Einstein

by Philipp Frank

This may be a little exaggerated, since ultimately pure science has a social value too. But it is certain that Einstein has had a definite aversion to pure research as a profession. Actually, as fate would have it, after moving to Berlin he was permanently what he did not want to be — a pure research worker. This was the situation in Berlin, and he was to obtain a similar position later in Princeton.

  The contradiction in Einstein’s relation to his environment is also manifested in his aversion to giving regular lectures covering the entire field of physics, even though probably few physicists are interested in and familiar with more fields of physics than he is. Very many, indeed most specialists, in physics as well as in other sciences, are hardly able to understand anything complicated that does not belong within their narrow field. Most of them are inclined to exaggerate enormously the significance of their “subject”; they consider every thought devoted to outside matters as a betrayal of pure research and a concession to dilettantism. Einstein has been the exact opposite of this type. One may recount to him the most complicated physical theory; he will listen attentively, and through his questions show immediately that he has grasped the essence of the matter. He will almost always make a good critical comment or a helpful remark. Even when the construction of some apparatus is being discussed, he concerns himself with every significant detail and intervenes with his advice.

  Obviously Einstein is not a “teacher” if this word is taken in the sense in which it is current in professional circles. On the other hand, quite in accord with his divided attitude, which we have previously noted, he is more interested than most professors in social matters, such as the position of scientific teaching and research in the social life of man. He has always tried to clarify for himself and others the reciprocal relation between science on the one hand and society, religion, and international co-operation on the other.

  In Berlin, as in many universities, it was customary to have a physics colloquium every week where recently published researches were discussed. It gave physicists who worked in different institutions an opportunity to exchange opinions and ideas about every new discovery and theory. During the period of Einstein’s stay, between 1913 and 1933, the Berlin seminar was an especially interesting gathering, such as hardly existed anywhere else in the world. Besides Einstein, Planck, and Nernst, there were Max von Laue, the discoverer of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals; James Franck and Gustav Hertz, who discovered that light of specific color can be produced by the impact of high-velocity electrons; and Lise Meitner, a Viennese girl who had made such great discoveries in the field of radioactive phenomena that Einstein liked to call her “our Madame Curie,” and in private sometimes expressed the opinion that she was a more talented physicist than Madame Curie herself. During the latter years of this period there was also Erwin Schrödinger, another Austrian, who derived the quantum theory of the atom from a wave theory of matter.

  The discussions with such outstanding investigators were of value even to a man with great creative power like Einstein. At the very least he was spared the necessity of reading much that would otherwise have taken up a great deal of time. Einstein attended the colloquium quite regularly and took an active part in the discussions. He liked to branch out into all sorts of problems, and his remarks refreshed all who were present. His questions alone were sufficient to exert a stimulating influence. On such occasions there are always many who are ashamed to ask questions because they do not wish to appear ignorant, and usually it is just the people who take the longest to comprehend something who are shy. Since Einstein could never be suspected of slow comprehending, he did not hesitate to ask questions that would otherwise be considered as naïve. Such “naïve” questions, however, are often very stimulating, because they frequently deal with fundamental problems that no one really dares to touch. Most specialists would like to make believe that they understand the fundamentals and are only seeking to explain secondary matters. Einstein’s questions, which very often threw doubt upon a principle that appeared self-evident, gave the seminar a special attraction. After Einstein’s departure from Berlin in 1933, the colloquium presented the appearance of a gathering from which the guest who had endowed it with lustrous brilliancy had departed.

  5. Relationship with Colleagues

  Einstein’s attitude to the teaching profession was also connected with his concrete relations to his colleagues. There is no doubt that the immediate impression he made on his colleagues was that of a very likable person. He was filled with a simple natural friendliness toward everyone, no matter what the individual’s position. He was very amicable toward people of high rank; he had such a feeling of inner security that he did not have to demonstrate his independence by being short with people. He never took part in any intrigues such as occur in all corporate bodies and professions, including university faculties. He was not considered dangerous to anyone, because he never tried to frustrate anyone’s desire. He was ready to converse in a friendly manner about anything and everything; he liked to crack jokes and to laugh at other people’s jokes. He always avoided putting himself in the foreground and forcing his will on other people. This would have been easily possible if he had used his personality and his fame, but he did this very rarely, and at most to defend himself against unreasonable demands, never in an offensive manner.

  He always managed to maintain a certain “free space” around himself which protected him from all disturbances, a space large enough to contain a world erected by an artistic and scientific imagination.

  There were also certain features in his Berlin environment, no matter whether one calls them national or cultural peculiarities, that produced in Einstein a feeling of strangeness and loneliness. In the eighteenth century, under Frederick the Great, Frenchmen such as Voltaire and d’Alembert had been the pride of the Berlin Academy. But since the Bismarck era and the turning of the German intellectuals to nationalism, an atmosphere of voluntary or involuntary submission to the philosophy of the new German Reich had become more and more prevalent, at first under the influence of Bismarck and later under that of Wilhelm II. This sentiment was also connected with a certain emphasis on the superiority of the German nation or race, which, although at that time not yet very conspicuous, was already quite evident to Einstein.

  But what particularly annoyed Einstein from the beginning was the cold, somewhat mechanical manner of the Prussians and their imitators, whom Einstein had feared as a student and from whom he had fled. Einstein sometimes expressed his feeling as follows: “These cool blond people make me feel uneasy; they have no psychological comprehension of others. Everything must be explained to them very explicitly.”

  As a result, for a man who came from a somewhat different environment, and especially for a man like Einstein with a strong intuitive feeling for the significance of human relationships, life among them was often bound up with conflicts. Einstein experienced this feeling of strangeness even in his relations with a man like Max Planck, who had done so much for Einstein’s recognition as a scientist, who had supported and worked for his election to the Academy, and who had a high opinion of him as a person. Einstein could never get rid of the feeling that the emotion and ideas of a man like Planck were actually opposed to his own and that it was only by means of rational arguments that Planck forced himself to say or do something in agreement with Einstein’s views or intentions. Einstein always sensed the existence of a barrier behind which something hostile lay hidden, and therefore behind which he preferred not to look; but the conviction that this barrier existed produced a sense of uneasiness, which, while sometimes hardly noticeable, was never completely absent.

  The degree to which this Prussian reserve and mechanical thinking weighed upon Einstein became evident when Erwin Schrödinger, the Austrian, came to Berlin as Planck’s successor. There were no barriers; there was an immediate understanding between the two men without any long explanations, and an agreement on the manner in which they would act toward each other without first having to
call upon Kant’s categorical imperative.

  Einstein’s solitary position in academic circles was due also to the fact that he did not like to take part in the problems of professional daily life; he was unable to take them seriously. The daily life of a scholar is often a matter of discussing and becoming excited about the frequency with which his papers are published, which colleagues have or have not published anything, which colleague has frequently or infrequently cited which other colleague, or who intentionally or unintentionally has failed to cite somebody else. There are discussions of the merits of individual professors, the honors that they have or have not received from their own or other universities, and the academies to which they have been elected. Then again the conversation may turn to the number of students for whom the professors have been able to obtain positions, the students and teachers whom they have been able to prevent from obtaining positions, whether they have any influence with superior officials, and whether they are able to obtain money for their department from these authorities.

  Taken as a whole, all these problems add up to a tremendous total of interests and intellectual effort, in which Einstein hardly participated. It would be very unjust to maintain that all these conversations are valueless for scientific activity. On the contrary, they have their justification in social life. Nevertheless, too much attention to these details may prevent one from dealing with the actual problems of science. It is perhaps compatible with research in a very specialized field, but it is undoubtedly a considerable hindrance if one looks upon science as a religion and a philosophy that influence one’s entire life, as Einstein had done throughout his life. Yet one ought not to overlook the fact that, in consequence of this withdrawal from the more trivial details of the daily life of most professors, he often deprived himself of opportunities of obtaining concrete influence. Every social group is so constituted that petty things are inextricably interlinked with important matters, and as a result, by manifesting an aversion to the petty things, one easily loses the possibility of exercising an influence on more important matters. For a man like Einstein, however, such means of exerting his influence were so disagreeable that he could very rarely decide to make use of them.

  Einstein with Donald Menzel (astronomer) and George Birkhoff (mathematician) on the grounds of the Harvard Observatory. The child is Carl Shapley (Illustration Credit 5.1)

  Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore (Illustration Credit 5.2)

  This aversion to petty talk was more than compensated for in unbounded readiness to discuss scientific problems and questions of general interest with his colleagues. Without the slightest trace of pomposity he turned to his colleagues for advice, even to those younger than he if they were more conversant with special problems. And all this took place quite informally.

  Einstein was always very intent on being a person who did not require any special consideration. On one occasion he was supposed to pay his respects to a member of the Berlin Academy. He was not very fond of such formal visits, but he had heard that Professor Stumpf, a well-known psychologist, was greatly interested in the problems of space perception. Einstein thought that he would be able to discuss matters of mutual interest that might have some connection with the theory of relativity, and he decided to make this call. On the chance that he might find the professor at home, he went there at eleven in the morning. When he arrived, the maid told him that the Herr Geheimrat was not at home. She asked Einstein whether he would like to leave a message, but he said it was unnecessary. He did not want to disturb anyone, and would come back later in the day. “In the meantime,” he said, “I’m going to take a walk in the park.” At two in the afternoon Einstein returned. “Oh,” said the maid, “since you were here the Herr Geheimrat came home, had his lunch, and because I did not say that you would come back, he is taking his afternoon nap.” “Never mind,” said Einstein, “I’ll come back later.” He went for another walk and came back again at four. This time he was finally able to see the Geheimrat. “You see,” Einstein said to the maid, “in the end patience and perseverance are always rewarded.”

  The Geheimrat and his wife were happy to see the famous Einstein and assumed that he was now making his formal introductory visit. Einstein, however, immediately began to talk about his new generalization of the relativity theory and explained in detail its relation to the problem of space. Professor Stumpf, who was a psychologist without any extensive mathematical knowledge, understood very little of the discussion and was hardly able to put a word in edgewise. After Einstein had talked for about forty minutes, he remembered that he was actually supposed to be paying an introductory call and that it had already lasted too long. Remarking that it was quite late already, he departed. The professor and his wife were dumbfounded, for they had had no opportunity to ask the customary questions: “How do you like Berlin?” “How are your wife and children?” and so on.

  6. Relationship with Students

  Einstein’s chief activity in Berlin was conversing with colleagues and students about their own work and advising them about their research programs. He did not have to give regular courses and he lectured only occasionally, either on his own special field or on subjects of general interest to lay audiences.

  Even among professors whose chief activity was giving regular courses of lectures, the guidance of students in research was considered to be an important part of their duties. It was the pride of the teachers at the German universities to have as many scientific investigations as possible carried out and published by students under their direction. Hence many students who otherwise would never in their life have produced an independent piece of work published at least a dissertation when they acquired the doctorate. For this purpose a professor had to provide subjects of research for even untalented students who lacked ideas of their own, and then push them along until the studies were completed. In many cases the teacher could have carried out these investigations better and more rapidly if he had done the work himself, and so a certain lack of selfishness was required to waste so much effort on incompetent students.

  On the other hand, many professors were themselves not very talented. They divided the subject on which they were working into innumerable small parts and then let each part be handled by a student. The student’s task under these circumstances was relatively easy, and was dealt with in great detail so as to create an impression of being important. In this way there arose what was known in Germany as the “Betrieb” (mill), where to all outward appearances no distinction is made between worthwhile ideas and trivialities. Everything produced was a “contribution to the literature,” which had to be cited by every subsequent writer if he wanted to be “scientific.” An agreeable feeling of activity surrounded both teacher and students. They became so engrossed in this activity and industry that the larger problem that the partial studies were supposed to elucidate was often forgotten. The production of dissertations and papers became an end in itself.

  Einstein never evinced any interest in this kind of activity. Above all, he did not like the idea of raising easy questions and preferred to deal only with problems that naturally arise when investigating fundamental bases of natural phenomena. Einstein once remarked about a fairly well-known physicist: “He strikes me as a man who looks for the thinnest spot in a board and then bores as many holes as possible through it.” He esteemed most highly those who occupied themselves with difficult problems even if they were able to advance few steps in this thicket, or even if they themselves could not extend our knowledge in any positive sense, but were only able to make clear to the world the magnitude of the difficulties involved. With this conception of scientific work Einstein was not the man to have many students working under him. Whatever he undertook was always so difficult that he alone was able to carry it through.

  There was also a great difference between Einstein’s attitude and that of his colleagues toward the peculiar, pseudo-scientific questions that university professors often receive by mail from dilettantes of s
cience. Einstein was remarkably patient in answering them, and in many respects it was easier for him than for most other scientists. Many professors, even outstanding ones, are so immersed in their own ideas that it is difficult for them to comprehend ideas that deviate from the traditional, or are merely expressed in a way differing from that commonly used in scientific books. This difficulty frequently manifests itself in hatred or contempt for amateurs since the professors are often actually incapable of refuting the ingenious objections made by dilettantes to scientific theories. As a result they give the impression of incompetence and the falsehood of “academic science.” Einstein, on the other hand, did not regard the differences between the layman and the professional as being very great. He liked to deal with every objection and had none of the reluctance that makes such work so difficult for others; and this was especially important in his case since laymen frequently occupied themselves with and discussed the relativity theory.

  These characteristic features in his psychological constitution and in the manner in which he carried on scientific research brought him into closer contact with students, but here again not in a way that was characteristic of university professors. His attitude toward students was characterized chiefly by his friendliness and readiness to help them. When a student really had a problem in which he was profoundly interested, even if it was a very simple one, Einstein was ready to devote any amount of time and effort to help him solve it. Also the incredible ease with which Einstein instituted even difficult scientific reflections and his almost equally unusual talent for comprehending rapidly and thoroughly what was said to him stood him in good stead in these consultations. As a result he had a good deal of time, which he lavishly placed at the disposal of his students.

  When I came to Prague as his successor, Einstein’s students told me with the greatest admiration and joy that immediately upon assuming his duties as professor there, he had said to them: “I shall always be able to receive you. If you have a problem, come to me with it. You will never disturb me, since I can interrupt my own work at any moment and resume it immediately as soon as the interruption is past.”