Why this book: I’ve read and been impressed with three other biographies by Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. Like everyone else, I’d heard of Einstein, but didn’t know much about him other than E=MC-squared. I listened to rather than read this book
Summary in 4 Sentences: This biography starts with what is known about his childhood and family, then his young adult life, 2 marriages, growing career and ultimately becoming a world renowned icon of theoretical physics. Isaacson does a pretty good job of explaining the physics and the various controversies around how sub-atomic particles react and are influenced, as he moves beyond the Theory of Relativity into Quantum Mechanics. Einstein becomes increasingly involved in world politics, pacifism, fighting anti-semitism and authoritarian governments after fleeing Nazi Germany and settling in the United States for the final 35 years of his life. He also stayed very engaged in seeking to refute Quantum theory as an incomplete theory of how matter behaves at the sub-atomic level.
My Impressions: Another great biography by Walter Isaacson, pulling back the curtain on a modern celebrity. I listened to rather than read this book, though there were numerous times I’d wished I had the printed copy to mark up and return to sections to review. While I wasn’t able to follow the esoterica of the theoretical physics that Einstein was involved in, Isaacson made an admirable effort in dumbing it down to what a humanities major, science-challenged reader like me could at least appreciate. But the book gave great insights into how the leaders in the arcane world of theoretical physics interacts – the petty jealousies, disputes – trivial and of substance, the values and personality conflicts and more, that Einstein was involved in from being a very young man until his death.
Einstein was a life long non-conformist and believed in questioning all conventional wisdom. He would never accept conventional wisdom as an article of faith – he always questioned it and strictly applied common sense – which is ironic, since much of his research and conclusions defy “common” sense. But his willingness to question and challenge convention him at odds with the “establishment” throughout his life. He rebelled against any effort to mold his thinking without discourse and logic, and he would never simply push the “I believe” button. Whereas Harry Truman’s motto was “show me” Einstein wanted proof – mathematical as well as empirical proof before he would accept a proposition. He had no patience for people who were unwilling to examine or question their own prejudices -and he applied this standard to himself as well.
We learned that Einstein had a profound faith in the order of the universe based on all of his reasoning and mathematical studies -that the physical world is as it is and does what it does as a result of immutable laws. These laws are “God’s Laws” and are subject to examination and proof. This faith that the laws which govern all activity in the universe could be discovered or uncovered by man’s reason was an apriori principle for Einstein, and this fervent believ is part of what drove him to his famous Theory of Relativity.
This faith in the order of the universe and that nothing happens by mere chance, but in response to causes and effects that can be discovered and understood was Einstein’s apriori principle. The laws of mathematics helped define the laws of physics. He considered himself a theoretical physicist and lamented that he was not more accomplished and stronger in math – so he frequently called upon colleagues who were extremely strong in math to help him define the physical laws that he instinctively intuited.
Physics. Einstein’s great contribution to physics which he initially intuited and then proved, was the interplay and connection between time, space, gravity and electro-magnetism. I can’t pretend to understand how he developed his theories, but one of his great contributions to this field was proving that gravity from physical objects bends light waves, proving that matter and light have a connection. He is famous for his General theory of relativity which demonstrates that gravity includes (creates?) warps and curves in space and time, and his Special Theory of Relativity that concludes that time is not constant, nor is weight or mass. There was much in the book that attempted to explain these theories in simple terms but was more than my ossified old brain could grasp. But it was interesting to see how the greatest minds struggled to uncover and explore realities and inter-relationships in the universe, at the sub-atomic level, as well as in the grand scope of the universe, that most of us don’t see.
Einstein’s theories of relativity – general and special – opened the door to Quantum Mechanics by describing for the first time light as quanta, that light behaves like a particle nature but has no mass. As work and experimentation continued in the field of Quantum Theory, Einstein was troubled by the conclusion that Quantum theory necessarily included an uncertainty principle – that the behavior of a particle is different, if it is observed, and that how it behaves is a function of probabilities rather than immutable laws. This uncertainty principle Einstein said, undermined his entire world view, that cause and effect were functions of immutable, and certain laws.
For the rest of his life Einstein’s “holy grail” was to discover a Unified Field Theory which united his physics of certainty based on immutable laws, and the apparently random behavior of quanta particles in Quantum experimentation. He did not claim that Quantum mechanics was “wrong,” rather that it was incomplete, and his mission in the last quarter century of his life was to find the bridge between Newtonian certainty and Quantum uncertainty. He called this the “Unified Field Theory” which he never was able to develop or uncover, and nearly a century later is still being discussed, debated, and explored.
Einstein’s Politics and Humanism:
Pacifism Einstein became a devoted pacifist as a result of the first World War which he essentially sat out. He had a life long aversion to nationalism and patriotic fervor, and was truly an internationalist – having held citizenship in Germany, Switzerland, and the US. This espoused pacifism and internationalism put him at odds with and in opposition to patriotic nationalists wherever he was – in Germany and the US. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI kept a large file on him and long suspected him of being a Soviet agent because of his socialist ideals and his internationalism, which Hoover and the FBI misinterpreted as support for communist ideals, though in fact Einstein was repulsed by Soviet restrictions on individual freedom and expressly criticized the Soviet model.
Zionism. Einstein grew up in a non-practicing Jewish family. As a young man he had renounced religion and was himself a non-practicing Jew, but as he witnessed and experienced anti-semitism in Germany and elsewhere, he embraced his Jewish heritage, if not the Jewish religion. The anti-semitism he experienced in Germany drove him to renounce his citizenship and to emigrate to America. He also became an active advocate for Zionism – a Jewish homeland, though he fought the Zionists on their treatment of the Arab’s who lived in the Jewish promised land that became Israel.
Religion. Isaacson writes a beautiful chapter on Einstein’s “religion” – he was not religious but would not accept the label of being an “atheist” – in fact he argued against angry atheists who he saw as merely disillusioned by their religious up bringing. He called himself an agnotic, and believed in what is often called “the God of Spinoza” – an impersonal God of principles beauty and order, which should inspire awe, and love and a good life. Einstein’s faith in the order of the universe, colored with his appreciation for the beauty of that order, the awe with which he viewed the laws and order and magnitude of the universe – was what allowed him to call himself a man of faith – but he would not accept the existence of a personal God that look out after our interests.
Family life- women. Einstein was in some ways a dreamy romantic – not just about physics but also about women. He was madly in love with his first wife Mileva Maric, a mathematician and physicist who he’d met at university, who he married, very much against his parents’ wishes. They had two children and then things got messy, they separated and eventually divorced. He then married his divorced cousin Elsa – more a marriage of close friendship and mutual support while he also apparently had numerous affairs – but none which he would allow to interfere with his physics nor his marriage to Elsa. Elsa appaerntly knew of, and reluctantly tolerated some of his dalliances. Apart from his rather cold treatment of Maric during their estrangement, he treated women well, and even with Maric they eventually become reconciled in parenting their children became friend again, and Einstein always supported her financially. Even in his last years, after the death of his wife Elsa, he had a ‘lady friend’ Johanna Fantova a librarian at Princeton some 40 years his junior, for the last 10 years or so of his life Ms Fantova like his two wives before her, played a key role in organizing his life – as Einstein had trouble giving attention to the practical matters of daily living – he needed a woman to help with that because his thoughts and attention were on the Universe and what makes it tick.
Last Years Einstien worked at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton the last 30+ years of his life and never returned to Europe. He was active in supporting the allied efforts to defeat the Nazis – the rise of the Nazis changed him from a pacifist to an advocate of military service for defensive purposes only. When Einstein was warned that the Nazis had embarked on a project to develop nuclear weapons, he wrote to FDR and it was at his suggestion that FDR initiated the Manhattan project. He was not involved in the actual Manhattan project itself (he could not get a clearance because of his previous support of pacifism) but knew of it, because he was close friends with Oppenheimer and many others working on the project. After Hiroshima he campaigned to ban nuclear weapons use in war – a futile effort.
When he died in 1955 at age 76, he was one of the most famous men in the world, regarded as a genius by most lay people, but as something of an anachronism by modern physicists exploring the implications of Quantum theory. He once said that God punished him for his youthful exuberence in challenging authority, by making him and his defense of his ideas of certainty and immutable laws the “authority” against whom young physicists and advocates of Quantum theory rebelled
Conclusion – For me the most interesting part of the Einstein’s story is his character – always a rebel as a youth, he struggled to be taken seriously, but was confident in his views and wouldn’t hold back his controversial opinions and ideas. But he was never strident – invited debate, and except for the issue of anti-semitism and patriotic intolerance, he was always polite and genteel. But in matters of physics and science, he believed in himself and his thought process, and he persisted to find out if his ideas could be proven right. He did usually eventually succeed in proving himself right – up to and except for his Unified Field Theory.
Einsteins was never (or rarely) mean and was always respectful in discussing views he didn’t agree with – always believed that personal freedom was built upon believing oneself free to express one’s opinions whatever they may be, without compulsion. Always considered a nice if somewhat dreamy man, he was respectful and respected and was not politically dogmatic except in his opposition to war and greed, in opposition to nationalism and aggression, and in support of whatever would support internationalism and humanitarianism.
Fascinating book about a fascinating man who was an icon of the 20th century.
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