This certainly describes a role that the older Einstein might plausibly have chosen to play as a defense against the onslaught of fame and responsibility. He could be detached and aloof from those close to him, but toward mankind in general he exuded a true kindness and gentle compassion. His inner security was tempered by the humility that comes from being awed by nature. As Isaacson writes it:Īdding to his aura was his simple humanity. The myth of Einstein presents us with an elderly sage, a clownish proto-hippy with long hair, no socks, and a bumbling, otherworldly manner. But what does this have to do with the actual character and life of the real person who happened to be the most important physicist of the last two hundred years? There is no doubt that any attempt to understand who Einstein actually was and what he actually did is hampered by a smokescreen that was created by his executors, his colleagues, his biographers, and perhaps even Einstein himself.

Noble sentiments, and certainly sufficient justification for continuing to promulgate uplifting myths about science and its heroes. These traits are…vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity….Īs he elaborates in a recent interview with Thomas Friedman, “If we are going to have any advantage over China, it is because we nurture rebellious, imaginative free thinkers, rather than try to control expression.” 1 Studying Einstein can be worthwhile it helps us remain in touch with that childlike capacity for wonder…as the sagas of heroes reminds us….

In his new book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson explains that His private letters continue to come to light, but do they really add anything to the portrait of Einstein’s character drawn so perceptively by Overbye? That Einstein had an interesting personal life, with many entanglements with women and at least one extramarital child, has not been news since Roger Highfield and Paul Carter’s The Private Lives of Albert Einstein and Dennis Overbye’s Einstein in Love, published in 19, respectively. There is already a definitive scientific biography, published by Abraham Pais in 1982. Why more books on Albert Einstein? Two years ago we marked the Year of Physics, celebrating the centenary of his great 1905 papers, including those on special relativity and the particle theory of light.

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