Hawking’s last book concluded that there is no possibility for the existence of God in our universe.
In the very last attempt of science writing, the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking tackled on some of the biggest mysteries and religiously freighting questions about the universe and he tackled them very well.
The book published in October 2018 by Bantam books New York, just six months after Hawking’s death that merely seems a collection of his five-decades-long research work, stated by the publisher. The preface of the book is brilliantly written by Eddy Ride Moore who played Hawking’s role in his biopic “Theory of everything”. In the beginning, the leading cosmo-logist Prof. Kips S Throne penned down a thorough introduction of the book. Prof Kips has the privileged of a long-term relationship with Stephen Hawking over a period of more than half a century.
The book begins with the thought-provoking questions that why we should identify and try hard to resolve the greatest mysteries of the universe. Since Stephen Hawking had viewed the human kind as scientists and whenever he inquired about the origin of life and fate of the universe, he answered these queries as a scientist. The main purpose behind compiling this book is to spread the awareness that science can play a vital role in understanding the biggest problems of mankind on planet earth and each chapter of the book addresses a mystery of the universe.
The first & second chapters of the book outline the questions about God’s existence and the beginning of the universe. It is a matter of fact that we observe the universe as it seems but why this is so, what was its origin? Who creates it, a supernatural being or it came into existence out of nothing and what would be its fate? The answers of these questions have compiled from his interviews, lecture series and speeches. Though Hawking’s life had relayed on an electric wheelchair his mind could able to spiral across this mind-bogglingly vast cosmos and swishing back billions of years to obser-ves the first breath of the time.
Once Hamlet said that if he imprisoned in a tiny shell, he could still smell himself as the emperor of this small space. Likewise, Hamlet, the human-kind has been deeming itself as the emperor of this endless universe. But here, in the third chapter of the book Stephen hawking enlightens on the possibility of life somewhere else in the universe as an experienced physicist and entitled living being as an ordered system, which can resist any obstacle and can regenerate by itself.
In the very next chapter of the book without going into the freighting religious or astrology details, Hawking discusses that it could never be poss-ible to predict the future of the universe. Though one can figure out the future with the principles of Quantum physics these calculations are a daunting task and the result would still be uncertain.
All through the life Stephen Hawking vociferously defended his big bang theory- a widely accepted and appreciated idea about the origin of the universe which states that everything the universe contains emerged from the speck of a massive explosion and is strictly following the fixed and certain scientific laws. Hawking concluded this concept that M-theory a combination of laws of relativity, gravity, and quantum physics are enough to explain everything and every phenomenon around us.
The Black holes are generally collapsed stars those are so dense that nothing even the light can escape from them. At their ultra-packed point of mass called “event horizon”, the gravity is happened to be so strong that it distorts both time and space, so time does not exist in the depths of a black hole. This is a piece of evidence that there was not time before the big bang because the universe also came into existence as a singularity.
Hawking similarly successfully captures the possibility of time travel in the last chapter of his book. The laws of Quantum physics tell us that Einstein’s general theory of relativity is precise and if the energy density of the universe is positive enough then traveling into time could not be possible might with some exciting new set of laws and breakthrough in future one day it could be a reality.
In his final book, Hawking concluded that the universe is self-sufficient, the God or a divine power played a role only in setting the initial conditions of the universe so that the universal laws of nature could take their exact shape as we find them. Though this concept is a little coax to the theistic believers’ still i leaves plenty of space for hope, wonder, excitement, and gratitude to the humankind.
The world knows Albert Einstein as a genius — the theory of
relativity, his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, and his
discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect have all immortalized him in
the annals of history.
But Albert could never have become Einstein without his
first wife and college sweetheart, Mileva Maric.
Mileva was a physicist of note in her own right — some even go
as far as to argue that she was perhaps a better scientist than Einstein
himself. Born in 1875 in Titel, (modern day Serbia), Mileva belonged to an
affluent family of Serbian descent. Mathematics and physics were her passions
and such was her intellect that even in those times, she was allowed to attend
an all-boys’ school in Zagreb as a teenager to pursue her intellectual
passions.
Mileva and Albert with Hans
From Zagreb, Mileva moved to Zurich to enroll at the Zurich
Polytechnic School. She was the only woman among the six students enrolled in
the course. It was here that she met a young German student named Albert
Einstein. Their shared love of science eventually resulted in them striking up
a romantic relationship. Some years later, they got married. Albert is said to
have relied on Mileva’s brilliance for his work although recent scholarship
explains that he never gave credit to her for her ideas.
But for many years, Mileva stayed at home while Albert
worked in a different country and travelled far and wide for professional
purposes. Although they had three children — Lieserl Einstein (1902–1903), Hans
Albert Einstein (1904–1973) and Eduard Einstein (1910–1965) — the relationship
collapsed and two scientists went their separate ways. Albert would remarry in
1919, this time to his cousin Elsa Löwenthal.
On Einstein’s 140th birth celebrations, the Scientia Pakistan team brings a side of Albert Einstein that remains unfamiliar territory to many: Einstein’s relationship with Mileva Maric. We are reprinting a selection of letters exchanged by Mileva and Albert (preserved at the Princeton University Press as part of The Digital Einstein Papers). Through these letters shared by Mileva and Albert, we discover how the flame that once burned bright was eventually extinguished by the pressures of a long-distance relationship.
From Mileva Maric
[Zurich, after 7 July
1901]
My Darling,
Again I was unable to reply for an eternity to your dear
little letter. I did want to write you immediately, but you know how much I am
suffering now and this afternoon I had such a severe headache that I had to lie
down. I’ve already become an utter whiner of a little mother. But now I’m
feeling very well again.- So Drude also has let something be heard of him, he
really is a splendid fellow. How the gentlemen do pay court to one another; I
mean, the way he speaks about Boltzmann, that he believed he must have done it
right. Naturally, a Boltzmann!
So, sweetheart, you want to look for a job immediately? and
have me move in with you! How happy I was when I read your little letter, and
how happy I still am and always will be, as well. And I’d give my head if my
happiness wasn’t contagious to you as well, sweetheart! But of course it really
mustn’t involve the worst of positions, darling, that would be too hard for me,
I couldn’t stand it. Our various elders are going to be amazed, now.
Incidentally, my sister wrote me that I really should invite you to visit us
during the holidays; my old folks are probably in a better mood now. Wouldn’t
you like to come along just for a while? I would be pleased! And imagine the
wonderful trip we’d be taking there together! We would get off every so often
and go on foot a bit or make brief stops. And then at our place everything
would be new to you. And when my parents see us both physically before them,
all their doubts will evaporate.
The Einstein family’s home in Novi Sad, Serbia
Did you have a nice time in Lenzberg? On Sunday there was
such a terrible thunderstorm, I was constantly afraid you might still be en
route. But I hope you were already safely under cover, sweetheart. I did still
want to give you cherries, you know, but you wouldn’t have been able to carry
them to L[enzburg] anyway. Now they’re waiting for you, nicely locked away. I
am being very industrious, I still have to study Weber astutely now; and in between
I’m constantly looking forward to Sunday when I can see you again and kiss you,
really and truly, not just in my thoughts, and deeply, as it comes from my heart,
and everywhere all over.
What are you up to, sweetheart? Is the weather there as
dreadful as it is here? When you come on Sunday, do also bring your little
fiddle along, and in any case, just write when you’re coming so that I can
expect you.
But now, my greetings and kisses from the bottom of my
heart, and write back soon. Yours,
D[ollie]
Miss Popova is jealous of me about Miss Engelbrecht, which naturally amuses me, and whenever we 3 meet she gets annoyed.
To Mileva Marie,
Bern. Saturday
evening. [28 June 1902 or later]
My little Darling,
I am in high spirits, having just arrived from the Garden
with Ehrat and Solovini, and a young man whom I know from Schaffhausen and who
had come along to Bern just in order to visit me. Tomorrow I’m going to the
Beatenberg near Thun with them, and they will be leaving on Monday, which suits
me just fine. I would much rather be going to the Beatenberg with you than with
a bunch of men; after all, I’m a man myself.
You can’t imagine how tenderly I think of you whenever we’re
not together, even though I’m always such a mean fellow when I’m with you. But
just you wait: next Sunday, or the Sunday after that, we, too, will make an
excursion, and we will leave already on Saturday evening! Then, in the evening
and at night, I will kiss you and squeeze you again to my heart’s desire.
Mileva with her two sons, Hans and Eduard
Ehrat suffers quite a lot from his bad nerves, even though
he has a very agreeable life. Imagine if he had my job! I don’t think he would
be able to stand it for even 14 days. He should really have a sweetheart like I
do, who’ll love him and bring some poetry into his life, so he’ll realize that
one can have a life that’s full of good cheer and tender feelings, instead of
wearing a constant frown upon one’s face.
Goodbye my sweetheart; we’ll meet Monday at 6 o’clock at the
tower.
Kisses from your
Johonzel
From Mileva
Einstein-Maric
Budapest, 27 August 1903
Dear Jonzerl,
I’m already in Budapest, it’s going quickly, but it’s hard,
I don’t feel at all well. What are you doing, little Jonzile, write me soon,
will you.
Your poor Schno[xl?]
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric Bern
Friday [19? September
1903]
Dear Schnoxl,
I’m not at all angry that my poor Schnoxl must be on the
nest. What’s more, I am even delighted about it and have already been pondering
whether I should not see to it that you get a new Lieserl, so that you won’t be
deprived of that which is every woman’s right. Don’t worry but come home in a
happy mood, and brood very carefully so that something good will hatch out.
I am very sorry about what happened with Lieserl. Scarlet
fever often leaves some lasting trace behind. If only everything passes well.
How is Lieserl registered? We must take great care, lest difficulties arise for
the child in the future.
Now come back to me soon. [Three-and-a-half] weeks have
already passed, and a good little wife should not be away from her man for
longer than that. But our place still does not look nearly as terrible as you
might think. You will quickly put it in order again.
This is the living room of the second-floor apartment that Albert Einstein rented from 1903 to 1905 in Bern, Switzerland. He lived here with Mileva and their son Hans Albert Einstein | Source: Wikipedia.
I am getting along with Haller better than ever before. He
is quite friendly, and recently, when a patent agent protested against my
finding, citing even a decision of the German patent office in support of his
complaint, he took my side on all points. You’ll see, I’ll get ahead, so we’ll
not have to starve. If only my mother could get a job in Berlin, then we would
be out of the woods. It also seems quite certain that Oberlin, who is well
disposed toward me, will become a deputy administrator. Luigi will shortly be
in Hechingen. It remains to be seen whether he will also come to Bern.
Come soon. Love and kisses from
Jonzl
Cordial greetings to everyone.
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric
[Kandersteg] Monday
[25 July 1904]
Dear Wife: I saw the dark-blue Blausee in marvelous weather, and now we arrived here in Kandersteg under cloudless skies. My love to the filius Rabatzel and to Fuxl, your Albert
To Mileva
Einstein-Marie Bern,
Good Friday [17 April
1908]
Dear Sweetheart: I’ve just come home from a long walk with
Laub. I work with him a great deal. Unless I am totally mistaken, Minkowski’s
determination of ponderomotive forces is wrong. We now derive the whole thing
in another way. Nowadays I always take my meals with Laub. We no longer eat at
Münze because we both had indigestion — probably because of the questionable
fat they use there. I’ve been getting a letter from little Habicht at least
every other day, but I don’t always get around to answering him.
I don’t like the solitude at all, Laub notwithstanding. I
wait longingly for your return. I ordered two books, O. E. Meyer’s Kinetische
Theorie der Gase, and Meisterstücke des Humors, a collection of the best
classics in this genre. I haven’t yet talked with Mrs. Hausmann. Pfedi has
asked for your address. I was invited to Schenk’s yesterday. He is now courting
me a little because . . . Nothing beats selflessness. A capable man is working
in Würzburg on my method for the determination of [missing]. I am writing
higgledy-piggledy, but what does it matter? Maybe in this way I’ll bring it
about that you’ll more willingly let me read your letters.
The apartment is very dirty now — I must prepare you for
that. Laub is quite a nice man, though very ambitious, almost rapacious. But he
is doing these calculations, which I wouldn’t find time to do, and this is
good. He also wants to work on confirming the light quanta.
Kisses to you and Bu from dear
Ba
Convey my cordial greetings to Auntie, Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Watz, and also Uncle, if he is there
From Mileva Einstein-Maric
[Prague, 4 October
1911]
Dear Babu, I was delighted with your letter, a few things were missing, though, but hopefully they may still come? It must have been very interesting in Karlsruhe; I would have loved only too well to have listened a little, and to have seen all those fine people. Is the Marx family large, did you do your duty a little bit? It’s been an eternity since we have seen each other, will you still recognize me? Should I really come to Zurich? The weather here is wonderful. Splendid fall weather, wonderful, do we still want to try to do something? Assuming I come, where should I write to inform you about my arrival, for you will pick me up, I hope. For today, many tender feelings from your old
D[oxerl]
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric
[Berlin,] 2 April
1914
Dear Mama, I’ve been here in Berlin (Wilmersdorfer St.)
since Sunday. It was extremely pleasant at the Ehrenfests. They would like to
spend a few weeks together with us in Switzerland if possible. I’m now on familiar
terms with Ehrenfest.
Albert plays the violin
It’s nice here. Yesterday I was at Haber’s for the first
time; he sends all of you his greetings. I haven’t seen Mrs. Haber yet.
Tomorrow I’m going to be at Koppel’s. He gave me a beautiful grandfather’s
clock as a welcoming present. Gorgeously mild weather has set in here now; I
hope it’s the same for you and that our Tete has no more little earaches, so
that he can go outside a lot. Please write me immediately where the money has
been deposited so that I can pay the moving expenses. According to a letter by
Maag I can do no more in the Gentner affair regarding the heating because I
paid the first bill without objection. For God’s sake! Another old tax bill
arrived from Prague for about 80 kr. which I must pay. The new landlord is very
decent. He’s having everything renovated nicely. The furniture will come on
Monday but must be stacked up provisionally in the dining room because the
apartment repairs will take another one and a half weeks.
Wishing you all enjoyable holidays and a good rest, yours,
Papa
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric, Hans Albert and Eduard Einstein
[Berlin, 10 April
1914]
My Dears,
The director was quite sympathetic. He is very much to my
liking. It will be better there than I thought. Lutheran religious instruction.
Haber invites you all until the apartment is settled. Happy Easter wishes from
your
Papa
Memorandum to Mileva Einstein-Maric, with Comments
[Berlin, ca. 18 July 1914]
Conditions
A. You make sure
1) that my clothes and laundry are
kept in good order and repair
2) that I receive my three meals
regularly in my room
3) That my bedroom and office are
always kept neat, in particular, that the desk is available to me alone.
B. You renounce all personal relations with me as far as
maintaining them is not absolutely required for social reasons. Specifically,
you do without
1) my sitting at home with you
2) my going out or traveling
together with you.
C. In your relations with me you commit yourself explicitly
to adhering to the following points
1) You are neither to expect
intimacy from me nor to reproach me in any way.
2) You must desist immediately from
addressing me if I request it.
3) You must leave my bedroom or
office immediately without protest if I so request.
D. You commit yourself not to disparage me either in word or
in deed in front of my children. I am ash[amed] for you because you let
yourself be so affected by Berlin. Little boy, I only have to say, then he does
it right away. Go your own way, let yourself be deceived. I really don’t care.
Read this slowly. It will do you good. Read it also to your family, they have
nothing else to do.
Ever since coming to Berlin you have become quite lazy.
M[ileva] You must also write that thing about Mrs. Haber. They should also know
that other people also are interested in how the famous man behaves. Nasty
jokes.
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric
[Berlin, ca. 18 July
1914]
D[ear] Miza,
Yesterday Haber gave me your letter, from which I gather
that you want to accept my conditions. And yet I must write you again so that
you are completely clear about the situation. I’m prepared to return to our
apartment, because I don’t want to lose the children and because I don’t want
them to lose me, and for this reason alone. After all that has happened, a
comradely relationship with you is out of the question. It should become a
loyal business relationship; the personal aspects must be reduced to a tiny
remnant. In return, however, I assure you of proper comportment on my part,
such as I would exercise toward any woman as a stranger. My confidence in you
suffices for this, but only for this. If it is impossible for you to continue
living together on this basis, I shall resign myself to the necessity of a
separation.
Requesting a clear reply to this, yours,
Albert
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric
[Berlin, ca. 18 July
1914]
D[ear] Miza,
Yesterday Mr. Haber sent for me and advised me to add
another comment to you regarding my letter, because I had said in it that what
remains of my confidence in you is just enough for a business relationship. It
remains possible that I’ll regain a greater degree of confidence in you through
proper behavior on your part.
Mileva’s tombstone at the Nordheim Cemetery in Zurich | Tesla Society and Serbia Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Let it be as he wishes. No one can see into the future. In
any case, I don’t consider discussions about it useful. Therefore I ask you
again whether you want to live with me under the specified terms. Consider it
and give me a clear answer with no ifs or buts so that I know where I stand.
Kisses to my dear boys,
Albert Einstein
To Elsa Einstein
[Berlin] Sunday. [26
July 1914]
Dear Else,
Today I’m already writing you the first letter, dear one, to
make up for the briefness of the farewells. There is already something
eminently important to report. My wife requested from Haber a final meeting
with me before her departure. On this occasion we determined that Miza is to
remain in Zurich with both children, and all the conditions down to the
specifics were laid down in writing. It lasted three hours. The way to a
divorce has also been smoothed. Now you have proof that I can make a sacrifice
for you. What you have suffered in the last few days has made such an
impression on me that I couldn’t act in any other way, despite the children.
Although Haber had rather discouraged than encouraged me, I
do believe that he does secretly agree with me after all. I must admit that I
feel a bit crushed; do you understand? Some time will have to elapse before I
am again calmly in possession of myself. Such an affair is bit similar to a
murder! But I came to realize that living together with the children is no
blessing if the woman stands in the way. Tomorrow they will probably leave; I
hope I’ll be able to see my boys one more time!
Elsa and Albert
After the meeting at Haber’s, I drove to your parents, who
didn’t come home until after 11 o’clock, though, and received the news not
without a mild distaste.
Tonight I’m sleeping in your bed! It is peculiar how
confusedly sentimental one is. It is just a bed like any other, as though you
had not yet ever slept in it. And yet I find it comforting that I may lay
myself in it, somewhat like a tender confidence.
Dear little Else, have a good rest with your children and
write me soon. You will help me gradually to regain my composure and confidence
after the serious operation. It is really good that you are not here at the
moment, because otherwise the severity of the situation would hit you very
hard. For the present I cannot think of visiting you, for fear of damaging your
good reputation again. Also, in the next few weeks my company is not conducive
to summertime recreation. I shall attempt to overcome these difficult first
weeks by working busily.
Kisses from your
Albert
Best regards to Ilse and Margot
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric [Berlin,]
12 December 1914
D[ear] M[ileva],
I notice just now that I have paid fully for the move. But
the tips to the people ought to have been paid by you and, if applicable, the
storage fee for Zurich during the waiting period, and the customs charge. I
request that you examine the mover’s bill. Should anything more have been paid,
I shall claim it back.
I declare to you herewith that I will send you 5,600 M
annually in quarterly installments to support you and the children, at least as
long as my income does not sink substantially below the present level.
Best regards to Albert and Tete. As long as Albert does not
answer my letter I must assume that it has not been given to him. Otherwise I
would write to him again.
A. Einstein
To Mileva
Einstein-Maric
[Berlin,] 12 January
1915
D[ear] M[ileva],
Officially you are my wife, the same as before, and as such
have together with the children a claim to my bit of monetary holdings. But I
am not inclined to relinquish the Fr 10,000 which constitute the remains of a
sum allotted to me personally for my achievements. I find such a demand beyond
discussion. If the share of your paternal inheritance had remained in your
parents’ hands, it would have suffered just as much from the war as in your
hands. As long as I live, the money in my possession will serve exclusively as
security for you and the children, and when I die it will be transferred
automatically to the children. The upkeep of all of you has been generously
provided for, and I find your constant attempts to lay hold of everything that
is in my possession absolutely disgraceful. Had I known you 12 years ago as I
know you now, I would have considered my responsibilities toward you at that
time quite differently.
A package of returned items, which arrived through no
intention of mine in my hands rather than yours, will be delivered to you
sometime.
I will maintain a regular correspondence with Albert only if
I can indulge in the hope that this is beneficial and pleasurable to the boy.
Part of this involves that no pressures be exerted on the child aimed at giving
him a distorted image of me. If it is your honest wish not to destroy the
personal relations between me and the boys, you will accept the following
advice. Read what I write to the children but do not discuss it with them; and
above all, let little Albert write to me by himself, do not read his letters,
do not admonish him to write me, and do not discuss with him what he ought to
write me. In this way you could be sure that I am making no attempts to take
the children away from you, and I could be more to the boys than their
breadwinner. If I see, however, that Albert’s letters are prompted, then I
shall refrain from sustaining a regular correspondence out of consideration for
the children.
Albert Einstein is the most influential physicists of all time. He named as the person of the century by TIME in 1999. Einstein is an icon of intelligence whose extended wisdom far beyond the realm of science. Here is a collection of Einstein’s top 140 quotes on the eve of his 140th birthday to unleash your inner genius.
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
Albert einstein
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious, It is the source of all true art and science.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
” Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work.
“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.
“ I’d rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.
“ The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
“ There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
“Nothing happens until something moves.
“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.
“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.
“What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.
“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
“Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is the character.
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
“When the solution is simple, God is answering.
“Weakness of attitude becomes the weakness of character.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
“Human beings must have action, and they will make it if they cannot find it.
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
“The only source of knowledge is an experience.
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
“Force always attracts men of low morality.
“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.
“Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.
“A ship is always safe at the shore – but that is NOT what it is built for.
“We still do not know one-thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.”
“The only real valuable thing is intuition.
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.
“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
“I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.
“The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
“To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks a real advance in science.
“God always takes the simplest way.
“Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.
“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
“Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
“The faster you go, the shorter you are.
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.
“The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.
“Information is not knowledge.
“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
“Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events.
“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
“Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
“In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
“The distinction between the past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.
“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.
“The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident for someone who’s dead.
“It is only to the individual that a soul is given.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
“Logic will get you from a to b. Imagination will take you everywhere.
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
“A person who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.
“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this, it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.
” Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
” A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.
” The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity… Out of discord, harmony… And out of difficulty, opportunity.
” The value of achievement lies in the achieving.
” Know where to find the information and how to use it. That’s the secret of success.
” I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express in words afterward.
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
“The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
“God does not play dice with the universe.
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.
“Weakness of attitude becomes the weakness of character.
“One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.
“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
“Never lose a holy curiosity.
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
A Rare collection of the letters shows a fearful Einstein long before the Nazi’s attack.
Einstein wrote to Marie Curie
Prague, 23 November 1911 Esteemed Mrs. Curie, Don’t laugh at me for writing to you without having anything sensible to say. But I’m so furious at the vile [niederträchige] way in which the rabble [Pöbel] at present dares to treat you that I absolutely must give vent to this feeling. I am, however, convinced that you despise this rabble, equally when it’s feigning adoration or when it’s using you to slake its thirst for the sensational! I must tell you how much I’ve come to admire your spirit [Geist], your creativity, and your honesty. I consider myself lucky to have made your personal acquaintance in Brussels. Anyone other than those reptiles is certainly happy, now as before, that we have eminent people like you, and also Langevin, among us—real people [wirkliche Menschen] with whom one feels privileged to be in contact. If the rabble continues to occupy itself with you, then simply don’t read that swill. Rather leave it to the reptile for whom it’s been fabricated. With most friendly regards to you, Langevin, and [Jean] Perrin, Yours very truly,
A. Einstein P.S. I’ve determined the statistical law of [rotational] motion for a diatomic molecule in Planck’s radiation field by means of a merry joke [lustigen Witz], of course on the assumption that the structure’s motion obeys the laws of ordinary mechanics. But I have little hope that this law is valid in reality.
At Princeton
Princeton, 15 September 1950 Dear Born,
… People such as your Bolshevik doctor come by their fantastic attitude as a result of their objection to the harshness, injustice, and absurdity of our own social order (escape from reality). If he happened to be living in Russia, no doubt he would be a rebel there as well, only in that case he would take care not to tell you about it. Nevertheless, it seems to me that our own people here [in the US] make an even worse job of their foreign policy than the Russians. And the idiotic public can be talked into anything. And they really are very shortsighted, for technological superiority is transitory, and if it comes to all-out conflict, the decisive factor is sheer numerical superiority. There is nothing analogous in relativity to what I call incompleteness of description in the quantum theory. Briefly, it is because the ψ-function is incapable of describing certain qualities of an individual system, whose “reality” none of us doubt (such as a microscopic parameter). Take a (macroscopic) body that can rotate freely about an axis. Its state is fully determined by an angle. Let the initial conditions (angle and angular momentum) be defined as precisely as the quantum theory allows. The Schrödinger equation then gives the ψ-function for any subsequent time interval. If this is sufficiently large, all angles become (in practice) equally probable. But if an observation is made (e.g. by flashing a torch), a definite angle is found (with sufficient accuracy). This does not prove that the angle had a definite value before it was observed—but we believe this to be the case because we are committed to the requirements of reality on the macroscopic scale. Thus, the ψ-function does not express the real state of affairs perfectly in this case. This is what I call “incomplete description.” So far, you may not object. But you will probably take the position that a complete description would be useless because there is no mathematical relationship for such a case. I do not say that I am able to disprove this view. But my instinct tells me that a complete formulation of the relationships is tied up with a complete description of its factual state. I am convinced of this although, up to now, success is against it. I also believe that the current formulation is true in the same sense as e.g. thermodynamics, i.e. as far as the concepts used are inadequate. I do not expect to convince you, or anybody else. I just want you to understand the way I think. I see from … your letter that you, too, take the quantum theoretical description as incomplete (referring to an ensemble). But you are, after all, convinced that no (complete) laws exist for a complete description, according to the positivistic maxim: Esse est percipi [to be is to bperceived]. Well, this is a programmatic attitude, not knowledge. This is where our attitudes really differ. For the time being, I am alone in my views—as Leibniz was with respect to the absolute space of Newton’s theory. … I have not changed my attitude to the Germans, which, by the way, dates not just from the Nazi period. All human beings are more or less the same from birth. The Germans, however, have a far more dangerous tradition than any of the other so-called civilized nations. Kind regards, Yours, A. E.
Letter to o Born
Berlin, 29 April 1924 Dear Borns, Your letter, dear Mrs. Born, was really excellent. Indeed, what causes the sense of well-being inspired by Japanese society and art is that the individual is so harmoniously integrated into his wider environment that he derives his experiences not from the self, but mainly from the comm-unity. Each of us longed for this when we were young, but we had to resign ourselves to its impossibility. For, of all the communities available to us there is not one I would want to devote myself to, except for the society of the true searchers, which has very few living members at any time. … Bohr’s opinion about radiation is of great interest. But I should not want to be forced into abandoning strict causality without defending it more strongly than I have so far. I find the idea quite intolerable that an electron exposed to radiation should choose, of its own free will, not only its mom-ent to jump off, but also its direction. In that case, I would rather be a cob-bler, or even an employee in a gaming house, than a physicist. Certainly, my attempts to give tangible form to the quanta have foundered again and again but I am far from giving up hope. And even if it never works, there is always that consolation that this lack of success is entirely mine. With best wishes. Yours Einstein
Oxford, 30 May 1933 Dear Born, … I am glad that [you and James Franck] have resigned your positions. Thank God there is no risk involved for either of you. But my heart aches at the thought of the young ones…. I hear that the establishment of a good Institute of Physics in Palestine (Jerusalem) is at present being considered. There has been a nasty mess there up to now, complete charlatanism. But if I get the impression that this business could be taken seriously, I shall write to you at once with further details. For it would be splendid if something good were to be created there…. Two years ago I tried to appeal to Rockefeller’s conscience about the absurd method of allocating grants, unfortunately without success. Bohr has now gone to see him in an attempt to persuade him to take some action on behalf of the exiled German scientists…. I am firmly convinced that those who have made a name already will be taken care of. But the others, the young ones, will not have the chance to develop. You know, I think, that I have never had a particularly favorable opinion of the Germans (morally and politically speaking). But I must confess that the degree of their brutality and cowardice came as something of a surprise to me. I originally intended to create a university for exiles. But it soon became apparent that there are insurmountable obstacles, and that any effort in this direction would impede the exertions of individual countries. Yours, Einstein
To Daughter
To his daughter “When I proposed the theory of relativity, very few understood me, and what I will reveal now to transmit to mankind will also collide with the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world. I ask you to guard the letters as long as necessary, years, decades until society is advanced enough to accept what I will explain below. There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation too. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us. This universal force is LOVE. When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force. Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity because it makes some people feel attracted to others. Love is power, beca-use it multiplies the best we have and allows humanity not to be extinguis-hed in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals. For love, we live and die. Love is God and God is Love. This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will. To give visibility to love, I made a simple substitution in my most famous equation. If instead of E = mc2, we accept that the energy to heal the world can be obtained through love multiplied by the speed of light squared, we arrive at the conclusion that love is the most powerful force there is beca-use it has no limits. After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy… If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer. Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness, and greed that devastated the planet. However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released. When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life. I deeply regret not having been able to express what is in my heart, which has quietly beaten for you all my life. Maybe it’s too late to apologize, but as time is relative, I need to tell you that I love you and thanks to you I have reached the ultimate answer! “.
Your father,
Albert Einstein
To Mr. Gutkind
Princeton, 3. 1. 1954 Dear Mr. Gutkind, Inspired by Brouwer’s repeated suggestion, I read a great deal in your book, and thank you very much for lending it to me. What struck me was this: with regard to the factual attitude to life and to the human community we have a great deal in common. Your personal ideal with its striving for freedom from ego-oriented desires, for making life beautiful and noble, with an emphasis on the purely human element. This unites us as having an “unAmerican attitude.”
Still, without Brouwer’s suggestion, I would never have gotten myself to engage intensively with your book because it is written in a language inaccessible to me. The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change this for me. For me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and whose thinking I have a deep affinity for, have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything “chosen” about them.
In general, I find it painful that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as a man and an internal one as a Jew. As a man you claim, so to speak, a dispensation from causality otherwise accepted, as a Jew the privilege of monotheism. But a limited causality is no longer a causality at all, as our wonderful Spinoza recog-nized with all incision, probably as the first one. And the animistic inter-pretations of the religions of nature are in principle not annulled by monopolization. With such walls, we can only attain a certain self-deception, but our moral efforts are not furthered by them. On the contrary. Now that I have quite openly stated our differences in intellectual convic-tions it is still clear to me that we are quite close to each other in essential things, i.e; in our evaluations of human behavior. What separates us are only intellectual “props” and “rationalization” in Freud’s language. Therefore I think that we would understand each other quite well if we talked about concrete things.
With friendly thanks and best wishes, Yours, A. Einstein
To the President Roosevelt
Albert Einstein Old Grove Rd. Nassau Point Peconic, Long Island August 2nd, 1939 F.D. Roosevelt President of the United States White House Washington, D.C. Sir: Some recent work by E.Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your att-ention the following facts and recommendations: 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 and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air. The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo. In view of the situation, you may think it desirable to have more permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following: a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States; b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds are required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment. I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated. Yours very truly, Albert Einstein
On his love affairs: Despite declaring in one letter that ”I must seek in the stars what was denied to me on earth,” A letter to his wife Elsa reads: ”Mrs. M. definitely acted according to the best Christian-Jewish ethics: 1)one should do what one enjoys and what won’t harm anyone else; and 2) one should refrain from doing things one does not take delight in and which annoy another person. Because of 1) she came with me, and because of 2) she didn’t tell you a word. Isn’t that irreproachable?” In a letter to his stepdaughter, Margot, in 1931, Einstein confides in her, ”It is true that Mrs. M. followed me [to England] and her chasing after me is getting out of control…” On his step-daughter: In a letter to Elsa in 1924, Einstein tells her, ”I love her [Margot] as much as if she were my own daughter, perhaps even more so, since who knows what kind of brat she would have become [had I fathered her].” On relativity: In a letter to Elsa in 1921, he admits, ”Soon I’ll be fed up with the relativity. Even such a thing fades away when one is too involved with it…”
With
a gleaming pair of eyes, razor-sharp IQ, electrified hairs, a mere by-product
of his goals. Yeah, that’s Einstein who had a fancy for this mind-bogglingly
vast universe.
A synonymous of genius
Einstein was a noble laureate based in Germany who revolutionized the field of modern physics and is deemed one of the greatest minds of all time specifically for his work on Relativity, mass-energy equivalence, and photo-electric effect. He kicked off his career as a patent clerk and gradually prog-ressed as one of the best physicists of the 19th century, with his extraor-dinary skills and determination he demonstrated that nothing is impossible if one has capabilities.
Einstein grew up in a Jewish family, his father Hermann Einstein was an engineer and sale man by profession and run a Munich-based company who dealt with electronics pieces of equipment. While her mother is a housewife love to cook, bake and knit. Einstein had been a problem child for his family, initially, he took too long to speak properly and finally when he started uttering, words came to his mouth too slowly and he used to repeat them over and over. He had a strange habit of talking with himself all through his life and people who were unable to recognize his except-ional skills thought him a weirdo. In school, he was too slow to answer his teachers and they assumed him as a lower than average student. Due to his teacher’s negligence and harsh attitude he rarely went to school. Einstein marveled at his first scientific experience, like how is fathers com-pass always pointed north. He struggled with the harsh rules and author-itarian discipline of German schools. He hated the way he was taught to cram without getting through the concepts and a creative or independent way of learning was neglected at all.
Instead,
he used to question his teachers as an attempt to go into the depths of
scientific details and since his mathematics teacher was unable to carry off
his yearning desire, at the age of twelve he started stretching his head in
pure geometrical problems and wrote his first scientific paper when he was only
of sixteen. The ordeal was so bad that he lost interest in science for a whole
year.
Einstein traveling through the space
Einstein was willing to start a career in physics but he ended up in an office clerk job in Switzerland which had nothing to do with science. However, that job happened to be the right opportunity to ring about his financial needs and keep on his work on physics on the sidelines. He spent the next three years on nonstop research and finally in 1905, he published his four articles that revolutionized the science of physics forever. His papers entit-led as ‘electrodynamics of moving bodies’ and ‘mass-energy equival-ence’ dropped the modern physics in a more electrifying direction. This equation proposed that small particles of matter could be converted into a huge amount of energy that later heralded atomic bomb.
By November 1905, Einstein had done with his general theory of relativity that provided a more accurate prediction of celestial objects. He modified Newton’s laws but kept Maxwell’s equations in the pure form and explained how gravitation force worked. Later in 1919, Sir Arther Eddington and British astronomer Sir Frank Dyson had affirmed Einstein’s assertion dur-ing a solar eclipse. Einstein won the noble prize for physics in 1925 for his great work on the photoelectric effect.
Moreover,
Einstein modified Newton’s laws to deal with the properties of light. Einstein
recognition and judgment was far much sharper than other physicists of his time
and he found that not only Newton’s laws of motion inconsistent with Maxwell’s
theory of light but Newton’s laws of gravity were also inconsistent with
special relativity, so actually they were Newton’s laws those needed to change
permanently.
The
geometry that was involved was much more sophisticated than usual mathematics
that physicists had to deal with before, so he would have to develop the theory
of curved space-time. The basic concept behind was that when a planet goes
around the sun it’s not because it is attracted to the sun as Newton’s laws
would have said rather the Sun has curvature in space-time and the planet is
trying to find a straight line in curved space-time.
Ultimately, his intellectual achievements and discoveries made the word Einstein synonymous with ‘Genius’ and a symbol of inspiration and motiv-ation for millions of scientists, has been discussing and celebrating around the globe for more than a century. After his death, Einstein’s brain had cremated and now located at the Princeton University medical center. In 1999 a team of researchers found that Einstein’s inferior parietal lobe was fifteen percent wider than the people with normal intelligence. This area of brain processes 3D visualization, mathematical concepts, and spatial relationships and its wider size showed that’s why Einstein’s IQ was greater.
Einstein’s work builds one of the two basic pillars of modern physics. Though He is best known for his work on the general theory of relativity But Einstein made other important contributions in the field of Quantum physics and philosophy of science. He published hundreds of books and articles, wrote more than 300 scientific and 150 non-scientific papers on the topics such as Einstein’s lesser-known-work, Einstein’s refrigeration, gravit-ational lensing, Tachometer, Bose-Einstein condensate, grand unified theory and photo-electric effect, which was a pivotal step in the development of Quantum theory.
Now after more than a hundred years of his birth one can observe the evidence of Einstein’s legacy everywhere. From nuclear power to commun-ication satellites his theories have been ruling out the world of science and technology. In the meanwhile, the researchers worked on his light theories and develop lasers those are widely in use in medical, industries, and even in the construction of bridges and tunnels. His law of photoelectric effect helped engineers and they were able to power up communication and weather satellites in orbits with solar cells, merely a by-product of Einstein’s photoelectrons. And now in the 21st century, with the help of ultrasensitive Einstein’s masors, scientists are exploring the new frontier of space and a couple of years ago detected Einstein’s gravitational waves.
Though he died on April 18th, 1955 and his ashes were scattered on an unknown place but the byproducts of his brain are alive and our compan-ions in everyday life. Those insights are the very tool sufficient to quench our thirst of search and to explore the new bounds of the future.
Walter Isaacson, the author of “His Life and Universe”, reveal a juicy bit of information from the early life of never forgotten physicist, the one and only “Einstein”.
In 1895, the sixteen-year-old bright student stood second in his class (according to the records of exclusive college preparatory school in Aargau Switzerland, which survived in those days). Isaacson wrote it in his book in these words, “Alas, the name of the boy who bested Einstein is lost to history.” So it might be a surprising fact for some that, the man who is a synonym of genius and who told us about the untold tales of the universe, put out the theories which were unimaginable at that time, was at one point not the most intelligent student in his class.
It makes one think why and how a child from a middle-class family became interested in physics? What were the forces which compelled him to pursue these uncharted territories of physics and laws governing the whole of the universe?
Young Einstein
Childhood and Education
Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. Albert’s father, Hermann Einstein, was primarily a featherbed salesman and later ran a small electrochemical factory. His mother, Pauline Koch, was a housewife. Both of his parents were from a long line of Jewish heritage and their ancestors had been living in Southern Germany for many centuries. His mother came from a fairly wealthy family and was known for her wits. She also liked music and that’s probably the reason Albert got developed an interest in music from a young age. Albert had only one younger sister Maria (who went by the name Maja). Like most siblings, they had their differences but Maja would grow up to become one of the best and closest friends of Albert.
Albert Einstein at the age of 14th.
Learning Difficulties
From early childhood, Einstein faced problems in learning. He was especially slow in learning how to speak. He used to whisper to himself before saying the words out loud. Due to this tendency of repetition and whispering, his maid nicknamed him “der depperte” — the dopey one Even at the age of nine, he was unable to speak fluently. Many of his teachers thought Albert was mentally weak. As a child, Albert preferred to play by himself rather than with other boys his age.
This heavily retouched photograph shows German-Swiss-American mathematical physicist Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) as he plays a violin in the music room of the S.S. Belgenland en route to California, 1931. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
Fascination with Music
Einstein had a variety of hobbies as well. He enjoyed constructing towers with playing cards and building complex structures with blocks. He also liked to work on puzzles or read books about mathematics. It was Albert’s mother who introduced him to one of his favorite pastimes; music. At first, Albert wasn’t sure he wanted to learn to play the violin. It seemed too regimented. But then Albert heard Mozart and his world changed. Einstein once said that “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe itself”. Later in life, Albert would turn to music when stuck on a particularly difficult scientific concept.
Sometimes, he would be playing his violin in the middle of the night and then suddenly stop as a solution to a problem jumped into his mind. As an older man, Einstein explained how important music was to his life and his work saying, “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my day-dreams in music. I see my life in terms of music Influences. When Albert was around the age of five or six, he fell ill. To try and make him feel better, his father bought him a compass to play with. Einstein became fascinated with the compass. How did it work? What was the mysterious force that caused the compass to point north? Einstein claimed as an adult that he could remember how he felt examining the compass. He said it made a profound and lasting impression on him even as a child and sparked his curiosity to want to explain the unknown. The second wonder in young Albert’s life was his discovery of a geometry book at the age of 12. He called it his “little sacred geometry book”.
Einstein at the age of 19th
Yet another important influence on Einstein was a young medical student, Max Talmud. Talmud became an informal tutor, introducing Einstein higher mathematics and philosophy. A pivotal turning point occurred when Einstein was introduced to a children’s science series “Popular Books on Physical Science”, in which the author imagined riding along electricity inside a telegraph wire.
This imaginative question dominated Einstein for the next 10 years: what would a light beam look like if you could run alongside it? If light were a wave, then light beam should appear stationary, like a frozen wave. Even as a child, though, he knew that stationary light waves had never been seen, so there was a paradox. After three years attending the local Catholic school, eight-year-old Albert changed schools to the Liutpold Gymnasium where he would spend the next seven years. Einstein felt that the teaching style at Liutpold was too regimented and constraining. He did not enjoy the military discipline of the teachers and often rebelled against their authority. He compared his teachers to drill sergeants. While there are many stories telling about how Einstein struggled in school and even failed in math, these are not true. He may have not been the ideal student, but he scored high in most subjects, especially math and physics. As an adult, Einstein was asked about his failure in math and he replied; I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.
Adolescence:
Originally, Einstein was destined to take over his family business, but when it failed in 1894, Einstein’s family moved to Italy. There he wrote his first scientific paper, in his teen years, which investigated the nature of either – a hypothetical consequence of how light travels through space that Einstein later disproved. After that, he continued his education at various univer-sities in Europe and one after the others, published and researched on ground-breaking work.
On 14th September 2015, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected the distortions in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves generated by the collision of two black holes nearly 1.3 billion light-years away. The cataclysmic event is extremely violent but by the time the disruptions in space-time reach earth, due to such an infinitesimally vast distance, its intensity is vastly reduced. In fact, by the time gravitational waves from LIGO first detection reached earth, the amount of space-time wobbling they generated was thousands of times smaller than the nucleus of an atom! Interestingly such kind of phenom-enon producing gravitational waves had been predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity 99 years ago. Although born to middle-class Jewish parents he challenged the Newtonian laws of physics which had been prevalent for more than two hundred years and changed the human viewpoint of the universe through his famous “Theory of General Relativity”.
Before his death, Einstein published a total of more than 300 scientific papers. From being a dull student who could not even speak properly, Albert Einstein became one of the most famous scientists of the 20th century. His genius and intellect were accepted worldwide and the theo-retical predictions he made long ago have been proven correct- the latest one in 2015.
The message to take here is that, yes, it is mandatory to have good grades in school, but it does not define what your gifted skills are. There is no fundamental law which defines that every genius should always top the class. Genius is one who comes up with new ideas, sometimes weird as well. The quote I love most of this great scientist is “imagination is more important than knowledge” hence it is your imagination which makes you mastermind. So next time, whenever you look at the moon, at the stars, the world around you, the cars, the animals, try to imagine, whatever you can, the stupidity levels does not matter. As Einstein says, “the difference between stupid and genius is that genius has its limits”.
Likewise, other countries of the world, in Pakistan the academia has fixed a borderline between the humanities and the general sciences and this division probably more absolute more than past because it seems almost practically impossible for a student to engage him/herself in two simultaneously different subjects. But still, a lot of people are interested in both and willing to read, write, or to know about what is happening in the various fields of science. This is not because the storytelling defines us as a human but it’s natural to be attracted by a scientific explanation of what we humans are, where did we come from and what is our place in this vast universe?
Science writing can play an important role in engaging a layman with science & technology and modern advancement. Consequently, it brings the work of researchers and scientists from the observatories/lab to the public spotlight. A science writer does not always need detailed, in-depth exper-tise, but should have a vast and up to date knowledge of a particular field of science and concerned topics. But the effort to become a science writer does not end here, a true passion and the ability to narrate pure scientific concepts to a non-scientific reader are mandatory as well.
The newly emerging field of science writing has caught the attention of an overwhelming number of people have good skills in writing. In the western culture, the students usually kickoff their career as a freelancer during their schooling, but here in Pakistan, neither it is promoted by our acade-mic intuitions nor by print or electronic media.
At its best, science writing is an emerging field of journalism that needs more than a desire to become a science writer. It is a matter of fact that a fewer number of writers broken into the profession through science blogging in Pakistan. Since it’s not so easy to make a career, it almost always takes month or years of unpaid labor. For most of the beginners, science blogging is not a standalone strategy but a tool for spreading awareness and passion for science among the masses.
I have been in print and electronic media for two years and with hundreds of my write-ups including but not limited to astronomy, astrobiology, and space-based astronomy, I tried hard to promote the passion of science writing in our new generation. When I started my writing career from ARY NEWS, there were fewer members of the science community who believe that science can be a genre in mainstream media. Eventually, the interesting write-ups by a few other passionate science writers helped more writers to come forward, define their beats and further hone their skills into this vibrant new digital age.
Consequently, the great motivation I got from the success stories of Pakis-tani scientists working abroad in NASA, ESA, and world’s top universities like Harvard and Oxford universities, whom I interviewed at times and had a meaning conversation on the lack of scientific research and writing in Pakistan, I came across a conclusion that the “bad science” our academia has been providing to our new generation is the backbone behind this lagging.
There are a fewer number of individuals have been struggling hard to make science as a genre and to reshape the narrative of science journalism in Pakistan. The monthly Urdu science magazine “Global science” had been promoting science for more than a decade and now a few of other public-ations are waving in print and electronic media as well. Arguably, the best science and technology magazine in the country at the current moment is technology times, whereas MIT technology review and Spectra magazine by UET Lahore students are making their way out to in journalism.
Eventually, with the support of the journalist community, a handful of science enthusiast and writers has recently been launched an online English astrophysics magazine “Scientia” which is the first of its kind in Pakistan. No doubt this is the much-needed initiative that provides the equal number of opportunities to skilled science writers who decide to strike out as a freelancer and having a passion for the promoting astro-physics, astronomy, astrobiology, Space & Earth Sciences. This is a unique opportunity for local talent either writers, science communicators, resea-rchers, or astrophotographers to show their talent on a genuine platform worldwide and also to tell science stories to a lay reader in Pakistan. The magazine contents like special science outreach reports, astrophotography, kids’ corner, and random astronomy articles give a chance to local talent to grow and evolve.
The new Government got overwhelming attention of common people in Pakistan with their slogan “NAYA PAKISTAN”, as per pre and post-election announcements the government beckons towards framing a new people-centered development paradigm to provide basic needs like quality educ-ation, health, and employment facilities on an equal basis. However, these efforts will bore no fruit unless we come across a scientific framework of all problems either social, economic, environmental or else. We are hopeful that the government and public sector will strengthen their hands in this much-needed initiative that eventually result in a better understanding of everyday problems for a layman and to reshape the narrative of science journalism in Pakistan.
The article was originally appeared on ARY News Blogs and re posted here with the permission of Author and ARY media group.
We know that the components of the universe are infinite. New research on the night sky revealed hundreds of thousands of new galaxies that were previously hidden. The study was done in an observatory in Paris where such telescopes were used that detected the sources of light not visible through other simple tools and instruments. It was not an individual effort, rather a team of international expert astronomers from 18 countries worked together on this project. It was explained that the discovery was groundbreaking, in that it unveiled some of the hidden mysteries and enigmas of the universe including the phenomenon like the evolution of galaxies and black holes etc.
Picture coutesy NASA
The radio astronomy technique was used to observe the sky above the northern hemisphere and distant galaxies that were 300,000 in number were revealed. At first, these were labeled as unseen light sources and the images perplexed the scientists who studied in detail to reveal the true nature of the things they had seen. Cyril Tasse, a researcher at the Paris Observatory, said that “This is a new window on the universe”. The mentioned technique helps to identify radiation and the changes produced when heavenly bodies interact. LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) telescope was used to detect the trails of radiation, that extends to over millions of light years, and energies produced after the merging of galaxies. The sources can then be further pinpointed after analyzing the obtained data. These new light sources (or galaxies) can also help in figuring out the mysteries of black holes. The black holes are unique as they can engulf every matter due to a strong gravitational pull and they emit radiations afterward. The development and formation of black holes can be unders-tood by studying and analyzing this new research in depth as well. One may be surprised to learn that the map created by these observations has the same amount of data as ten million DVDs, but it only covers two percent of the sky!
The phenomenon of supermoon occurs when the full moon is at the closest distance to the Earth in its orbit. Such a moon is unusually brighter and closer than at regular days. This term has been used for quite a long time but gained popularity in recent years, when three supermoons occurred in a row. It happens quite a while and in the year 2019, two supermoons have already occurred on Jan 20-21 and Feb 19, with another one to appear on March 21.
A spectacular supermoon, pictured here with the Statue of Liberty in the foreground, in New York City on February 19th, 2019.
New York City on February 19th, 2019.
A stunning image captured in Vienna, Austria. The bright supermoon peeps through the buildings in a busy street.
A stunning image captured in Vienna, Austria
This wide image shows the biggest supermoon of the year 2019. Taken just before the bright daylight in Scotland, one can visibly see the surface and the carters on the moon.
Scotland
Alex Maragos captured the biggest supermoon of the year rising in Athens, Greece on Feb 19, 2019.
Athens, Greece
In Kings Park, Perth, the striking photo shows the Supermoon aligning perfectly between two buildings.
Kings Park, Perth
The super snow moon (called as such for appearing in winter) is rising behind the iconic coastline of Manhattan in New York City.
The iconic coastline of Manhattan in New York City.
![Einstein wrote a letter to the
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