by Anne Schraff
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Albert Einstein referred to death as
“the old debt” which all people must pay. He felt his time to pay the debt was close, but he did not want to stay in the hospital. When his son, Hans, came from California, Einstein assured him he was feeling better.
Even while he lay in his hospital bed, Einstein asked that his latest pages of mathematical equations be brought to him so he might add something.
In the very early hours of the morning of April 18, 1955, Einstein began mumbling in German. The nurse who was with him did not understand German so she could not tell anyone what Einstein’s last words were. He died before the next day dawned. The weakened artery had apparently burst.
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Einstein had known for some time that he was dying and he made plans for it. He wanted no funeral, no grave, and no monument. Albert Einstein was not a religious man. He believed the universe was so awesome that it had to have been created by a supreme intelligence. His name for this creator was “the old gentleman.”
Einstein wanted his body cremated with the ashes disposed of secretly. He felt his work was the important thing about his life, and he did not want his earthly remains to be the center of attention.
He did permit his brain to be removed during an autopsy. Scientists wanted to discover if there was anything unusual about the brain of a genius. They did find that the part of Einstein’s brain associated with mathematical reasoning, 58
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the inferior parietal, was fifteen percent wider on both sides than normal.
Albert Einstein was considered to be one of the world’s rare geniuses, as Isaac Newton was in his time.
Fame and popularity meant nothing to Einstein. In fact, they often distressed him. He had little use for wealth or material goods. He continued to be amazed that people needed so many things to make them happy. He was a humble, patient, and dedicated man.
His joy was derived from observing nature and finding scientific truths.
Time magazine voted Albert Einstein the person who made the most
important contributions to the 20th century. Einstein himself would not have agreed. He always mourned the victims of the atomic bomb and feared a 59
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future world war that might destroy the world he loved so much. In the end, Albert Einstein’s determination to work for human brotherhood and world peace was perhaps as important as his revolutionary ideas about space, matter, and time.
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Albert Einstein is regarded by many as the most important scientist of the 20th century and the greatest physicist of all time.
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B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Abraham, Carolyn. Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Journey of Einstein's Brain. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002.
Kaku, Michio. Albert Einstein: How Albert Einstein’s Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Time and Space. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Overbye, Dennis. Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance. New York: Viking, 2000.
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G L O S S A R Y
advocate: someone who supports or immensely: to a very large extent or speaks in favor of something
degree
Aryan: in Nazi ideology, a Manhattan Project: a project Caucasian, non-semitic person
funded by the U.S. government
considered to be superior to
during World War II to develop others because of race
the first atomic bomb
autopsy: a medical examination of a molecule: the smallest part of a dead body in order to determine substance consisting of a single the cause or circumstances of
set of atoms
death
optimistic: expressing a cheerful and barbaric: uncivilized , primitive, positive attitude about the future unusually cruel
pacifism: a belief that violent ways Big Bang: a theory of the origin of of resolving disputes are
the universe that says the
unacceptable frequently because universe developed out of the
of religious or moral principles explosion of a single extremely physics: the science of matter, dense mass of matter
energy, force, and motion
campus: the area of land that pondering: thinking about, contains the buildings and
meditating on
grounds of a university or college prestigious: important, prominent, casualties: people who are seriously distinguished
injured or killed during combat symptom: indication, evidence or in an accident
synagogue: the place of worship for communist: a supporter of a Jewish congregation
communism, a system of
verified: confirmed, proved government in which the state
war bonds: a type of savings
controls wealth, property, and bond issued by a government to the economy
finance a war
compass: a device for finding Zionist movement: the political and directions that uses a magnetized religious movement that
pointer that indicates north
advocated for a homeland for the diligently: industriously Jewish people in the biblical land discipline: the ability to act in a of Israel
controlled and orderly manner
embittered: disillusioned, resentful frail: weak, flimsy
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I N D E X
anti-semitism, 40
Maric-Einstein, Mileva, 18,
atomic bomb, 6, 47, 48
23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39
Bern, 22
Munich, 7
Brownian motion, 25
Nagasaki, 49, 50
cold war, 50
Nazi Party, 44
Columbia University, 43
Newton, Isaac, 5
E=mc2, 30
Nobel Prize, 44
Einstein Institute of
patent office, 22
Mathematics, 52
Pearl Harbor, 48
Einstein, Eduard, 32
photon, 24
Einstein, Elsa, 34, 35, 39, 46, Princeton Hospital, 57
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Princeton University, 43
Einstein, Hans Albert, 24, 40, Prussian Academy of Science,
44, 58
32
Einstein, Hermann, 6,19
Roosevelt, Franklin, 43, 47,
Einstein, Maja, 7, 14, 44
48, 49
Einstein, Rudolf, 34
Russia, 50
Evolution of Physics, 47
Swiss Federal Polytechnical
Gandhi, Mahatma, 56
Institute, 15
German Annals of Physics,
Theory of Relativity, 6, 26,
20, 29
38, 39
Germany, 14, 33, 40, 44, 49
Ulm, 6
Grossman, Marcel, 18, 21, 22
Unified Field Theory, 39
Hebrew University, 43
University of Berlin, 33
Hiroshima, 49, 50
University of Prague, 32
Hitler, Adolf, 41, 46, 47, 48
University of Zurich, 20,
India, 56
26, 32
Israel, 53
Weizmann, Chaim, 40, 53
Italy, 15
Winterthur, 20
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, 33
World War I, 40
Koch, Pauline, 6, 7
World War II, 6, 49, 50
Luitpold School, 13
Zionist, 42
Manhattan Project, 48
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Document Outline
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Glossary
Index