Albert
Einstein was born of Jewish parents
in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. He was educated
at Munich, Aarau and Zurich. Disapproving of German militarism he
took Swiss nationality in 1901 and the following year was appointed
examiner at the Swiss Patent Office. While in this post he began
publishing original papers on the theoretical aspects of problems
in physics.
Influenced by quantum theory developed by Max
Planck in Berlin, Einstein explained the photoelectric law that
governs the production of electricity from light-sensitive metals.
In
1905 Einstein published his special theory of relativity. Einstein
argued that the laws of nature are the same for all observers in
unaccelerated motion, and the speed of light is independent in the
motion of its source. Einstein postulated that the time interval
between two events was longer for an observer in whose frame of
reference the events occur in different places than for the observer
for whom they occur at the same place.
Einstein
took his PhD at Zurich and in 1909 became a lecturer in theoretical
physics at the university. He also taught at Prague (1911-12) before
Max Planck invited him to become director
of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute in Berlin in 1914.
In
1915 Einstein published his general theory of relativity where he
argued that the properties of space-time were to be conceived as
modified locally by the presence of a body with mass. The theory
of relativity revolutionized our understanding of matter, space,
and time.
Einstein
achieved world recognition for his general theory of relativity
and won the Nobel prize for physics in 1921. As a Jew,
Einstein suffered a great deal of prejudice in Germany and after
being involved in a memorial service for the assassinated German
politician, Walther Rathenau, he was
warned that he was likely to be murdered by the Freikorps.
Einstein
became increasingly interested in politics and he toured Europe
making speeches on peace and disarmament. Now a pacifist,
he told his audiences that: "my pacifism is an instinctive
feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is
disgusting." In 1929 he upset right-wing forces in Weimar
Germany by stating: "I would unconditionally refuse all
war service, direct or indirect regardless of how I might feel about
the causes of any particular war."
When
Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 Einstein
was in California. His house was immediately attacked by the Sturm
Abteilung (SA). After being told what had happened Einstein
decided not to return home. Instead he toured Europe making speeches
explaining what was taking place in Nazi
Germany.
In 1934 Einstein emigrated to the United States
where he became a professor of mathematics at Princeton. He was
no longer a pacifist and argued that
democratic nations needed to rearm in order to defend itself against
the aggressive foreign policy of Adolf Hitler
and Nazi Germany.
In
1939 Einstein warned President Franklin
D. Roosevelt that German scientists were in a position to develop
an atomic bomb. This encouraged Roosevelt
to establish the Manhattan Project.
After the war he urged control of atomic weapons and was one of
the first people in the United States to protest about McCarthyism
and the activities of the House of Un-American
Activities Committee. Albert Einstein, who spent his final years
trying to establish a merger between between quantum theory and
his general theory of relativity, died in 1955.
(1)
Albert Einstein, speech at a meeting of pacifists
in Germany in 1922.
First,
we might ask ourselves in what sense the problems of international
affairs require today an approach quite different from that of the
past - not just the recent past, but the past half-century. To me,
the answer is quite simple: due to technological developments, the
distances throughout the world have shrunk to one tenth of their
former size. The production of commodities in the world has become
a mosaic composed of pieces from all over the globe. It is essential
and altogether natural that the increased economic interdependence
of the world's territories, which
participate in mankind's production, be complemented by an appropriate
political organization.
I believe
the condition in which the world finds itself today makes it not
only a matter of idealism but one of dire necessity to create unity
and intellectual co-operation among nations. Those of us who are
alive to these needs must stop thinking in terms of 'What should
be done for our country?' Rather, we should ask: 'What must our
community do to lay the groundwork for a larger world community?'
For without that greater community no single country will long endure.
(2)
Albert Einstein, was in Germany in 1922 when the Jewish politician
Walther Rathenau was assassinated.
He wrote a letter to Max Planck describing
his fears about his own safety.
A
number of people who deserve to be taken seriously have independently
warned me not to stay in Berlin for the time being and, especially,
to avoid all public appearances in Germany. I am said to be among
those whom the nationalists have marked for assassination. Of course,
I have no proof, but in the prevailing situation it seems quite
plausible.
The trouble
is that the newspapers have mentioned my name too often, this mobilizing
the rabble against me. I have no alternative but to be patient -
and to leave the city. I do urge you to get as little upset over
the incident as I myself.
(3)
Eugene Wigner first met Albert
Einstein in 1925. He wrote about this meeting in a book published
in 1979.
The
personal characteristic of Einstein that is most vividly in my mind
and that I like to recall most is his feeling of equality with his
colleagues, his appreciation and in fact reciprocation of their
friendship. My love and early admiration of physics (I studied chemical
engineering) owes very much to the seminar he organized in the early
twenties in Berlin on statistical mechanics. Many of the participants
at the seminar, including myself, were encouraged to visit him at
his home, to have personal conversations with him. We discussed,
at such occasions, not only statistical mechanics, not only physics,
but also personal problems, and the problems of society. His deep
insights had a lasting effect on most of us, but the exchange of
opinions was on an equal basis and he responded with interest to
the remarks which his visitors made. In somewhat later years the
subject of such conversations often turned toward politics, and
his condemnation of all dictatorships, particularly Hitler's, had
a great deal of influence on his friends and students. But even
as far as the USSR is concerned, he wrote, when he was asked to
sign a petition: 'Because of the glorification of Soviet Russia,
which it includes, I cannot bring myself to sign it.'
It became
more difficult for him to maintain a similarly cordial relation
with his colleagues, older and younger, after moving to Princeton.
Though he could speak English, he never felt at home with it. But
his relations with numerous collaborators in Princeton were always
cordial and, even though they were not only less widely recognized,
but also considerably younger than he was, he never talked down
to them, and treated them as equals. He loved to take walks, often
with friends like myself, with whom the conversation was in German.
(4)
Albert Einstein, speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (December, 1929)
If
my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me
as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world.
Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German
and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
(5)
Albert Einstein, interview given in the United States in 1930.
It
may not be possible in one generation to eradicate the combative
instinct. It is not even desirable to eradicate it entirely. Men
should continue to fight, but they should fight for things worth
while, not for imaginary geographical lines, racial prejudices and
private greed draped in the colours of patriotism. Their arms should
be weapons of the spirit, not shrapnel and tanks.
We must
be prepared to make the same heroic sacrifices for the cause of
peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no
task that is more important or closer to my heart. Nothing that
I can do or say will change the structure of the universe. But maybe,
by raising my voice, I can help the greatest of all causes - good
will among men and peace on earth.
(6)
Albert Einstein, speech on education and socialism in 1930.
This
crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism.
Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated
competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained
to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am
convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils,
namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied
by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
In such
an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself
and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which
adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute
the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee
a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the
individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would
attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellowmen
in place of the glorification of power and success in our present
society. Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned
economy is not yet socialism.
(7)
Albert Einstein's outspoken pacifism made him an unpopular figure
with right-wing forces in Weimar Germany.
I
would unconditionally refuse all war service, direct or indirect
regardless of how I might feel about the causes of any particular
war.
(8)
In the summer of 1933 the Royal Prussian Academy began expelling
members who were Jews. Einstein immediately wrote to resign from
the organization. The academy responded by publishing a public statement
about Einstein.
We
have no reason to regret Einstein's resignation. The Academy is
aghast at his agitational activities abroad. Its members have always
felt in themselves a profound loyalty to the Prussian state. Even
though they have kept apart from all party politics, yet they have
always emphasized their loyalty to the national idea.
(9)
Albert Einstein, The World as I See It (1935)
That
a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains
of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given
his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed. The plague-spot
of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism
by order, senseless violence and all the pestilent nonsense that
goes by the name of patriotism - how I hate them!
(10)
Albert Einstein, letter to the American League (1937)
It
must be said that, of late, pacifists have harmed rather than helped
the cause of democracy. This is especially obvious in England, where
the pacifist influence has dangerously delayed the rearmament which
has become necessary because of the military preparations in Fascist
countries.
(11)
On 2nd August, 1939, Albert Einstein and two other Jewish
scientists, Leo Szilard and Eugene
Wigner, who had fled Nazi persecution in Europe, wrote a joint
letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
about the developments that had been taking place in nuclear physics.
In
the course of the last four months it has been made probable - through
the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America
- that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction
in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large
quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it
appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate
future.
This
new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and
it is conceivable - though much less certain - that extremely powerful
bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this
type, carried by boat or exploded in a port, might well destroy
the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.
However, such bombs might well prove to be too heavy for transportation
by air.
(12)
Albert Einstein, speech in New York
in December 1945.
Physicists
find themselves in a position not unlike that of Alfred Nobel. Alfred
Nobel invented an explosive more powerful than any then known-an
exceedingly effective means of destruction. To atone for this 'accomplishment'
and to relieve his conscience, he instituted his awards for the
promotion of peace. Today, the physicists who participated in producing
the most formidable weapon of all time are harassed by a similar
feeling of responsibility, not to say guilt. As scientists, we must
never cease to warn against the danger created by these weapons;
we dare not slacken in our efforts to make the peoples of the world,
and especially their governments, aware of the unspeakable disaster
they are certain to provoke unless they change their attitude toward
one another and recognize their responsibility in shaping a safe
future. We helped create this new weapon in order to prevent the
enemies of mankind from achieving it first; given the mentality
of the Nazis, this could have brought about untold destruction as
well as the enslavement of the peoples of the world. This weapon
was delivered into the hands of the American and the British nations
in their roles as trustees of all mankind, and as fighters for peace
and liberty; but so far we have no guarantee of peace nor of any
of the freedoms promised by the Atlantic Charter. The war is won,
but the peace is not.
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