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Before World War II, speaking at a Manhattan hotel where 3,000 people were celebrating the Passover Seder, Einstein declared that he was against the creation of a Jewish state. “My understanding of the essence of Judaism is opposed to the idea of ​​​​creating a Jewish state with borders, an army and secular power,” he said. – I am afraid of the destruction of Judaism from within, especially due to the growth of narrow-minded nationalism in our ranks. We are no longer the Jews of the times of the Maccabees” 40.

After the war, his position did not change. In 1946, Einstein testified in Washington to an international committee examining the situation in Palestine. He condemned the British, who pitted Jews against Arabs, called for increased Jewish immigration, but rejected Jewish nationalism. “The idea of ​​statehood does not resonate in my heart,” he said in a quiet voice that sounded like a bolt from the blue to an audience of shocked, ardent Zionist supporters. “I can’t understand why this is needed” 41. Rabbi Stephen Weiss, shocked by Einstein's public break with true Zionists, persuaded him to sign a statement explaining his position. But this statement did not bring any clarity.

Einstein was especially alarmed by the military methods used by Menachem Begin and other Jewish military leaders. He joined Sidney Hook, who sometimes proved to be his enemy, and signed a petition published in The New York Times where Begin was assessed as a “terrorist, strongly reminiscent” of the fascists 42. The use of force was contrary to Jewish tradition. “We are copying the stupid nationalism and racial nonsense of the goyim,” Einstein wrote to a friend in 1947.

But when the formation of the State of Israel was announced in 1948, Einstein wrote to the same friend that his position had changed. “For economic, political and military reasons, I never considered the idea of ​​a state to be correct,” he admitted. “But now there is no turning back, and we must fight for it” 43.

The creation of the State of Israel forced him once again to retreat from the pure pacifism to which he had previously been committed.

“One can only regret that we have to use methods that we consider repulsive and stupid,” he wrote to a group of Jews from Uruguay, “but in order to achieve better conditions in the international arena, we must first of all support this experiment with all the means available to us.”44

Chaim Weizmann, the diehard Zionist who brought Einstein to America in 1921, became Israel's first president, a prestigious but rather honorary position in which power is concentrated in the hands of the prime minister and his cabinet. When Weizmann died in November 1952, a Jerusalem newspaper launched a campaign to elect Einstein to replace him. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion succumbed to pressure, and word quickly spread around the world that such an offer would be made to Einstein.

This idea was, on the one hand, incredible, on the other - obvious, but, moreover, impractical. Einstein first learned about this a week after Weizmann's death from an article in The New York Times. At first, both he and the women living in his house simply laughed, but then the calls from reporters began. “This is all very awkward, very awkward,” he told visitors. A few hours later a telegram arrived from Abba Eban, the Israeli ambassador to Washington. He asked if the embassy could send an official representative to him tomorrow.

“Why would this man come all this way,” Einstein complained, “if I just say no?”

Helen Doukas had the idea to simply call Ambassador Eban on the phone. In those days, long-distance telephone conversations that were not arranged in advance were a novelty. To Doukas' surprise, she managed to find Eban in Washington and connect him with Einstein.

“I’m not qualified for this, and I probably won’t be able to take it on,” Einstein said.

“I can’t just tell my government that you called and said no,” Eban responded. “I must complete all the formalities and propose to you officially.”

It ended with Eban sending a representative who handed Einstein an official letter asking if he would agree to become president. “Acceptance of this offer will entail moving to Israel and obtaining Israeli citizenship,” Eban’s letter noted (presumably in case Einstein came up with the fantastic idea that he could lead Israel from Princeton). However, Eban hastened to assure Einstein: “The government and people are fully aware of the extreme importance of your work and will provide you with the opportunity to continue your great scientific work unhindered.” In other words, a job was offered that required only his presence and virtually nothing else.

Although this proposal seemed a little strange, it clearly demonstrated how strong Einstein's reputation as a hero of world Jewry was. This sentence “represents the deepest respect that the Jewish people can pay one of their sons,” Eban wrote.

By the time Eban's envoy arrived, Einstein had already prepared a statement renouncing this post. “I’ve been a lawyer all my life,” the guest joked, “but I’ve never been refuted before I had the opportunity to present a case.”

He is “deeply touched” by the offer, Einstein wrote in a prepared letter, and “at the same time saddened and embarrassed” because he does not accept it. “All my life I have dealt with objective reality, so I have neither the natural inclination nor the proper experience in dealing with people and performing the duties assigned to officials,” he explained. “I am even more saddened by these circumstances, since my belonging to the Jewish people became for me the strongest social connection, when I realized with absolute clarity how precarious our position among other peoples of the world” 45.

The idea of ​​asking Einstein to become President of Israel was reasonable, but Einstein was right, because he understood that sometimes even the most brilliant idea can turn out to be very bad. As he noted with his characteristic self-irony, he did not have a natural inclination to behave with people as this role required, and his temperament was not suitable for an official functionary. He was not intended either for the role of a politician or for the role of an official.

He liked to speak his mind and did not have the habit of compromise required to lead or simply be the symbolic head of a complex organization. Previously, when he nominally took charge of the campaign to establish the Hebrew University, he had neither the talent necessary to take charge of the process nor the inclination to ignore the wiles of other actors. Similarly, he had an unpleasant experience with the team involved in the creation of Brandeis University near Boston, which led him to abandon participation in this project 46 .

Moreover, he has never demonstrated the ability to control anything. His only formal administrative responsibility was to direct the new physics institute at the University of Berlin. In this position, he did little except hire his stepdaughter to work in the office and provide work for an astronomer who was trying to confirm his theories.

The power of Einstein's intellect stems from his rebellion and nonconformism, his aversion to any attempt to limit his freedom of expression. Is there anything worse for a politician who is supposed to be a peacemaker? As he explained in a polite letter to a Jerusalem newspaper that supported his candidacy, he did not want to face a situation where he had to follow a government decision that “might conflict with my conscience.”

In society, as in science, it was better for him to remain a nonconformist. “It is true that many rebels eventually become responsible leaders,” Einstein admitted to one of his friends, “but I cannot bring myself to do so.” 47

Deep down, Ben-Gurion was glad of this. He began to realize how bad this idea was. “Tell me what to do if he agrees! – he joked with his assistant. “I had to offer him this post, because it was impossible to do otherwise. But if he agreed, we would be in trouble.” Two days later, when Ambassador Eban ran into Einstein at a state dinner in New York, he was glad the matter was settled. Einstein was without socks 48.

With Robert Oppenheimer, 1947

There is some controversy regarding Einstein's political views, especially as they relate to the Palestinian issue and the creation of a Jewish state.

Many Zionists claim that Einstein was among their ranks. However, Einstein was a pacifist, a universalist, and had a deep aversion to nationalism.

Fred Jerome's recent book, Einstein on Israel and Zionism: A Scientist's Provocative Thoughts on the Middle East ( Einstein on Israel and Zionism: His Provocative Ideas About the Middle East, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2009) once again brought Einstein's political views regarding the Middle East into the spotlight.

The best evidence for Einstein's position on Palestine and Zionism comes from his own words and actions.
For example, Einstein gave a presentation speech to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry studying the Palestinian problem in January 1946, in which he opposed the creation of a Jewish state (in Adam Horowitz’s article “Einstein on Israel” ( Einstein on Israel

Let us quote here from Einstein's testimony before Judge Hutcheson, the American Chairman of the Committee:

Judge Hutcheson: The Zionists told our Committee that no passionate Jewish heart would rest until a Jewish State was created for them in Palestine. As I understand it, they insist that there should be a majority of Jews there compared to the Arabs. The Arab representatives informed us that the Arabs were not going to agree to such a condition; they (sic) would not allow themselves to be turned from a majority into a minority.

Dr. Einstein: Yes.

Judge Hutcheson: I asked these various representatives whether it was necessary (by Jewish right or privilege) for the Jews to go to Palestine, whether it was necessary, from the point of view of true Zionism, to create a situation in which the Jews would have a Jewish state and a Jewish majority, without caring about the opinion of the Arabs. Do you share this view, or do you think this issue could have been resolved in some other way?

Dr. Einstein: Yes, without a doubt. I don't like the idea of ​​creating such a state. I can't figure out what it's for. This comes with a lot of complexity and limited thinking. I think this is bad.

Judge Hutcheson: Isn't it, from a spiritual and ethical point of view - I mean this particular Zionist movement, I mean the very idea of ​​insisting that a Jewish state must be created... not an anachronism?

Dr. Einstein: I think so. I'm against it…

(in Adam Horowitz's article "Einstein on Israel" ( Einstein on Israel, Mondoweiss, May 28, 2009) fully reveals the entire history of this debate regarding Zionism and the Jewish state).

Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Israel Freedom Fighters shortly after the Deir Yassin massacre, naming the Irgun, led by Menachim Begim (who later became Prime Minister of Israel), and the Stern Gang (of which Yitzhak was a member). Shamir, another future Prime Minister of Israel) by terrorist organizations and refused to support these “misguided and criminal people” (http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ter-einstein.html).

Albert Einstein, Sidney Hook, Hannah Arendt and 25 other famous Jews, in a letter to The New York Times (December 4, 1948), denounced Menachem Begim and Yitzhak Shamir's Likud party as "fascist" and supporting "infernal a mixture of ultra-nationalism, religious mysticism and racial superiority" (the letter to the New York Times was reprinted in the book Exiled Prophets: One Hundred Years of Jewish Dissidents Writing on Zionism and Israel ( , edited by Adam Schatz, New York: Nation Books, 2004, p. 65-67).

In 1950, Einstein published the following statement on the issue of Zionism. He originally read this speech to the Palestine National Working Committee in New York on April 17, 1938, but after the creation of Israel, the scholar decided to print the text again:

“I would be much more pleased to see a reasonable agreement with the Arabs based on living together in peace and harmony - rather than the creation of a Jewish state. Practicalities aside, my knowledge of the true nature of Judaism makes me resist the very idea of ​​a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a certain amount of secular power, no matter how modest that portion. I fear the internal destruction that Judaism will then suffer - especially in connection with the development of narrow-minded nationalism within our own ranks, which we already have to fight against, even without any Jewish state.”

(Albert Einstein, "From My Last Years" ( Out of My Later Years, New York: Philosophical Library, 1950, p. 263). This speech is also reproduced in the book Banished Prophets: One Hundred Years of Jewish Dissident Writing on Zionism and Israel ( Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel, edited by Adam Schatz, New York: Nation Books, 2004, p. 63-64). Also see Fred Jerome's Einstein on Israel and Zionism: A Scientist's Provocative Thoughts on the Middle East (Einstein on Israel and Zionism: His Provocative Ideas About the Middle East, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2009)

Einstein also refused the post of President of the State of Israel (see Evan Wilson's book "The Palestine Solution" ( Decision on Palestine, Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1979, p. 27). Wilson served in the Palestine Division of the UN Department of States at the time of the creation of Israel).

In the book “Albert Einstein: a biography” ( Albert Einstein: A Biography, Viking, 1997), Albrecht Folsing shares the following revelation regarding the offer made to Einstein to become the second President of Israel: “While Ben-Gurion was waiting for Einstein’s decision, he asked his assistant, the future President Isaac Navon, over a cup of coffee: “Tell me what to do.” what if he says yes? I had to offer him this post because it was impossible not to offer him. But if he accepts this offer, we will all be in big trouble.” (Albrecht Folsing, “Albert Einstein: A Biography” ( Albert Einstein: A Biography, Viking, 1997, p. 735). Quoted in Dr. Mohammad Omar Farouk's article "Einstein, Zionism and Israel: Putting It All In Its Place" ( Einstein, Zionism and Israel: Setting the Record Straight, July 2006, http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/other/einstein.htm)

After refusing the post of President of Israel, Einstein wrote to his adopted daughter Margot. He said: “If I became President, one day I would have to say things to the people of Israel that they did not want to hear.” (Farooq quote from Fred Jerome and Roger Taylor's book "Einstein on Race and Racism" ( Einstein on Race and Racism, Rutgers University Press, 2005, p. 111; other sources are given on p. 307, footnote 25)).

Einstein participated in the XVIth Zionist Congress in 1929. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) mentions and describes Einstein in a document published in 1997. The document reveals a lot of interesting things, and who, if not the WZO, would know who was and who was not at actually a Zionist.

The 16th Zionist Congress (1929) decided to establish the Jewish Agency for Israel, which was to become a general organization that would include the World Zionist Organization and those known as " NON-Zionists" - based on the conviction that all Jews should participate in the construction of the National House. After the end of the Congress, a meeting of the board of the Jewish Agency was held. Of its 224 members, 112 were Zionists (members of the WZO), including Professor Chaim Weizmann (elected President of the Jewish Agency), Nahum Sokolov, Menachem Ussishkin, Shemaryahu Levin, David Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Uziel; 112 NON-Zionist members included Louis Marshall, Shalom Asch, Albert Einstein, Leon Bloom and members of the Rothschild family.

, 1997, p. 47).

Quoting David Horowitz:

“Einstein’s opposition to Israel was widely known and was often written about during his lifetime. In fact, the myth that Einstein supported Israel was born the day after the scientist's death, due to an obituary in the New York Times, which shamelessly claimed that he fought for the creation of a Jewish state. These words contradict articles from historical archives that have been written over decades. Jerome gives some examples, including a 1930 article entitled “Einstein Against Britain's Zionist Policy,” a 1938 article indicating that Einstein was against a state in Palestine, and a 1946 article stating “Einstein Prohibits the Establishment of a Jewish State.”

(Quoted by Farouk in "The Year of Zionism" (ed. Zionist General Council, WZO: The National Institutions, Structure and Functions, 1997, p. 47) See also how Israel supporters were reluctant to deny Einstein's sudden change of heart on Zionism (Adam Horowitz, Mondoweiss, July 29, 2009. See also Kim Petersen, "Myth Debunked: Albert Einstein Wasn't a Zionist, Dissidents Claim" ( A Myth Exposed: Albert Einstein Was Not a Zionist, Dissident Voice, May 1, 2003).

It is obvious that Albert Einstein did not support political Zionism and objected to the creation of a Jewish state on an ethnic or racial basis. His political views were remarkably consistent - he consistently supported the universality of human rights. The scientist opposed wars and chauvinistic ethnic nationalism. Today, Einstein has become an iconic figure in science and politics. However, unfortunately, many forget his wise words regarding Palestine and its conflict with political Zionism.

Edward Corrigan
(Edward Corrigan is a lawyer with a degree in nationality and immigration law and refugee protection based in Ontario, Canada. He has published extensively on issues in the Middle East and nationality and immigration law.)

Einstein was the greatest genius of modern times, whose achievements in the field of physics changed the way we look at the world and turned science on its head. Today everyone knows the name of this brilliant scientist; there are several facts from his life that you may not be familiar with.

He never failed math

It's a popular myth that Einstein failed his math exams as a child. However, this is not at all true. The brilliant scientist was a relatively average student, but mathematics was always easy for him, which is not surprising.

Einstein supported the creation of the nuclear bomb

Although the scientist's role in the Manhattan Project is often exaggerated, he did write a letter to the US President asking him to quickly begin work on a nuclear bomb. Einstein was a pacifist and, after the first tests, repeatedly spoke out against nuclear weapons, but he was confident that the United States should have created a bomb before Nazi Germany, otherwise the outcome of the war could have been completely different.

He was an excellent musician

If physics had not become his calling, Einstein would have been able to conquer the philharmonic halls. The scientist's mother was a pianist, so the love of music was in his blood. From the age of five he studied violin and was in love with the music of Mozart.

Einstein was offered the post of President of Israel

When the first president of the new state of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, died, Albert Einstein was offered to take his post, but the brilliant physicist refused. It is noteworthy that Weizmann himself was a talented chemist.

He married his cousin

After divorcing his first wife, physics and mathematics teacher Mileva Maric, Einstein married Elsa Leventhal. In fact, the relationship with his first wife was very tense; Mileva had to endure her husband’s despotic moods and his frequent affairs on the side.

He received the Nobel Prize, but not for the theory of relativity

In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his achievements in the field of physics. However, his greatest discovery - the theory of relativity - remained without Nobel recognition, although it was nominated. He received his well-deserved prize for the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect.

He loved to sail

Ever since university, this had been his favorite hobby, but the great genius himself admitted that he was a bad navigator. Einstein never learned to swim until the end of his days.

Einstein didn't like wearing socks

And usually he didn't even wear them. In one of his letters to Elsa, he boasted that he managed to never put on socks during his entire stay at Oxford.

He had an illegitimate daughter

Before her wedding to Einstein, Mileva gave birth to his daughter in 1902, which is why she was forced to interrupt her own scientific career. The girl was named Lieserl by mutual agreement, but her fate is unknown, because since 1903 she ceased to appear in correspondence.

Einstein's brain was stolen

After the scientist's death, the pathologist who performed the autopsy removed Einstein's brain without the family's permission. He subsequently received permission from the son of a brilliant physicist, but was fired from Princeton for refusing to return it. Only in 1998 did he return the scientist's brain.

Albert Einstein was a believer

In addition to being an outstanding physicist, Albert Einstein was also an excellent philosopher. When asked if he believed in God, Einstein avoided answering and replied that God was a faceless character who was responsible for the incredible symmetry of the universe.

In his letter to his colleague Max Born, he wrote, “The Theory of Relativity explains a lot, but does not bring us any closer to the secret of the OLD MAN. I am convinced that He did not throw the dice.”

Albert Einstein did not want to become President of Israel

After the death of Israeli President Chaim Weismann, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion offered Albert Einstein the position of President, but he refused. In his response letter, he was brief: “I am deeply touched by the offer of the State of Israel, but with regret and regret I must reject it.”

Albert Einstein didn't fail his math exam

The myth that Albert Einstein was a bad student at school was invented in order to have something to cover up his eccentricity, and also so that even complete losers could find the strength within themselves and achieve something.

Only the Universe and human stupidity are infinite. Although I have my doubts about the first one.

In one of his interviews, he stated: “I have never failed mathematics. At the age of 14, I successfully mastered the calculation of differential equations and integrals.” After graduating from college, he did not immediately get a job at the Academy, so he went to temporary work at the Swiss Patent Office.

Albert Einstein was a ladies' man

Despite his eccentricity and loyalty to science, Albert Einstein enjoyed the love of the opposite sex, and always reciprocated. In 2006, letters were published from which it follows that Albert Einstein had six mistresses during his second marriage, including Ethel Michanowski, who pursued the physicist for several years.

Albert Einstein was one of the founders of the Manhattan Project

Albert Einstein was a pacifist, but in 1939 he told President Roosevelt that he was ready to help the Americans develop nuclear weapons due to the fact that the Germans had already begun to conduct similar research, starting from his formula E=mc2.

Despite his great contribution, in 1940, at the request of the FBI, it was decided to remove the scientist from the development of the American nuclear bomb due to his communist views.

Later, nuclear bombs, which Einstein began to develop, were dropped on Japan in 1945.

The legendary scientist who created the theory of relativity remains one of the most mysterious figures in the scientific world to this day. Despite dozens of published biographies and memoirs, the truth of many facts in Einstein's biography is as relative as his theory.

Researchers had to wait many years to shed light on the scientist’s life. In 2006, the archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem made public previously closed correspondence between the brilliant physicist and his wives, lovers and children.

From the letters it follows that Einstein had at least ten mistresses. He preferred playing the violin to boring university lectures, and considered his closest person to be his adopted daughter Margot, who donated almost 3,500 letters from her stepfather to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with the condition that the university would be able to publish the correspondence only 20 years after her death, Izvestia writes. .

However, even without the Don Juan list, the life of a brilliant scientist has always been of great interest both to people of science and to ordinary people.

From compass to integrals

The future Nobel laureate was born on March 14, 1879 in the German town of Ulm. At first, nothing foreshadowed a great future for the child: the boy began to speak late, and his speech was somewhat slow. Einstein's first scientific research took place when he was three years old. For his birthday, his parents gave him a compass, which later became his favorite toy. The boy was extremely surprised that the compass needle always pointed to the same point in the room, no matter how it was turned.

Meanwhile, Einstein's parents were concerned about his speech problems. As the scientist’s younger sister Maya Winteler-Einstein said, the boy repeated every phrase he was preparing to utter, even the simplest, to himself for a long time, moving his lips. The habit of speaking slowly later began to irritate Einstein’s teachers. However, despite this, after the first days of studying at a Catholic primary school, he was identified as a capable student and transferred to the second grade.

After his family moved to Munich, Einstein began studying at a gymnasium. However, here, instead of studying, he preferred to study his favorite sciences on his own, which yielded results: in the exact sciences, Einstein was far ahead of his peers. At the age of 16 he mastered differential and integral calculus. At the same time, Einstein read a lot and played the violin beautifully. Later, when the scientist was asked what prompted him to create the theory of relativity, he referred to the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the philosophy of Ancient China, writes the portal cde.osu.ru.

Failure

Without graduating from high school, 16-year-old Albert went to enter a polytechnic school in Zurich, but “failed” the entrance exams in languages, botany and zoology. At the same time, Einstein brilliantly passed mathematics and physics, after which he was immediately invited to the senior class of the cantonal school in Aarau, after which he became a student at the Zurich Polytechnic. Here his teacher was the mathematician Herman Minkowski. They say that it was Minkowski who was responsible for giving the theory of relativity a complete mathematical form.

Einstein managed to graduate from the university with a high score and with negative characteristics from the teachers: at the educational institution, the future Nobel laureate was known as an avid truant. Einstein later said that he “simply did not have time to go to class.”

For a long time the graduate could not find a job. “I was bullied by my professors, who did not like me because of my independence and closed my path to science,” Wikipedia quotes Einstein as saying.

The Great Don Juan

Even at the university, Einstein was known as a desperate woman lover, but over time he chose Mileva Maric, whom he met in Zurich. Mileva was four years older than Einstein, but studied in the same course as him.

“She studied physics, and she and Einstein were brought together by an interest in the works of great scientists. Einstein felt the need for a comrade with whom he could share his thoughts about what he had read. Mileva was a passive listener, but Einstein was quite satisfied with this. At that time, fate did not push him neither with a comrade equal to him in mental strength (this did not fully happen later), nor with a girl whose charm did not need a common scientific platform,” wrote the Soviet “Einstein scholar” Boris Grigorievich Kuznetsov.

Einstein's wife “shone in mathematics and physics”: she was excellent at performing algebraic calculations and had a good grasp of analytical mechanics. Thanks to these qualities, Marich could take an active part in writing all of her husband’s major works, writes freelook.ru.

The union of Maric and Einstein was destroyed by the latter's inconstancy. Albert Einstein enjoyed enormous success with women, and his wife was constantly tormented by jealousy. Later, their son Hans-Albert wrote: “The mother was a typical Slav with very strong and persistent negative emotions. She never forgave insults...” In 1919, the couple separated, having agreed in advance that Einstein would give the Nobel Prize to his ex-wife and two sons - Eduard and Hans.

For the second time, the scientist married his cousin Elsa. Contemporaries considered her a narrow-minded woman, whose range of interests was limited to clothes, jewelry and sweets.

According to letters published in 2006, Einstein had about ten affairs during his second marriage, including a relationship with his secretary and a socialite named Ethel Michanowski. The latter pursued him so aggressively that, according to Einstein, “she had absolutely no control over her actions.”

Unlike Maric, Elsa did not pay attention to her husband’s numerous infidelities. She helped the scientist in her own way: she maintained genuine order in everything that concerned the material aspects of his life.

"You just need to learn arithmetic"

Like any genius, Albert Einstein sometimes suffered from absent-mindedness. They say that one day, having boarded a Berlin tram, he became absorbed in reading out of habit. Then, without looking at the conductor, he took out from his pocket the money that had been calculated in advance for the ticket.

There’s not enough here,” said the conductor.

“It can’t be,” the scientist answered, without looking up from the book.

And I'm telling you - it's not enough.

Einstein shook his head again, saying, this can’t be. The conductor was indignant:

Then count, here - 15 pfennigs. So five more are missing.

Einstein rummaged in his pocket and actually found the right coin. He felt embarrassed, but the conductor, smiling, said: “Nothing, grandfather, you just need to learn arithmetic.”

One day, at the Berne patent office, Einstein was handed a large envelope. Seeing that an incomprehensible text was printed on it for a certain Tinstein, he threw the letter into the trash. Only later did it become clear that the envelope contained an invitation to Calvin's celebrations and a notice that Einstein had been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva.

This case is mentioned in the book by E. Dukas and B. Hofmann, “Albert Einstein as a Man,” which was based on excerpts from Einstein’s previously unpublished letters.

Bad investment

Einstein completed his masterpiece, the general theory of relativity, in 1915 in Berlin. It presented a completely new idea of ​​space and time. Among other phenomena, the work predicted the deflection of light rays in a gravitational field, which was subsequently confirmed by English scientists.

Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, but not for his ingenious theory, but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (the knocking out of electrons from certain substances under the influence of light). In just one night, the scientist became famous throughout the world. The scientist's correspondence, released three years ago, says that Einstein invested most of the Nobel Prize in the United States, losing almost everything due to the Great Depression.

Despite the recognition, in Germany the scientist was constantly persecuted, not only because of his nationality, but also because of his anti-militarist views. “My pacifism is an instinctive feeling that possesses me because the murder of a person is disgusting. My attitude does not come from any speculative theory, but is based on the deepest antipathy to any kind of cruelty and hatred,” the scientist wrote in support of his anti-war position .

At the end of 1922, Einstein left Germany and went on a trip. Once in Palestine, he inaugurated the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Elimination from the Manhattan Project

Meanwhile, in Germany the political situation became increasingly tense. During one of the lectures, reactionary students forced the scientist to interrupt his lecture at the University of Berlin and leave the audience. Soon a call for the murder of the scientist appeared in one of the newspapers. In 1933, Hitler came to power. In the same year, Albert Einstein made the final decision to leave Germany.

In March 1933, he announced his resignation from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and soon moved to the United States, where he began working at the Institute for Fundamental Physical Research in Princeton. After Hitler came to power, the scientist never visited Germany again.

In the United States, Einstein received American citizenship while remaining a Swiss citizen. In 1939, he signed a letter to President Roosevelt, which spoke about the threat of the Nazis creating nuclear weapons. In the letter, the scientists also indicated that in the interests of Roosevelt they were ready to begin research on the development of such weapons.

This letter is considered the founding of the Manhattan Project, the program that produced the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.

Einstein's participation in the Manhattan Project was limited to this letter. Also in 1939, he was removed from participation in secret government developments, having been convicted of connections with US communist groups.

Resignation of the presidency

In the last years of his life, Einstein assessed nuclear weapons from the point of view of a pacifist. He and several other leading scientists in the world addressed the governments of all countries with a warning about the dangers of using the hydrogen bomb.

In his declining years, the scientist had the chance to try his hand at politics. When Israeli President Chaim Weismann died in 1952, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion invited Einstein to the post of president of the country, writes xage.ru. To which the great physicist replied: “I am deeply touched by the proposal of the State of Israel, but with regret and regret I must reject it.”

The death of the great scientist is surrounded by mystery. Only a limited circle of people knew about Einstein's funeral. According to legend, the ashes of his works were buried with him, which he burned before his death. Einstein believed that they could harm humanity. Researchers believe that the secret that Einstein took with him could really change the world. We are not talking about a bomb - compared to the latest developments of the scientist, experts say, even it would seem like a child's toy.

Relativity theory of relativity

The greatest scientist died more than half a century ago, but experts still do not tire of arguing over his theory of relativity. Someone is trying to prove its inconsistency, there are even those who simply believe that “one cannot see a solution to such a serious problem in a dream.”

Domestic scientists also refuted Einstein’s theory. Thus, MSU professor Arkady Timiryazev wrote that “the so-called experimental confirmations of the theory of relativity - the bending of light rays near the Sun, the displacement of spectral lines in the gravitational field and the movements of the perihelion of Mercury - are not proof of the truth of the theory of relativity.”

Another Soviet scientist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Filippovich Zhuravlev believed that the general theory of relativity has a dubious ideological character, since a purely philosophical component comes into play here: “If you take the position of vulgar materialism, then you can claim that the world is curved. If you share positivism Poincaré, then we must admit that all this is just language. Then L. Brillouin is right and modern cosmology is myth-making. In any case, the noise around relativism is a political phenomenon, not a scientific one."

At the beginning of this year, candidate of biological sciences, author of a dissertation on the ecology of Caucasian turkeys (snowcocks), member of the public Medical-Technical Academy, Dzhabrail Baziev, announced that he had developed a new physical theory that refutes, in particular, Einstein’s theory of relativity.

At a press conference in Moscow on March 10, Baziev said that the speed of light is not a constant value (300 thousand kilometers per second), but depends on the wavelength and can reach, in particular, in the case of gamma radiation, 5 million kilometers per second. Baziev claims to have conducted an experiment in which he measured the speed of propagation of beams of light of the same wavelength (the same color in the visible range) and obtained different values ​​for blue, green and red rays. And in the theory of relativity, as is known, the speed of light is constant.

In turn, physicist Viktor Savrin calls Baziev’s theory, which supposedly refutes the theory of relativity, “nonsense”, and believes that he does not have sufficient qualifications and does not know what he is refuting.

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources