A Truly Beautiful Mind

Lesson-4

A Truly Beautiful Mind

By Albert Einstein

A Truly Beautiful Mind Introduction

Albert Einstein is the subject of this chapter. He was a brilliant scientist. The chapter's title, 'A Truly Beautiful Mind,' refers to Albert Einstein. This is a brief biography of Albert in which some of his qualities are highlighted, such as his interest in mathematics and physics, as well as his humanitarian qualities.The title, 'A Truly Beautiful Mind,' begs the question of how a scientist's mind can be beautiful. This is due to the fact that we will be discussing another aspect of Einstein in this lesson. He was a good man. He advocated for world peace and non-violence, which is why the title refers to him as having a truly beautiful mind.

A Truly Beautiful Mind Summary

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. He couldn't speak until he was two and a half years old, and when he did, he repeated every word twice. His playmates thought he was boring, and his mother thought he was insane due to his abnormally large head. His headmaster thought he was stupid and useless at school. He, on the other hand, proved them all wrong. He began playing the violin at the age of six, at the insistence of his mother. He honed his skills as a violinist. His family relocated to Munich when he was 15 years old. He left because he was uncomfortable with the school's strict discipline.

After finishing his education, he enrolled at the University of Zurich, where the atmosphere was more liberal and open to new ideas and concepts. He expressed a stronger interest in physics and mathematics. At the university, he met Mileva Maric, a fellow student. She was both intelligent and clever. They later married and had two sons, but their marriage did not last and they divorced in 1919.

Albert worked as a technical expert in Bern's patent office after finishing his education. Here, he secretly worked on his theory of relativity. In 1915, he published his paper on special theory of relativity, which was followed by the now-famous equation E = mc2. In 1915, he published his paper on the General Theory of Relativity, which defined gravity in an entirely new way. He rose to fame as a result of this theory. During the 1919 solar eclipse, his theory proved to be correct, and it revolutionised physics. As the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, he emigrated to the United States. He did not want his finding and research to be used for destruction.

When Germany discovered the principle of nuclear fission in 1938, he was the first person to write to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the dangers of atomic bombs. When America dropped the Atomic Bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, he was deeply hurt and petitioned the United Nations for the formation of a world government to prevent such devastation from happening again. In his later years in politics, he advocated for world peace and democracy. In 1955, he died at the age of 76.

A Truly Beautiful Mind Lesson Explanation

ALBERT Einstein was born on 14 March 1879 in the German city of Ulm, without any indication that he was destined for greatness.

  • destined: fate, a predetermined set of events that has to happen in the future.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. He was born in the German city of Ulm. Nobody could have predicted when he was a child that he would one day become a great scientist. He was just like the other kids.

On the contrary, his mother thought Albert was a freak.

  • freak: a word used disapprovingly to talk about a person who is unusual and doesn’t behave, look or think like others

Albert's mother thought he was a freak because he didn't act, talk, or look like other people. He was not like other children his age. He acted strangely. In comparison to other children, he appeared to be less intelligent.

To her, his head seemed much too large.

Albert's mother thought the little boy's head was a little too big in comparison to the heads of other children.

At the age of two-and-a-half, Einstein still wasn’t talking.

Albert Einstein began speaking when he was two and a half years old.

When he finally did learn to speak, he uttered everything twice.

  • Uttered: spoke

Finally, when Einstein began speaking, he would repeat the words.

Einstein did not know what to do with other children, and his playmates called him “Brother Boring.”

His playmates used to refer to him as "brother boring" because he kept to himself and did not interact with them.

So the youngster played by himself much of the time.

Einstein kept to himself at all times. He used to only play with himself.

He especially loved mechanical toys.

Since his childhood, he has been a fan of mechanical toys, which are toys that use some kind of machinery, such as automated cars and aeroplanes.

Looking at his newborn sister, Maja, he is said to have said: “Fine, but where are her wheels”?

When his sister was born, he couldn't see her feet because she was so small. He was wondering where the baby's wheels, i.e. the baby's feet, were. Because Albert Einstein used to play with toys, and all of the toys had wheels, Maja appeared to him to be a toy as well, and he may have wondered where her wheels were.

A headmaster once told his father that what Einstein chose as a profession wouldn’t matter, because “he’ll never make a success at anything.”

Einstein's father was told by the headmaster of Einstein's school that Einstein would never be successful in whatever profession he chose.

Einstein began learning to play the violin at the age of six, because his mother wanted him to; he later became a gifted amateur violinist, maintaining this skill throughout his life.

  • amateur: doing something for personal enjoyment rather than as a profession, something which is your hobby and you do it as a pastime.

Einstein was an excellent violinist; he began playing the violin at the age of six because his mother encouraged him to do so. He had been an amateur violinist his entire life, playing the violin as a hobby rather than a profession.

But Albert Einstein was not a bad pupil. He went to high school in Munich, where Einstein’s family had moved when he was 15 months old and scored good marks in almost every subject.

  • pupil: student

Albert Einstein was an excellent student. He attended a Munich school because his family relocated from Ulm to Munich when he was 15 months old, and he excelled in almost every subject.

Einstein hated the school’s regimentation and often clashed with his teachers.

  • regimentation: order or discipline taken to an extreme

Einstein disliked the strict discipline at the school where he attended. As a result, he frequently disagreed with and opposed his teacher's viewpoints.

At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled there that he left the school for good.

  • Stifled: unable to breathe; suffocated
  • Left the school for good: left school forever.

Einstein was so suffocated in that school that he couldn't follow the strict discipline, so he left forever.

The previous year, Albert’s parents had moved to Milan, and left their son with relatives.

Albert Einstein had left the school a year before because his parents had relocated to Milan, Italy. Albert was left with his relatives in Munich.

After prolonged discussion, Einstein got his wish to continue his education in German-speaking Switzerland, in a city which was more liberal than Munich.

  • liberal: willing to understand and respect others opinions

Albert couldn't keep up with the discipline at his old school in Munich. He had a long discussion with his family and relatives before his parents agreed to enroll him in a Swiss school where the language of communication was German.

Einstein was highly gifted in mathematics and interested in physics, and after finishing school, he decided to study at a university in Zurich.

Einstein was a good student; he was gifted in mathematics, so he excelled in mathematics, and he was also interested in physics.

But science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus moustache.

  • Walrus is a shape of Moustache.

Science was not the only thing that drew Einstein's attention as a handsome young man. He was interested in something other than science.

He also felt a special interest in a fellow student, Mileva Maric, whom he found to be a “clever creature.”

Aside from Math and Physics, Albert Einstein had a crush on one of his classmates, Mileva Maric. He thought she was extremely clever, sharp, and intelligent.

This young Serb had come to Switzerland because the University in Zurich was one of the few in Europe where women could get degrees.

They met at Zurich University. Mileva Maric was a Serbian citizen (that is why she is called a Serb). She moved to Switzerland from Serbia because the University of Zurich was one of the few in Europe that granted degrees to female students.

Einstein saw in her an ally against the “philistines”—those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds.

  • ally: a friend or an associate
  • philistine: a word used disapprovingly to talk about people who do not like art, literature or music
  • To be at odds means to be in the opposition of someone, to be against someone.

Einstein considered Mileva to be a friend because she shared his interests in art, literature, and music. This was something they both had in common. Having an interest in art, literature, or music was not considered desirable back then. People who were interested in art, literature, or music used to refer to their opponents as 'philistines.' Many people at the university, including Albert Einstein's family, were opposed to this. So, in the face of such people, Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric's unity aided them in dealing with the situation.

The couple fell in love. Letters survive in which they put their affection into words, mixing science with tenderness. Wrote Einstein: “How happy and proud I shall be when we both have brought our work on relativity to a victorious conclusion.”

Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric fell in love and wrote love letters to each other to express their feelings. They used to write letters in which they combined science with their emotions. Einstein once mentioned his scientific invention and stated that he would be very proud on that day when they would finally finish their paper on the theory of relativity.

In 1900, at the age of 21, Albert Einstein was a university graduate and unemployed.

Albert Einstein was 21 years old in 1900, and he had just graduated from university but was unemployed.

He worked as a teaching assistant, gave private lessons and finally secured a job in 1902 as a technical expert in the patent office in Bern.

  • patent: a document which gives the rights of an invention to an inventor

Albert Einstein worked as a Teaching Assistant and also gave private lessons from 1900 to 1902. In 1902, he finally got a job in Bern. Bern is a German city. He was hired as a Technical Officer at a patent office in Bern.

While he was supposed to be assessing other people’s inventions, Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret.

Einstein was supposed to examine other people's inventions and grant them a patent. On the other hand, he was secretly creating his own inventions as well.

He is said to have jokingly called his desk drawer at work the “bureau of theoretical physics.”

Einstein later stated that the desk at which he worked was the theoretical physics office because it was only there that he began working on his inventions.

One of the famous papers of 1905 was Einstein’sSpecial Theory of Relativity, according to which time and distance are not absolute.

  • absolute: measured in itself, not in relation to anything else

Einstein published his first paper in 1905. It was all about the'special theory of relativity.' It was stated in this publication that the measurement of time and distance is not absolute and is dependent on something else.

Indeed, two perfectly accurate clocks will not continue to show the same time if they come together again after a journey if one of them has been moving very fast relative to the other.

According to the theory, if two clocks are moving, they will not display the same time. One clock will tick more quickly than the other.

From this followed the world’s most famous formula which describes the relationship between mass and energy:

E = mc2(In this mathematical equation, E stands for energy, m for massand c for the speed of the light in a vacuum (about 300,000 km/s).

This theory of relativity provided us with the fundamental formula of physics – E = mc2. E denotes energy, m the mass of the object, and c the speed of light in a vacuum. (A vacuum is defined as an absence of air, and the speed of light in a vacuum is nearly 300,000 km/s.) To put it another way, Einstein said that sitting with a nice girl for two hours feels like two minutes. On the other hand, if you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it feels like two hours—this is the effect of relativity. As a result, each individual will perceive the timing differently.

While Einstein was solving the most difficult problems in physics, his private life was unravelling.

  • unraveling: starting to fail

Despite the fact that he was solving complex physics problems for the rest of the world, his personal life was becoming problematic. In his personal life, he began to fail.

Albert had wanted to marry Mileva right after finishing his studies, but his mother was against it.

Albert Einstein desired to marry Mileva Maric soon after completing his studies, but his mother, Pauline Einstein, was opposed.

She thought Mileva, who was three years older than her son, was too old for him.

Pauline thought Mileva Maric was three-year-old elder than albert, was too old for him.

She was also bothered by Mileva’s intelligence. “She is a book like you,” his mother said. Einstein put the wedding off.

Pauline thought Mileva was very intelligent for a wife, and she told Einstein that Mileva was like a book to him. Because his mother was opposed to the marriage, he called off his wedding to Mileva.

The pair finally married in January 1903, and had two sons.

Albert Einstein married Mileva Maric in 1903, and the couple had two sons.

But a few years later, the marriage faltered.

  • faltered: became weak

Their marriage ended in divorce.

Mileva, meanwhile, was losing her intellectual ambition and becoming an unhappy housewife.

Mileva Maric was very intelligent, but as a housewife, she was unable to fulfil her ambitions. She was unhappy because she was unable to fulfil her ambitions.

After years of constant fighting, the couple finally divorced in 1919.

Mileva was dissatisfied with her marriage because she was unable to pursue her career goals, so they divorced in 1919 after a long struggle.

Einstein married his cousin Elsa the same year.

Albert Einstein married for the second time in his life. He married Elsa, his cousin.

Einstein’s new personal chapter coincided with his rise to world fame.

Another thing happened around the time Einstein married Elsa. It was Einstein's rapid rise to global fame. Einstein rose to international acclaim. Everyone regarded him as a brilliant scientist.

In 1915, he had published his General Theory of Relativity, which provided a new interpretation of gravity.

In 1915, he published another paper based on the General Theory of Relativity that provided a new interpretation of gravity.

An eclipse of the sun in 1919 brought proof that it was accurate.

There was a solar eclipse in 1919 that proved Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was correct.

Einstein had correctly calculated in advance the extent to which the light from fixed stars would be deflected through the sun’s gravitational field. The newspapers proclaimed his work as “a scientific revolution.”

  • deflected: changed direction because it hit something

Albert Einstein calculated that a solar eclipse would occur in 1919 in the year 1915. The apparent position of the stars would change as a result. His calculation was correct. As a result, Albert Einstein's work was declared to be a scientific revolution.

Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics in1921.

  • The Nobel Prize was based on the will of the famous Swedish scientist, a scientist who belongs to Sweden, Alfred Nobel. It was established in 1895 and the first Nobel Prize was given in the year 1901.

In 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

He was showered with honors and invitations from all over the world and lauded by the press.

He was honoured and received invitations from all over the world. The press praised him as well.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in1933, Einstein emigrated to the United States.

  • Emigrated: leave one’s own country in order to settle permanently in another

When Nazis took over Germany in 1933 (the famous Nazi ruler was Adolf Hitler), Einstein left Germany and relocated to the United States of America forever.

Five years later, the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had American physicists in an uproar.

  • in an uproar: very upset

After 5 years, the Germans discovered nuclear fission – the process by which nuclear or atomic bombs are created. This procedure was planned in Berlin. As a result, all physicists in America were outraged, fearing that the technology would be misused.

Many of them had fled from Fascism, just as Einstein had, and now they were afraid the Nazis could build and use an atomic bomb.

Because of Fascism, many scientists fled to the United States. (Fascism was a dictatorial concept that began in Europe with the rule of Benito Mussolini in Italy.) The scientists were all concerned that the Nazis would misuse the atomic bomb.

At the urging of a colleague, Einstein wrote a letter to the American President, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, on 2 August 1939, in which he warned:“A single bomb of this type . . . exploded in a port,might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.”

On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein was asked by a colleague to write a letter to President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He forewarned him that Germany's atomic bomb was extremely powerful. If one of these bombs exploded near a port, it would not only destroy the port itself, but also the surrounding territory. This demonstrates Einstein's humanitarianism. He desired the best for the people and world peace. That is why he wrote to the president of the United States to express his concern and to warn him.

His words did not fail to have an effect.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was influenced by Albert Einstein's letter.

The Americans developed the atomic bomb in a secret project of their own and dropped it on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

The Americans secretly developed the atomic bomb and dropped it on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Germans had only recently developed the atomic bomb, which they did not use against any country, but America did.

Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction.

There was a lot of destruction, and Einstein was shaken.

This time he wrote a public missive to the United Nations.

  • missive: letter, especially long and official

He addressed a formal letter to the United Nations Organization.

In it he proposed the formation of a world government. Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact.

Albert Einstein proposed establishing a world government in a letter, but this proposal did not come to fruition.

But over the next decade, Einstein got ever more involved in politics —agitating for an end to the arms buildup and usinghis popularity to campaign for peace and democracy.

Albert Einstein was involved in World Peace for another ten years. He was involved in politics, and his agenda was to stop countries from collecting weapons and developing weapons. He advocated for global peace and democracy. His main goals were world peace and human freedom.

When Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76, he was celebrated as a visionary and world citizen as much as a scientific genius

  • visionary: a person who can think about the future in an original and intelligent way

Einstein had the ability to predict the future. When he died at the age of 76 in 1955, the world remembered him as a visionary. He was a global citizen as well as a scientific genius.

About the Author

Albert Einstein (1916-1995) was a theoretical physicist who published the special and general theories of relativity as well as other contributions to physics. His work has also had an impact on the philosophy of science. Albert Einstein published four papers that revolutionised science in June 1905.