1 capsule biography of albert

In contemplating the brightest beacon of hope for the future of humanity amid hopeless violence, the great cellist Pau Casals called on us to “make this world worthy of its children.” A generation earlier, in his contribution to the 1939 World’s Fair time-capsule, Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879–April 18, 1955) considered what it would take to do this in a poignant message to posterity — part lamentation, part aspiration, true to the fusion of critical thinking and optimism that animated his spirit. The text was later included in Ideas and Opinions (public library) — the altogether indispensable collection of the great scientist and humanist’s thoughts, which also gave us his reflections on the value of kindness, the secret to his thought process, and the common language of science.

Just a few years after his correspondence with Freud about war, peace, and human nature, and mere months before the outbreak of World War II, Einstein offers his message to the future:

Our time is rich in inventive minds, the inventions of which could facilitate our lives considerably. We are crossing the seas by power and utilize power also in order to relie

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Einstein : his life and universe

xxii, 675 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

The first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. Biographer Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk--a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate--became the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals. These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.--From publisher description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 553-564) and index

The light-beam rider -- Childhood, 1879-1896 -- The Zurich Polytechnic, 1896-1900 -- The lovers, 1900-1904 -- The miracle year: quanta and molecules, 1905 -- Special relativity, 1905 -- The happiest thought, 1906-1909 -- The wandering professor, 19