Random Facts About Einstein

Building of Atomic Bomb

Re-creation of Einstein and Szilárd signing the famous letter to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939
In 1939, alarmed by the rise of Nazi Germany, physicist Leó Szilárd [wiki] convinced Einstein to write a letter to president Franklin Delano Roosevelt warning that Nazi Germany might be conducting research into developing an atomic bomb and urging the United States to develop its own.

The Einstein and Szilárd's letter was often cited as one of the reasons Roosevelt started the secret Manhattan Project [wiki] to develop the atom bomb, although later it was revealed that the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 probably did much more than the letter to spur the government.

Although Einstein was a brilliant physicist, the army considered Einstein a security risk and (to Einstein's relief) did not invite him to help in the project.

His Work Largely went unnoticed after the war

While Einstein gained a lot of popular attention for his eccentricity and public image as a member of the scientific community behind the discovery of the atomic bomb, and while most people knew the sight of his unkempt hair style and that he did not own a pair of socks, his work in the later part of his life, went largely unexamined until recently. Einstein had been working on a Unified field theory, (it involved gravity and electromagnetism being solved by one set of equations), and would do so until he died, but from 1920 onwards he also began to concentrate on quantum theory. Most people will have heard of this area of theoretical physics by now, (if not in class then in any number of Hollywood movies that have exploited it), but the work was neglected until very recently and is now at the centre of the discipline being considered alongside such high sounding things as ‘superstring theory.’              

 Presidency of Israel

Here’s a good one. It is largely believed that in 1952 Israel asked Albert Einstein to become Prime Minister. In fact Einstein was asked by the Prime Minister, Ben Gurion, to become Israel’s Second President since it’s foundation in 1948, asking him ‘whether you would accept the Presidency of Israel if it were offered you by a vote of the Knesset.’ Albert, a Jew but not an Israeli citizen, declined the offer saying that while he was honored he was also sad and ashamed to say he could not accept it. There are various reports as to why he turned it down, but by and large they come down to his disinterest at taking on such responsibility, or joining the stress of the political world. After all his entire life had been spent fascinated by physics and the pursuit of scientific answers, his causes and ideology were a necessity brought on by the urgency of his time for good men to say wise words.


Obsessed Smoker


Einstein loved to smoke. As he walked between his house and his office at Princeton, one could often see him followed by a trail of smoke. Nearly as part of his image as his wild hair and baggy clothes was Einstein clutching his trusty briar pipe. In 1950, Einstein is noted as saying, "I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs," Although he favored pipes, Einstein was not one to turn down a cigar or even a cigarette.

Married his Cousin

After Einstein divorced Mileva (his infidelity was listed as one of the reasons for the split), he soon married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal. Actually, Einstein also considered marrying Elsa's daughter (from her first marriage) Ilse, but she demurred:

Before marrying Elsa, he had considered marrying her daughter, Ilse, instead. According to Overbye, “She (Ilse, who was 18 years younger than Einstein) was not attracted to Albert, she loved him as a father, and she had the good sense not to get involved. But it was Albert’s Woody Allen moment.” (Source)

Unlike Mileva, Elsa Einstein's main concern was to take care of her famous husband. She undoubtedly knew about, and yet tolerated, Einstein's infidelity and love affairs which were later revealed in his letters:

Previously released letters suggested his marriage in 1903 to his first wife Mileva Maric, mother of his two sons, was miserable. They divorced in 1919, and he soon married his cousin, Elsa. He cheated on her with his secretary, Betty Neumann.

In the new volume of letters released on Monday by Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Einstein described about six women with whom he spent time and from whom he received gifts while being married to Elsa.

Some of the women identified by Einstein include Estella, Ethel, Toni and his "Russian spy lover," Margarita. Others are referred to only by initials, like M. and L.

"It is true that M. followed me (to England) and her chasing after me is getting out of control," he wrote in a letter to Margot in 1931. "Out of all the dames, I am in fact attached only to Mrs. L., who is absolutely harmless and decent."

Einstein did not talk till he was 3

Albert Einstein is called by many the smartest man to have ever lived, but he had a great deal of difficulty in his early childhood development. Some have wondered if he suffered from ‘Asperger’s syndrome’ a high function type of autism. But such speculation is exactly that, speculation. But we do know that he did not learn to speak until he was three years old and even at the age of nine he is said to have spoken hesitantly and with uncertainty. This later information could have been a result of his dislike of this school system, (he went through several and never seemed to enjoy any of them), and his tendency towards introspection and thoughtfulness. If nothing else Albert Einstein is a good example of why being a late bloomer isn’t such a bad thing.

One interesting anecdote, told by Otto Neugebauer, a historian of science, goes like this:

As he was a late talker, his parents were worried. At last, at the supper table one night, he broke his silence to say, "The soup is too hot."
Greatly relieved, his parents asked why he had never said a word before.
Albert replied, "Because up to now everything was in order." (Source)

In his book, Thomas Sowell [wiki] noted that besides Einstein, many brilliant people developed speech relatively late in childhood. He called this condition The Einstein Syndrome.



Einstein's Brain

The Saga of Einstein's Brain: Pickled in a Jar for 43 Years and Driven Cross Country in a Trunk of a Buick!


After his death in 1955, Einstein's brain [wiki] was removed - without permission from his family - by Thomas Stoltz Harvey [wiki], the Princeton Hospital pathologist who conducted the autopsy. Harvey took the brain home and kept it in a jar. He was later fired from his job for refusing to relinquish the organ.

Many years later, Harvey, who by then had gotten permission from Hans Albert to study Einstein's brain, sent slices of Einstein's brain to various scientists throughout the world. One of these scientists was Marian Diamond of UC Berkeley, who discovered that compared to a normal person, Einstein had significantly more glial cells in the region of the brain that is responsible for synthesizing information.

In another study, Sandra Witelson of McMaster University found that Einstein's brain lacked a particular "wrinkle" in the brain called the Sylvian fissure. Witelson speculated that this unusual anatomy allowed neurons in Einstein's brain to communicate better with each other. Other studies had suggested that Einstein's brain was denser, and that the inferior parietal lobe, which is often associated with mathematical ability, was larger than normal brains.

The saga of Einsteins brain can be quite strange at times: in the early 1990s, Harvey went with freelance writer Michael Paterniti on a cross-country trip to California to meet Einstein's granddaughter. They drove off from New Jersey in Harvey's Buick Skylark with Einstein's brain sloshing inside a jar in the trunk! Paterniti later wrote his experience in the book Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain

In 1998, the 85-year-old Harvey delivered Einstein's brain to Dr. Elliot Krauss, the staff pathologist at Princeton University, the position Harvey once held:

... after safeguarding the brain for decades like it was a holy relic -- and, to many, it was -- he simply, quietly, gave it away to the pathology department at the nearby University Medical Center at Princeton, the university and town where Einstein spent his last two decades.

"Eventually, you get tired of the responsibility of having it. ... I did about a year ago," Harvey said, slowly. "I turned the whole thing over last year [in 1998].