Einstein the American Celebrity

As a toddler Einstein’s family worried when he was slow to speak, but then he surprised them when he began speaking in full sentences. It was as if he had been silently observing his world and, when he understood it all, spoke out. This was but the first of many surprises Einstein would share with the world.

In school he saw no sense in the repeated drill and practice exercises his teachers insisted he complete. Once he understood a calculation or concept, he studied further on his own. Reading many years ahead of his classmates’ abilities, he did not wish to waste time at their level of training.

In the university he frustrated laboratory teaching assistants who complained that he did not follow the lab procedures but made up his own. “Mark his answers incorrect,” the professor said. “We can’t,” they complained. “He gets the correct answers and in less time!” Einstein so annoyed his professors with his independence that they refused to recommend him for a teaching position when he graduated. 

With the help of a friend, Einstein found a job as a Swiss patent office clerk. While a clerk, he continued his independent study of physics, the properties of light and the world of atoms. In 1905 he published four scientific papers in a highly respected journal. Their content included  proving the existence and size of atoms; the nature of light as a particle, as a wave and as a source of energy (for which he would win a Nobel Prize);  the amazing energy contained in atoms as shown in E=mc2; and the special relationship of space and time.

The “Miracle Year” of 1905 would elevate Einstein to international attention within the scientific community. Continuing his study and theorizing for the next ten years, he would stagger the world with his General Theory of Relativity which made him an international celebrity. He linked space, time and gravity and changed our understanding of the nature of the universe. He went from being an unknown clerk to being the most recognized scientist in the world. Now he was courted to be a prestigious professor and participant in international scientific conferences.

In 1921 he made his first tour of America, meeting the mayor of New York and visiting the White House, Columbia University and Princeton. He found Americans “friendly, self confident, optimistic, and without envy.” Later that year he toured the Far East, meeting the Emperor of Japan.

In 1922, as he returned from the East, he visited Palestine for the first time. In 1925 he toured South America. He was now a recognized celebrity on four continents.

His unique look – the long and usually unruly hair, the bushy mustache and the casual sweatshirt or occasional tuxedo and never any socks – became iconic.

Over the next 30 years, through two world wars and the dawn of the Atomic Age, Einstein became the name synonymous with scientific genius as Houdini had become synonymous with amazing magic. Using his celebrity status, he met with the great and the famous – presidents, movie stars, prime ministers and kings. He campaigned for world peace, internationalism and Zionism. He campaigned against the Nazis, against McCarthyism and against racism (which he described as a disease in America). He wrote philosophically about religion, politics and the role of scientists in the modern world. He lectured, continued to rub shoulders with the rich and famous and attracted crowds of curious and devoted audiences wherever he went.

In the face of the rise of German fascism, Einstein chose to leave Hitler far behind and take a research position in America at Princeton University. There Einstein continued his scientific explorations. He was in pursuit of an elusive unified field theory – a single, simple equation that would explain all the phenomena of nature from the sub-atomic to the cosmic. It was a goal that has still not been achieved after the nearly 70 years since his death.

In 1948 Einstein had surgery to at least temporarily protect him from problems associated with an aortic aneurysm.  In 1955 he found himself facing his final illness. When offered yet another dangerous surgical option for treatment, he replied: “I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.” And he did.

1879 – Born in Ulm, Germany

1880 – Family started electric company in Munich

1892 – Became a freethinker – so no Bar Mitzvah

1901 – Granted Swiss citizenship

1903 – Married Mileva Maric 

1905 – Published E=mc2 and 3 other groundbreaking papers

1914 – Politically active as pacifist in Germany in WWI

1916 – Published General Theory of Relativity

1919 – Divorced Mileva, married cousin Elsa Löwenthal

1922 – Awarded Nobel Prize for Physics

1932 – Decided not to return to Germany

1936 – Wife Elsa dies

1940 – Granted American citizenship

1952 – Rejected offer of Israeli presidency

1955 – Died in Princeton, New Jersey

“Thinking is hard work; that’s why so few do it.”

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

“We can’t solve today’s problems with the mentality that created them.”

“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

“Weak people seek revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore.”

“Logic can take you from point A to point B. Imagination can take you wherever you want.”

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.”

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb by Albert Einstein (2013) 

A vivid firsthand view of how one of the twentieth century’s greatest minds responded to the greatest political challenges of his day.

The World as I See It by Albert Einstein (2018) 

Addresses, letters and occasional writings presenting a mosaic portrait of Einstein through his views on progress, education, peace, war, liberty and other problems. 

Albert Einstein: A Biography by Albrecht Folsing (1997) 

Describes how the genius’s achievements color everyday modern life and delves into his development both personally and as a scientist.

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (2008) 

An exploration of the mind of a rebel and nonconformist and the mysteries of the universe he discovered.

The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret War Against the World’s Most Famous Scientist by Fred Jerome (2002) 

Story of the anti-Einstein campaign conducted to undermine Einstein’s influence and destroy his prestige.