The Fascinating History Behind the FBI’s Surveillance of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein is largely known to be the 20th century's most influential physicist. Even though Einstein was a brainiac, it doesn't mean he lived a boring life. In fact, those who knew Einstein called him absent-minded, fun-loving, and a little quirky. Read on to learn all about Einstein's secret life outside the classroom.
Einstein Was Born With A Huge Head
Considering how valuable his brain turned out to be, it's no wonder that Albert Einstein was born with such a large head. In fact, his head was so big when he was born that it was misshapen.
However, Einstein grew into his big head within a couple of weeks.
He Had Difficulty Speaking At A Young Age
Einstein did not begin to speak until he was three years old. Once he did start speaking, he would repeat every sentence to himself under his breath.
Dr. Thomas Sowell then coined the term "Einstein Syndrome," which is used when exceptionally bright people have delayed speech.
A Compass Was His Greatest Inspiration
When Einstein was five years old, he was sick in bed when his father gave him a pocket compass to entertain and pass the time.
Einstein was immediately fascinated by the fact that whichever way he turned the compass, the needle would turn as well. After holding the compass, he wanted to learn more about how natural forces work.
He Was Building Things At A Young Age
Einstein's sister, Maja, has reportedly talked about Einstein's affinity for puzzles and building complex structures out of his toy blocks.
She even claimed that Einstein once built a tower of playing cards that was 14 stories high!
No, He Didn't Flunk Out Of Math Class
One of the most pertinent rumors about Einstein is that he failed math class as a child because he didn't want to pay attention. The truth is, he was constantly at the top of his class throughout grade school.
In reality, Einstein had mastered differential and integral calculus by the time he was 15, and he was entirely self-taught.
He Was A High School Dropout
The future physicist left high school at age 15 in order to emigrate from Germany. He wanted to avoid state-mandated military service in order to keep up his studies.
The rest of his family didn't want to leave Germany, so Einstein moved to Switzerland on his own.
He Failed His University Entrance Exam
Einstein was only 16 years old when he applied to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic school. The school focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, so it should have been easy for Einstein to get into.
Still, he failed the general questions on the exam. Thankfully, he passed the sections on physics and math with flying colors.
His Teachers Hated Him
Einstein's teachers all hated him. Many of them thought he talked back too much, was rebellious, and was absent-minded. Einstein also frequently skipped class and disrespected his professors.
As a result, none of his teachers recommended him for employment. That's why it took Einstein nearly nine years to find a job after graduating from university.
His Brain Was Stolen After His Death
After Einstein's death in 1955, his family intended to give him a traditional burial. One Princeton Hospital doctor saw it as an opportunity to study Einstein's brain.
The doctor, Thomas Stoltz Harvey, removed the brain, took it home, and kept it in a jar for years. Various scientists studied the brain over the years, and eventually, it was reunited with Einstein's granddaughter in 1998.
His Brain Really Was Different Than Most
After his death, researchers who studied Einstein's brain found that his parietal lobe was 15 percent larger than the average human's.
The parietal lobe is the part of the brain responsible for visuospatial cognition, imagery of movement, and mathematical thought. Surprisingly though, his brain was a lot lighter than the average person's as well.
His Eyes Are Somewhere In New York City
The same physician who stole Einstein's brain also took his eyes with him, which he gifted to Einstein's eye doctor, Henry Abrams.
Abrams locked the eyeballs up immediately into a safe, which is still in a New York City bank today.
A Strange Marriage Contract
After Einstein married Mileva, they lived happily until academic success and world travel pulled them apart. Rather than getting a divorce, Einstein proposed a marriage contract.
Clauses in the contract included that Mileva had to keep Einstein's clothes, laundry, bedroom, and study clean. She was also required to renounce all "personal relations" with him. In return, he'd treat her like a normal human.
He Married His Cousin
After getting divorced from Mileva, Einstein decided to pursue his cousin Elsa. Actually, before he married her, he tried to marry her daughter Ilse who was 18 years younger than him, but Else wouldn't allow it.
Instead, Elsa married Einstein in 1919. Elsa cared for Einstein and expected little in return.
Quite A Ladies' Man
Einstein cheated on Elsa with his secretary, Betty Neumann.
A new batch of letters showed that Einstein had at least six extramarital affairs. Some of the women described in the letters include Estella, Ethel, Toni, and his "Russian spy lover," Margarita.
Little Is Known About His Illegitimate Child
Personal letters from Einstein's collection proved that he had an illegitimate child. In 1902, a year before he married Mileva Marić, she gave birth to a daughter named Lieserl.
The letters show that Lieserl was put up for adoption after being born. It's believed that she died roughly one year later from illness. Other than that, she's a mystery.
Einstein Hated His Oldest Son
While Einstein and his eldest son, Hans Albert, got along fine in their early years, it turned sour. Hans blamed Einstein for leaving his mother penniless. He also hated Hans' wife.
Einstein said that Hans' bride was an "unattractive" and "scheming woman" who was preying on his son.
No Socks, No Service
Many don't know that Einstein rarely wore socks. To Einstein, socks were a burden because they were uncomfortable and itchy, and they would often get holes in them.
Instead, Einstein would usually wear either boat shoes, dress shoes without socks, or his personal favorite, fuzzy slippers.
He Had A Terrible Memory
Einstein had a terrible memory. He often struggled to remember names, dates, and phone numbers.
This is one of the reasons why Einstein hired a secretary upon moving to America. Not only did he struggle with the English language, but he also figured she could help him remember things.
The FBI Spied On Him For Decades
Even though Einstein was openly anti-Nazi and left Germany to move to America, J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI still spied on him for years. Einstein was a known pacifist who supported civil rights and left-wing causes, and Hoover suspected he might have Communist sympathies.
Nothing came of the decades-long investigation, but by the time Einstein died, his FBI file was a whopping 1,800 pages.
A Solar Eclipse Helped Prove His Theory
Einstein published his groundbreaking theory of general relativity in 1915, but it would take more than four years for people to actually believe it. In May 1919, a solar eclipse helped prove his point.
His theory argued that mass and gravity could distort the fabric of space and time. After the solar eclipse, people saw how the light curved thanks to the sun's gravity.
His Secret Love For The Violin
Einstein's mother, Pauline, was a lifelong musician. She was an accomplished pianist and wanted her son to love music too, so she enrolled him in violin lessons.
At first, Einstein hated practicing music, but that all changed when he heard Mozart for the first time at 13 years old. He picked up his violin again, and played until the final years of his life.
Einstein's Dangerous Hobby
One of Einstein's other passions was sailing. He owned multiple boats. His neighbors often had to help him with his boat, though, because he capsized it so much.
This habit was pretty dangerous because Einstein never actually learned how to swim. Instead, he faithfully wore a lifejacket and always kept someone else close by.
A Lifelong, And Very Proud, Smoker
Einstein smoked a pipe all his life, and in 1950, he was even offered a lifetime membership to the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club. He said that smoking gave him "calm and objective judgment."
This was long before anyone realized the negative effects of tobacco, so who is to say whether Einstein would smoke if he was alive today.
His Interest In Science Came From A Family Friend
Einstein grew up in a Jewish family. They had a family friend named Max Talmud, who was a medical student at the time.
Talmud would often show an adolescent Einstein all of his science books, including a series called People's Books on Natural Sciences. Einstein was intrigued by the way they contradicted religious teachings.
His Many Inventions
Einstein is credited as the co-inventor of a type of refrigerator that is powered with compressed gases.
He's also considered the brains behind many common scientific inventions we know today, such as photoelectric cells, fiber optics, lasers, semiconductors, and, of course, nuclear power.
A Teaching Style Practically Unheard Of
Einstein finally landed his first teaching job at the age of 30 in 1909 at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
Einstein used cards instead of paper to write his notes, and he improvised often. He also allowed his students to interrupt him with questions or arguments. This type of teaching style was practically unheard of at the time.
1905 Was His Miracle Year
In one very successful year (1905), Einstein published four papers that many feel represent his most creative work.
The topics of the papers included Quantum theory, Brownian motion (which is basically just the existence of atoms), electrodynamics, and the E=mc^2 equation. At the time, he was a 26-year-old working in a patent office.
He Might Have Lived Longer
On April 17, 1955, Einstein suffered a burst blood vessel that began to bleed internally. He has previously gotten surgery on the blood vessel but after his second hospitalization, he refused any further surgeries.
At the hospital, Einstein said that he would go on his own terms and that it was "tasteless to prolong life artificially."
Time Named Him The Person Of The Century
On December 31, 1999, Time Magazine named Einstein the Person of the Century.
Other nominees for Person of the Century included Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Mohandas Gandhi. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that Einstein represented how one individual can impact the entire world.
The Nobel Prize Wasn't Even For The Theory Of Relativity
Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for his famous E=mc^2 equation.
Instead, his winnings came from his "services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." That's because the Theory of Relativity was seen to be just a theory and not a scientific explanation.
He Promised His Nobel Prize Winnings To His Wife
When Einstein was drafting up the divorce papers for his first wife Mileva, he wagered the winnings from a Nobel Prize. While it would be two more years until he won the award, he was confident he would win.
However, Einstein stipulated that the money actually went to his sons, and Mileva only received interest on the money, which was next to nothing at the time.
His Son Was Institutionalized
Einstein had a second son named Eduard with his first wife, Mileva. Eduard began studying medicine to become a psychiatrist. However, at 20 years old, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was later institutionalized.
After a serious breakdown, Eduard told his father that he hated him. It was around this time that Einstein moved to the U.S. and never physically saw his son Eduard again.
No, He Is Not A Lefty
Albert Einstein was widely believed to be left-handed, but this is false.
Albert Einstein is often separated from the masses, but one thing he has in common with a lot of us is that he wrote with his right hand.
He's Hardly Set Foot In A Laboratory
Albert Einstein may be a purveyor of modern physics and the philosophy of science, but he was hardly ever been in a lab.
A majority of his genius was either cultivated directly in his head or on paper at his own desk.
Einstein Never Drove
The scientist was never caught driving and allegedly never even bothered to get a license. Instead, Einstein preferred walking or riding a bike.
Back then, driving wasn't as necessary as it is today.
There's An Element Named In His Honor
Einsteinium was discovered shortly after Albert Einstein died in 1955.
With atomic number 99, Einsteinium is a member of the actinide series and was discovered from the debris of the first hydrogen explosion in 1952. It appears as a soft, silvery, para-magnetic metal.
Almost The President Of Israel
After the first President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, died in 1952, the Israeli government officially offered Einstein the position, but he quickly declined the offer.
In a response letter, Einstein said that because he's always dealt with 'objective matters," he would "lack both the natural aptitude and the experience" to deal with people.
