The Man Who Stalked Einstein by Bruce J. Hillman, Birgit Ertl-Wagner, Bernd C. Wagner Read Free Book Online
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Koenigsberger with helping him to cut through the red
tape that at first hindered his permanent Heidelberg appointment. “This pure-blooded
Jew has always demonstrated more wit and intelligence than most of the Aryan members
of the faculty,” he wrote, “and since he was smart enough not to want to seem to be
of too Jewish a mind, he often was a blessing for me in his cause against the narrow-mindedness
and bigotry of the faculty.”
At the same time that Lenard was making headway in academia, the much younger Einstein
was a complete unknown. He graduated with his teaching diploma in 1900, but Mileva
failed her first attempt to pass her final examinations. She failed again in 1901
with a poor score in math. By then, Mileva was three months’ pregnant with Einstein’s
child. She returned to her parents’ home in Novi Sad to deliver a girl she named Lieserl.
The birth of the child was kept a secret and only became known when a letter written
by Einstein at the time was discovered long after his and Mileva’s deaths. What became
of Lieserl? Had she died as an infant, or was she put up for adoption? Mileva returned
to Zurich without her in 1903. She and Einstein married soon after, but despite their
having two subsequent children together—Hans Albert in 1904 and Eduard in 1910—the
episode with Lieserl, whatever became of her, sowed a seed of permanent discord in
their relationship.
In addition to Einstein’s marital difficulties, an even more significant problem
confronted him. He needed a job to support himself and his wife. Two years following
his graduation, the father of a friend helped him get hired into a civil service position
after he had unsuccessfully searched for a teaching job. He was appointed a third-class
technical expert in the Office for Intellectual Property in Bern, a patent officer
charged with judging the originality of electrical and magnetic devices. The position
became permanent about the time of his wedding.
Einstein might well have spent a fulfilling life as a patent officer. He enjoyed
what he did and was paid nearly twice the amount he could have expected to earn as
a newly appointed assistant professor. Moreover, the work was not particularly challenging,
so he had time to work on his own thoughts.
And, as it turned out, he was having many thoughts. Indeed, his brain was fairly
bursting at the seams waiting for some outlet of expression. While waiting for the
patent office job to come through, Einstein organized a small philosophical club he
grandiosely named the Olympic Academy. As an undergraduate, he had become bored with
the prosaic teaching curriculum and branched off with Mileva into reading science
and philosophy. At this time, he returned to those interests along with two like-minded
Polytechnic students, Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht. The Olympic Academy met
regularly, often in Einstein’s apartment, to drink schnapps and read Plato, John Stuart
Mill, David Hume, and others.
Einstein also scoured physics journals to keep au courant and familiarize himself with emerging theoretical concepts in science. Among the
publications Einstein read in 1902 and 1903 were Philipp Lenard’s investigations of
the photoelectric effect. Einstein referenced Lenard when, in 1905, he broached the
same subject from the perspective of Max Planck’s quantum hypothesis. Einstein derived
new insights into the nature of energy emitted when light strikes a metal object.
Most gratifying to Lenard, Einstein’s publication referenced Lenard’s work with the
respect the elder man felt befitted his station as an accomplished scientist. Having
read the part of Einstein’s article that described his experiments as “groundbreaking,”
Lenard was sufficiently flattered as to have a very positive impression of Einstein.
Suddenly, in 1905, without having given any earlier sign of what he had been doing,
Einstein
tape that at first hindered his permanent Heidelberg appointment. “This pure-blooded
Jew has always demonstrated more wit and intelligence than most of the Aryan members
of the faculty,” he wrote, “and since he was smart enough not to want to seem to be
of too Jewish a mind, he often was a blessing for me in his cause against the narrow-mindedness
and bigotry of the faculty.”
At the same time that Lenard was making headway in academia, the much younger Einstein
was a complete unknown. He graduated with his teaching diploma in 1900, but Mileva
failed her first attempt to pass her final examinations. She failed again in 1901
with a poor score in math. By then, Mileva was three months’ pregnant with Einstein’s
child. She returned to her parents’ home in Novi Sad to deliver a girl she named Lieserl.
The birth of the child was kept a secret and only became known when a letter written
by Einstein at the time was discovered long after his and Mileva’s deaths. What became
of Lieserl? Had she died as an infant, or was she put up for adoption? Mileva returned
to Zurich without her in 1903. She and Einstein married soon after, but despite their
having two subsequent children together—Hans Albert in 1904 and Eduard in 1910—the
episode with Lieserl, whatever became of her, sowed a seed of permanent discord in
their relationship.
In addition to Einstein’s marital difficulties, an even more significant problem
confronted him. He needed a job to support himself and his wife. Two years following
his graduation, the father of a friend helped him get hired into a civil service position
after he had unsuccessfully searched for a teaching job. He was appointed a third-class
technical expert in the Office for Intellectual Property in Bern, a patent officer
charged with judging the originality of electrical and magnetic devices. The position
became permanent about the time of his wedding.
Einstein might well have spent a fulfilling life as a patent officer. He enjoyed
what he did and was paid nearly twice the amount he could have expected to earn as
a newly appointed assistant professor. Moreover, the work was not particularly challenging,
so he had time to work on his own thoughts.
And, as it turned out, he was having many thoughts. Indeed, his brain was fairly
bursting at the seams waiting for some outlet of expression. While waiting for the
patent office job to come through, Einstein organized a small philosophical club he
grandiosely named the Olympic Academy. As an undergraduate, he had become bored with
the prosaic teaching curriculum and branched off with Mileva into reading science
and philosophy. At this time, he returned to those interests along with two like-minded
Polytechnic students, Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht. The Olympic Academy met
regularly, often in Einstein’s apartment, to drink schnapps and read Plato, John Stuart
Mill, David Hume, and others.
Einstein also scoured physics journals to keep au courant and familiarize himself with emerging theoretical concepts in science. Among the
publications Einstein read in 1902 and 1903 were Philipp Lenard’s investigations of
the photoelectric effect. Einstein referenced Lenard when, in 1905, he broached the
same subject from the perspective of Max Planck’s quantum hypothesis. Einstein derived
new insights into the nature of energy emitted when light strikes a metal object.
Most gratifying to Lenard, Einstein’s publication referenced Lenard’s work with the
respect the elder man felt befitted his station as an accomplished scientist. Having
read the part of Einstein’s article that described his experiments as “groundbreaking,”
Lenard was sufficiently flattered as to have a very positive impression of Einstein.
Suddenly, in 1905, without having given any earlier sign of what he had been doing,
Einstein
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