Einstein letters reveal a turmoil beyond science

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/07/11/einstein_letters_reveal_a_turmoil_beyond_science/

by known • 18 years ago

29 25 18 years ago

SingAlong• 18 years ago

Any way to read more about this or the transcripts of those letters? Sounds very interesting to me. Is the Hebrew Univ planning to put these online?

These letters will help know more about this great man and relate to him as a human than just merely knowing him as a scientific genius.

If these details are out as a book it would surely break all records and would become everyone's favourite.

Here's how he explained a radio:

A telegraph is like a long cat. You pull its tail in New York and it meows in Los Angeles. It's the same with a radio. You send the signals from on place and receive them at another, just that there is no long cat here.

denglish• 18 years ago

It must have been hard for him and his family to have their private lives scrutinised by the world - it's not like he chose a profession likely to bring him world fame!

peregrine• 18 years ago

We will all study Einstein forever until so we can find out how to create people like him.

andreyf2• 18 years ago

He was a very smart guy - but not much smarter a lot of people are today.

He was also a great marketer, mostly because he could explain his research to the press in terms people could understand.

chollida1• 18 years ago

> He was a very smart guy - but not much smarter a lot of people are today.

I had this long reply written but then I realized that there probably isn't a quantitative way to prove your statement wrong.

Given that, I would appreciate it, if you could explain your statement. I think most people would assume a man of his accomplishments would certainly be more than "not much smarter" than alot of people today are.

andreyf2• 18 years ago

Are the full versions of the letters available online?

cglee• 18 years ago

Every time I read something like this, I'm reminded of the Freudian idea that all we do in life is in pursuit of sexual ends.

Herring• 18 years ago

It's misleading to phrase it like that.

psnajder• 18 years ago

I'm in the middle of the Einstein bio by Isaacson, who uses many of the documents referred to in this 2006 article to paint Einstein's private life as it complimented his public works. (I certainly recommend the book to you all!)

One of Isaacson's main points is that it was not mere intellect that made Einstein superior. Great scientists, such as Poincare, were working in the same fields at the same time, but were conditioned within the realm of university research to hold on strong to the classical beliefs of Newtonian science. The four papers Einstein wrote in 1905 (written during his patent office period while he was essentially blacklisted from a position at a university) each had the benefit of his outsider voice. While his work in college was above average, it did not translate into genius until Einstein had the ability to generate, on his own, a complete theory of how he intellectually envisioned the world. More important than Einstein's given intellect was his particular perspective.

Anyways, I find judging intelligence by means of a test is absolutely pointless; IQ, in particular, measures only a few ways that a person can be intelligent.

In conclusion, as always: Genius is as genius does.

known2• 18 years ago

You are a product of your environment. --Clement Stone

zandorg• 18 years ago

So, the solution is to try and change your environment.

Einstein letters reveal a turmoil beyond science

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