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Einstein
His Life and Universe
In an attempt to understand what motivated this peerless scientist, Walter Isaacson’s insightful biography (2008) delves into Einstein’s personal life. And, as it turns out, there are many factors that shaped Einstein – his rebellious nature, his fervent curiosity and his commitment to individual freedom.
- Anyone who’s interested in Einstein
- Anyone who’s interested in physics and the history of science
- Anyone seeking to summon the courage to follow their dreams
Walter Isaacson is a major American biographer who has explored the lives of prominent historical figures such as Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Kissinger. Currently the President and CEO of Aspen Institute, Isaacson is the former CEO and chairman of CNN.
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Einstein
His Life and Universe
- Read in 15 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 9 key ideas
Synopsis
In an attempt to understand what motivated this peerless scientist, Walter Isaacson’s insightful biography (2008) delves into Einstein’s personal life. And, as it turns out, there are many factors that shaped Einstein – his rebellious nature, his fervent curiosity and his commitment to individual freedom.
Key idea 1 of 9
Einstein’s secular family, outsider status and unusual early development shaped his character.
We all know that Einstein achieved extraordinary things over the course of his illustrious professional life. But how did it all begin?
Einstein was born into an independent-minded family that valued learning. His father, for instance, gave his son a compass when the boy was four-years-old and sick in bed. Upon examining it, the young Einstein started trembling and grew cold with excitement. This experience instilled in him a sense of scientific wonder that would last throughout his entire life.
Around the same time, his mother arranged violin lessons, which proved pivotal. The instrument became a constant companion throughout Einstein’s life; later, he would puzzle out complex problems while playing music.
The visit of a medical student, Max Talmud, to Einstein’s childhood home was another formative experience. Talmud introduced the future scientist to the works of Aaron Bernstein and Kant, and to geometry.
Einstein’s unusual mental development also played a key role in shaping the man he would become: He was slow to develop linguistically and he didn’t ace his university mathematics courses. And yet, by the age of 12 he had mastered applied arithmetic. By 13, he was reading Kant.
Later, Einstein reflected that these developmental irregularities allowed him to preserve a childlike wonder about those things that adults took for granted, things like space and time.
Additionally, Einstein’s Jewish background made him an outsider in Germany, and this sense of otherness proved formative. Although his teachers were liberal, he suffered anti-Semitic attacks from other children. As a result, he developed a detached aloofness, which may have contributed to his willingness later to break off from the scientific herd.
At the time, he also developed a lasting contempt for authority. The young Einstein was such a persistent classroom rebel – he despised the rote drilling and formal authority that characterized the German school system – that he got himself kicked out of school.
Key ideas in this title
- Einstein’s secular family, outsider status and unusual early development shaped his character.
- Although Einstein was a difficult and aloof companion, he was abundantly generous and loved by many.
- 1905 was the pivotal year in which Einstein upended classical physics.
- Einstein’s key theory was that although time, space and distance are relative, nothing’s faster than the speed of light.
- Einstein produced the General Theory of Relativity by building upon his earlier work.
- Einstein became conservative in response to the emergence of quantum mechanics.
- Although he was too skeptical of authority to join movements, Einstein was politically vocal.
- Even in the last week of his life, Einstein’s curiosity and rebelliousness never wavered.
- Final summary
