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Einstein Unveiled
John_Renne writes "One of the most well known scientists in the near history is Albert Einstein. Pictures of him can be found on allmost everything varying from lunchboxes to t-shirts and cartoons. On the other hand there's little knowledge of who Einstein really was and the human being behind the genius. This article tries to create a view of the inner Einstein. A nice read for everyone interested in the person inside the phenomenon."
Some Highlights...
The very thoughtful answer...
the most mysterious thing you'll see today
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved
at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." -Albert Einstein
Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. - Ludwig von Mises
The article doesn't mention that Einstein was a shocker at simple arithmatic. He had the natural genius to interpret large and complex equations, but was unable to perform simple calculations.
On the other hand there's little knowledge of who Einstein really was and the human being behind the genius.
Please. As far as scientists go, there are none whose personality has been more revealed and documented than Einstein - except now, maybe John Nash. Lots of lay people know at least something about Einstein's personality; he's probably the only scientist ever who has been adopted by the media. By contrast, see if the lay people around you know anything about the personalities/loves/quirks of Darwin, Newton, Bohr or Freud.
I went to grade school across the street from Cal Tech, and it was said that Einstein was often seen bicycling around on his 3-speed. Something about that lack of pretense has always charmed me, and I would think he is already one of the most human famous scientists. He spent much of the last 20 years of his life concerned with averting nuclear war.
Einstein on a bicycle. And he didn't wear a helmet.
No, not LSD. It's called autism. Albert Einstien was a high-functioning autistic savant. A common feature of the highly autistic mind is thought processes in music, sensations, pictures, written words, etc. Some autistics can also see music, taste sounds, hear pictures and the like... the sensors can become crosswired and overloaded.
I perfectly understand what he means by finding translating his ideas into language as being the hardest part, as I'm in much the same position. I don't function in relation to words in the same way as neurotypical individuals do; my comprehension of meaning is far more abstract compared with what is normal; I don't as much conform my thinking to the subtlties and conotations (sp?) of the meanings of words used to describe or convey concepts.
When an idea is in my mind, I can easily process relatively complicated concepts. But when I try to commit them to the written word, I run into difficulties because I am 'out of sync' with the standardised influences and meanings which are socially attached to words, and therefore the ideas which are conveyed with them.
I just recently bought this book at a book sale. Very good, and the imagery is amazing. It documents Einstein's thoughts in novel form and interjects with meetings he had with his friend Besso, wherein he tried to explain his want for understanding.
What made me cry the most was the realization that Einstein thought very much the way I did. If only people understood how simple -- yet dedicated -- true genius is, fewer people would be afraid of science and technology.
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
One thing about Einstein that is often omitted is what he was intellectually bad at. Sure, we know he wasn't good at math, but an even more important point was that he couldn't memorize details to save his life. I remember reading a story about how he called the telephone operator from a pay phone to ask what his phone number and address were -- he couldn't remember them.
Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but not much of one, because this isn't unheard of. The crux of this boils down to this: One has only a certain amount of cognitive processing power; if the majority is dedicated to one particular type of reasoning, then others will suffer.
So Einstein, as we know, was immensely brilliant at dealing with abstract ideas, but at the same time, he was also miserable at dealing with concrete things, like memorizing a bit of text or some numbers, or for that matter, being able to take in the full sensory experience of a walk in the park, without distraction from other ideas in his head.
I do believe that he was certainly of above average intelligence, but it's important to realize that his total brainpower may not have been AS FAR beyond us as we are taught. As far as he was greater than us in abstract reasoning, he was equally lousy at many of the cognitive things that most people take for granted.
In fact, Einstein was not a fluke or a freak of nature. There are other people like him in the world. They are rare, but they are otherwise normal humans. Rather than being brilliant at Physics, many are brilliant socially or amazing at understanding the thoughts and motivations of other people. Some of them are geeks.
My favorite part of the article is where it mentions how Einstein has become a kind of "scientific santa".
It's true, in a way his face has become like the face of science, and the persona of "Einstein" is already mostly myth to most people. This might be a neat insight into how other famous figures in history developed into the over-simplified cultural icons that they are today (genghis khan, siddhartha gautama, moses, alexander the great, joan of arc, etc).
I always loved that quote, but when I was studying E&M and QM in college in the late 80's, I coined my own response:
"God does not play dice." - Einstein
"God may or may not play dice, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't use a pocket calculator." - G. Steve Arnold (me) c.1988
My point was that the universe does not know equations -- it just is. The photons are not sitting there with QED books and Feynman diagrams trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing next. Every bit of it is accounted for in itself quite automatically and the ultimate goal of the physics we do is not understanding, but only description. Understanding requires you to answer "why?", and that is beyond the scope of science.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
Welcome to the licensing web site for Albert Einstein(TM) whose beneficiary is The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Through a broad array of licensed partners, Dr. Albert Einstein continues to have one of the most recognized personas in the world. His likeness is used extensively on educational materials, collectibles, timepieces, apparel and posters. Microsoft, Texas Instruments, The Whitney Museum, The United States Department of Treasury and many others license products and services using Dr. Einstein. He regularly appears in advertising campaigns by leading companies such as Apple Computer, Arthur Anderson, NBC, Nestle, Nikon, Pepsi and The Store of Knowledge.
Upon his death, Albert Einstein's estate (administered by the Albert Einstein Archives) was bequeathed to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Roger Richman Agency, Inc. in Beverly Hills, California is the exclusive worldwide representative for the University and is responsible for clearance of rights to utilize Einstein in advertising, merchandising and promotions. In addition, the Agency prevents the unauthorized use of the likeness and image of Albert Einstein.
Should I ask if Slashdot has permission to use that picture or not?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Last month there was a pretty decent article about the problems with attempting to diagnose dead celebrities with medical/learning problems:
The famous dead yield only murky diagnoses
Unfortunately, the article in question doesn't seem to be available on the internet, but here is the reference:
Thomas, Marlin. "Albert Einstein and LD: An Evaluation of the Evidence." Journal of Learning Disabilities No. 2, Vol. 33 (March 1, 2000): 149.
The conclusion? Well, the author pretty tightly defines "Learning Disability" within the realm of the Diagnostics and Statistics Manual IV(defining mental disorders) and US law (IDEA 1997) so he concludes that "Due to the paucity of evidence supporting the claim that Einstein had a learning disability, and due to the abundance of evidence disputing such a claim, the claim should be withdrawn until convincing evidence supports it."