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archived as http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/Einstein_01.pdf

read more of physics history at http://www.stealthskater.com/PX.htm#Dratch

note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was

archived from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2311eins.html on February 4, 2004 .

This is NOT an attempt to divert readers from the aforementioned web-site. Indeed, the reader

should only read this back-up copy if it cannot be found at the original author's site.

Einstein Revealed: Einstein's Wife

Annoouncer: Tonight, on NOVA, his name is synonymous with genius. Albert Einstein illuminated the

most fundamental scientific truths of his time and became an international celebrity.

But what of the private man behind the public hero? Newly discovered letters shed light

on his bold thought experiments and forbidden loves. A two hour NOVA special:

"Einstein Revealed".

Albert Einstein {actor ANDREW SACHS}: I was 16 when the image first came to me. What would it

be like to ride a beam of light? At 16, I had no idea. But the question stayed

with me for the next 10 years. Simple questions are always the hardest. But if I

have one gift, it is that I am as stubborn as a mule.

Narrator (F. Murray Abraham): Albert Einstein once said that he spent his whole life trying to

understand the nature of light. More than any other scientist, he succeeded. In

1932, Einstein was 53 and at the height of his fame. But there was another

private Einstein whose thoughts and feelings have only recently come into view.

Albert Einstein: My Dear Dolly -- How was I able to live alone before I met you? Without you, I lack

self-confidence, passion for work, enjoyment of life. In short, without you,

my life is no life.

Narrator: This is the Einstein that we know: the wise old man, the other-worldly genius. But new

revelations from his papers, notebooks, and love-letters have finally illuminated the

younger man whose discoveries about light, space, and time have transformed our view

of the Universe.

Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in the south German market town of Ulm, the first

child of upwardly mobile Jewish parents. German Jews had just received the right to

own land, access to higher education, and the chance to engage in a wide range of

careers. Albert and his sister Maja enjoyed a comfortable childhood. Pauline Einstein

was cultivated and ambitious with a touch of the ruthlessness that her son Albert would

later exhibit. She encouraged her husband Hermann -- a featherbed merchant -- to pursue

new business opportunities, while he gave the young Albert his first taste of the wonders

of Science.

Albert Einstein: I must have been 4-or-5 when my father showed me a compass. You see, the needle

always points in one way no matter how I turn the compass. When I saw this for

the first time, the fact that it behaved in such a fixed way changed my

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understanding of the World. Until then, I thought that one thing had to touch

another to make it move. But at that moment, I realized that something deeply

hidden had to lie behind things.

Narrator: That mysterious 'something' was called electromagnetism. Its discovery as a fundamental

force of Nature was the greatest breakthrough of 19th

Century physics. Within decades, it

produced a technological revolution. Throughout Germany, the change from gas lighting

to electricity was in full swing. Hermann Einstein set his sights on this booming new

market, so he moved his family to Munich to manage a factory that manufactured

dynamos. Albert grew up surrounded by electricity -- both its machinery and its mystery.

Jurgen Renn: He was surrounded by people who would love to explain how things worked to him. He

had uncles. There were visitors coming to the family who would introduce him also

into the knowledge connected with the technology. So he got a very early introduction

in what would become the key topics of his later science. Electromagnetism was the

family business. And electromagnetism became the central topic of Einstein's later

research.

Narrator: As a boy of 10, Einstein plunged voraciously into a program of self-education. He read

Euclid, taught himself geometry, and immersed himself in every popular book on Science

he could find. Albert never minded studies. It was school that he hated. He detested the

regimentation characteristic of German education and of so much of German society. By

the time he reached high school, he dreaded the inevitable sequel: conscription into the

German army. In 1894, his family moved to Italy, leaving Albert alone in Munich to

complete the school year. Overwhelmed by competition in Germany, Hermann Einstein

had shifted his factory to Pavia. Lonely and isolated, Albert lasted less than a term on his

own.

Albert Einstein: I hated my school in Munich -- the rigid discipline, the worship of authority, the

schoolmasters strutting around like officers whipping the troops into shape. I

searched for a way out until finally it came to me. The next time the teacher

scolded me, I went to my family doctor and obtained a certificate. It seems that I

was suffering from "nervous exhaustion" and needed to leave immediately!

Narrator: He escaped Munich, bound for Italy.

Robert Schulmann: He probably didn't even announce that he was coming. So I can see him turning

up on the doorstep of his parents in Pavia and saying, "Well look, I made a go of

it in Germany. But don't worry about it, I'm not going to become a bum. I have

a plan and here's what I'm going to do." The degree of independence for

someone at the age of 15 is really astonishing.

Narrator: Einstein's plan was to forego high school and take the entrance exam to the Swiss

Polytechnic, one of Europe's top technical universities. While waiting for his results, he

enjoyed an extended break in Pavia. One of his sister's friends reported that he spent his

time walking and cycling constantly -- often daydreaming, always thoughtful. And free

of the demands of school, Albert could learn about electricity first-hand in his father's

factory.

Robert Schulmann: I think the fact that Einstein could "get his hands dirty" in the factory is an

important thing that's often overlooked. He had in his father and uncle's factory

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in Pavia a wonderful laboratory -- if you will, a "playground". We see the

Einstein who is the great theoretician who only needs his pencil and paper. But

working the dynamos certainly had a fascination for him and was an important

element, I think, also in the way Einstein did his science which is to visualize

how things work.

Narrator: But Albert was still a drop-out with no high school diploma and no nationality. He had

renounced German citizenship to avoid military service. So when he failed the arts portion

of the Swiss University exam, Albert gave in to his father's demands that he complete high

school in the Swiss town of Aarau. It seemed a setback. But as it turned out, it was here

that Einstein first experienced what it might mean to be a scientist.

Robert Schulmann: He has this great stroke of luck that he comes into an excellent school system with

a new physics laboratory. So it's the combination now of some kind of orthodox

training combined with the playfulness he's already exhibited and which isn't

stifled in Aarau, that I think makes it such an important part of his development

as a scientist and as a person.

Narrator: In the laboratory, Einstein first came to grips with the physics that laid behind the electrical

devices with which he was already familiar. He hooked compass needles to batteries and

wires to prove to himself the fact discovered earlier in the century that electric currents can

induce magnetic fields. And that the two were both aspects of the same phenomenon

called 'electromagnetism'. With a simple bar magnet, Einstein explored the patterns formed

by a handful of iron filings, swept up by the lines of force created in a magnetic field. And

when he was taught that light itself is an electromagnetic wave traveling through space,

Einstein had found his life's work.

Albert Einstein: That was when it came to me -- that image of riding a beam of light.

Narrator: This was the first of Einstein's famous 'thought experiments'. He created these deceptively

simple scenarios to explore the most complex concepts. If light were a wave, Einstein

reasoned, then no matter how fast it travels, it ought to be possible to catch up to its peaks

or valleys. But then, Einstein wondered, what would he see? Would the light stand still?

Would time stand still? Would he ride that same peak of light forever -- a glimpse of one

frozen instant? At 16, Einstein could not find the answers to his questions. He was not yet

a trained scientist. But this he knew was a puzzle worth his talents. But as his year in

Aarau came to an end, he had to turn his thoughts to practical concerns.

Albert Einstein: Now let me see … Oh, yes. Yes, here it is, my final exam essay. My plans for the

future. At University, I plan to study mathematics and physics. I suppose I will

become a high school teacher of the theoretical parts of the sciences. Here are the

reasons for my individual inclination for abstract and mathematical thinking and my

lack of imagination.

Narrator: For all that alleged "lack of imagination", the 17-year-old posing for his high school

graduation photograph displayed an easy confidence. From Aarau, Einstein enrolled at the

ETH -- the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich -- one of the leading technical institutes in

Europe. Its laboratories were second to none. Einstein admitted that he could have gotten

a first-class education there. But that would have required regular attendance in class. And

Einstein preferred to spend his time at his favorite haunts including the Odeon Cafe, which

remains largely unchanged to this day.

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Albert Einstein: It's nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet

entirely strangled useful curiosity. For this delicate plant -- aside from stimulation -

- stands mainly in need of freedom.

Narrator: Einstein would stay in the cafes for hours, sipping coffee and talking with his classmates.

Among them were two who would become lifelong friends: Marcel Grossman and

Michele Besso. And there was a third -- the one woman in Einstein's course. She quickly

caught his eye.

Albert Einstein: February, 1898. Esteemed Miss -- The desire to write to you has finally overcome the

bad conscience that made me avoid exposing myself to your critical eyes.

Narrator: Her name was Mileva Maric. She had come from Hungary to the ETH -- one of the few

European universities open to women.

Francoise Balibar: Being bright at school, she was taught by her teachers to go further. First she went

to a boys school because of course the boys could go further than girls at that

time. And then, I think she was rather lucky because some of her teachers told

her that a school was opening in Zurich where girls were admitted. That was

quite unusual at that time.

Narrator: At the ETH, Mileva was enrolled in the physics teaching course as was Einstein. She

projected an air of independence and intelligence that he found highly appealing.

Francoise Balibar: She probably was a kind of realization of a dream for him because she was free.

She had no family on her back. She had to take care of herself by herself. In a

sense, she was freer than he was.

Narrator: Gradually, Albert and Mileva came to feel that they were two of a kind.

Albert Einstein: August, 1899. How closely our mental and physiological lives are linked! We both

understand each other's black souls so well, not to mention drinking coffee and

eating sausages.

Narrator: For Einstein, these were the important things in life: studying with Mileva, walking beside the

lake, and thinking about physics … but rarely in school.

Albert Einstein: Fortunately, there were only 2 examinations which meant for the most part I could do

as I pleased. Of course, it certainly helped to have a friend who attended the

lectures faithfully.

Narrator: That friend was Marcel Grossman, a brilliant mathematician who gladly provided Einstein

with his notes. But even with Grossman's help, Einstein did have to attend a few classes.

Recent research in Einstein's papers has produced a portrait of a truly infuriating student.

Robert Schulmann: We have here his college record and you see something interesting happening by

the 3rd

year at the ETH. We have March, 1899. It says that a reprimand has

been issued to Einstein through the administration because of a lack of a

diligence. I think that that's an administrative way of saying that he was lazy in

the physics practicum, in the physics lab. We also have as an indication of that

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a very fat one which is almost … Well, it's essentially the lowest grade he can

get. To be fair, he also gets in an electro-technical lab that same year a '6'. So

certainly, he has already developed that which I think is his hallmark. And that

is he turns his attention and is assiduous in those areas where he wants to. And

other areas, he just ignores.

Narrator-: That kind of confidence -- almost arrogance -- brought Einstein into direct conflict with the

head of the physics department, Professor Heinrich Weber.

Heinrich Weber: You are a clever boy, Einstein, a clever boy. But you have a great fault. You never

let yourself be told anything.

Albert Einstein: Of course, I wasn't going to be told anything by Weber. As far as I could tell, he

thought that physics had stopped 70 years ago. When I came up with experiments

of my own, he wouldn't hear of it. What could I do? Just sit back and hope that

Weber didn't know what I thought of him?

Narrator: The experiments Einstein wanted to perform turned once again on the unsettling problem of

light. His image of riding a beam of light had told him that very odd things must happen

at the speed-of-light. Einstein's contemporaries focused on the fact that light travels in

waves, which implied that light must move through some type of substance just as waves

on a lake travel through water.

Julian Barbour: And there was really one big mystery. If light was a 'wave' phenomenon, it must

propagate in something. It must be the excitation of something, the vibrations of

something. And they called this something the "ether". And it really was -- for

the 19th

Century -- the foundations of physics.

Narator: The "ether" -- it was thought -- filled every corner of space. The ether was supposed to make

light behave itself, to make its motion conform to everyday experience. In ordinary

circumstances, it's easy to analyze motion. We can measure the speed of the ship relative

to the lake. We can also determine the speed of the sailor crossing the lake -- a little faster

than the boat when he walks forward, a little slower than the boat when he walks back

toward the stern. Speed is relative here on Earth. One can add-or-subtract velocities

depending on which way you move with respect to another moving object.

But the great mystery was would light behave the same way with respect to the ether?

Would speeds add-and-subtract where light is concerned? Several researchers tried to

measure the speed-of-light through the ether using the Earth as-a-whole as the laboratory.

The idea was that the Earth orbits the Sun at 20 miles -per-second, racing through the ether

as it goes. That would set up a wind as the ether rushes past the Earth. And if light

traveling through the ether matched ordinary experience, then a beam of light moving with

the ether wind should move faster than a beam of light struggling in the opposite direction,

against that 20-mile-per-second breeze.

Unfortunately, every attempt to measure such variation in the speed-of-light failed.

With every experiment, the speed-of-light remained rock steady, unchanging in any

direction. Einstein would come to dismiss the notion of an "ether" long before any other

physicist could accept such a radical step. But if there were no ether, then the message was

clear: The speed-of-light was fixed and unchanging -- an exception to all the laws of

motion that govern what happens here on Earth.

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It made no sense, but Einstein was in no position to figure it out. In 1900, he graduated

from the ETH. But his battles with Weber cost him the university job he had expected to

receive. And in Pavia, his father's firm had failed. Einstein desperately needed a job.

Albert Einstein: April, 1901. Esteemed Herr Professor Weiner -- Last summer, I completed my studies

at Zurich Polytheknicum. Amd since I would like to expand the knowledge I

acquired, I am taking the liberty of asking you whether you might need an

assistant. Respectfully yours ...

Esteemed Herr Professor Ostwald -- Permit me to inquire whether you might

have any use for a mathematical physicist familiar with absolute measure …

Esteemed Herr Professor Onnis -- I have learned through a friend that you

have a vacancy for an assistant. I am taking the liberty ...

Narrator: Even Hermann Einstein begged for help for his son.

Esteemed Herr Professor -- please forgive a father who is so bold as to turn to you in

the interests of his son. My son feels profoundly unhappy with his present lack of position.

And his idea that he is now out of touch becomes more entrenched everyday. In addition,

he is oppressed by the thought that he is a burden to us, people of modest means. If you

could secure him an assistant's position, my gratitude would know no bounds. Yours,

Hermann Einstein.

Albert Einstein: I honored all the physicists from the North Sea to the southern tip of Italy with an offer

of my services. But not one responded.

Narrator: And amidst a growing sense of crisis, Mileva became another bone of contention.

FRANCOISE BALIBAR: Einstein's parents were very strongly against Albert marrying Mileva, that

she was too independent. I think his mother said that she is going to be

"always in her books and not cooking for you" or something like that,

mending your socks and saying that she was going to die if he was going

to marry this woman. Maybe she would have died if he had married any

woman. But still, this one obviously was not the right one.

Albert Einstein: July, 1900. Dearest Dolly -- I promise I will not tolerate my parents' opposition to

you. When you failed your exams, I went into Mama's room. She asked, "What will

become of your little Dolly now?" "My wife," I told her. She threw herself on the

bed. "You are ruining your future. If she has a child, you will be in a pretty mess."

At this, my patience finally gave out. I denied completely that we were living in sin.

Narrator: But in the Spring of 1901, Albert and Mileva met in northern Italy for a romantic interlude.

This episode has only recently come to light with the discovery of the couple's early

love-letters.

Albert Einstein: You sweet little witch. You absolutely must come to see me in Como. It will cost

very little of your time, and will be a heavenly joy for me. Bring a happy, light

heart and a clear head. I promise you an outing the likes of which you've never

seen!

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Mileva Maric: I went to Como where a certain person waited for me with open arms and a pounding

heart. We stayed in Como half-a-day, then visited Villa Carlotta. How happy I was

to have my darling to myself, for myself, especially because I saw he was equally

happy.

Narrator: At the Villa Carlotta, the figures of Eros and Psyche that Albert and Mileva saw still dominate

the entrance way. But in Como, Pauline Einstein's fears would come true. Within weeks,

the news reached Albert. Mileva had become pregnant. For the next several months,

Mileva remained in Zurich to re-take exams that she had failed while Albert traveled

throughout Switzerland as a substitute teacher. Desperation began to creep into their

letters.

Albert Einstein: Dear Dolly -- When you are my dear little wife, we'll diligently work on our science

together so we don't become old philistines. Everyone but you seems foreign to me

as if they were separated by an invisible wall.

Narrator: In the Fall, Einstein found a temporary tutoring job in Schaffhausen, north of Zurich. By now

visibly pregnant, Mileva could not be seen with him in the same town. She hid at Stein am

Rhein, 3 miles up the river. Lost amongst the tourists of the famous Rhein Falls near

Schaffhausen, the couple would steal time with each other. The pretense wore on both of

them.

Mileva Maric: My dear naughty little sweetheart -- Now you're not coming tomorrow again, and you

don't even say you're coming on Sunday instead.

Albert Einstein: My dearest Dolly -- I don't want to anger or tease you ever again, only to be an angel

all the time. What a nice illusion. But you'll still love me, won't you, even if I am

the same old rogue?

Narrator: Mileva would always have to compete for Albert's attention.

Albert Einstein: Dear Dolly -- I have just read the most marvelous paper on the production of cathode

rays by ultraviolet light. I am filled with such joys that you absolutely must share

some of it. By the way, how are your studies and our little child-to-be?

Narrator: Mileva's studies were not going well. She failed her exams for a second time, which ended

her hopes for a scientific career. She left Switzerland to give birth in her parent's home

in Hungary. The couple could not marry unless Albert got a real job. They had no

prospects until ...

Albert Einstein: My dear sweetheart -- Yesterday, there was a letter from Marcel in which he tells me

that he takes it for certain that I'll get the position in Bern. I am dizzy with joy

when I think about it -- even happier for you than for myself.

Narrator: Einstein immediately rushed to Bern, 6 months before his work at the Swiss patent office was

to begin.

Albert Einstein: February, 1902. My dearest Dolly -- It's delightful here in Bern. The homes are

uncommonly clean. I have a large, beautiful room with a very comfortable sofa. In

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addition, 6 upholstered chairs and 3 wardrobes. Its plan follows. 'B' is the little

bed, 'G' is a magnificent mirror, and 'J' is me -- your little Albert.

Narrator: In his new home, Einstein resumed the serious study of physics while Mileva remained with

her parents. In January, 1902, she gave birth to a daughter named Lieserl, a child whose

existence has only recently come to light.

Robert Schulmann: Lieserl was discovered in the course of finding the love-letters -- the 54 letters.

And she represented a challenge to Einstein -- I don't think -- of a kind that he

had never had to face before and which I think caused him a lot of pain. I think

it caused Mileva much, even greater pain.

Albert Einstein: Dearest Dolly -- Now that you see that it really is a baby girl as you wished, is she

healthy? Does she cry? I love her so much, and don't even know her yet. All we

need to resolve is how to keep our Lieserl with us. I wouldn't want to have to give

her up.

Narrator: But as a new Swiss civil servant, Einstein could not risk a scandal. Keeping the child could

have cost him the job that had been so difficult to get. After months of wrestling with the

problem, he and Mileva made their decision: Lieserl was to be given up.

Francoise Balibar: It wasn't cruel. It was just something convenient that many people did. Einstein

and Mileva intended to take the child with them later on when they could possibly

get married or when she had finished school. And this was a very ordinary plan, I

think, at that time.

Narrator: In the end, Einstein never saw Lieserl. She fell ill, and all record of her disappears.

Albert Einstein: This marked a turning point for me. I came to understand that I have to disengage

from the momentary, from the merely personal. The essence of a man of my type

lies in what I think, not in what I feel.

Narrator: But even Einstein could not simply will his emotions away. Shortly after Lieserl was born,

Hermann Einstein fell ill. When it became clear that his father was on his deathbed, Albert

rushed to Italy for a final encounter.

Robert Schulmann: Einstein had a very complicated relationship with his father. He was the weaker of

the two parents. He felt very guilty about having demanded and received

money from the father in the times when the father had progressively failed in

the businesses. He also felt guilty because the father had proved to be a failure -

- something that he had set his mind never to be. On the other hand, he was

someone that he loved.

Albert Einstein: My father's failures ruined his health. That's what taught me how cruel Life is. The

endless chase just to fill our stomachs. I wanted to be with him at the end. I came

into his room and we talked a little. That's when he relented and gave me

permission to marry. But then he asked me to leave and he turned his face to the

wall. He died that day alone.

Robert Schulmann: Although Einstein is always pictured as someone who tried to deny emotions -- as

he always said, "I tried to get above the only personal" -- this was a very

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powerful shock to him and something that he perhaps said to himself would

never happen again.

Narrator: A few months after Hermann's death, Albert and Mileva were married in January, 1903.

After returning from the wedding supper, Albert had to wake up his landlord. He had

forgotten his key. Einstein now started at the patent office as Probationary Technical

Expert Third-Class. The job was ideal for the least likely bureaucrat in the Swiss Civil

Service.

Robert Schulmann: While he had to work 6 days-a-week at great hours, 8 hours-a-day, he was able to

consolidate the work in such a way that he could turn to his physics work either

"on the side" or "under the table".

Albert Einstein: You might not think so, but the Patent Office was a far better place for me than the

University. Had I become a lecturer, I would have been forced to produce papers

as fast as possible no matter how trivial. And it isn't easy to resist that kind of

pressure.

Narrator: Instead of a university, Einstein and some friends formed a club which they mockingly called

"The Olympia Academy". The club -- often joined by Einstein's college friend Michele

Besso -- would take long walks through the mountains near Bern, discussing set topics in

physics and in the philosophy of Science.

To outward appearance, Einstein's life now seemed perfectly settled. Mileva gave birth

to their first son Hans Albert in 1904. Einstein had a secure government job, and now his

ideas about physics began to gel. Questions of light and motion -- 10 years in the asking --

suddenly began to come clear. By 1905, Einstein simply accepted that the speed-of-light

was absolutely constant everywhere in Nature.

But that left the problem of motion. There is no difficulty measuring speed here on

Earth. As far as a juggler at the castle can tell, he is standing still while his twin on the boat

juggles away at 5 miles-an-hour. Meanwhile, the juggler afloat sees it differently. He

stands still while the lake, the shore, and his twin recede at 5 miles-an-hour. That's the

principle of Relativity -- the idea that both jugglers can use the same laws of physics to

describe the motion of the pins.

But light is the "wild card". Einstein was convinced that if a beam of light passes both

the juggler at rest and the juggler in motion, each would measure the same speed for light.

But how could that work? What happens to allow both jugglers to agree on the speed-of-

light?

That's when the breakthrough came. Speed is simply a measure of distance traveled in

a unit of time. Einstein realized that if the speed-of-light never changes, then something

else must vary. What if -- Einstein asked himself -- the speed-of-light is constant but the

flow of time is not?

It was an instantly radical thought. To everyone but Einstein, time was absolute,

unchanging, the steady beat of the Universe. The idea that the tick of time could waver

was exceedingly difficult to accept -- even for Einstein.

10

Albert Einstein: Hard? It took me 10 years to get from my first questions about light to my 'Theory of

Relativity'. I went through all sorts of nervous conflicts. And after all that, it

came to me suddenly. It was a beautiful day. My friend Besso and I were out

walking. I was doing most of the talking. I told him that I had been

struggling with a question and needed his help. But as I spoke, the answer

came to me. I stopped in mid-sentence and ran home. The next morning, I

went to him again. "Thank you," I said. "I have completely solved the

problem."

Narrator: But what a solution! To say that time is not the same for all of us, that it flows at a different

rate for someone moving than for someone standing still. Einstein proved it with another

paradox. Can we all agree, he asked, that 2 events are simultaneous when they occur at

precisely the same time?

Actually, no. Einstein staged his thought experiment alongside a railroad track. Set up

2 poles, he said, and then measure the distance between them. Find the midpoint and mark

it. Using a right angle mirror, it is possible to see both poles. Imagine that lightning bolts

hit the 2 poles at once. The observer beside the track could see them both in his mirror and

would be able to confirm that the two events occur at exactly the same time.

But how would the same event look to an observer on a train? He also has a two-sided

mirror. At the instant he reaches the midpoint between the 2 poles, lightning strikes again.

But the moving observer does not see the events as simultaneous. He sees the lightning

strike the pole that he is towards first. Light takes time to move from the pole to the mirror.

And in that time, the train travels towards the forward pole. The light has a shorter distance

to cross to reach the mirror. So the 2 observers -- one moving and one standing still --

cannot agree when the lightning bolts hit the poles. That confirmed what Einstein

intuitively grasped. Time is relative.

Albert Einstein: There is nothing mysterious or unreasonable here. All my theory does is show that

time flows at different rates for each of us. But very few believe me when I tell

them it's that simple.

Narrator: It took Einstein 5 weeks to move from his first insight that time varies to the finished form of

what we now call the Special Theory of Relativity. His theory showed that the faster you

move, the slower your clock ticks compared to that of a stationary observer.

Julian Barbour: He immediately realized -- and says so already in his first paper -- that "clocks which

are moving relative to me must appear to go slower from my viewpoint." And he

even says that if you took a clock around the Equator and you had a clock at the

pole of the Earth, the one that went round the equator would be going slower than

the one at the pole. He already said that in 1905.

Narrator: Which means -- hard as it may be to believe -- that time actually passes more slowly on the

drive to work than it does while sitting at a desk. In a car traveling at 30 mph, changes in

time and length are imperceptible. But if you could drive at 90 percent of the speed-of-

light, the effects become striking. You would shrink to 44 percent of your usual length

from the point-of-view of someone watching from the side.

11

And here, finally, was the answer to Einstein's first question about light. What would

happen if he could ride a beam of light? Nothing, for he never could. At the speed-of-light

itself, length shrinks to zero and time stands still.

Julian Barbour: Which at the first glance seems absolutely crazy, you would say he's cheating. He

can't do it that way. And yet when you look at it, it is totally and beautifully

consistent and it works. And that was it. That was the discovery of the Special

Theory of Relativity.

Narrator: On the 30th

of June, 1905, Einstein submitted his new theory to the Annelen Der Physik -- the

leading German physics journal -- in a paper titled, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving

Bodie.". The paper stood alone. There were no references to earlier work, no footnotes.

Einstein did make one acknowledgement, thanking Michele Besso for listening so well as

he pondered the mystery of Relativity. He made no mention of Mileva. At one time,

Einstein and Mileva did seek an intellectual partnership, even on the problems of light and

motion as he made clear in one early letter.

Albert Einstein: My dear Kitten -- You are and always remain a shrine for me to which no one has

access. I know that of all people you love me the most and understand me the best.

I'd be so happy and proud when we can bring our work on relative motion to a

successful conclusion.

Francoise Balibar: The question then is what was really Mileva's contribution to Special Relativity? In

my opinion -- but this is controversial -- she did not really contribute to it. She

was more of a kind of a "sounding board", meaning that she could understand

what he was thinking about and even critique his ideas. But she had no real new

idea by her own. You can see that in her letters where she never speaks about

intellectual matters.

Narrator: After 2 years of married life, housework and the care of her husband and of their son had

transformed Mileva's role. The couple still seemed content. But as a physicist, Einstein

was on his own.

Robert Schulmann: Those very traits that are exhibited in his science, the ruthlessness with which he is

able to seize upon a problem, the very broad grasp of the literature and homing

in then on what question is important and what, which questions have to be

answered. This same kind of restless -- ruthlessness, if you will -- is I think

exhibited on the interpersonal side, too. And it's not a coincidence.

Narrator: Throughout 1905, Einstein overflowed with ideas. Even today it is called the "Annus

Mirabilis" -- Einstein's Miracle Year. He completed breakthrough works on the quantum

theory of light, exploring light's particle nature, and on the existence of the atom. Then in

what was almost an afterthought, he applied Special Relativity to mass and energy. And

this is what Einstein found.

E = mc2, which means the energy contained in any object is equal to its mass times the

speed-of-light squared -- an enormous number!

Albert Einstein: Every gram of matter contains a tremendous amount of energy. But if none of that

energy escapes, none of that energy can be observed . It's like a fabulously rich man

who never spends anything . No one can tell how rich he is.

12

Narrator: And if mass contains energy, then energy has mass. Every second, the Earth is struck by 4-

1/2 pounds of sunlight. But as remarkable as Einstein's discoveries were, the World didn't

seem to notice at first. Who could believe that a 26-year-old patent clerk who worked on

physics in his spare time would alter forever our understanding of the Universe?

Albert Einstein: Why was I the one? Normal adults never stop to think about such concepts as space

and time. These are things children ask about. My secret is that I remained a child.

I always asked the simplest questions. I ask them still. All I have tried to do in my

life is ask a few questions. Could God have created the Universe any other way or

had He no choice? And, how would I have made the universe if I had the chance?

Narrator: It was Albert Einstein's astounding, almost arrogant ambition to read the mind of God. And

he succeeded time and again, completely transforming our understanding of space, time,

and light. But as his newly published papers revealed, there was a price that he and those

closest to him had to pay for each and every triumph.

Albert Einstein: I have learned to isolate myself from the unpredictability of human relations. Life

tends to get clogged up. Especially marriage.

Narrator: That conflict between Science and human relations played out across all of Einstein's adult

life. In 1905, he and his wife Mileva were living a quiet life in Bern with their infant son.

Even after the publication of "Special Relativity" and the other discoveries of his miracle

year, Einstein remained an examiner at the Swiss patent office.

Albert Einstein: January, 1907. Dear friend -- I am still a federal ink piecer with a decent salary. I

work everyday, 8 hours at the Patent Office, and at least one hour of private

lessons. Yet I enjoy it here, and there is much thinking to be done.

Narrator-: But in science, Einstein was no longer an outsider. A growing number of physicists made

the pilgrimage to the Patent Office. They would trek up to the top floor and ask a smartly

dressed young man to lead them to Dr. Einstein. Einstein later told a friend that he had

never met a real physicist before. His friend responded, "Didn't you look in the mirror?"

But even as his reputation grew, Einstein began to grasp the limitations of his Special

Theory of Relativity. In 1907, Einstein was asked to summarize everything then known

about Special Relativity for a leading physics journal. He saw that his theory encompassed

all of physics except for one crucial gap.

Abraham Pais: He said to himself, "Now I must see if I can fit into that framework all of what I can

think of and everything could be fitted. Mechanics, as it was known. There's a

theory of Maxwell, as it was known, electromagnetic theory. But there was one thing

he couldn't fit in. And that was gravitation.

Narrator-: Gravity seemed straight forward enough. A pound of pork, a pound of cherries or of

anything will move the scales the same amount because the Earth's gravity pulls on

them all in exactly the same way. Yet what the Earth does to make itself felt by meat,

potatoes, and us -- that no one knew. Isaac Newton had shown that gravity governs the

motion of the Solar System as well.

But even Newton's theory could not explain how gravity exerts its influence

throughout the Universe. That was the mystery of gravity. How is it that the heavens

13

stay on track? What is it that orders the Universe as a whole? Einstein -- still in his 20s

-- was chasing the biggest game in physics, a tremendous gamble as the great Max

Planck tried to tell him.

Albert Einstein: Max Planck warned me not to work on the theory of gravity. The problem was too

difficult, he said. And even if I succeeded, no one would believe me. But I took it

on anyway … and never worked so hard in all my life. The first theory of

Relativity was child's play compared to the problem of gravitation.

Narrator: Gravity is the most democratic phenomenon in the Universe. It treats every object the same,

no matter what it is made of, no matter how big it is. There were no exceptions to give

Einstein a place to start. He had no idea how to approach the problem, until ...

Albert Einstein: Then all of a sudden, it occurred to me. Der gluckliche gedanke meines Lebens ("the

happiest thought of my life")! If a man falls from the roof of a house, he will not

feel his own weight.

Narrator: In another of his "thought experiments", Einstein put the idea this way. He asked, "What if

someone were in an elevator when the cable snapped? He would float, weightless, as he

and the elevator both free-fall at the same rate in the Earth's gravitational field.

Then, Einstein changed the scene. What if the passenger were in a rocket ship far from

Earth? He would still float with no gravitational field to hold his feet to the floor. But

what would happen if the rocket began to move? As it accelerates, the floor of the rocket

rises. On its way up, it would catch the passenger and -- to him -- it would seem that

gravity was holding his feet to the floor.

And if gravity and acceleration feel the same, perhaps they are the same. And there is

no difference between accelerating in outer space or standing in the Earth's gravitational

field, waiting for the elevator door to open. This was classic Einstein. His contemporaries

found this equivalence of acceleration and gravity interesting. But only he realized that

it could serve as the foundation of what would become a revolutionary new theory of

gravity.

Martin Klein: If I had the opportunity of asking Einstein one question, I would ask him how he could

be so sure of the principles on which he built his theories? How could he be so sure

that the dear Lord require that the relativity postulate be satisfied throughout Nature?

How could he be so sure that the equivalence principle really held everywhere and at

all times? And if he could tell us how he did that, that would be something.

Narrator: What we do know is that he did it with ferocious concentration to the exclusion of all else.

Which meant that over time, he gave less-and-less attention to one person -- his wife,

Mileva. When they courted, he had promised that they would be scientific partners -- two

against the World. But Einstein's priorities had changed.

Albert Einstein: I am not much good with people, and I am not a family man. I want my peace. I feel

the insignificance of the individual, and it makes me happy.

Narrator: Relations between Einstein and his wife grew worse when they moved to Prague in 1911.

Einstein had been named a full professor at the German university there -- a major step up

14

the professional ladder. But for Mileva -- cloistered in their apartment and with a second

son to care for -- Prague felt like exile.

Robert Schulmann: Mileva felt she was being marginalized. Evermore pushed to the side, less-and-

less important. When the division of labor between Einstein and Mileva was

that he do the scientific work and she be expected to do the domestic side of

things, I think the pretense that they had tried to maintain over the years fell

apart completely.

Francoise Balibar: Just think of it. She had failed in her ambitions. When I say "ambitions", I don't

mean ambitious, getting power, or something like that. But becoming a new kind

of woman in a world of men. This had completely failed.

Narrator-: Recently-discovered letters revealed an uneasy mix of pride, fear, and a hint of jealousy.

Mileva Einstein: I am very happy about his success, which he has really earned. I only hope and wish

that fame does not exert a detrimental influence on his human side.

Narrator: Behind the walls of their home, Mileva's depression and bitterness grew.

Mileva Einstein: Not much time remains for his wife. I often ask myself whether I'm not a person who

feels a great deal and suffers because of that. I am starved for love, and I almost

believe wicked Science is guilty.

Albert Einstein: When I think seriously day and night, I cannot easily engage in loving chatter in the

same way one can't play the violin if he has just been working with a large hammer.

Narrator: There could be no compromise. Science would always come first. Especially the problem of

gravitation. Einstein now asked if acceleration and gravity are equivalent, what happens

while accelerating that reveals something new about gravity? Back to his rocket ship,

Einstein resumed his thought experiment. As the rocket accelerates, a ray of light shining

through the window hits the other side at a lower point than it entered. To a passenger, the

light appears to curve. If acceleration can bend light, then -- by the equivalence principle --

gravity must do the same. It seemed a crucial clue. But where would it lead?

Albert Einstein: Gravity does more than make things fall. That much was clear. But I still had no idea

what it was. My office in Prague looked out over an asylum. And there were times

when I felt a certain kinship with the inmates. They were the madmen who did not

concern themselves with physics. I was the madman who did.

Narrator: The asylum is still there -- walls, bars, inmates, and all. For his part, Einstein was only half-

joking. Over the next 5 years, gravity became almost his sole obsession. In 1911, the first

Solvay conference in Brussels brought together Europe's most famous physicists. It was an

invitation-only affair. Einstein was the youngest to attend. Gabrielle Oppenheim's father

was rector of the University of Brussels. She is now 103. But she was 19 when Einstein

came to call.

Gabrielle Oppenheim: Well, we had a big soiree because my father and mother invited many people.

And that day, they were all physicists because there was a congress of

physics. And my husband said, "That gentleman" -- he pointed him out --

"will be one of the greatest of those physicists."

15

Narrator: The former patent clerk now traded ideas with the likes of Madame Curie, the great Dutch

physicist Hendrik Lorentz, and the English atomic scientist Ernest Rutherford. Even in

such company, Einstein was recognized as first among equals.

Gabrielle Oppenheim: My husband said, "That gentleman, he will be one of the greatest." So, I gave

him one sandwich more. It's true!

Narrator: There was one person who missed Einstein's triumph -- Mileva!

Mileva Einstein: It must have been very interesting. I would have loved only too well to have listened a

little and to have seen all those fine people. It's been an eternity since we've seen

each other. Will you still recognize me?

Narrator: What Einstein wanted in marriage was domestic comfort, not an intellectual partner.

Albert Einstein: October, 1911. En route. My dear little wife -- Around 1:00 in the morning, I found

the ham and immediately polished it off. The apples also did an infinite amount of

good in this frightful steam bath. Many kisses to you and the children.

Narrator: As the months passed, Mileva's isolation deepened. But the worst shock was still to come.

On a visit to Germany, Einstein had a cousin Elsa Einstein who came from a town and

background similar to his own. Einstein saw in Elsa a chance for a domestic life free of

demands and conflict.

Robert Schulmann: He had in Elsa a link to this place. She shared a lot of the traits that are commonly

associated with this, and that he would have identified with very strongly, a

certain kind of unaffected pleasure in the simple things in life and enjoyment of

food and drink. And I think that she represented that for him wherever he went.

And that sense of place that she represented went with him.

Narrator: Mileva had little chance against Elsa's uncomplicated appeal. The two cousins began a

correspondence that reveals their growing bond.

Albert Einstein: Dear Elsa -- Thank you so much for your letter. There is no book on Relativity

comprehensible to laymen. But what do you have a cousin for? If you ever happen

to be in Zurich, then we -- without my wife, who is unfortunately very jealous -- will

take a nice walk, and I will tell you about those curious things I have discovered.

Dear Elsa -- Both of us are poor devils, each shackled to our unrelenting duties.

But I must tell you once again -- I love you. I would be so happy to walk just a few

steps at your side. I suffer because I love one at whom I can only look.

Narrator: That was it for a time. In 1912, Einstein broke with Elsa and moved to Zurich to teach at the

ETH -- the federal polytechnic where he and Mileva had studied. Einstein had been an

undistinguished student. Now he was coming back as a full professor of theoretical

physics. Here he embarked on the most intense effort of his life, renewing his attack on the

gravity problem. He started with an idea from a former teacher -- Hermann Minkowski --

who had doubts about his troublesome pupil until he read Einstein's 1905 paper on Special

Relativity.

16

Julian Barbour: After Einstein had created the theory of Special Relativity, it happened that his old

math teacher -- whose lectures he'd skipped -- looked at Einstein's papers and said,

"Well, I wouldn't have thought he was capable of this. This is really good!"

Albert Einstein: Minkowski had called me a lazy dog. And perhaps he was right. But Relativity

seemed to impress him. I would have felt some sense of triumph, only then he

translated it into mathematical terms … whereupon even I couldn't understand my

theory.

Narrator: Einstein may not have understood it. But to Minkowski, it was clear: Space and Time are

fused together into a single, 4-dimensional picture of the World.

Michio Kaku: Think of a vast arena -- a vast arena where 4 numbers can record the unique location of

any event. For example, with just 3 numbers, we can locate any object in the

Universe from the tip of your nose to the farthest galaxy. 3 numbers -- length, width,

and height -- allow us to record the position of all objects. Now add time and with

this 4th

dimension, we're able to record any event in the Universe from the explosion

of a star to a hot Saturday night date.

Narrator: Here is one of the most common space time experiences -- meeting a friend on a summer day.

This meeting takes place at a particular location -- the intersection of the two paths -- and

one hopes at a precise time -- 10 minutes past 10:00. As Minkowski recognized, every

event forms a unique mathematical picture in space-time. Here, as the seconds pass, the

man stays in one place in space but moves continuously through the time dimension until

his date arrives. As the idea of "space-time" sunk in, Einstein realized he could go one step

beyond.

Julian Barbour: He had this wonderful piece of work which Minkowski had done in transforming his

own work into the idea of a 4-dimensional space-time. But then Einstein hit on the

idea that this wasn't a rigid straight space-time. It must be curved. And it must

have variations of curvature within it.

Narrator: That was perhaps Einstein's most inspired leap of logic. He asked what if the shape of space

and time could warp and curve? What would happen then? His answer: Gravity happens!

Michio Kaku: Einstein's brilliant idea -- the idea that makes the whole thing work -- was the fact that it

is matter and energy which drive the bending of space and time. Throw a rock into a

pond, for example. When you throw a rock into a pond, ripples start to form. It is the

rock which creates the ripples on the surface of the pond. Therefore, the presence of a

rock creates the "ripples" in space and time that we call 'gravity'.

Narrator: Space-time without matter is flat. But add a rock -- or a star -- and the whole picture changes.

The enormous mass of the star creates a huge dent. Anything that passes close enough

will roll down and around that warp in space-time. That's gravity -- the straightest path

through the curves in space-time created by matter and energy. It was this picture that

showed Einstein how gravity holds the Earth in orbit. The Earth simply follows the

warp in space-time created by the Sun.

Einstein published an early version of his new theory of gravity in 1913. There

were still pieces missing, but he impressed the one audience that mattered. In that year,

17

Max Planck -- Germany's leading physicist -- made the pilgrimage to Zurich with a

colleague to offer Einstein a job in Berlin.

Albert Einstein: Planck and Nernst looked me over as if I were a prize hen. But I didn't know if I could

lay another egg. I told them I needed to think about it and would meet them at the

station the next day. If my answer was no, I would wear a white flower in my lapel.

But if the flower was red, then Berlin it would be.

Narrator: It was the climax of a career. Berlin was the World's leading center for theoretical physics.

Without doubt, the former patent clerk had arrived. But for Mileva, the promise of Berlin

held no attraction. The marriage lay in shambles. The intense concentration on gravity had

eroded all that remained of a family life.

Albert Einstein: In my circumstances, I turn towards Science which raises me up from the valley of

tears into the quiet atmosphere, impersonal, without swearing and yammering.

Narrator: By 1913, he and Mileva were completely estranged, and Einstein resumed contact with Elsa.

Albert Einstein: December, 1913. Dear Elsa -- It isn't easy to get a divorce if one does not have any

proof of the other party's guilt. So I treat my wife as an employee whom I cannot

fire. I have my own bedroom and avoid being alone with her. But how nice it

would be if one of these days, we could share a small, unassuming household.

Narrator: The Einstein family moved to Berlin in April, 1914. In July after just 3 months, Mileva gave

up. She and her sons returned to Zurich. It was over.

Albert Einstein: It is still a great sorrow to me that I have been cut off from my sons. I even thought of

seeking custody of Hans Albert. But it was out of the question. Mileva poisoned

the minds of both boys against me. She was impossible to live with -- jealous of

everyone, everything. How could I ever have married her?

Narrator: Despite his sense of loss, the harsh truth remained. Einstein never had much patience for

everyday demands. Even those of his sons.

Robert Schulmann: The demands of the children were something that he felt badly about rejecting.

But he said himself that he was not a good father. I think that Einstein really

wanted to make a go of it in the first marriage. But one has to be careful, of

course, to ask what was he prepared to sacrifice to make it work? And there, I

think, he fails rather miserably.

Narrator: Amidst such private turmoil, Einstein faced his first public moral challenge. In August 1914,

World War I began. The war fever that gripped Germany disgusted Einstein. And when

93 leading academics -- including his friend Max Planck -- issued a manifesto in defense of

German aggression, Einstein helped launch a counter-petition urging peace. It got 3

signatures.

Albert Einstein: Europe -- in all her insanity -- has started something unbelievable. In living through

this so-called 'great epic', I find it difficult to believe that I belong to such an idiotic,

rotten species -- the species that actually boasts of its freedom of will, heroism on

command, senseless violence, and all of the loathsome nonsense that goes by the

name of 'patriotism'.

18

Narrator: A pacifist in an armed capital, Einstein lived and worked in isolation on the outskirts of

Berlin. Amidst Europe's folly, he turned again to his theory of gravity. He faced one last

hurdle. He could not solve the mathematics of curved space-time. The problem had

stumped him for 3 years.

Jurgen Renn: There was not just one flash of insight which brought about General Relativity. Einstein

had to cope with the mathematical difficulties. He had to revise his physical ideas a

number of times. And he was ready to give up at a certain point, desperately.

Narrator: Renn and his colleagues in Berlin have been studying Einstein's notebooks. And Einstein's

struggles from 1912 forward leap off the page.

Jurgen Renn: And here, you see, this is exactly the kind of object that he wants to isolate. This is the

object which would lead him to the classical theory of gravitation. What you see in

these pages is a human drama unfolding. And a drama that might have had many

endings and not only good ones. He was at times desperate. You can see on certain

of these pages that he turned to a friend to help him with the mathematics because he

was no longer knowing where to go.

Narrator: Einstein's friend was Marcel Grossman, his college classmate, whose math notes he had once

borrowed. Grossman again tutored Einstein -- this time in the complex geometry of

curved surfaces.

Jurgen Renn: Grossman, you see … it seems really that he has set Einstein on the royal road towards

the correct solution of 1915.

Narrator: Grossman gave Einstein the mathematical tool he needed to complete his analysis of gravity.

The missing pieces were falling into place.

[StealthSkater note: Grossman happened upon Riemann's 1854 lecture on "The Foundations of

Geometry". Riemann had correctly formulated what makes space-time bend and

curve. But he didn't know what the "right-hand" side of the equation was. It was

Einstein's keen physical insight that led him to conclude the matter-energy causes

space-time curvature. But the great work of Riemann -- a student of Gauss -- found a

permanent home in General Relativity as Einstein copied it almost line-for-line.]

Jurgen Renn: I believe it's the first time he has seen it. But it's not the first time he's looking at these

terms because he has encountered them earlier on the previous pages. There he was

simply stumbling around without having all of the mathematical tools he needed.

And once he started to "speak" -- so to say -- in this new mathematical language, he

achieved results that he first had to grope to understand. One of the things we can

study on the basis of the notebooks that have survived is actually the correct solution,

which 3 years later he would publish triumphantly as the General Theory of

Relativity. But when he first expressed it in this new language, he didn't understand

it himself.

Narrator: It took Einstein 3 years to master all the subtleties. By the fall of 1915, he was ready to put

the theory to the test. The orbits of the planets were understood with extraordinary

precision -- with one exception. Mercury's orbit shifted slightly, unaccountably, every

year.

19

Martin Klein: It's a very small number, previously totally unexplained. Now here on the basis of this

theory -- which he had invented -- out of nothing in a certain sense, out of his view of

how God would have had to make the Universe to make it right. He is able to

calculate this very real, small effect, and get the right answer. That could give you

palpitations.

Abraham Pais: And I believe at that moment, Einstein said, "I don't care what the World will say. I am

right, because the Lord has told me 'calculate the perihelion motion of Mercury and

you will see'." And he did! And it came out.

Albert Einstein: When I found that my calculations predicted the motion of Mercury exactly,

something snapped inside me. The feeling was so extreme. I couldn't work for

days. I was beside myself. In all my life, I never felt such joy.

Narrator: The calculation vindicated Einstein's radical idea that space-time is curved. Mercury -- the

innermost planet -- shifts its orbit as it travels around the dent in space and time created by

the Sun's huge mass. Mass everywhere deforms the space around it. Even light -- as

Einstein had recognized years before -- must follow all the curves in space and time,

mapping the shape of the Universe as a whole. It is this understanding that drives the

scientific story of creation: the "Big Bang", the expanding Universe, the structure of

galaxies, the great sweep of modern cosmology derives directly from this single equation.

Space and time on the left, matter and energy on the right. This is the General Theory of

Relativity -- Einstein's theory of gravity.

Michio Kaku: General Relativity is in a class all by itself. We are just stunned -- even decades later --

that he could come out with that theory back in 1916. I would say he was 50 years

ahead of his time.

Narrator: 8 years of sustained effort took their toll. Einstein collapsed near death in 1917. His illness

marked him. This photograph from 1920 shows the change. He was nursed back to health

by his cousin Elsa. Their relationship had cooled during the War. But now, he needed her.

Albert Einstein: I have gained 4 pounds since last summer thanks to Elsa's good care. She herself

cooks everything for me.

Narrator: Her influence showed in Einstein's renewed attention to his appearance. Finally in 1919, the

couple decided to marry. Einstein's divorce settlement with Mileva revealed characteristic

self-confidence. He promised her the money from his Nobel Prize, despite the fact that he

would not win the award until 1922. Einstein never lacked self-confidence.

But the Spring of 1919 was special, even for him. A silent film explained Einstein's

breakthrough to the public with animation by Max Fleischer, creator of "Betty Boop".

General Relativity predicted that starlight passing close to the Sun would curve around the

warp in space-time created by the Sun's mass. That bending of the light would make the

star seem to occupy a new position in the sky to an observer on Earth. This could only be

seen during a total eclipse of the Sun.

A British expedition traveled to the South Atlantic in 1919 to photograph an eclipse. It

would be the first public test of Einstein's theory. May 29th

dawned overcast over the

20

Atlantic. But then, the sky cleared and in the shadow of the eclipse, light warped around

the Sun. Gravity bends light -- exactly as Einstein had predicted.

Albert Einstein: What would I have felt if the English had found nothing? I said at the time, "I would

feel sorry for the dear Lord." The theory is correct. For me, General Relativity was

simply too beautiful to be false. It was inconceivable that the English would come

back proving me wrong.

Narrator: The eclipse results were announced in November. Literally overnight, Einstein became

world-famous, the first scientist celebrity of the 20th

Century. This was the birth of

Einstein the icon; the embodiment of scientific wisdom; a friendly, incomprehensible sage.

In the aftermath of a devastating war, he was the perfect hero for his day.

Abraham Pais: The year was 1919. The World was in chaos because the First World War had ended.

Nations were tired. Empires had fallen. And there comes this little man who says, "I

proclaim that there are new laws of the Universe." It was a historic moment against a

background of confusion. It's like Moses coming down the mountain with the tablets.

Narrator: Einstein the German -- accepting honors at a French university -- was more than a scientist.

He was a symbol of the hope for Peace. No scientist had ever received such public

adulation. When Einstein and fellow superstar Charlie Chaplin crossed paths, the two

compared notes.

Albert Einstein: With fame, I have become more-and-more stupid, which of course is a very common

phenomenon. But you have to take it all with good humor. Charlie Chaplin had it

right. When he and I met, we were surrounded by people calling our names. "What

does it all mean?" I asked him. "Nothing," he replied.

Narrator: Not quite "nothing". Einstein did enjoy some of the pleasures that fame can bring as he began

to step out in Berlin society. But Einstein's basic style remained unchanged, especially at

his country house as Peter Plesch -- son of Einstein's doctor -- recalls.

Peter Plesch: He never carried a hat when he was out in the Sun, when he was sailing, when he was in

the countryside. And if the Sun, he thought, got a bit too strong for him, he would take

out his handkerchief and he would proceed to make a hat for himself by knotting the

corners. And this actually is very interesting, because the turning of the flat surface

into a curved surface is really a very interesting physical phenomenon, since Relativity

theory has as one of its ingredients the curvature of space. And the practical device was

very practical. And it worked like that with the 4 corners. And that was his hat.

Narrator: Throughout the 1920s, Elsa reveled in her husband's increasingly prominent position. But

Einstein drew sharp lines between them. They had separate bedrooms. She was not to

enter his study. And Einstein kept company with other, younger women.

Albert Einstein: Marriage is the unsuccessful attempt to make something lasting out of an incident. All

marriages are dangerous.

Robert Schulmann: Einstein had wanted sex without complications. [StealthSkater: don't we all!]

He also wanted relationships with his closest family members without

complications. The pursuit of ladies -- in this context then -- is one where the

21

sense of obligation is at a minimum but the pursuit of pleasure is maintained.

And the pursuit of the greatest priority -- physics -- is never in question.

Albert Einstein: My friend Besso has lived happily with the same woman for the whole of his adult life.

I failed twice rather disgracefully. I can love humanity, it seems. But when it

comes to close personal ties with individual men and women, I am a horse of a

single harness, not cut out for tandem or team work.

Narrator: But for important causes, Einstein would break his solitary rule. After the First World War,

he came increasingly to ally himself with a group he had left behind in childhood: the

community of European Jews. Anti-Semitism was spreading virulently in Germany. Some

German scientists even attacked Einstein himself for what they call his immoral, "Jewish"

physics. In response, Einstein ever more publicly identified himself as a Jew.

Albert Einstein: I am glad that you have given me the opportunity of expressing to you here my deep

sense of gratitude as a man, as a good European, and as a Jew. I am a Jew, certainly,

but not a practicing one. It was different when I was boy. I was very ferverent. I

even sang religious songs on my way to school.

But then, I read my first books on Science. So much for the face of Abraham.

And yet over time, I have come to realize that behind anything -- behind everything --

is an order that we glimpse only indirectly. This is religiousness. In this sense, I am

a religious man.

Narrator: It was Einstein's deep belief in the order of Nature that led him first to ponder the mystery of

light and to arrive at his Special Theory of Relativity. It led him on to include gravity in

his expanding picture of the Universe. But Einstein's abiding faith that Nature must make

sense set him on a collision course with the next great breakthrough in physics.

In 1927, the 5th

Solvay conference brought Einstein together with the leading

proponents of the revolutionary theory of Quantum Mechanics --the description of nature

at the very smallest scale. While Einstein had focused on the large-scale structure of the

Universe, younger scientists -- led by Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr -- explored the

atom and the tiny building blocks of energy and matter called "quanta". These young

researchers found that uncertainty and randomness govern the physics of the very small.

Einstein himself had pioneered the study of the quantum. But he loathed the notion that

there was anything uncertain in Nature.

Albert Einstein: I don't deny that quantum mechanics is useful up to a point. But I am convinced that

there is a deeper theory that will replace the uncertainty at the center of it. As I told

Niels Bohr, "God does not play dice with the Universe". Unfortunately, I failed to

convince him.

Narrator: Bohr's reply? Who was Einstein to tell the Lord what to do?

Abraham Pais: There's a certain arrogance in the sense that Einstein says, "God does not play dice."

How does he know? And Bohr is, of course, is entirely right. You can't know what

the Lord has up his sleeve.

Narrator: Einstein never warmed to Quantum Mechanics despite a lifetime of arguments with Bohr. He

had grander ambitions -- a theory that would unify the fundamental forces of Nature within

22

a single, comprehensive picture. Few of his contemporaries thought such a unification

possible. No matter. Einstein had gone his own way before; he would do so again.

Albert Einstein: I have become an obstinate heretic in the eyes of my colleagues. I am generally

regarded as a sort of petrified object, rendered blind and deaf by the years. I find

this role not too distasteful as it corresponds very well with my temperament.

Martin Klein: It was a willed choice on his part to do what he felt only he could do, because most of

physics -- most of the physics community -- wasn't interested in pursuing his idea of a

Unified Field Theory. He felt that it ought to be done because it could lead to a new

foundation for Quantum Mechanics. At least, he hoped it would. And he would do

it. And if they didn't like it, well, too bad.

Narrator: Unified Field Theory was what Einstein called his still unformed idea. It would subsume

Relativity and Quantum Mechanics within a formulation simpler and more comprehensive

than either. He would seek his unified vision for the rest of his life. But alone, in exile. In

the late 1920s, the Nazi Party's power grew steadily. By 1932, Adolph Hitler was on the

verge of becoming Germany's dictator. No enemy was safe -- especially the most famous

Jew in the world. Einstein himself had already received death threats. And as he had as a

boy, he once again prepared to flee Germany. Leaving was almost a relief.

Albert Einstein: I have never really belonged to any country or state, to my circle of friends, or even

my family. In fact, my need to withdraw within myself has increased over the

years. My isolation is often bitter, to be sure. But I have never regretted it. If I am

cut off from the understanding and sympathy of others, I am also independent of

their opinions and prejudices.

Narrator: In early 1933, Einstein and Elsa set sail for the United States. They never returned to Europe.

Newsreel Interviewer: What do you think of Prohibition, Professor?

Man: He doesn't drink at all, so he is not interested in this question. {laughter}

Narrator: Einstein never lost the ability to please a crowd. But his need for solitude brought him to the

quiet college town of Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein settled quickly into a routine,

walking every morning to his office at the Institute for Advanced Study and returning in the

afternoon to his modest home on Mercer Street. He never learned to drive. In America,

Einstein gave free rein to his eccentric streak such as showing up without socks for his

induction as a citizen of the United States. Einstein always refused to play the role of the

proper professor. This was Einstein, the wise sprite.

But all this good humor masked growing isolation. In 1936, his wife Elsa died after a

brief illness. Einstein wrote to a friend that his bearishness was accentuated by Elsa's death

who, he said, "was more attached to human beings than I." Einstein never saw Mileva

again. She died in 1949. His son Eduard -- a schizophrenic -- remained confined to an

asylum in Switzerland until his death in 1966. His older son Hans Albert became a

professor of engineering in California, but saw his father only rarely.

23

The quest for a Unified Field Theory continued. Einstein never found it. But his sense

for the important question remained unsurpassed.

Michio Kaku: Some people think that Einstein wasted the last 30 years of his life chasing after this

Unified Field Theory. Well, I believe that we are all greatly indebted because Einstein

showed us the way. Today, unification is the name of the game. We have hundreds

of physicists now trying to unite the nuclear force with gravity and electromagnetic

force. We are all indebted. We are all essentially inheriting the mantle that Einstein

left for us.

[StealthSkater note: Actually, Einstein adopted an almost Edison-like approach to his inability to

mathematically connect the 4 fundamental forces. He said he was leaving

manuscript-after-manuscript in his memoirs so that some other fool wouldn't

make the same mistakes that he made. Recalling Edison's thousands of

experiments before the electric light bulb was invented, then "no failed

experiment is a bad one" as long as you learn by it.]

Narrator: Einstein passed the War years quietly. His famous letter to Roosevelt urged nuclear research,

but Einstein himself had no role in building the bomb. After the War, the outside world

would seek out Einstein for views on causes of all sorts. David Ben Gurion even came to

Mercer Street to offer Einstein the presidency of the new State of Israel. To the relief of

both, Einstein declined. Science still came first, even if his unified theory stubbornly

refused to take shape. Finally in the spring of 1955, Einstein's heart began to fail. He

entered the hospital and then, on April 15th ...

Abraham Pais: He called his secretary. He wanted his fountain pen, his glasses, and his latest piece of

notes. And Einstein, of course, knew that his time was imminent, to go. But he

wanted a calculator. And he sat down and began to calculate. That is a story that

makes you shudder. It makes me shudder. He knew he would not see whatever

would come out of these calculations by way of achievement. But it didn't matter to

him.

Narrator: ... Einstein died just after midnight, April 16, 1955. He was 76. Albert Einstein changed

forever our conception of space, time, and the structure of the Universe. To him, that

was what truly mattered. The rest, he said, could be forgotten.

Albert Einstein: In my life, I have always sought to gain just a glimpse of the order that lies hidden in

Nature. All Science requires faith in the inner harmony of the World. Our longing

for understanding is eternal.

ANNOUNCER: Space. Time. Light. Matter. Learn more about the theories, and the man that changed

our understanding of the Universe. Meet the Einstein you never knew on NOVA's

website at pbs.org.

To order this show for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, call 1-800-949-8670.

And to learn more about how science can solve the mysteries of our world, ask about

our many other NOVA videos.

NOVA is a production of WGBH-Boston.

24

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