At the end of 2017, an offer of thirteen words, handwritten in German by Albert Einstein himself, was put up at an auction in Jerusalem. This city contains Einstein's archives, which he bequeathed to the Hebrew University before his death in 1955. He helped found this institution in the 1920s. Albert Einstein's archives today contain about 30,000 documents. They are several times larger than the archives of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton and can compete with the archives of Napoleon Bonaparte. However, the origin of the document in question has nothing to do with the archives, although a copy of it is also kept there. Everything is much more interesting.
This piece of paper was written and signed in Japan at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel and is dated November 1922. Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this month. He stayed at this hotel during his wildly popular Japan lecture tour. Then the scientist attracted more attention than the family of the Japanese emperor. Apparently embarrassed by such publicity, Einstein decided to write down some thoughts and experiences about life in a note. This particular maxim (and another short one) he passed on to the Japanese courier, either because the courier did not take tips, in accordance with local etiquette, or because Einstein did not have any small cash.
“Perhaps, if you're lucky, these notes will become much more valuable than ordinary tips,” Einstein told a Japanese courier, according to legend, the seller of this note, passed to the courier's nephew.
The Jerusalem auction house estimated the note at 5-8 thousand dollars. Bidding started at $ 2,000. In twenty minutes, a flurry of offers quickly pushed the price until the last two bidders grabbed their phones. By the end of the auction, the price had risen to an incredible $ 1.56 million.
Translated, Einstein's sentence reads: "A calm and humble life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant worry."
If Einstein were with us, he would have marveled at the absurdity of this auction. During the second half of his life, just after the astronomical confirmation of his general theory of relativity in 1919, he never stopped brushing off his celebrity and was not interested in hoarding money for his own good. He was happy when he was alone, alone with his mathematical calculations, or with a handful of selected colleagues among physicists and mathematicians - in Zurich, Berlin, Oxford, Pasadena and Princeton. On long sea voyages from Europe to Japan and back, he liked to hide in his booth and solve mathematical equations.
As the physicist Philip Frank wrote, Einstein put it this way about his celebrity in the introduction to his own biography:
"I never understood why the theory of relativity, with its concepts and problems so far removed from practical life, has generated a lively or even enthusiastic response among the general public for so long … I have never heard a truly convincing answer to this question."
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And this is what he wrote about the meaning of life in Life magazine shortly before his death in 1955:
“Try to become valuable, not successful person. Today, a successful person is one who takes more from life than invests in it. But a valuable person will give more than he receives."
Einstein's death was illuminated throughout the universe. The New York Times has printed tributes from the presidents of the United States and West Germany, from the prime ministers of Israel, France, India. Prominent intellectuals who knew Einstein personally echoed the politicians. “For all scientists and most people, this is a mourning day. Einstein was one of the greatest of all time,”says Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who argued with Einstein on the subject of quantum theory, wrote:
“Einstein's gifts are in no way limited to the realm of science. Indeed, his acceptance of hitherto unrecognized assumptions, even in our most elementary and familiar assumptions, encourages all people to monitor and combat deep-seated prejudices and complacency in every national culture."
The English philosopher Bertrand Russell believed this:
“Einstein was not only a great scientist, he was a great man. He fought for peace when the world fought for war. He remained reasonable in a crazy world and liberal in a world of fanatics."
Today, Einstein is the most cited scientist in the galaxy: he is ahead of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking, judging by the number of Einstein quotes on Wikipedia, and at the same time ahead of his contemporaries in the 20th century - Winston Churchill, George Orwell and Bernard Show. From the vast archives of Einstein, an infinite number of precious quotes are extracted.
Unsurprisingly, Einstein is also cited as an authority on science. For example: "The most incomprehensible thing in the Universe is that it is comprehensible." But he is more often cited in a wide range of non-scientific disciplines, including education, intelligence, politics, religion, marriage, money, and music making.
* Education: "Einstein is what remains when you forget everything you learned in school."
* Intelligence: "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits."
* Politics: "It's crazy to do the same thing over and over and expect different results."
* Religion: "God does not play dice."
* Marriage: “Men marry women in the hope that they will never change. * Women marry men in the hope that they will change. Both will invariably be disappointed.
* Money: "Not everything that can be valued is valued, and not everything that is valued can be appreciated."
* Music: "Death means that you can no longer listen to Mozart."
* About life: "Everything should be done as simple as possible, but not simplified."
And here an interesting question arises. Did Einstein really say or write all of the above? Vague doubts plagued.
Only one quote above clearly belongs to Einstein: "God does not play dice." And it became a succinct excerpt from Einstein's valuable commentary on quantum theory. In 1926 he wrote in a letter to the physicist Max Born (in German): “Theory says a lot, but does not bring one iota closer to the secrets of the“old”. At any rate, I am convinced that He does not play dice."
Another statement: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." This quote is widely attributed to Einstein because it seems obvious that he would have liked the idea that sounded in it. In a conversation with a student who, in 1919, immediately after the confirmation of general relativity, he asked the question: what if astronomical facts contradict theory? Einstein replied, "Then I feel sorry for God because the theory is correct." Again, there is no record of Einstein making such a definitive statement, orally or on paper. Similar comments on facts and theory date back to the 19th century; specifically, this quote began to be attributed to Einstein in 1991. Without any sources.
Now consider a statement that is largely attributed to Einstein in the British Museum's section on religion, Living with the Gods: “The most beautiful and deepest experience is the mystical experience. It is the sower of all true science. " The quote appears to have been extracted decades after Einstein's death from the following commentary given by Einstein in 1932. Translated from his native German, it sounds like this: “The most beautiful and deepest experience is the feeling of a mystery. It lies at the heart of religion, as well as deep inspiration in art and science. " Note: the "riddle" in 1932 became "mystical" in 2018.
In short, Einstein's quotes are very different from the originals. Many can be traced back to his writings; some of them are based on the memories of those who knew him well; others have mutated over time; some resemble his thoughts or seem to fit his behavior, but they are not. Clever people speculate in the name of Einstein to give credibility to a cause or idea. As Einstein himself said: never believe the quotes on the Internet. If you know what I mean.
Why do we still admire Einstein, try to quote him, and even come up with quotes for him? The answer will be as versatile, complex and unique as this person, as well as his life, but it will undoubtedly be associated with the scientific genius of Einstein. There is a funny anecdote about Einstein, who was caught in the late 1930s during an act of reflection, told by one of his physics assistants, Banish Hoffmann:
“When it became obvious, as it often happened, that even switching to German would not solve the problem, we all froze, and Einstein would quietly get up and say in his strange English:“My think a little”. As he said this, he began to walk in circles, twisting a lock of his long, gray hair around his finger. A minute passed, then another, and Infeld (another assistant) and I exchanged silent glances while Einstein continued to walk, twirling a lock of hair on his finger. It was written on his face that he was somewhere far away. There was no trace of intense concentration. A minute passed, then another, and suddenly Einstein visibly relaxed, and a barely perceptible smile illuminated his face. He no longer walked, did not curl a lock. He came back to us, noticed us, then told the solution to the problem, and almost always it worked."
It is easy to see why Einstein is considered an icon in the world of scientists. Scientific American estimates that two-thirds of the "insights" sent to scientists and scientific journals are related to Einstein's theories. Either the writer claims that he found a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism, which Einstein could not do, or Einstein's ideas turned out to be erroneous, especially with regard to general relativity. (Another third of "insights" concerns perpetual motion machines and sources of eternal energy).
However, there must be something else in the image of Einstein that goes beyond the world of science. In 2005, Arthur Clarke - whose own work and personality transcended the circle of readers and film lovers - decomposed Einstein's incredible fame into "a unique combination of genius, humanist, pacifist and eccentric." While Newton, for example, is known to one and all, how many advertisers will use his image as often as Einstein to advertise any product to the general public? What politician will mention Newton's name in his speech? Who will sign the quote with his name? Of course, Newton's biographies are written, but his name does not loom in plain sight, he himself does not become a cartoon hero and a subject of discussion. Only jokes are made about him.
Newton is known for his scientific achievements, for which he was revered by all subsequent physicists, including Einstein. But after Newton left Cambridge and moved to London in 1696, he did not have a single friend in the place where he spent 35 years and did his revolutionary work; there is not a single surviving letter that he sent to his friends in Cambridge from 1696 to 1727. His successor, William Winston, wrote about Newton in his memoirs (long before his patron's death): "He possessed one of the most fearful, suspicious and fearful dispositions I have ever known."
Einstein and Newton had much in common on the scientific path, but very little in common as humans. For all Einstein's skepticism about personal relationships and the institution of marriage, two failed marriages and family tragedies (his second son Eduard spent the last thirty years of his life in a Swiss psychiatric hospital), he was a very sociable person. He constantly appeared in public, corresponded with friends, colleagues and strangers, and made constant efforts to help scientific "rivals" and recruits - for example, the then-unknown Indian mathematician Satiendra Nat Bose, with whom he did many common groundwork.
Unlike Newton, Einstein's disagreements about science and other issues - apart from anti-Semitism and Nazism - manifested themselves without controversy and without malice. There was no malice even in his long and unconvincing battle with Bohr on the field of quantum theory. Einstein hit hard, but not to hurt. Arguing with his close friend Bourne on the same topic in the 40s and 50s, the most humiliating thing Einstein dared to do was the sardonic comment: “Ashamed, Bourne, ashamed!”.
Moreover, almost all social principles supported by Einstein were honorable and forward-looking. Many needed moral courage. He spoke out against anti-Semitism, segregation and lynching of black people in the United States, against the McCarthy witch-hunt, the construction of the military-industrial complex, and against nuclear war. Rather than basking in the glory of physics, music, and sailing, Einstein fought whenever his name could make any difference. The very fact that Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, identified Einstein as sympathetic to the communists in 1950-55, shows how seriously Einstein's activism was taken by reactionary forces.
It is worth noting that Einstein himself was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and shared Gandhi's indifference to material success, albeit rejecting Gandhi's opinion that civil disobedience can be used as a weapon against the Nazis. In 1952, Einstein called Gandhi "the greatest political genius of our time." Gandhi showed “what a person is able to sacrifice when he finds the right path. His work to free India is a living manifesto of the will of man, supported by an indomitable conviction, which is stronger than material forces that seem irresistible."
Einstein's opinion on religion was taken seriously by religious representatives. In 2004, biologist and militant atheist Richard Dawkins wrote:
“Einstein was deeply spiritual, but he renounced the supernatural and denied all personal gods. I gladly share his gloriously godless spirituality. No theist would dare to give Einstein lessons on spirituality."
Physicist Stephen Hawking (recently deceased, may black holes guard him) shared a similar view of Einstein when he wrote in 1984:
“If we said that there is an Entity that is responsible for the laws of physics, that would be perfectly consistent with everything we know. However, I think it would be misleading to call such an Entity “God”, because usually this term has personal connotations that are not in the laws of physics."
Pope John Paul II, speaking in 1979 at a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Einstein, said that:
“Filled with admiration for the genius of the great scientist, in which the imprint of the creative spirit is revealed, in no way condemning the doctrines on the subject of the great systems of this Universe, and it is not in her power, the Church nevertheless recommends these doctrines for consideration by theologians so that they can discover the harmony that exists between scientific truth and the truth of revelation."
The phenomenon of misquoting Einstein is largely due to a deeply human desire to mystify authority figures who might be dubbed "icons" and "geniuses." When the theory of relativity became popular in the 1920s, many people assumed that Einstein could be quoted right and left and that everything is relative, including the truth; all observations are subjective; all the impossible is possible. People love to quote Einstein because it's hard to disagree with him. And as Einstein himself said:
"To punish me for my disrespect for authority, fate made me an authority."
Based on materials from AEON
Ilya Khel