Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Einstein - Thursday Thirteen Style


I recently read the autobiography of Einstein by Walter Issacson and instead of a review I'm going to give you some facts about Einstein, because the book was really good. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys discovering new biographies. There's a lot to learn here.

1. Though Jewish, Einstein wasn't religious except for a brief period in his young adulthood. On on of applications for citizenship he listed his religion as Mosaic.

2. Married twice, with two sons, to his first wife, Milva Maric and 2 step-daughters with his second wife, Elsa.

3. He was very much a ladies man. He wasn't faithful to either wife, though he's second wife, Elsa, was more resigned to his infidelities.

4. His youngest son, suffered from mental illness and spent most of his life in a sanitarium.

5. By his thirties Einstein had held citizenship in three countries, Germany, Switzerland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire as it was then known.

6. He once went to a black tie affair without socks.

7. A small girl brought him an offering of fudge to get him to help her with her math homework. (Where was he when I needed help with my homework)

8. He didn't get a professorship until 4 years after his Theory Of Relativity was published.

9. Mileva received his the money he received from winning the Nobel Prize in her divorce settlement.

10. In the US, he was treated like a Hollywood celebrity, and he was considered a friend by people such as Charlie Chaplin and Upton Sinclair.

11. Two of his favorite pastimes included walking and playing the violin.

12. He owned a boat called Tinef which is Yiddish for a piece of junk.

13. He was very witty...I leave you with a very sweet quote from a quirky and absent-minded professor that changed the world. Told to Peter Bucky as they were driving in his convertible in the rain. Einstein had taken off his hat and placed it under his coat.

"You see, my hair has withstood water many times before, but I don't know how many times my hat can."

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