Simply Einstein E-Book

Jimena Canales

• Herausgeber: Simply Charly
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Serie: Great Lives
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 189

Beschreibung

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Ulm in the German Empire and received his academic teaching diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in 1900. Unable to secure a teaching post, he eventually found work in the Swiss Patent Office in Bern, where he began to develop his special theory of relativity. In 1905 (his “miracle year”), he published four revolutionary papers, which came to be recognized as stunning breakthroughs in physics. For the next 25 years, while continuing his research, he taught at several universities in Europe, relocating to the U.S. in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power. During World War II, his insights regarding mass-energy equivalence led to the development of the atomic bomb, a practical demonstration of his theories that shook the world. Einstein was horrified that the bomb was used, and he spent the rest of his life warning about the dangers of nuclear weapons and advocating for peace and international cooperation.

In Simply Einstein, Professor Jimena Canales offers the reader a unique perspective on the man who occupies a singular place in the popular imagination. Unlike many Einstein biographies, her book does not glorify the scientist or get lost in esoteric details, but takes pains to present a straightforward, thoroughly readable introduction to the man and his work that shows just how and why an eccentric physicist became a household name.  

The universe that Einstein described is the one in which we now live, a world of paradoxes and uncertainty, as well as infinite possibility. For anyone interested in better understanding how this came to be–and in gaining a fuller appreciation of the brilliant, flawed human being who changed everything–Simply Einstein is essential reading.

Leseprobe

Simply Einstein

Jimena Canales

Simply Charly

New York

Copyright © 2021 by Jimena Canales

Cover Illustration by Vladymyr LukashCover Design by Scarlett Rugers

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

[email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-943657-46-9

Brought to you by http://simplycharly.com

Contents

Praise for Simply EinsteinOther Great LivesSeries Editor's ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. A Previously Unknown Physicist Becomes World Famous2. The Three Classic Tests3. Einstein’s Magical Message4. Einstein Becomes World Famous5. Anti-Semitism and Politics6. Light sees the Light7. Quantum Mechanics and the Atomic Bomb8. Skeletons in his Archive9. Einstein's LegacySuggested ReadingAbout the AuthorA Word from the Publisher

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Praise for <em>Simply Einstein</em>

“Jimena Canales is one of the very best contemporary science writers, and no one could have written a clearer, more empathetic or appealing short life of the twentieth century’s quintessential scientific genius.”

—John Banville, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea

“This stimulating book by a distinguished historian of science looks at Einstein from several angles. We see him as the author of the special and general theories of relativity, as an ambitious professor in competition with others, as the exemplar of the brilliant scientist, and as a political figure. We see him as a child, a student, and as a husband and father. Jimena Canales animates the debates about the validity of Einstein’s most famous ideas and how they changed our ideas about time and space forever, at their implications for quantum mechanics and the building of the atomic bomb, and at the significance of his legacy today. The book draws on a wide variety of sources to illuminate the impact and the controversies Einstein’s work caused and is written throughout in clear and sparkling prose.”

—Jeremy Gray, Emeritus Professor, the Open University, U.K. and Honorary Professor of Mathematics, The University of Warwick, U.K.

“Simply Einstein offers a succinct and fascinating look at the phenomenal work that made Albert Einstein world-famous. It shows how Einstein’s reputation was built on bold theories that were splendidly tested by experiments such as the eclipse expeditions of 1919 and amplified by the media in riveting stories about their revolutionary implications. It offers a great read for those wondering how Einstein vaulted into international fame in the early 20th century and has remained synonymous with genius.”

—Paul Halpern, author of Synchronicity: The Epic Quest to Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect

“Jimena Canales captivates us with the tale of how Einstein became “Einstein”—and it’s not the story you think. Simply Einstein reveals the family, mentors, colleagues, rivals, and lovers who made him into our icon of science. Instead of a lone genius revolutionizing the world, we see him struggling, leaning on his friends, and worrying deeply about how he would be remembered by history. This is the real Einstein—full-blooded and fascinating.”

—Matthew Stanley, Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, New York University

“Like a lotus flower growing in a bog, Einstein’s ideas arose, pure and strong as diamond, out of the muck of his personal life and the chaos of his times. The miracle can be neither explained nor emulated; we can only observe it and allow it to inspire us. In this brief biography, Jimena Canales sets out to sketch a fascinating glimpse of Einstein, the man and his legacy, in the hindsight of our own era. Using an expression Einstein used in the title of one of the most consequential papers in the history of science, I am confident that her effort will succeed in its heuristic goal of stimulating people to learn and discover on their own”

—Hans Christian von Baeyer, author of QBism: The Future of Quantum Physics and Emeritus Chancellor Professor of Physics, College of William & Mary

“Jimena Canales captures the sweep of Einstein’s unparalleled career in this engaging biography, revealing how Einstein became an icon. Simply Einstein is a captivating introduction to Einstein’s most consequential ideas that also invites us to think about scientists’ public roles in society today.”

—David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Einstein is famous for being an unconventional figure—the hair, the (absence of) socks, sticking out his tongue to photographers—but he is often presented to the public by biographers in a very conventional manner. Jimena Canales’s Simply Einstein is not conventional. This is an original interpretation of Einstein, studded with quotations and episodes that you will not find in other accounts.”

—Michael D. Gordin, author of Einstein in Bohemia and Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University

“By humanizing and situating this larger-than-life figure within the holistic context of physics in the 20th Century, Jimena Canales provides a unique and intriguing understanding of Einstein. She does this by interrogating how we know Einstein with how we should know Einstein. This is amplified by her gift of writing about the history of science in an engaging manner that serves as a gateway for new entrants into the fascinating subfield of Einstein historians.”

—Tiffany Nichols, Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University

“In recent years the extraordinary flowering of Einstein scholarship and the new information uncovered about the great man has not necessarily reached the ordinary reader. Jimena Canales’ book accessibly introduces a great deal of these exciting historical discoveries to those interested in the man but daunted by the often highly technical aspects of his science. What is particularly good to see is that so much of the story is told through the words of Einstein, his friends and colleagues, and the newspapers and other commentators of the day. The author’s great familiarity with the man’s life and times shines through in a way that is engaging and engrossing.”

—Daniel Kennefick, author of No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

“Jimena Canales’ Simply Einstein is a short and quickly paced story that moves through the history of the twentieth century as observed through the lens of Einstein’s biography. You get to know Einstein in his place and time as fully part of the cultural and political turmoil of his period.”

—Jeroen van Dongen, Professor of the History of Science, University of Amsterdam

“Einstein has become, and still is, the worldwide icon of the solitary scientific genius. How did it happen? Award-winning author Jimena Canales succeeds in succinctly conveying to a large readership a de-mythologized image of the man behind the public image Einstein himself endeavored to construct. Wonderfully written and carefully crafted, Canales’ succinct biographical sketch not only reveals the humanity, the science, and the mythologizing process of one of last century’s most influential scientists, but also invites deep reflection on the changing social role of science through the 20th century.”

—Roberto Lalli, Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

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Other <em>Great Lives</em>

Simply Austenby Joan Klingel RaySimply Beckettby Katherine WeissSimply Beethoven by Leon PlantingaSimply Chekhov by Carol ApollonioSimply Chomsky by Raphael SalkieSimply Chopinby William SmialekSimply Darwinby Michael RuseSimply Descartesby Kurt SmithSimply Dickensby Paul SchlickeSimply Diracby Helge KraghSimply Eliot by Joseph MaddreySimply Euler by Robert E. BradleySimply Faulkner by Philip WeinsteinSimply Fitzgerald by Kim MorelandSimply Freud by Stephen FroshSimply Gödel by Richard TieszenSimply Hegel by Robert L. WicksSimply Hitchcock by David SterrittSimply Joyce by Margot NorrisSimply Machiavelli by Robert FredonaSimply Napoleonby J. David Markham & Matthew ZarzecznySimply Nietzsche by Peter KailSimply Proust by Jack JordanSimply Riemann by Jeremy GraySimply Sartre by David DetmerSimply Tolstoy by Donna Tussing OrwinSimply Stravinsky by Pieter van den ToornSimply Turing by Michael OlinickSimply Wagner by Thomas S. GreySimply Wittgenstein by James C. Klagge

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Series Editor's Foreword

Simply Charly’s “Great Lives” series offers brief but authoritative introductions to the world’s most influential people—scientists, artists, writers, economists, and other historical figures whose contributions have had a meaningful and enduring impact on our society.

Each book provides an illuminating look at the works, ideas, personal lives, and the legacies these individuals left behind, also shedding light on the thought processes, specific events, and experiences that led these remarkable people to their groundbreaking discoveries or other achievements. Additionally, every volume explores various challenges they had to face and overcome to make history in their respective fields, as well as the little-known character traits, quirks, strengths, and frailties, myths, and controversies that sometimes surrounded these personalities.

Our authors are prominent scholars and other top experts who have dedicated their careers to exploring each facet of their subjects’ work and personal lives.

Unlike many other works that are merely descriptions of the major milestones in a person’s life, the “Great Lives” series goes above and beyond the standard format and content. It brings substance, depth, and clarity to the sometimes complex lives and works of history’s most powerful and influential people.

We hope that by exploring this series, readers will not only gain new knowledge and understanding of what drove these geniuses, but also find inspiration for their own lives. Isn’t this what a great book is supposed to do?

Charles Carlini, Simply Charly New York City

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Preface

Adding another line to the preexisting scholarship on Einstein is a daunting challenge for anyone—no matter how well prepared. Thousands of books and articles have been written about arguably history’s greatest scientist. The physicist left behind a hefty archival record about his life and work that posterity has painstakingly perused. Renowned scholars have dedicated their entire lives to combing through Einstein’s publications, interviews, and public statements, as well as his copious correspondence, unpublished drafts, and numerous other sundry clues that might help us understand this unparalleled genius. Even the circumvolutions of his brain have been an object of intense fascination and speculation. Appropriately nicknamed by The New York Times as “the Elvis of science,” Einstein still makes it to “Top Earning Dead Celebrities” lists, next to stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon, and Michael Jackson. His name and likeness continue to draw annual earnings of millions of dollars.

Partly for these reasons, Einstein remains one of history’s most misunderstood scientists. What have we learned about Einstein after studying him for more than a century? More importantly, what have we learned from him about the universe and the capacity of humankind to know it?

Einstein’s work is in many senses the story of science in the 20th century, a time when scientists carved out for themselves the prominent place in society they now have. He was not only responsible for the great discoveries he is widely known for, but his most lasting legacy was also forging a new place for science in the modern world.

We now know more about Einstein than ever before. We also know much more about science, its place in society, and how it relates to industry and technology. In recent years, our understanding of how scientific work compares to that of other professions (including those of priests, politicians, and celebrities who create systems of authority and admiration around them) has increased considerably. We know more about how fame and virality function, and how science literacy and education affect our trust in facts and in experts, including Einstein.

A proper answer for how one man obtained such extraordinary success is hard to come by. The challenge, in part, involves separating elements such as talent and ambition from luck and serendipity. It requires making subjective judgments about the importance of an individual’s own actions in distinction to those of others close to them, including family, teachers, and friends, and speculating about the relative role played by nature versus nurture. Scholarship on Einstein is rife with conjectures about the respective influence of upbringing, innate psychology, and the broader environment. It is impossible to parse out these elements in fixed and abstract terms across all time and history.

The text that follows is based on an approach that permits us to see Einstein and his work in a new light. It focuses on key aspects of modernity that permitted an otherworldly public figure to emerge from a singular life. The universe discovered by Einstein was a complex four-dimensional structure where nothing could travel faster than light. This same universe also permitted his transformation from an all-too-human patent clerk into an extraordinary icon; it was the birthplace for an extraordinary man who moved in the same historical, social, and political environments as many others. This book, therefore, takes an upside-down approach to the topic: it studies changes that occurred underfoot to understand how our knowledge of the universe changed overhead. To know Einstein thus requires not only searching for the real person behind the myth, but also studying the process of personhood and myth-making that were operative during this period.

My hope is that an appreciation of his life and work deepens when insights are presented in the prosaic ways they first appeared. Thus, we can begin to bring this otherworldly figure back to Earth.

Jimena Canales Boston, Massachusetts

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Acknowledgements

“If you want to sup with the devil, you better use a long spoon.” Such advice can serve well those who write about great historical figures.

I first approached “Einstein” cautiously, by probing him from distant angles. My first involvement with his life and work began by studying the 19th-century context that led to his contributions in A Tenth of a Second: A History, a detailed history of time measurements across disciplines from experimental psychology to physics. My second intervention came much closer. The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson and the Debate that Changed Our Understanding of Time involved studying him alongside one of his most prominent critics. My third venture explored the incredible breadth of his scientific imagination, placing it in the context of other great scientists such as René Descartes, Pierre-Simon Laplace, James Clerk Maxwell, and Charles Darwin, culminating with Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science. These three books—the first dealing with the science that preceded Einstein, the second with arguments used against him by his critics, and the third with a history of the imaginary world he inhabited—are the launching pads for this concise biography.

Two previously published articles, in The New Yorker and The Atlantic respectively, dealt with largely unknown aspects of his life. “Albert Einstein’s Sci-Fi Stories” explored the source of inspiration of some of his first musings on relativity and “The Secret PR Push That Shaped the Atomic Bomb’s Origin Story” centered on Einstein in the immediate aftermath of WWII.

One of the pleasures of writing about this towering figure has been my full immersion in the work of superb scholars and colleagues. Some of these include: Jeroen van Dongen, Peter Galison, Galina Weinstein (previously Granek), Hanoch Gutfreund, Ann and Klaus Hentschel, Gerald Holton, Don Howard, Fred Jerome, Daniel Kennefick, Alberto Martinez, Katy Price, Jürgen Renn, Tilman Sauer, Richard Staley, and Matthew Stanley. Essential biographical information comes from Michael Gordin, Walter Isaacson, Thomas Levenson, Dennis Overbye, John Stachel, and others.

No original contribution to scholarship is complete without primary source research. The various volumes of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, edited by Diane Kormos Buchwald and her expert team of annotators and translators, became a permanent fixture on my desk and an endless source of entertainment during the 2020 lockdown. Other compilations and edited volumes (including those by David E. Rowe, Robert Schulmann, Carl Seelig, and others) provided me with additional material. This book remains deeply indebted to their research.

Much more can be said about Einstein (and much more has been said about him already) that can fit in this space. By being highly selective, rather than attempting to be comprehensive, I hope to interest specialists and non-specialists alike. In times of complexity, no virtue is greater than simplicity.

Finally, my gratitude extends to my family, friends, and readers, to whom I dedicate this book.

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Introduction

Before the name Albert Einstein became synonymous with genius, an obscure professor of physics labored away for years, rewriting the laws of physics in a completely new way. He had been moderately successful—managing to gain the respect of his peers and climbing the academic ladder—but when British astronomers came back from the solar eclipse expedition of 1919 and analyzed what they saw that day, they confirmed his revolutionary hypothesis. The expedition members eagerly announced to the scientific community and the press that they had caught light bending in ways that could be perfectly explained with Einstein’s new theory.

The following day, newspapers ran the story of a rebellious prodigy who had dethroned Isaac Newton by arguing that the universe was four-dimensional, that time and space were no longer absolute, and that they could shrink and expand in unusual ways. The news set experts and the public alike abuzz with excitement, opening up new puzzles and paradoxes.

For the rest of his life, Einstein dedicated himself to promoting his theory and forging a new place for science in society. Privately, he struggled to fit within an oversized public persona which haunted his friendships, love life, and contributions to science. Brilliant, ambitious, and insecure, Einstein remains to this day the ultimate representative of genius.

Einstein revolutionized 20th-century science by upending our traditional understanding of the universe. Arguing that old concepts of time and space were outdated and should be discarded, he crafted a new role for science in the modern world by becoming a celebrity scientist. From his days as a lowly patent clerk to the time when he was hailed by the press and the public for his groundbreaking work in physics, Simply Einstein explores the man behind the myth, the process that led to the myth’s creation, and the brilliant insights that brought about a new understanding of the cosmos.

This book also tells the story of how an all-too-human scientist became an extraordinary icon by exploring new relations between the mundane, the mythical, and the universal.

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A Previously Unknown Physicist Becomes World Famous

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was a little-known university professor working in Berlin until one day everything changed for him. He was catapulted to fame on November 7, 1919, when a solar eclipse proved his general theory of relativity—a contribution that continues to be one of the most successful discoveries of all time, one that has been confirmed over and over again by numerous experiments. From that day onward he would become a celebrity-scientist: a widely consulted oracle who commented on a dizzying variety of topics, human and non-human. Einstein is still one of the most famous persons in history. He has graced the covers of TIME magazine no less than four times, more than any other scientist so far. His work has stood the test of time just as much as his image. The man and his work are essential to western civilization, both symbolically and practically. Throughout the first three decades of Einstein’s life, almost no one, aside from some close supporters, considered him a genius. How and why did this perception change so dramatically almost overnight?

News stories about Einstein appeared on the first Friday of November 1919 and proliferated shortly thereafter. Journalists credited him with revolutionizing not only physics, but also everyday notions of time and space. The first headline of The Times of London read “REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE/ NEW THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE/ NEWTONIAN IDEAS OVERTHROWN.” The next Saturday the newspaper followed up with “THE REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE/ EINSTEIN v. NEWTON/ VIEWS OF EMINENT PHYSICISTS.” Two days later, the New York Times received a special cable from London. It joined in the chorus across the Atlantic, reporting “LIGHTS ALL ASKEW IN THE HEAVENS” followed by “Men of Science More or Less Agog Over Results of Eclipse Observations” and “Stars Not Where They Seemed or Were Calculated to be, but Nobody Need Worry.”

That day was the first time Einstein made news, but it would not be the last. Most of our general understanding of Einstein was shaped by these early news reports. Since then, biographers have filled many gaps, striving to give us the most complete picture of the man.

Most details of his early life are based on documentary evidence (such as his birth certificate, school and exam records), recollections of those who knew him, and from Einstein himself. Beyond an agreement on the basic facts of his life, portrayals of his character and personality oscillate to extremes. He is sometimes described (as his sister did) as an ambitious and stubborn workhorse, while at other times he is shown to be a lofty dreamer unconcerned with the prosaic (as most biographers consider him). Sometimes, he appears as a fun-loving and flirtatious adventurer who enjoys socializing. Other times, he is described as lonely and dead-serious in his obsessive contemplation of nature. Many readers, ranging from professional psychologists to casual admirers, have analyzed the story of his life to figure out what made Einstein a genius.

History has given us many “Einsteins,” Who is the real one? To form a picture of him as one coherent individual, many scholars have tried to uncover what unites the disparate threads of his life. Others, like the French philosopher and essayist Roland Barthes, have given up on the search for unity, settling instead for an essential contradiction. “Einstein embodies the most contradictory dreams,” he wrote, “and mythically reconciles the infinite power of man over nature with the ‘fatality’ of the sacrosanct, which man cannot yet do without.”

Two sides of Einstein stand out for being most diametrically opposed: his public and private side. Einstein reportedly called his public persona his “mythical namesake.” Reflecting on his own fame and path through life, he once explained to a friend that in cases such as his “the disparity between what you are and what others believe, or at least say about you is far too great.”

The split between Einstein’s public and private sides poses unique challenges for any biographer—it is difficult to figure out and convey to readers who he really was. The text that follows meets such a provocation in a way that distinguishes it from most standard biographies. It includes as part of his life a study of how