about disarmament.
Einstein was a committed Zionist, but his concern was not for just the country of Israel,
but for the rights of the Arabs residing in Palestine as well.
There was a great deal of talk about disarmament in the early 1930s. In 1932 in Geneva a
special conference was held on the subject, but as Einstein pointed out, “One doesn't
make wars less likely to happen by formulating rules of warfare.... The solution to the
peace problem can't be left in the hands of governments.... I think the conference is
heading for a bad compromise. Whatever agreement is made about the ‘types of arms
permissible in war’ would be broken as soon as war began. War can't be humanized. It
can only be abolished.” The Disarmament Conference did fail, and later that year an
International Peace Centre proposal at The Hague was derailed because several main
international pacifist organizations backed out; Einstein himself was accused of
communism in order to ruin his reputation; and Russia politically hi-jacked an anti-war
congress in Amsterdam.
Chapter 9 - Points To Ponder
1. Have you taken a position that was against the mainstream? Give an example?
2. Would you fight for your beliefs, even though you may be standing alone?
3. What are you passionate about? How do you go about quenching that passion?
33
Chapter 10
World War II – Einstein in Exile
The day Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, January 30, 1933, Einstein was
visiting the United States and told a reporter, “I'm not going home.” It was probably the
best move he ever made.
Hitler had issued a decree that no Jews were allowed to hold public office, including
teaching at universities. A month later, the Einstein’s works were included in the Nazi
book burnings. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels proclaimed, “Jewish
intellectualism is dead.” Einstein had a $5,00 bounty placed on his head, and was a target
for assassination. One German magazine even listed him, among other “enemies of the
state” with the phrase, “not yet hanged.”
Nazi officials in Germany soon broke into his home and confiscated his property. This
was a devastating blow to Albert, and although he had somewhat prepared for it by
stashing some of his possessions with friends outside the country, it still was difficult to
bear. His friends got together to help him financially, but his attitude toward the peace
movement started to shift.
Instead of working toward blockading the Nazi regime, Einstein pressed for an
international peacekeeping force to prevent atrocities. He even contacted the Prime
Minister of Belgium and urged him to take up arms against the Nazis. Einstein stated
clearly: “I loathe all armies and any kind of violence; yet I'm firmly convinced that at
present these hateful weapons offer the only effective protection. Should Nazi militarism
prevail, you can be sure that the last remnants of personal freedom in Europe will be
destroyed.”
This by all means did not mean he was turning from pacifism, but once again he was a
pragmatic man, and understood from first-hand knowledge just how much the Nazis were
capable of, and that they were re-arming fast. He feared for the lives of his fellow Jews,
and felt that the very core of civilization was under siege. Despite his relentless fight for
peace, he knew the world had not been able to deal with the problems peacefully, and that
fighting against them was the only option.
Einstein left Belgium for England in September of 1933. He wrote to a friend, “My
present attitude towards military service was reached with the greatest reluctance and
after a difficult inner struggle.” He then proceeded to speak before an audience of 10,000
at Albert Hall, organized by refuge aid workers who were working to help Jewish
academics and scientists escape Nazi persecution. Despite rumors that there were plots to
kidnap or assassinate him, Einstein appeared, and told the audience “freedom itself is at
stake...one can only hope that the present crisis will lead to a better world.” He also told
them that the world needed “enlightenment and education,” a theme he would repeat
continuously throughout his campaign for peace.
34
“Arrows of hate have been aimed at me too, but they have never hit me, because
somehow they belonged to another world with which I have no connection
whatsoever.”(Quoted in Portraits & Self-Portraits, by George Schreiber 1935-1936)
On October 17, 1933 Einstein came back to the United States to take a position at
Princeton’s new Institute for Advanced Study. He was 54 years old, and was to make
Princeton his permanent home. Shortly after his arrival, one of his friends commented, “It
was as if something had died in him. He did not laugh any more.”
Einstein turned his attentions to the establishment of a truly international peace
organization, and reiterated his message for peace at every opportunity. “I am,” he told a
rabbi, “as ardent a pacifist as I ever was.”
“We must educate the people,” he told an
interviewer in 1935, “so that they choose to outlaw
war.” He was convinced that eventually war could
be abolished, and it would be accomplished, “not
through fear,” but by appealing to “what is best in
human nature.” He added, “We need to be made
conscious of our prejudices and learn to correct
them.”
As Hitler extended his persecution of Jews into
Austria in 1938 things escalated even more.
Einstein immediately tried to appeal to non-Jews in
both the U.S. and Europe to become involved. “No
government has the right to conduct a systematic
campaign of physical destruction of any segment of
the population which resides within its borders.
Germany has embarked on such a path in its
inhuman persecution of German and Austrian Jews.... Can there be anything more
humiliating for our generation than to feel compelled to request that innocent people be
not killed?”
In 1939, Albert wrote an essay entitled, “The World As I See It.” It was reprinted ten
years later, at which time Einstein remarked, “What I wrote then still seems essentially as
true as ever; yet it all seems curiously remote and strange. Has the world changed so
profoundly? Or is it merely that I have grown older and my eyes see everything in a
changed, dimmer light...In these ten years confidence in the stability of civilized society
has disappeared. One senses that a lower value is placed on what one would like to see
protected at all costs.... Awareness of this overshadows every hour of my present
existence.”
He wrote to his friend, the Queen Mother of Belgium, “The moral decline we are
compelled to witness, and the suffering it causes, are so oppressive one can't ignore them
35
for a moment. No matter how deeply one immerses oneself in work, a haunting feeling of
inescapable tragedy persists.'”
Chapter 10 - Points To Ponder
1. How do you view the world? Explain.
2. Do you believe, as Einstein did, that through education and interaction with other
cultures that people will learn to see people of all nationalities as individuals, and that
peace can be attained?
3. If you found yourself needing to abandon your country, what would you do in order to
affect change so you could return?
4. How strong is your allegiance to your country? To humanity?
36
Chapter 11
Influencing Development of the Atomic Bomb
When Einstein developed his Theory of Relativity in 1905 scientists speculated as to how
that equation could be used to make atomic power; how it would be released; and once
released how it could be sustained (causing a chain reaction on which ordinary fuels and
explosives would rely). For the next two decades physicists struggled with the problem.
As Einstein said, science is international, and he was right. Researchers from the United
States, Australia, Great Britain, Denmark, Holland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,
New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland and Yugoslavia each had breakthroughs that showed
slitting an atom of uranium by using a neutron beam could easily be reproduced on a
larger scale to supply massive amounts of energy. The only thing left was for them to test
it.
Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard tried as hard as he could to stop the news of the
possibility of the discovery of atomic fission from being published. He was afraid that
Germany, if they knew, would try to make an atomic weapon. He was unsuccessful,
scientific information was something that was always shared – mostly as a matter of
pride.
Germany forbade the exportation of uranium ore from Czechoslovakia (a country they
had recently invaded). When he heard of this, Szilard went into a panic. He believed
Germany was already preparing to make a nuclear bomb. Belgium had the only other
good stock of uranium available, and it had to be protected from falling into German
hands. He immediately sought help from Einstein, who was someone with enough
influence over leaders of many nations to they would listen to.
Szilard later said, “The possibility of a chain reaction in uranium hadn't occurred to him,”
but as soon as I began to tell him about it he saw what the consequences might be.
Along with a group of scientists, Einstein convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt that
the Germans were working on a plan to build the first atomic bomb, and it was not just a
pipe dream, but possible. This communication gave way to the “Manhattan Project,” and
the development of the first two atomic weapons that ended the war when dropped on
Japan.
The letter began: “Some recent work leads me to expect that the element uranium may be
turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects
of the situation seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action.... This new
phenomenon would also lead to the production of bombs, and it is conceivable that
extremely powerful bombs of a new type may be constructed.... Some of the American
work on uranium is now being repeated in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin.”
Roosevelt’s reply was: “I found this data of such import that I have convened a board to
investigate.”
37
Apart from a second letter written when the advisory board seemed to be dragging their
feet, Einstein took no other part in the UK/US study of uranium fission, or in the USA's
Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bombs, although his letter did prompt
the initiation of the project.
Before Szilard's visit, Einstein had not
been convinced that nuclear fission was
possible, at least in his lifetime; he
likened the prospect to “shooting birds in
the dark in a country where there are few
birds.” Szilard’s news steered him to look
at things differently, stating that if “the
enemies of mankind” were working on
development of an atomic bomb, the only
way to stop it was for America to make
one first. He later said, “If I had known
that the Germans would not succeed in
constructing the bomb, I would never
have lifted a finger.”
Einstein, although a great mind, was not
a cynic, so he could not predict that the
United States would relegate their
research to the military. He trusted the
U.S. government would treat the
Figure 3: Hiroshema Atomic Bomb
discovery with respect. When it was
discovered that Germany had not made a bomb, someone commented, “That’s
wonderful; we won’t have to use ours.” In reply to this a U.S. Army officer said, “Of
course you understand, that if we have such a weapon we are going to use it.”
Albert once again sent a letter to President Roosevelt in April of 1945, after Leo Szilard
had visited with him again to share his deep fear that the United States would start an
atomic arms race. The letter enclosed a strong warning writing by Szilard against the
atomic bomb. Unfortunately, Roosevelt never received the letter. It remained unopened
on his desk when he died.
Harry Truman, the new president, was too busy taking office to be meet with the
scientists, although they made numerous attempts to get through.
Einstein then wrote a letter to the New York Times, quoting recent words of Franklin
Roosevelt prior to his death: “We are faced with the pre-eminent fact that if civilization is
to survive we must cultivate the science of human relationship - the ability of peoples of
all kinds to live together and work together in the same world, at peace.” Einstein
continued, “we have learned, and paid an awful price to learn, that living and working
38
together can be done in one way only - under law. Unless it prevails, and unless by
common struggle we are capable of new ways of thinking, mankind is doomed.”
Despite his valiant efforts, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the civilian center of
Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, immediately killing up to 140,000 people and
taking thousands more later from radiation-related diseases (the total was estimated in
1995 at around 192,000). On August 9th a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing
73,884 immediately and injuring 76,769 more (not including the thousands more who
died later from radiation poisoning).
When Einstein heard the news he cried out in anguish.
Chapter 11 - Points To Ponder
1. How would you feel if your work was used differently than you had intended? Would
you feel responsible?
2. What have you done that resulted in significant changes? Give examples.
39
Chapter 12
Continuous Battle for Peace and Disarmament
After the war, and until his death, even when he was in poor health, Einstein gave all his
energy not spent on his scientific work to campaigns for peace. “The war is won, but the
peace is not.” he said. ”Just as we use our reason to build a dam to hold a river in check,
we must now build institutions to restrain the fears and suspicions and greed which move
people and their rulers...We do not have to wait a million years to use our ability to
reason. We can and must use it now, or human society will sink into a new and terrible
dark age.”
Above all he promoted the idea of a world
government founded on international law. “As long as
sovereign states continue to have separate armaments
and armaments secrets, new world wars will be
inevitable,” he said. He was vehemently opposed to
the development of atomic weapons, and actively
campaigned against the development of the much
more powerful hydrogen bomb.
Figure 4: Einstein in 1943
In 1946 he was named chairman of the Emergency
Committee of Atomic Scientists. Their goals were to
educate the public about the dangers of atomic
warfare; to work toward new methods to deal with
disagreements rather than weapons of mass
destruction; and to promote the benign use of atomic
energy. The group disbanded in 1949, but continued
to publish its Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and
Einstein continued publicly opposing military use
instead of negotiations.
During the Cold War, when the United States was in fear of nuclear armaments from
Russia and China, Einstein tried hard to create links of communication to prevent the
escalation to a military war. He spoke up against the United States’ persecution of
suspected communists; opposed the rearmament of Germany proposed by the United
States and European nations; and vocally supported the Civil Rights Movement in the
United States. He made radio broadcasts and interviews via the telephone from his home
to whatever pro-peace meeting asked him. He issued statements, gave interviews, wrote
articles and letters, and took part in controversial debates - all in the name of peace.
Because of his public outcries, some portions of the U.S. press (“Life” magazine listed
him as one the USA's top 50 famous “dupes and fellow-travelers” of communism.)
attacked him. This attitude contrasted sharply with the profound respect he received from
his friends, colleagues and admirers worldwide.
40
By the time his 70th birthday rolled around, in 1949, he had become even more
outspoken. The Soviet Union had exploded its first atomic bomb that year and he felt the
need to push even harder toward disarmament.
Here are just three of his observations around that time:



”Since the death of President Roosevelt [1945] our foreign policy has proceeded
in the wrong direction, and there seems little prospect at the moment of a shift
towards a more reasonable policy.”
“I believe America may totally succumb to the fearful militarization which
engulfed Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. There is real danger that
political power, and the power to influence the minds of people, will pass
increasingly into the hands of the military, which is used to approaching all
political problems from the point of view of military expediency. Because of
America's supremacy, the military point of view is forced upon the world.”
“In all countries power lies in the hands of ambitious power-hungry men. This is
true whether the political system is dictatorial or democratic. Power relies not
only on coercion, but also on subtle persuasion and deception through the
educational system and the media of public information. One can only hope there
are enough people the world over who possess the integrity to resist these evil
influences. What is important is that individuals have the honesty and courage to
stand up for their convictions.”
President Truman announced in 1950 that the United States was beginning an “all-out
effort to develop a hydrogen bomb.” Einstein was among a group that took part in a
televised program to discuss the
implications. He said, “The belief that
it’s possible to achieve security
through armaments on a national scale
is a disastrous illusion. The arms race
between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
assumes hysterical proportions. On
both sides, means of mass destruction
are being perfected with feverish haste
and behind walls of secrecy.
Radioactive poisoning of the
atmosphere is now possible. But our
goal should in fact be to do away with
mutual fear and distrust.”
Radio appearance against the atomic bomb, 1950.
He later wrote sadly to another
dismayed American colleague: “I am
badly in need of encouragement. I have the impression that our nation has gone mad and
is no longer open to reasonable suggestions.”
The United States exploded its’ first hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands in 1952.
41
Great Britain exploded theirs the same year. The explosion was found to have created a
new chemical element, which was given the name “einsteinium.” The naming of an
element that was discovered from the use of weapons of mass destruction was a sad and
ironic memorial to a man who had spent the majority of his life working for peace. He
had proven the existence of atoms; demonstrated that they possessed enormous power;
accepted the fact that such a discovery must be used discriminately; and spent the rest of
his life trying to stop people from using it as an instrument of war.
It was during this time that Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin was heightening
his witch-hunt against communists through the Chairing of the Committee on UnAmerican Activities. The New York Times published an interview Einstein gave in June
1953 concerning McCarthy’s committee: “I can only see the revolutionary way of nonco-operation, in Gandhi's sense. Every intellectual called before the Committee ought to
refuse to testify. That is, he must be prepared for jail and economic ruin, in short for the
sacrifice of his personal welfare in the interest of the cultural welfare of his country...
based on the assertion that it is shameful for a blameless citizen to submit to such an
inquisition.... If enough people are ready to take this grave step, they will be successful.”
In 1955, Bertrand Russell wrote a public declaration (which can be found online at
www.pugwash.org/) about the dangers of nuclear war and suggesting that nuclear
weapons should be renounced. “We have to learn to think in a new way.... We have to
learn to ask ourselves what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest disastrous to
everyone”. He asked Einstein to sign the document, which he did. It was one of his last
public actions.
Chapter 12 - Points To Ponder
1. When you run into an obstacle that you see will not move, do you give up trying to get
past it or keep trying to find a way to move or go around it? Give an example.
2. If you were given an honor, such as an element named after you, even though that
honor goes against your very nature, would you feel honored or dismayed?
3. If you had as much power as Einstein did in a public forum, and had enormous respect
from your peers and observers, how would you use that power?
4. If you had been called before the Committee on Un-American Activities, would you
participate, make up something to keep the heat off you, or keep quite and accept the
consequences for going against them?
42
Chapter 13
Risks, Failures and Criticism
Albert was fortunate from the very beginning to have parents who allowed him the
freedom to explore and ask questions. This was probably the main reason why his brain
was always taking him in search of answers to probing questions few had ever tackled. It
was also one of the main reasons he was not afraid to take risks, or make mistakes.
Along with his lack of fear, when diving into a project he saw the value of not giving up.
Einstein felt that failure was just another part of education, and he realized early in his
life that mistakes are what shape a person – allowing them to stretch and seek out
answers and make new discoveries. As he once said, “Anyone who has never made a
mistake has never tried anything new.”
Einstein liked people to ask questions – even if they thought they were foolish. “He who
has risen to the rank and file by following others has earned my contempt.”
The last two decades of Albert Einstein’s life were devoted to developing a unified field
theory (In layman’s terms, this meant he was working on a theory that would put the
entire universe into a mathematical equation.), and even as smart as he was he was not
successful. That didn’t stop him from trying. How many people are persistent enough to
continue to seek the answer to something after 20 years? A lesser person would have
given up long ago.
When Einstein was 50 years old, reporters were hounding him for an interview. He had
the attention of the world. Reporters parked outside his home in hopes of an interview,
and many kept all night vigils waiting for the story. As a rule, Einstein did not chase the
spotlight, and dodged the requests as often as he could. It was no different this time. He
did, however, allow one interview with a representative from The New York Times, editor
Carl Van Anda.
Van Anda had found an error in one of Einstein’s equations earlier - imagine that, the
editor of The New York Times finding an error in Einstein’s! Instead of Einstein being
irritated, he was impressed. That was the reason he allowed Van Anda to interview him.
Einstein was not afraid to be wrong, and when corrected he was not insulted. He looked
at these times as a learning experience, and it just pushed him further.
Not only was he willing to take risks in math, he also risked when he gambled. While
attending a physics symposium in Las Vegas one year, Albert Einstein, to the
astonishment of many of his sober-minded colleagues, spent a fair amount of time at the
craps and roulette tables. “Einstein is gambling as if there were no tomorrow,” an
eminent physicist remarked one day. “What troubles me,” another replied, “is that he may
know something!”
43
Too often in life, we attempt to spend all our energy demonstrating how we are right
instead of accepting constructive criticism and getting better. This is not true of Einstein.
Not only was he not afraid of being wrong, he was not afraid of being corrected.
If you want to develop the mind of Einstein, you must not be afraid to fail by allowing
yourself the opportunity. Herman Melville put it this way: “He who has never failed
somewhere, that man cannot be great.”
Einstein was able to stand in the midst of criticism, most of the time. Usually he did not
let it bother him, but there were a few times when his control got the better of him and he
issued a rebuttal. He told one friend, after an extremely vicious attack: “My wife and I
can not believe at least some of the phrases in the article…These damned pigs have
succeeded in touching your soul…I urge you to not throw one more word to the
veracious beast of the public”. This was totally out of character for him, yet even the
mighty have a breaking point.
He acknowledged that his theories were not infallible, and he encouraged others to pursue
their own conclusions. “If I was wrong, I would have accepted ONE scientist as proving
it”. He welcomed criticism, when done without malice, as a learning experience. He did
not allow his ego to get in his way because he knew that if his work was not correct he
had to continue to find the solution that was.
We learn from our failures, but must make sure we are learning the right thing. Failures
are not signs of personal ineptitude, but more lessons on what went wrong and what we
need to do differently.
He was always willing to listen to any rebuttal that could proven him wrong, for he never
felt he was infallible. If an argument had merit he did not let ego get in the way, and
enjoyed banter with those who may have disagreed with him, but respectfully argued
their point. Of those who criticized his work, Einstein usually ignored them. On the rare
occasion when he allowed his flawed human side to emerge, and he lashed back at his
attackers, his friends told him that was so out of character, “non-Einsteinian,” and they
were shocked that he would demean himself with any remark at all.
Believing there was no need to re-invent the wheel, as everything we need is already
found in the universe and just needs to be “tweaked,” Einstein gladly gave credit to others
for his achievements, even if they had failed at their own. Although not successful in his
lifetime, Einstein studied the work of Sir Isaac Newton and gave him credit for laying the
groundwork for his success. Newton had done the same to his mentors.
Great thinkers don’t seek out credit. Their passion lies in the pursuit, not the reward. As a
human Einstein was flawed, yet his approach to his work, life, friends, and even his
critics set him apart from the average “star” or “intellectual.” He had no need for medals,
possessions, titles or rewards. He respected those who asked questions, no matter how
foolish they thought the question to be, and held contempt for those who rose to their
44
positions by following others. He worked to achieve the goals he had set, often stumbling
but never being afraid to get back up and try again.
Chapter 13 - Points To Ponder
1. How do you handle criticism? Do you take constructive criticism as a way to improve,
or do you make excuses and refuse to admit you may be wrong? Ask yourself honestly:
How do you respond when you are corrected? Do you lash out or are you grateful?
2. What is your attitude about failure? Do you hesitate to take a risk because you are
afraid to fail? Are you so paralyzed with fear that you have settled for mediocrity, or do
you take risks even though you know there may be consequences?
45
Chapter 14
‘AHA” Moments, Music and Leisure
“Life is too serious to be taken seriously,” Einstein said, so he sought humor often. He
enjoyed practical jokes, and used humor as a release from the tensions of a very serious
life. Having fun in life is essential to maintaining balance.
The interesting thing about Einstein was that he was intense and focused when working,
but had a diverse number of interests outside work. Unlike many of his colleagues in the
science field, he found passion in a number of other things – such as music. He felt as if
those who didn’t see life as an adventure were not living, and encouraged everyone to not
settle for doing something you are not passionate about, and to find their own passion.
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he still lives,” he is quoted as saying.
Einstein had his eccentricities, but he was totally in
touch with himself and how his brain functioned.
One of his most interesting traits was his ability to
take himself away from a problem he had been
struggling with in order to clear his head. He found
that just removing himself from the problem, even
for just a short while, allowed him to see things from
a different prospective – and usually he was then
able to find the answer he was searching for. He
knew that when you concentrated hard on solving
one problem the obstacles in the way become larger
than they actually are. He never sulked. “To despair
makes even less sense than to strive for an attainable
goal.”
“Music does not influence research work, but both
are nourished by the same sort of longing, and they
complement each other in the release they offer.”Albert Einstein to Paul Plaut, October 23, 1928.
Enjoying his violin, 1939
One of Einstein’s quotes: “Never regard your study as a duty, but as an enviable
opportunities to learn to know the liberating beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own
personal joy, and to profit the community for which your later work belongs.” In other
words, if you don’t like what you are doing you will not be successful at it, and will soon
lose interested and quit.
According to his second wife, Elsa, “Music helps him when he is thinking about his
[scientific] theories. When stumped in his work, Einstein would take a break and play
piano or his beloved violin. Then he would return to his research with fresh thoughts.”
46
Albert Einstein loved to play musical instruments. Although he may not have been a
virtuoso, he played from his heart, and it was during these times of peace he got his
greatest inspirations. His sister Maja, truly enjoyed watching him play the piano, and
often she and their mother would play duets with him. She said that he almost lost
himself in the music, and all of a sudden he would stand up and yell, “Ah Ha! I’ve got
it!”
Einstein used music and reading as a time to get away from his work. When he was
having a hard time solving a problem he would simply walk away from it for a while and
allow his mind to rest. He was not running away from the problem, but allowing his mind
time to take a break and clear itself so it would come to him.
When we open our minds to wander freely we
stumble upon the answers to our problems.
Diversion is a great release, and by allowing
your mind the freedom to let go, and not
concentrating on a problem until it becomes
bigger than it actually is, you will find you are
able to ‘fall into’ the answer without stressing.
He also understood that if you look at something
too long you continue to see the same thing. By
allowing yourself distance you can see what you
were looking at from a different angle, and
perhaps solve the puzzle.
Einstein and Elsa at Princeton
Einstein chose music, reading, and sailing as his
favored method of relaxation. Since stress is a
great blocker to clear thinking, he realized that
by removing himself from the stress he would be
more open to clearer thought.
In his formula for success you will observe that Einstein included “play” as part of his
formula. “Life is too serious to be taken seriously,” he said. Maintaining balance requires
the ability to step away from the serious part in order to de-stress. That would be through
networking with like-minded people, playing an instrument, reading a book, or enjoying
a hobby – like golf, sailing or painting. “The most precious things in life are not the ones
you get for money,” he said. If you look at work as your only outlet, and the source of
your only joy, you will miss out on so much
Although it may seem so, Einstein did not spend all his time engrossed in ways to
improve the world. He understood the value of taking time away from your work to enjoy
life and get away from the stress of life for a while. His leisure time was not spent on
‘brain exercises’ and ‘brain games’ because as he said he did that all day long. In an
March 28, 1936 interview with The New York Times, Einstein said, "I do not play any
games. There is no time for it. When I get through work I don't want anything which
47
requires the working of the mind." He also said, "I always dislike the fierce competitive
spirit embodied in games." His preferred leisure time was spent playing the violin and
sailing.
He did not, however, think of chess as a brain game, or even a game, and had an avid
interest in it as an activity he learned as a boy. He did not consider himself excellent at it,
but enjoyed playing with his friends and neighbors, and always had a chessboard set up in
his home. He is quoted as saying: "Chess grips its exponent, shackling the mind and brain
so that the inner freedom and independence of even the strongest character cannot remain
unaffected." He also said, “I always dislike the fierce competitive spirit embodied in
[chess].”
When he met children, Einstein would ask them if they enjoyed music or if they could
play chess. Occasionally he would teach the basics of chess to a child and then tell that
child to practice. The next time he visited they would play a game of chess together.
One such child was Ralph D. Gardner, who met Einstein in 1934. At the time Gardner
was just 11, and was not aware until years later that Einstein was in the midst of a
turbulent time in his life. The Nazis had confiscated his possessions on one of his trips to
the United States and he had just joined the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton
University.
Gardner spoke German, something he picked up from his grandparents. He met Einstein
through a neighbor, and because Einstein was most comfortable speaking German the
boy became a Saturday afternoon companion, playing chess before afternoon tea. “We
played chess, with him suggesting how to avoid my wrong moves and how to maneuver
pieces to better advantage. I don’t remember ever winning, though we probably never
completed a game before tea was served,” Gardner said.
After tea Einstein and Gardner’s neighbor, Federal Judge Julian Mack, would depart to
discuss private matters. Garner later discovered that the Judge and Einstein had been
collaborating to help people escape Nazi Germany (many were scientists) by getting them
jobs at American universities.
Chapter 14 - Points To Ponder
1. How do you find your ‘Aha’ moments?
2. Do you take time away from work to just get away?
3. What do you do to relax and de-stress?
48
Chapter 15
How Einstein Saw The World
Throughout Albert Einstein’s life he swam upstream, against the current of opinion and
standards of normal behavior. He was independent in his thinking and the way he went
about looking at the world around him.
Albert Einstein was a German born Jew, in a time when being one was the most difficult
– prior to both World Wars I and II. Through his heritage and his work, he knew hatred,
mistreatment and prejudice. Perhaps because of this he was one of the most humane
people who ever lived. He had a deep respect for life in all forms, and people of all
stations.
Albert Einstein was a flawed human being, which only goes to show he was human, and
not a superpower, or a man with magical qualities. He was a womanizer, as his two wives
could attest. He did not conform to other people’s concepts, including those of his
colleagues. He was a maverick, in science and in life.
He never traded upon his notoriety, dodging the spotlight except when it could benefit
others. Although he was aware that he was famous, it did not change him. He led a
simple life, enjoyed playing chess with those he thought could learn from him – or would
be a challenge. He was intensely loyal to his friends, but at times seemed to be more
immersed in his work than his family.
Einstein was often so intent on his work that he would forget to eat or change clothes. He
was what many called the stereotype of the “absent-minded professor,” forgetting
everyday tasks and oblivious to his surrounding and the people in it as he went on
intensely concentrating on his work. Later in life he took on the disheveled look – with
his wild white hair, that people nowadays often associate with the “mad scientist” image
he depicted.
He spoke to his students as if they were people, and not subordinates. He made time for
children. His wife told a lady applying for a job – “Don’t worry, my husband is nice to
everyone.” He valued everyone as a person. He knew that not everyone can focus on
changing the world, but they can change themselves. He believed that you give respect to
others, and don’t work for the “title.” When you do attain wealth and status as a product
for your work, value it, but don’t take it to heart. Never show favoritism to those who
can do something for you over those who cannot. Treat everyone the same.
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." – Albert Einstein, quoted in Life
Magazine, May 2, 1955.
49
On Religion
Einstein was actually one of the unusual scientists who actually believed in God.
Although the existence of God was one puzzle he was not able to prove, at least not the
way science wants proof, he was acutely aware that a higher power was directing the
universe. He never embraced organized religion – but believed in heart there was a God.
“The most beautiful experience we can have is with the mysterious. It is the fundamental
emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it,
can no longer wonder, and can no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are
dim,” he said.
By studying nature he had seen the signature or fingerprints of God. “I am satisfied with
the mysteries of life’s eternity, and with a knowledge, a sense, of the most marvelous
structure of existence as well as the most humble attempt to understand even a tiny
portion of the reason that manifests itself in nature.”
His friend Kessler once said that God is less intelligent than man, and lacked imagination.
Perhaps Kessler was a negative person. Einstein replied that the closer man examines
nature the closer he gets to God. “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious he is not.”
“What really interests me is whether God could have created the world any differently; in
other words, whether the demand for logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all.”Albert Einstein, quoted by Ernst Straus in Seelig.
Our limited minds may not be able to grasp the mysterious forces that explain God. But
Einstein, in his ability to take a complicated subject and whittle it down to it’s most basic
form said, “A child can look at a library and understand that someone wrote these books,
even if they don’t understand it.”
On Responsibility
When Ernest Rutherford defined the nuclear nature of an atom, in 1932, journalists
speculated the uses for this discovery. Rutherford himself believed the idea of using
atomic energy for war or industry was, as he put it, “moonshine.” He stated that
physicists were not looking for new sources of power, or for new elements, and that the
only reason his discovery was important was “the urge and fascination of a search into
the deepest secrets of Nature.”
Einstein understood that fascination. He felt the same way. He also knew that science is
all about pursing knowledge, so said, “We must not condemn man because his
inventiveness and patient conquest of the forces of nature are exploited for false and
destructive purposes.” He added, “The line of demarcation doesn't lie between scientists
and non-scientists; it lies between responsible, honest people, and the others.”
50
This does not let scientists off the hook when it comes to responsibility for the
consequences of their discoveries. “In our time, scientists and engineers carry a
particularly heavy burden of moral responsibility, because the development of military
means of mass destruction is dependent on their work.”
Perhaps it was a naiveté on Einstein’s part, but he felt that if people chose responsible
leaders it would lead to responsible government. He never wanted scientific work to be
used for military purposes and war, it needed to be under civilian control. For him, this
meant truthful communication between the scientific world and the public, as to the risks
and benefits of projects, would keep things in perspective.
”When men are engaged in war and conquest,” said Einstein, “the tools of science
become as dangerous as a razor in the hands of a child.” The fate of mankind, he said,
depends entirely on our sense of morality.
After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, someone within earshot of Leo Szilard noted
that it was the tragedy of scientists that their discoveries were used for destruction.
Szilard replied, “It's not the tragedy of scientists. It's the tragedy of mankind.”
Einstein and the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists posed this question in 1948:
“We are all citizens of a world community sharing common perils. Is it inevitable that
because of our passions and our inherited customs we should be condemned to destroy
ourselves?”
On the treatment of others and humanity
Few people will ever accomplish all that Albert Einstein did in his lifetime. Highest of all
his accomplishments, however, is the mark he made as a man and a humanitarian. While
his mind had him fixated on the universe, his feet were planted firmly on the ground.
He was humble in his achievements, and never sought accolades or notoriety, being more
interested in making a mark through his work. He believed you find your inner strength
from your passion, and that strength is what makes you successful.
Not feeling the need to dominate a conversation to prove his intellect, Einstein was as
great a listener as he was a brilliant communicator. He had no need to prove his IQ by
talking over people’s heads. He spoke on the level of the people to whom he was
speaking in order to educate them. When he spoke on subjects that were too complicated
for most laymen, and given the type of work he was concentrating on that would not be
unusual, he had the gift to break things down into examples that the simplest person in
the room could understand, without being condescending.
If a man as great as Albert Einstein was able to leave ego out of his life, and see the need
in others who were not as brilliant to understand what he was trying to accomplish, it
should go without saying that successful men are the ones who are excellent listeners and
communicators, and have empathy for those in whom they come in contact.
“The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. - Einstein
51
His kindness to everyone was notorious, and he treated everyone the same – regardless of
whether they could benefit him or not. Someone once said that you learn more about a
person by the way they treat others who are of no consequence to them. We have learned
a lot about Einstein the man from his respect for everyone around him, not just the
important ones. One of his most humorous quotes exemplified this. When asked by a
friend if Einstein had read a book written by a relative of his, Einstein, instead of saying
he did not like the book, said, “Your uncle wrote a great book – everything in it was
wrong – but it was a great book.”
Albert Einstein was very aware of the fact that life was short. He wanted to squeeze as
much out of it as possible, so he understood the immense value of time management. He
was excellent at prioritizing, and was able to see the value in doing what needed to be
done first in order to get back to what he wanted to do.
You cannot help but be in awe of the brilliance of his scientific mind, yet Albert Einstein
‘the man’ possessed qualities that made him a stellar human being as well. His approach
to problems and ideas can definitely benefit anyone who has the desire to succeed – in
business and in life.
On giving credit where credit is due
Einstein was a man of character. Men who do not value that quality will never succeed in
life, no matter how much money they make. He valued his work, the people close to him,
and the exchange of ideas with like-minded people more than any honor ever bestowed
upon him. He gladly supported, and gave credit to others. His ability to enjoy the success
of others spoke volumes about his character, and he reveled in others success as much as
his own. He once wrote to his life-long friend, Alfred Stern, that his most “enchanting
memory” was watching a friend achieve his life-long goal.”
In his famous essay, “The World As I See It”, Albert Einstein wrote, “ A hundred times
every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other
men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as
I have received and am still receiving…” Einstein understood that what he was able to
accomplish was based on what others had done who came before him, as well as what
they are doing today. He never forgot that he was but one piece of the puzzle called life,
and that others contributed to his overall success and failures.
He held contempt for those who achieved success at the expense of others, or through
treachery and underhandedness. Einstein saw our culture idolize success, but the wrong
kind of success. He saw money as a means to an end – you need it to eat, for housing, and
a few odds and ends, but he was never interested in becoming wealthy. Wealth, to him,
involved friendships and the ability to do the things you wanted without being restrained.
He saw value in accomplishments, in reaching and learning new things, and if he had
lived long enough would have applauded the speech by Martin Luther King: “I have a
52
dream, that one day man will be judged, not by the color of his skin but by the content of
his character.”
Without the help of others even Einstein could not come up with some of his ideas. By
studying Newton, Galileo and other scientists he stood by the quote of Newton, “If I was
able to see farther than others it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
He gladly gave credit to others. Great thinkers don’t pursue the credit; they pursue the
passion that gives them the credit. Eventually the credit will come. “It is amazing at
what gets accomplished when you don’t care who gets the credit.”
On Hope and Humor
Throughout his life he always held out HOPE that the secrets of the universe would be
revealed and man would learn to respect each other. He used HUMOR as a way to ease
pain, suffering and stress.
The majority of Einstein’s life was based on his deep hope that people could change. He
had faith that men essentially were humane, and would come to their senses in order to
see that war and destruction were not the answer.
“He was articulate, eloquent, and had beautiful penmanship. He had a wonderful sense of
humor and gracious in his humor,” said his daughter Margot.
Chapter 15 - Points To Ponder
1. Whose responsibility do you think it is to inform the public about the consequences of
new discoveries? Should the scientific world be in charge, or the government?
2. What is your view about religion? Do you practice your religion, or are you better at
preaching it?
3. Do you demonstrate respect and tolerance for all?
4. What characteristics do you most value in yourself? What do you value in others? List
them.
5. Do you have hope that good things will happen? How do you go about seeing that they
do?
53
Chapter 16
Einstein’s Final Years
The last two decades of Albert Einstein’s life were devoted to developing is ‘holy grail,’
which he called the “Unified Field Theory.” It continued to elude him, but it didn’t stop
him from trying.
He was trying to reconcile quantum physics with relativity, and he once casually
mentioned to a colleague that he was on the verge of his “greatest discovery ever.” Two
weeks later he had to admit, “it didn’t pan out.”
Einstein spent his life in the pursuit of science and peace, but his final concern was about
something quite different, and equally close to his heart - Israel. Long before 1948, and
the creation of the State of Israel, Einstein had said that it could only be successful if
there could be peaceful
co-existence between
Jews and Arabs.
In 1952, Einstein was
invited to become the
second president of
Israel. “I am deeply
moved by the offer, and
both saddened and
ashamed that I cannot
accept. But I lack both
the natural aptitude and
the experience to deal
properly with people
and to exercise official
Albert Einstein receives honorary citizenship of Tel Aviv, 1923
functions. I am the
more distressed, because my relationship to the Jewish people has become my strongest
bond.”
“I am not a Jew in the sense that I would demand the preservation of the Jewish or any
other nationality as an end in itself. Rather, I see Jewish nationality as a fact and I
believe that every Jew must draw the consequences from this fact” - Albert Einstein, in
Jüdische Rundschau, June 21, 1921.
Einstein’s last document was the draft of a speech to mark Israel’s Independence Day. It
remained unfinished. His opening remarks commented on the long-term conflict between
Israel and Egypt. “You may think this is a small and insignificant problem, and that there
are more serious things to worry about, but this is not true. In matters of truth and justice
there can be no distinction between big problems and small...Whoever is careless with the
54
truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs...”
Eventually the situation with his family got better, but it was a long and bitter battle for
Einstein as well as his boys for the majority of their lives.
Eduard eventually succumbed to mental illness and spent the rest of his life in a Zurich
asylum.
Albert raised Ilse and Margot as his own, and they took the name of Einstein.
Hans Albert attended Zurich Polytechnic, where his parents had met, and studied
engineering. He later became a professor at the University of California at Berkley, and
was at his father’s beside when he died in his sleep on April 18, 1955.
Chapter 16 - Points To Ponder
1. Is there something important in your life that always seems to remain at arms-length?
How long have you pursued it? What is your “holy grail?”
2. If you have something that you continue to fail at, do you keep trying or eventually
give up? If you have been stung by failure at some point in your life, and now you are
hesitant to take another chance, think of what our lives would be like if men like Albert
Einstein, who refused to stop until he found the answers - no matter how many mistakes
were made along the way.
3. Is there someone in your life you have lost touch with, or have unresolved conflict?
What is stopping you from reconciling?
55
Chapter 17
A Legacy and Life Lessons
When Einstein died his brain was taken by the medical examiner and dissected to see
what made him so much smarter than anyone else. The doctor found that in weight
comparison, Einstein’s brain was actually a little less in volume than the average brain,
and there was nothing distinguishing about it to account for his genius.
At that time neuroscience did not exist, and they didn’t have the technology we have
today to conduct proper testing. Einstein’s brain was cut into very thin slices and
preserved, and observed, by all types of scientists. Unfortunately, there was not much left
for modern scientists to examine, but what was found was that his brain seemed to have
more neuroconnectors, and they were longer than average.
What can only be concluded is his brain was probably no different than the majority of
the rest of us, but his questioning and curiosity led to many more neural connections than
most of us will ever have, and because he had such diverse interests the connectors were
constantly cross-training, reaching and stretching themselves.
You can not place his brain, eyes, compassion and spirit into a jar – you will never be
able to replicate the embodiment of sheer genius. Looking through the rear view mirror
of life, through his writings and journals of people who knew him, we can find out a lot
about the thoughts and habits of one of the greatest people who ever lived – in science
and in life.
Albert’s friend, Neal Voor, said this about Einstein: “He was rich and fruitful as any in
the whole history of our culture. Mankind will always be indebted to Einstein for the
removal of obstacles to our outlook, which were involved, in the primitive notions of
absolute space and time. He gave us a world with unity and harmony, surpassing the
boldest dreams of the past. Einstein was always prepared to help people with difficulties
of all kinds, and to him, who himself had experienced the evils of racial prejudice, the
promotion of understanding among nations was a foremost endeavor.”
Einstein once said, “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us Universe. A part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, his feelings, as
something separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This
delusion is a kind of prison for him, restricting us of our personal desires, and to affection
to a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature
and its beauty.”
Albert Einstein brought with him a mind that was unquenchable and a spirit that
encompassed the world. He was not perfect, but he never thought he was. His approach to
life - the good and the bad, was to attack it head-on and not look back, or fear for what
56
lies ahead. He was not afraid to go against the tide, and was often criticized until he was
proven right. He left a legacy of scientific discoveries that will withstand time.
Albert Einstein’s Life Lessons
1. Follow your curiosity
2. Perseverance is priceless
3. Deal with distractions so you can concentrate on the work at hand
3. Focus on the present
4. Imagination is powerful
5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes - no one is right 100% of the time
6. Time is valuable, so manage it well
7. Create something of value
8. Don’t expect to do the same thing and get different results
9. Knowledge comes from experience
10. Learn the rules so you can play better
11. Take the time to enjoy life and have fun
12. Value your family and friends
13. Treat everyone the same, even those who you cannot benefit from
14. Follow your conscience, even if you don’t get any support from others
Chapter 17 - Points To Ponder
1. What lessons have you learned from Einstein? List them.
2. What life lessons can you impart to others? Make a list and then a plan of action.
3. Do you lead my example?
4. What do you hope your legacy to be?
57
Chapter 18
The Wisdom of Einstein - Famous Quotes
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.”
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”
58
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of
genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.”
“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.”
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true
art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pursue the
wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead. His eyes are closed.”
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not counting everything that can be
counted – counts.”
“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”
“I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest are just details.”
“A person starts to live when he can live outside of himself.”
“I am convinced that God does not play dice.”
“God is subtle, but he is not malicious.”
“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
“Weakness of attitude is weakness.”
“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.”
“There are two ways to live your life. One as if nothing is a miracle, the other as if
everything is a miracle.”
“Common Sense is a collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.”
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
“Peace can not be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”
“We can’t solve problems by using the same type of thinking used when we created
them.”
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has it’s own reason for
existing.”
59
“Two things are infinite– the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the
universe.”
“Whoever undertakes to set himself as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by
the laughter of the gods.”
“The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears – for there is no risk of accident if
one is dead.”
“Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a
pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning has for its purposes to discover
what the pupil knows, or is capable of knowing.”
“Never regard your study as a duty, but as an enviable opportunities to learn to know the
liberating beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy, and to profit the
community for which your later work belongs.”
“Humiliation and mental oppression by ignorant and selfish teachers wreak havoc in the
youthful mind that can never be undone, and often exert a baleful influence in later life.”
“The aim of education must be the training of independently acting and thinking
individuals who, however can see in the service to their community their highest
achievement.”
“ It’s better for people to be like beasts, they should be more intuitive, they should not be
too conscious of what they are doing while they are doing it.”
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”
“The new life of the individual has meaning only so far as it aids in making the life of
every living thing nobler and more beautiful.”
“Life is sacred. That is to say it is the supreme value to which all other values are
subordinate.”
“The most precious things in life are not the ones you get for money.”
60
Chapter 19
Bibliography
Wikipedia – Einstein’s Family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_family
Sparknotes – Albert Einstein:
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/einstein/section2.rhtml
Albert Einstein Inventions: http://www.inventionpop.com/AlbertEinsteinInventions.html
TNT Tonight: http://www.txt2nite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1691
Carolus Chess - 1879-1955 Albert Einstein:
http://sites.google.com/site/caroluschess/famous-people/explorers-and-inventors/alberteinstein
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate
Wadzanai Nenzou Is A Writer And Owner Of Inspirational Quotes Change Lives
Website.
Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein: Stanford University http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html
Einstein and his love of music –
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/einstein/stuff/einstein&music.pdf
Arts Edge – http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/families/at-school/all-for-artseducation/many-gifts-of-music.aspx
Wikipedia – Absent-Minded professor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absentminded_professor
Yahoo Answers – Absent Minded Professor Syndrome???
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070916190625AAlVQVz
Autistic Spectrum Disorders Fact Sheet – Did Einstein and Newton Have Asperger’s?
http://www.autism-help.org/points-%20aspergers-einstein-newton.htm
ChessGames.com – Albert Einstein:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=80137
My Saturday Afternoons with Albert Einstein by Ralph Gardner:
http://www.evesmag.com/einstein.htm
61
Nj.com – Meet Gillett Griffin, Princeton Friend of Albert Einstein:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/in_1953_gillett_g_griffin.html
Schoolnet.com – Albert Einstein: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAeinstein.htm
Wikipedia - Max Planck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck
Schoolnet.com – Albert Einstein: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAeinstein.htm
The World As I See It, An Essay by Einstein:
http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm
My Life As It Unfolds – 7 Lessons From Einstein: http://adigopula.org/?p=26
Time Magazine - Elusive Einstein Letters, July 17, 2006; pg. 50
Einstein – The Friendship of Three Singular Men, Einstein and His Swiss Friends Besso
and Zangger: http://www.jstor.org/pss/235463
Wikipedia – Michele Besso: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Besso
Einstein – Quotes: http://einstein.biz/quotes
Einstein Paper Projects - http://www.einstein.caltech.edu/vol10_intro.htm
Reflections on Relativity - A Very Beautiful Day: http://www.mathpages.com/rr/s3-08/308.htm
Einstein, In His Own Words:
ttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211367,00.html\
TopSynergy.com – Albert Einstein in relationships: http://famousrelationships.topsynergy.com/Albert_Einstein/
The Art of Selective Ignorance – Deleting Barriers To Success:
http://EzineArticles.com/2808191: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Art-of-SelectiveIgnorance---Deleting-Barriers-to-Success&id=2808191
TopSynergy.com – Albert Einstein motivation: http://famousrelationships.topsynergy.com/Albert_Einstein/Motivation.asp
Quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins108304.html
62
Free Meditation - Albert Einstein:
http://www.freemeditation.com/articles/2010/05/22/10-golden-life-lessons-from-alberteinstein-quotes-and-inspirations/
Einstein and His Love of Music http://www.pha.jhu.edu/einstein/stuff/einstein&music.pdf
Music and the Brain - http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html
Ten Obscure Factoids Concerning Albert Einstein http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/19980907140525data_trunc_sys.shtml
The World As I See It, by Albert Einstein - http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm
Learn Peace – Albert Einstein: http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/people/ppeinstein.html
63