Einstein

By Ed Raymond
Staff Writer

A Man for All Seasons and “The (Second) Greatest Living Person in The World”

I was reluctant to start a 675-page biography of Albert Einstein, the thinker behind the nuclear age and all that. But “Einstein: His Life and Universe” was written by Walter Isaacson, and I had thoroughly enjoyed his long biography “Ben Franklin: An American Life.” Here is a writer that does his research. He really walks in the moccasins, trousers, boxers and alleys of his subjects.
I had known a little about Albert Einstein, but my knowledge was generally based on his formula e=mc2, the pictures that emphasized his long, silvery white hair and soulful eyes and his failure of third grade math. By the second chapter I realized Albert was a pretty complicated cat. By the last pages I understood here was a guy one would love to have a beer with. Here was a guy who favored women and who rapidly became their favorite. Here was a guy for all seasons, good enough at playing Mozart and Beethoven on the piano and violin to play charity concerts in Europe and America–-and talented enough to play first and second violin with leading orchestras.

A Nervy or Crazy Sailor Who Couldn’t Swim

Here was a guy who loved sailing, taking his 17-foot wood sailboat out into the Atlantic, forgetting the time of day while pondering the questions of the universe. Sometimes when he was late his wife would send the Coast Guard out to find him in the dark. He was so confident in his sailing abilities he never wore a life preserver–or learned how to swim. Here was a guy in 1938 who was second in a survey of freshmen at Princeton University on who was the “Greatest Living Person” in the world. Adolf Hitler, Einstein’s #1 enemy, came in first. Well, Princeton is still a conservative town, but in 1938 the elites who lived there were usually anti-Semites.

For much of his life Einstein was puzzled about the hatred directed at Jews in both Europe and America. After he came in second in the Princeton survey he wrote an article titled “Why Do They Hate The Jews?” in Collier’s, one of the great magazines of the day. He tried to explain the social creed “inbred” in most Jews: “The bond that has united Jews for thousands of years and that unites them today is, above all, the democratic ideal of social justice coupled with the ideal of mutual aid and tolerance among all men.” J. Edgar Hoover, whose name sullies the FBI building in Washington, D.C., always suspected Einstein of being a Communist and/or Socialist radical. He had his agents keep track of Einstein and his political, scientific and personal friends. When Einstein died his FBI file was 1,427 pages long. J. Edgar never laid a finger on him.

Einstein Was a Riot of Misunderstandings and Developmental Problems in School

This man who could have won several Nobel Prizes in a number of different areas is a splendid example of why the program Leave No Child Behind should be dumped immediately, so no more children are left behind. Einstein was very slow in learning to talk, not using any words at all until after the age of two. He had a mild form of echolalia all his life, a symptom where the individual repeats phrases to himself, particularly those he likes. He would repeat a sentence until he thought it was good enough to say aloud. He thought in pictures, not words.

His sister Maja said later the family was concerned that Albert “had such difficulty with language that those around him feared he would never learn.” The family maid called him “the dopey one” while family members were more discreet with “almost backwards.” When his sister was born he had been led to believe she was a new toy for his pleasure, so he asked: “But where are the wheels?” An early schoolmaster, somewhat tired of the rebellious nature and early contempt for adult authority exhibited by Albert, said Einstein would never amount to much. Isaacson did not reveal the schoolmaster’s name.

Near the end of his career, Einstein was asked by the New York State Education Department what schools should emphasize in the classroom. In that he was a major “personality” in a number of math and science fields, he said: “In teaching history there should be extensive discussion of personalities who benefited mankind through independence of character and judgment. Critical comments by students should be taken in a friendly spirit.” (Einstein was never shy in anything. He argued vociferously with many of his teachers. He liked his solitude to have time to think, but he had contact with hundreds of scientists and others across the globe with whom he exchanged letters, ideas, arguments and expletives.)

Einstein would never have tolerated the rote learning and testing methods of programs such as Leave No Child Behind. He insisted that a society could only compete successfully if the schools stimulated imagination and creativity. He was not strong in rote learning, although he did know his multiplication and periodic tables. The rumor that he had failed third grade math was always rife in and out of the academic community. In fact “Believe It Or Not” Ripley had written an entire column about Einstein titled “Greatest Living Mathematician Failed in Mathematics.” Challenged about this later in life, Einstein laughed and said: “I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”  (I am not bad with numbers. I even have a minor in math. But I got through college calculus with the help of Charlie Mahan, a veteran Army Air Corps navigator of WWII who needed calculus to stay alive over in Germany.)

Einstein: “Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge”

Isaacson writes: “His success came not from the brute strength of his mental processing power, but from his imagination and creativity. He could construct complex equations, but more important, he knew that math is the language nature uses to describe her wonders.” Einstein always was a nonconformist. He “exulted” at one time: “Long live impudence!  It is my guardian angel in this world.  It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce new ideas.”

Einstein’s school report cards were a bit spotty. At one time he needed to do remedial work in chemistry and French, requiring private tutors and lessons to pass the classes. By the time of adolescence, Einstein’s father was resigned to the fact that Albert had a combination of mediocre grades along with excellent ones. Music continued to be a passion throughout his life. In his class alone there were nine violinists. His music teacher said after a performance: “One student, by the name of Einstein, even sparkled by rendering an adagio from a Beethoven sonata with deep understanding.” Even his fellow musicians said he had “enchanting tone and incomparable rhythm.”

He loved classical music but disliked martial music. Einstein was not a pacifist, but he thought wars should be fought only when a society’s future was in doubt. He thought that marching music inflamed the passions of conflict. After watching people applaud soldiers marching to trumpets, drums and fifes, Einstein excoriated the activity: “When a person can take pleasure in marching in step to a piece of music it is enough to make me despise him. He has been given his big brain only by mistake.” Well, I said he wasn’t shy.
 
Isaacson stressed Einstein’s attitude in a paragraph: “This outlook made Einstein a rebel with a reverence for the harmony of nature, one who had just the right blend of imagination and wisdom to transform our understanding of the universe. These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend upon our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the twentieth century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.”

Einstein was truly a complete Renaissance man, knowledgeable in mathematics and physical science, physics, quantum theory and other mystifying areas of learning. He was not only skilled in classical music but was considered by his letters and scientific papers to have the skills of a professional writer. He was also a human “philosopher” in religion, politics, and history.  At one time he was considered for the position of president of Israel. He warned the Israelis he had a bad habit of always telling the truth as he saw it, so the authorities ended up thinking such an appointment might be a very bad idea!

Einstein: “World War IV Will Be Fought With Rocks”

There is no doubt in the scientific community that Einstein played the major role in the development of our nuclear bombs and age. He was always at the center of the nuclear “think tank” and often was a visitor to the Oval Office of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But he was not a participant in the actual preparation of nuclear weapons. He was paid $25 a day as a consultant when the Manhattan Project under J. Robert Oppenheimer needed his problem-solving. He was considered a security risk by Hoover and many right-wingers in Congress because he believed that the world would only be saved from nuclear weaponry by some kind of world government.

On the House floor Rep. John Rankin (R-Miss) said Einstein was “simply carrying out the Communist line. Ever since he published his book on relativity to try to convince the world that light had weight, he has capitalized on his reputation as a scientist…and has been engaged in communistic activities.”
Einstein’s reaction to the dropping of the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima was “Oh! My God!”  He was not informed of the time or the place. After WWII it became clear to him that individual nations would not be able to control nuclear weapons.  He was asked what the next war would look like: “I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth–-rocks.”

Other Contributions By The Man Who Hated Socks

Although he was favorably disposed toward a form of democratic socialism, he was not opposed to regulated capitalism. He thought that communist groups led to “fanatical intolerance’” and that “blind respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”  Such faith in a political system always led to tyranny. Einstein knew what prejudice was because he once went to an elementary school as the only Jew among 70 Roman Catholic students.

Einstein was always a man of his word. He once had an illegitimate daughter with a Serbian named Mileva Marie. She was a brain, too, and they later married and had two more children. They eventually clashed and he wanted a divorce. So he offered her a deal if she would divorce him. If he won the Nobel Prize later, he would pay her the prize money. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 at the age of 42, 17 years after the divorce. Mileva collected some of the money immediately, but Einstein withheld some of it and later invested in the stock market. He lost most of it.

There are current arguments about how religious scientists are compared to “average” people because many of them are seeking the secrets of the universe. As an example, only half of the American public believes in evolution. A minority of scientists have testified they do believe in God. Einstein was a religious person, but not in a “church” sense. He admitted he was religious to a point: “Yes, you can call it that. Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious.”  He thought there was a certain orderliness in the universe put together by some “body,” but he still retained a rather impersonal, deistic concept of God. When asked if he believed in God, his response was measured: “I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.”

This from a man who had one of the most unlimited minds in the history of the world.

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