Einstein: His Life and Universe

The biography Einstein: His Life and Universe, written by Walter Isaacson, is about the life story of a morally flawed genius. In some respects, the heights of his genius are matched by the depths of his personal morality and naivete around social, economic, and regulatory policies. The following thoughts are what stood out in the reading of Isaacson’s written biography of Einstein.

The book’s length was about 600 pages from the printed copy (not including the endnotes and source material; ISBN 978-0743264747, 704 pages). The author provided many citations accompanying numerous interpreted facts woven together throughout the narrative. In addition to facts that were brought together in a way that traced the life of Albert Einstein (March 14th,1879 – April 18th, 1955), the author wrote of the numerous characters throughout the life of the theoretical physicist. Many people were involved in Einstein’s life, but the chosen figures developed within the biography were those who were integral to Einstein’s life. Einstein’s family, friends, coworkers, fellow professors, researchers, students, and government allies (including adversaries) were among those who were prominent throughout his life, as narrated within the book. As the entire book is sequentially lined up by significant events and essential intervals of achievement, status, and crisis, the life of Einstein was a mixed account of inspiration, wonder, amazement, cruelty, contention, and disappointment. This biography of Einstein is comprehensive, and it covers numerous points of interest spanning many years from his childhood all the way to the day of his death.

Several important categories of interest in the life of Einstein help to organize an understanding of what he was about, what he accomplished, and what he wrought during the time he was alive. Those categories were family, career, professorships, theories of general relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazi Germany, nuclear weapons, and his social life. Through all of Einstein’s scientific achievements, he challenged conventional academic thought about classical physics to eventually reset how everyday reality is perceived at a macro and micro scale. He upended the conventional understanding of causality and the relationships physical and theoretical objects have with one another. How scientists thought about matter, energy, time, gravity, mass, light, frames of reference, kinetics, momentum, inertia, and relevant scientific subjects were challenged against long-held historical assumptions.

Einstein pioneered the science that involved a change from absolute frames of reference to relativity concerning objects that reside in physical existence. Whether on a planetary scale or from how matter, time, and light interact, there are changes in behavior among objects having more precisely described states of existence from sources of causality or empirically observable conditions. Einstein’s breakthroughs came more from his imagination, where he creatively produced theories vetted through rigorous mathematical work or interpersonal engagement among peers. Far more often, he worked alone and originated thought experiments to flesh out concrete rationale supported by mathematical and statistical modeling. During his time, Einstein creatively imagined concepts within our day-to-day physical dimensions of existence to originate theories of elemental characteristics and behaviors of particles, quanta, and wave fields of mass and energy. To include the quantum theory of light, where photon particles jump from one state to another, and the existence of atoms to include their structure and behaviors (i.e., Brownian motion).

Within the book, Einstein makes various references to God, but not in a personal, reverent way to indicate devotion or faith. He has spent substantial time with religious organizations within Judaism, Catholicism, and among protestants (Presbyterians), but he did not share their spiritual views or beliefs. While he referred to God as Creator to support his theories (e.g., “God does not play dice”), he did not believe in God as He revealed Himself throughout history, scripture, or by corroborating witness records across centuries. While Jewish, Einstein did not live a life of faith according to Torah or scripture as a whole. He was more aligned with Jewish people regarding tradition and cultural endeavor. Einstein mentally acceded to the existence of God and His evident work, but not as God to know through spiritual means. To Einstein, existence was only what is real within the present universe, whether at a galactical scale, sub-atomic scale or by day-to-day observable facts. Einstein did not accept reality beyond the present universe of existence, as suggested by quantum mechanics.

Overall, Einstein’s life was of overwhelming significance. And the immense bearing he has had on the course of humanity cannot be overstated, not only in terms of historical, scientific theories leading to astonishing discoveries but toward trajectories of further scientific advancement. He was the father of the theoretical sciences making nuclear weapons possible, leading to an enormous death toll in Japan during World War II. While he wasn’t directly involved in developing the atomic bomb, he was the leading figure responsible for its theoretical framework. During a time of heightened risk that the Nazi regime would discover nuclear fission and the splitting of the nucleus of an atom to produce weapon capabilities, Einstein only peripherally assisted scientists and engineers with the design and methods of producing an atomic bomb in the United States. As he warned the U.S. government about the threat of its development through ongoing experiments in Germany, he was the urgent and critical voice that sounded the alarm before it could be used against the U.S. or its allies during the war. While he didn’t have the security clearance for direct involvement in U.S. nuclear weapons development due to his Russian contacts, he did considerable work to help scientists overcome technical issues without knowing the specifics of secret research and development.

After Einstein’s academic and scientific achievements, he applied himself to humanitarian endeavors in the form of policy advocacy. He sought to blunt the possibility of an arms race among countries by appointing a global authority over nuclear weapons proliferation where all nations would participate in lessening the likelihood of further weapons development and production. While he understood that some nations were not trustworthy to disarm and entrust the global authority among all other nations, he insisted the U.S. needed to build up its arsenal for counter-defensive measures and deterrence. Throughout the reading of the biography, there were additional areas of epic naivete. Aside from the naive confidence that nations would voluntarily disarm themselves, Einstein was a war passivist (“war resistor” in his words) and a socialist. His ideas about economic development, growth, and prosperity revealed an absence of equitability and the scarcity of resources from a macro perspective, including momentary or fiscal policies.

While Einstein was cognitively intelligent and demonstrated a cunning ability to outmaneuver his peers and adversaries, the theoretical and scientific conditions under which the cosmos are understood, and nuclear weapons were formed remain the most significant extent of his legacy. As there is an overall favorable impression Western society has about Einstein due to his achievements, theories, and scientific discoveries, he often exuded a loveable sensibility about himself. However, he did, in fact, abandon his wife, Mileva Marić, to marry his cousin Elsa Einstein. He had three children through his marriage to Mileva, and he abandoned them all with continued financial and moral support as they made their way on their own through life. Lieserl Einstein, Hans Albert Einstein, and Eduard Einstein were his children who grew up without the father they deserved. While he had the opportunity, he never saw Lieserl during her early formative life. She was born out of wedlock and died early in life (1902 – 1903). Albert Einstein was not there with Mileva while she experienced the loss of their firstborn. Eduard Einstein later developed schizophrenia in his late teens or early twenties. Einstein Sr. wasn’t there to support Eduard either while he struggled through life and was committed to a sanitarium. While they wrote to each other later in life, they never had a father-son relationship as anyone should expect. Mileva was left alone to deal with the circumstances as Einstein lived in prosperity, popularity, and celebrity with Elsa and her daughters.

Einstein’s discoveries and accomplishments were undone by his cruelty and abandonment of his family. He left his native country of Germany by necessity to become a U.S. citizen. Albert abandoned his Jewish name (Abraham Einstein to become Albert Einstein), his country of Germany (Nazi extermination of Jews throughout Europe), and his family (he married his cousin Elsa and supported her daughters, Margot and Ilse, from another relationship). Einstein’s family life was a disaster and thoroughly repugnant, as his wife and children wanted him and his loyalty. They didn’t deserve what happened to them during separation.

This book has changed my view of Einstein. Even after corroborating events and circumstances to validate what occurred in his life, he was simply an accomplished physicist and nothing more. Highly naïve and a bit of an absent-minded professor who often lost his keys, Einstein didn’t live out his rightful family obligations. The life of Einstein was a failure when it came to his original family, who loved him. Moreover, he held no meaningful view of who his Creator is. The God of the Universe that he studied was unknown to Einstein. He was simply a theoretical scientist of exceptional merit, and that’s it. The utility of Einstein’s work will have lasting significance as further scientific advancements are made.