Einstein (37 page)

Lord Haldane presided at Einstein’s lecture at King’s College.
He introduced the lecture by saying that it had been an extremely moving moment for him when Einstein laid a wreath on Newton’s grave in Westminster Abbey. “For,” Haldane told the audience, “what Newton was to the eighteenth century, Einstein is for the twentieth.”

In Haldane’s house, where Einstein lived, he met many famous Englishmen, like Lloyd George, Bernard Shaw and A. N. Whitehead, the mathematician and philosopher, who had so vividly sensed the historic significance of the session of the Royal Society at which the result of the solar eclipse had been announced. Whitehead had long discussions with Einstein and repeatedly attempted to convince him that on metaphysical grounds the attempt must be made to get along without the assumption of a curvature of space. Einstein, however, was not inclined to give up a theory, against which neither logical nor experimental reasons could be cited, nor considerations of simplicity and beauty. Whitehead’s metaphysics did not seem quite plausible to him.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Church, was especially desirous of meeting Einstein. Lord Haldane, who called attention everywhere to the philosophical significance of the relativity theory, had told him that this theory also has important consequences for theology and that as head of the Anglican Church it was his duty to become acquainted with it. Shortly thereafter, at the Athenæum Club, a friend of the Archbiship met J. J. Thomson, the physicist and president of the Royal Society, and requested his help in a very important matter. “The Archbishop, who is the most conscientious of men, has procured several books on the subject of relativity and has been trying to read them and they have driven him to what, it is not too much to say, is a state of intellectual desperation. I have read several of these myself and have drawn up a memorandum which I thought might be of service to him.”

Thomson was surprised by these difficulties and said he did not think that the relativity theory was so closely connected with religion that the Archbishop had to know something about it. Nevertheless, the conscientious head of the church was not satisfied, and when Einstein came to London and Lord Haldane arranged a dinner the Archbishop asked for an invitation. He was placed as Einstein’s neighbour and was able to hear whether Haldane was right in his assertion that the theory of relativity is important for theology, or Thomson, who disputed it. At dinner the Archbishop asked bluntly “what effect relativity
would have on religion.” Einstein replied briefly and to the point: “None. Relativity is a purely scientific matter and has nothing to do with religion.”

In June 1921, after visiting the United States and England, Einstein returned to Berlin. The honors that he had received abroad had their effect in Germany. Well-meaning persons who were not really interested in science tried in every possible way to learn about Einstein’s theories without having to exert themselves mentally. As a result some people profited from this boom by convincing others that they could teach the relativity theory. At this time, for instance, a so-called “Einstein film” was shown in movie theaters that was supposed to teach the theory painlessly. First it showed a student listening to a boring lecture by a dull professor and sighing: “How much longer will this lecture last? Still another quarter of an hour?” Then it showed the same student sitting on a bench in a garden with a pretty girl, complaining: “I can only stay fifteen minutes more.” This was supposed to teach the “relativity of time” to the public. As we have seen, this has nothing to do with Einstein’s theory. Such popularizations, which distorted and made the theory trivial, vexed Einstein more than the attacks on him.

In Berlin people also amused themselves with anecdotes from England. For instance, an imaginary conversation between Einstein and Bernard Shaw was described in which the skeptical author asks: “Tell me, my dear Einstein, do you really understand what you wrote?” And Einstein, smiling at him, replies: “As much as you understand your things, dear Bernard.”

At this time the desire for a short, easily comprehensible presentation of the theory of relativity led an American who was living in Paris and who had been impressed by the London reports on the solar eclipse expeditions to offer a prize of five thousand dollars for the best essay on Einstein’s theory in not more than three thousand words. Attracted by the remuneration of five dollars for three words, many entered the contest, and, indeed, it was rather difficult to find judges, since everyone acquainted with the subject preferred to enter the contest. Einstein remarked playfully: “I am the only one in my entire circle of friends who is not participating. I don’t believe I have the ability
to accomplish the task.” On June 21, 1921, out of the three hundred essays submitted, the prize was awarded to a sixty-one-year-old Irishman, a native of Dublin, who like Einstein had been employed in a patent office for a long time (in London), and who was a dilettante in physics. It can hardly be said that his essay was better than those of his competitors, nor did it have any further influence in spreading an understanding of the relativity theory. The public remembered only the fact that someone had been able to earn five thousand dollars by means of it, and concluded that it must therefore be worth the effort of studying it.

In the fall of 1921 an important step was taken to investigate another of the astronomical conclusions of Einstein’s theory. Dr. Bosch, the director of I. G. Farben, the greatest chemical concern in Germany, that was outstanding in the production of synthetic dyes, medicaments, and explosives, donated a large sum of money for the erection at Potsdam of an institute to be connected with the Astrophysical Observatory, where the color composition of solar rays could be investigated with great precision. It will be recalled that from his theory of gravitation Einstein had predicted that the color of light coming to us from the stars depends on the intensity of the gravitational field through which the rays pass. This prediction was to be verified by exact observations.

The astronomer Erwin Finlay-Freundlich was appointed director of this institute. The laboratory was built in the form of a tower and the architectural design was in the characteristic modern Berlin style of that period, so that the result was a cross between a New York skyscraper and an Egyptian pyramid. The tower became generally known as the
Einstein Tower
. Its appearance alone was enough to excite the ire of the nationalistic groups who preferred a style more reminiscent of German medieval models or at least of classical antiquity.

Through a strange concatenation of circumstances, the Einstein Tower was under the control of Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, a brother of the famous general Ludendorff who for a long time collaborated with Adolf Hitler. At that time the astronomer Ludendorff still permitted the investigation of solar light on the basis of Einstein’s theory. He satisfied his nationalistic sentiments by endeavoring to prove that Copernicus was a German and not a Pole, even though his monument stood in Warsaw.

On June 24, 1922 Walther Rathenau, then minister of foreign
affairs, was murdered by several fanatical students. This murder revealed the preparations for the revolution from the Right, and even those who consciously or unconsciously ignored the background of this crime were compelled to take a more serious view of the matter. The effect on Einstein was more intense than on the general masses because through his insight and instinctive perception it had become clear to him that sincere allegiance to the German Republic was confined to a small group; beneath it yawned a hate-filled abyss.

Einstein had been acquainted with Rathenau and had liked this man whose breadth of vision was so rare among German politicians. Rathenau, a descendant of a rich Jewish family in Berlin, had been the motive force behind the planned economy in Germany during the war. After the proclamation of the Republic, Rathenau had played an important part as an economic adviser to the government, and through his international reputation he had been able to perform various services in aid of its foreign policy. During the government of the Catholic Chancellor Wirth, Rathenau had accepted the position of Foreign Minister and by concluding the Treaty of Rapallo had entered into friendly relations with Soviet Russia. This treaty served to stamp him as a “Bolshevik,” and moreover, being a Jew, he had become extremely unpopular with the monarchists and the advocates of the “revolution from the Right.”

The republican government ordered the day of Rathenau’s burial to be observed as a day of mourning and ordered all schools and theaters to remain closed. At the universities lectures were canceled, but Philipp Lenard, the Heidelburg physicist who has already been mentioned as an opponent of Einstein, refused to obey the order. While the Socialist workers marched through the city and organized protest meetings against the murderers and their reactionary supporters, Lenard demonstratively gave his regular lecture. A number of students who sympathized with the assassins listened to him with enthusiasm. A group of workers passing by the building saw the lecture going on and, regarding this as a demonstration in favor of the murderers, entered the building and dragged Lenard out with them. As they passed over the Neckar River some of them attempted to throw Lenard into the water, but the moderates prevented them and turned him over to the police, who immediately released him.

In the eyes of all Germany these events linked the fight against Einstein’s theory with the struggle against the republican regime.
Rumors began to spread that in the search for Rathenau’s murderers a list had been found containing the names of other persons who were to be the future victims of the same group, and the list was supposed to contain Einstein’s name. The police denied the rumors, but a feeling of uneasiness concerning Einstein’s person began to spread. Einstein himself, with his belief in the inevitable in the universe, had no inclination for superstitious presentiments and fears and was not affected. But the reaction on those about him was all the greater.

Every year the annual meeting of German scientists and physicians took place in September. This year a special celebration was planned, as it was the centennial meeting. It was to be held in Leipzig. Because during the past few years he had contributed most to increase the prestige of German science throughout the world, Einstein was invited as keynote speaker to emphasize the special character of the occasion. He would have liked to accept the invitation, but in the troubled and uneasy atmosphere that prevailed after the Rathenau murder he did not wish to make any public appearances and declined to participate. Nevertheless, the executive committee of the society insisted on presenting lectures by other scientists on the significance of Einstein’s theory, one by the physicist Max von Laue, the other by the philosopher Moritz Schlick.

Because of the spreading sentiment in favor of violence, and as a result of his own adventure as well, Lenard felt himself compelled and encouraged to protest against the meeting of the German scientists in Leipzig. In his opinion, by arranging for lectures on Einstein’s work, the society of German scientists was carrying on propaganda against the revolutionists of the Right and on behalf of the group to which the “justly” murdered Rathenau belonged. Lenard assembled a group of people who drew up a protest against the meeting of the German scientists, which was sent to all the newspapers and distributed in Leipzig at the doors of the lecture halls.

Lenard did not succeed, however, in inducing any of the creative German physicists to sign his protest. Once again it was only the same three types of persons who had taken part in the meetings at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Einstein’s travels had contributed somewhat to improve the relations between the scientists of Germany and those of America and England. This was agreeable to the government of the German Republic and to the German scientists, but was very annoying to all those groups that endeavored to maintain the idea that in western Europe the Germans were looked down upon as an inferior nation and there was a desire to destroy their culture. The effect of this “atrocity propaganda” was disturbed by the reports of the friendly reception granted to Einstein. It had long been discussed whether Einstein would now be bold enough to visit Paris, the capital of Germany’s “mortal enemy.” It had been rumored that scientific groups in France were trying to induce Einstein to make such a visit, so as to be able to discuss the new theories with him personally. They had also been greatly admired in France, but many persons had found it very difficult to understand them. Thus the French mathematician Paul Painlevé, who as Minister of War during the World War, and later as Premier and President of the French Chamber of Deputies, played a leading role in French politics, was much interested in Einstein’s work, but misinterpreted it at many points and attacked it because of this misunderstanding. Later he withdrew all his objections. The great French physicist Paul Langevin, who immediately grasped the meaning of the Einsteinian theories, once remarked to me: “Painlevé studied Einstein’s work very closely, but unfortunately not until after he had written about it. Perhaps he is used to this sequence from politics.”

Langevin was not only a sagacious scientist but also an active participant in every enterprise intended to advance international conciliation. At the Collège de France, the highest scientific school in France, he presented a resolution to invite Einstein to come to Paris. For this purpose he proposed to use the income of an endowment that had been employed to invite other outstanding foreign scientists to lecture at this institution. The resolution was warmly supported by Painlevé. There was some opposition, however. The nationalists did not want the reception of a German scientist to arouse an impression that any diminution of their hatred was possible. With all sorts of threats they tried to induce Langevin and his friends not to extend the
invitation, just as the analogous groups in Germany attempted to force Einstein to reject it. At that time, however, neither of these two groups was yet strong enough to achieve its aim. Einstein accepted the invitation extended by the Collège de France, and toward the end of March 1922 he went to Paris.