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Middle school Chinese teaching resource network 2005-0 1-28
Original source: Think twice before you act.
Einstein's legendary reputation is the result of many factors. He is an outstanding physicist, because he has contributed photoelectron theory, a brand-new concept of time and space-special significance and general relativity to modern physics, especially the simple and magical formula E=mc2 which is associated with the manufacture of atomic bombs. Facing the German Nazis and the two world wars, his strong humanistic thought was vividly displayed. His participation in politics is linked with his scientific reputation, even if he only participates simply and passively, it also plays an important role. In addition, he is a husband who has been married twice, a father of at least three children, a citizen with multiple nationalities, and a person nominated as president, especially a Jew.
As a famous figure in the history of science, Einstein's life is full of controversy. The most controversial question around Einstein is: In science, did Einstein independently discover the theory of relativity or plagiarize other people's ideas? Will a patent office employee really publish so many epoch-making papers in 1905, which is called Einstein's miracle year? In life, did Einstein do his duty as a husband and father to marriage and family, or did he always play with women's feelings to shirk family responsibilities: why did he get into emotional difficulties with his wife who was in free love, abandoned his unmarried illegitimate daughter and remarried just after divorce? In terms of social activities, is Einstein politically naive or mature: why did he support the United States to build an atomic bomb and why did he refuse to be the prime minister of Israel?
1 Biography Overview
The depth and breadth of understanding of nature, the richness and breadth of personal life, and the complexity of personality made Einstein attract many biographers. Among the authors of Einstein's biography, besides family members, there are his colleagues in different periods, scholars, biographers and journalists who specialize in the history of modern physics. Einstein is probably the scientist with the most biographies in the world. Only by reading Einstein's biography can the general public understand and know all aspects about Einstein. These biographies include: memoirs of family, friends and colleagues, critical biographies focusing on introducing Einstein's contribution to society, scientific biographies focusing on explaining Einstein's scientific principles, literary biographies focusing on describing Einstein's life story, photo biographies focusing on various photos with simple text descriptions, and staged biographies focusing on the specific historical period in which Einstein lived.
The biographer tried to "tell you the real Einstein", but inevitably he branded the biography with the author's emotion: worship, approval or rejection. Most admirers describe Einstein as a hero and a great man, pushing Einstein to the double altar of science and morality. They seem to consciously avoid these controversial issues, thinking that they are either out of thin air or making a mountain out of a molehill. Although the proponents don't shy away from controversial issues, they try their best to maintain Einstein's great image and think that other flaws can't hide his brilliance. Xenophobes focus on exposure and exposure. In order to uncover the mystery hanging over Einstein, they often exaggerate Einstein's shortcomings in a certain aspect with critical and sarcastic words. What's more, it completely denies Einstein's scientific achievements.
From the following biographies of Einstein published in English, we can see how Einstein was described and analyzed, and how Einstein's image changed with time. The history of Einstein's biography is also the evolutionary history of modern biographical style (see roger smith. Biographies of scientists: annotated bibliography. Scarecrow publishing house, Inc. 1998). Einstein of Valentin and his private life, Einstein of Heineken, Einstein of Selich, and the God of Pace are subtle, a myth of an era: Einstein's life, Albert Einstein of Bernstein and the frontier of physics, and Einstein of Kuznetsov-all his life. )。
In Albert Einstein, the creator of the universe, published by H.Gordon Garbedian in 1939, the author described Einstein's early scientific life with praise, gorgeous words and vivid details, which satisfied the public's curiosity about Einstein. Because it was published earlier, this biography did not involve the scientific debate between Einstein and Bohr on the quantum interpretation of Copenhagen and Einstein's participation in various political activities, so this book is naturally incomplete. In addition, too many fictional plots make the book look bloated and meaningless, which also reduces its historical value.
1954, Valentin published The Plays of Albert Einstein. Valentin was a close friend of Einstein's second wife. The "drama" here refers to the vivid scene of Einstein being persecuted in Germany and fleeing Nazi rule because of his Jewish identity. Although the book also introduces Einstein's youth, education, theory and reputation, the author devoted a lot of pen and ink to Einstein's escape from Germany to settle in the United States. Like many early biographies, this book also describes Einstein as an idol.
Einstein: Life and Times, published by Ronald william clark on 197 1, is regarded as the first relatively neutral biography of Einstein. The author introduced Einstein's life comprehensively and systematically, and devoted the same energy to his scientific theory, political and social activities and personal life. The author not only briefly introduces Einstein's basic viewpoints of relativity and quantum theory, but also pays special attention to Einstein's participation in the Zionist movement and his opposition to the Nazi government. More importantly, the author carefully used a lot of first-hand information, trying to patiently correct those legends about Einstein with an impartial attitude and prevent the further spread of false stories.
Einstein: Creator and Rebel
1972, Barneche Hoffman and Ducas published Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel, with the aim of "sketching a completely simple human story in this book". Among the two authors of this book, Hoffman and Einstein work together, and Ducas is Einstein's secretary and housekeeper. The tone of this book is obviously admired by friends. Because Hoffman is a physicist and writer, he can naturally explain the theory of relativity very clearly, which is suitable for laymen to read. Influenced by Ducas, the book observes Einstein with rich materials, vivid pictures and the most cordial attitude. 198 1 year, they co-authored the book Albert Einstein, the human side: a new glimpse from his archives. This book shows Einstein's interesting, happy, friendly, humble, wise, fearless and lonely human nature by extracting letters, magazine essays and various review articles that have never been published in the past, and can be used as a pillow book. Unfortunately, the book ignores Einstein's dramatic love and marriage life.
1982, Einstein's biography "Subtlety is the Lord: Albert Einstein's Science and Life" written by Abraham Pais was published by Oxford University Press. Unlike traditional biographies focusing on the life of scientists, this book is a typical scientific biography. Pais is a famous theoretical physicist. In his later years, he worked with Einstein at Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. He can be said to be the ideal interpreter of Einstein's scientific theory. The author used a lot of pen and ink to explain the origin, formation and significance of Einstein's scientific theory, while Einstein's personal life, such as educational background and professional experience, was interspersed sporadically. This is a biography that is difficult for ordinary readers to read. Reading requires basic knowledge of physics and calculus, and can even be used as a physics textbook for college students. As a supplement to this biography, Pais published another book about Einstein, who lived here. 1994. In this easy-to-read prose biography, Pais describes Einstein's relationship with his wife and children, his friendship with niels bohr and De Broglie, how he won the Nobel Prize, his correspondence with Indian poet Tagore, how he appeared in newspaper pages, and Einstein's philosophical views.
Einstein once lived here.
Einstein in America was published by Jamie Thain in 1985, which mainly tells about Einstein's life in America (from 1933 to 1955). In addition to the scientific debate with Bohr and others, Einstein also participated in a lot of activities other than scientific research. In this book, the author reviews Einstein's public and private life in detail, especially Einstein's participation in internationalism, Manhattan Project and nuclear weapons control, Zionism, pacifism and anti-McCarthyism.
Einstein's Private Life
Albert Einstein's private life was published in 1993. Two authors, Heidfeld and Paul Carter, tried to reevaluate Einstein's personality by reading newly acquired letters and files. As the title suggests, the theme of this book lies in human nature rather than science. In the author's view, the image of the sage of science has long concealed Einstein's passion as a man and his weakness as a father and husband. By interviewing people familiar with Einstein's life, the author focuses on Einstein's relationship with his first wife mileva, his two children, his second wife Elsa and other women in his life. Einstein is described as a "female sadist" in the book because he likes to expose his privacy too much.
Einstein: The Life of Science
Contrary to Einstein's private life, Einstein: Life in Science was also published in 1993 by michael white and Gribbin. The authors found that those biographies focusing on Einstein's personality obviously exaggerated Einstein's so-called irresponsible family and bad behavior of playing with women, with the aim of strengthening the special effects of anti-mystification and breaking Einstein's already very solid image. They think Einstein does have moral weakness, but it is his scientific genius rather than his mistakes that deserve people's appreciation and learning. Therefore, the author only briefly mentions Einstein's related disputes, focusing on Einstein's innovative ideas and political beliefs such as relativity and quantum mechanics.
Einstein's life
Denis Brian's book Einstein: A Life, published in 1996, did not go deep into Einstein's physics, but tried to correct Einstein's severely distorted private life and public image. After interviewing Einstein's colleagues and friends and consulting Einstein's published marriage files in the 1980s, the author will give new thoughts on the unresolved controversial issues. He thinks Einstein is not politically immature and indifferent to his family as described in many biographies. Brian examined the evidence of Einstein's so-called illegitimate child and confirmed that Einstein was not serious about the relationship between men and women, which also derogated Einstein's reputation to some extent. The three biographies written by Clark, Pais and Brian complement each other, which can completely constitute a basic understanding of Einstein.
Biography of Einstein
From 65438 to 0998, "Albert Einstein: A Biography" was translated and published in the United States by German science journalist Wolfshien. The author focuses on Einstein's life in the United States before he went to the United States, and only briefly mentions his life in the United States, so that the author can focus on how Einstein stepped onto the peak of science from his youth and made outstanding contributions, and how he faced various life problems in the most difficult period. Facing ordinary readers, readers introduced the basic concepts and formation process of Einstein's theory in an unusually detailed and clear way, and built Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics on the broad background knowledge of science and philosophy. The author shows the complexity of Einstein's personality in getting along with other physicists, advocating pacifism and supporting Jewish refugees, and also talks about Einstein's love and abandoned daughter.
Einstein in Love: Romantic History of Science
In 2000, Overby published Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance, which combined Einstein's theoretical thinking process with his love process for the first time. The author limited the biography time to Einstein's most creative period 1900 ~ 1920, and discussed Einstein's achievements as a scientist and various episodes in his personal life. According to the author, Einstein's great achievement was inspired by his first wife, mileva Maric. Even though Einstein didn't copy mileva's paper, mileva promoted the formation of Einstein's scientific theory, but mileva got only sadness and betrayal in return. The author is criticized that the formation of scientific theories mainly comes from internal autonomy, and any practice of linking external effects with Einstein's discoveries by causality is doubtful.
Einstein: an incorrigible plagiarist
Christopher Jon Knies published Albert Einstein: An Irredeemable Plagiarist in 2002. This is a typical anti-mystification biography, intended to fundamentally destroy Einstein's image as a great scientist. The author reveals that Einstein won the honor by borrowing and plagiarizing the papers of Lorenz, Poincare, Hilbert and other predecessors or contemporary scientists, because Einstein could not deduce his own results without using their achievements, but did not give corresponding references. The author quoted a large number of statements issued by contemporary scientists to prove that they had discovered Einstein's plagiarism. Critics of the book believe that the author has committed some kind of "fear of saints" and tried his best to cast a poisonous sword on great men. Commercialization and hype have greatly reduced the value of this biography. In fact, all scientists have made achievements on the shoulders of giants, and Einstein is no exception. It is true that Einstein got inspiration from Lorenz, Poincare, Hilbert and other scientists, but this has nothing to do with plagiarism.
Perhaps, just like "a reader has a thousand Hamlets", a thousand biographers also have a thousand Einstein, but its basic facts cannot be tampered with. When history fades from the aura of great men and restores its true colors, Einstein's basic image is a scientific genius with unique innovative wisdom, personality defects and active participation in social activities.
2. Academic reputation and social reputation
Although Einstein published five revolutionary papers in his miracle year 1905, including the proposal of light quantum hypothesis, the explanation of Brownian motion, a new method to determine molecular size and the birth of special relativity (see the book Einstein's miracle year-five papers that changed the face of physics translated and published by Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press in 20001year for details), Einstein's academic reputation came a little late. From 1909 to 10, this is the first time that he was nominated by ostwald as the winner of the 19 10 Nobel Prize in Physics. Ostwald is the winner of 1909 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was nominated for Einstein's work on special relativity, which can be compared with Copernicus and Darwin. That is, in 1909 and 10, Einstein began to be an associate professor at the University of Zurich, ending his non-professional scientist career. He received his first honorary degree from bernier University. Ostwald repeated his nomination in 19 12 and 19 13. Since then, Einstein has been nominated by many scientists many times in many aspects. In addition to ostwald, he was also praised by Wayne (19 1 1), Agnes (19 13), Laue (19 14) and Planck. Gullstrand (1911) won the prize in physiology and medicine for his research on refractive optics of the eyes, so he studied in 19 1 ~ 1929,1923 ~ 650. 1922 Einstein won the physics prize of 192 1 for discovering the law of photoelectric effect. Einstein didn't win the prize for his theory of relativity. In my opinion, the reason is very simple, not because some physicists oppose the theory of relativity, but because the principle of awarding the Nobel Prize is mainly to those theoretical hypotheses that have been verified by many experiments. Abraham Pais's book Einstein once lived here describes Einstein's winning process in detail. In other words, if the Nobel Committee changes the principle of awarding prizes, Einstein may win many prizes. This is why Hawking didn't win the Black Hole Research Award and Yang Zhenning didn't win the Gauge Field Theory Award again.
After 1925, Einstein's academic reputation was only a continuation of his previous work. Pace wrote in "God is Subtle ... Einstein's Science and Life": "1915165438+10. In October, with the establishment of the gravitational field equation, classical physics was perfected and Einstein's scientific career reached its peak. After that, his works showed no obvious signs of decline. Although Einstein was ill, from 9 16 to 1920, he made great achievements in relativity and quantum theory. There was a slow decline from 1920. From recovery to end of 1924. After that, although he continued his scientific research for the next 30 years, the creative period suddenly ended. " (Science and Technology Literature Publishing House, 1988, p. 390)
Einstein first appeared in the newspaper as an advertisement in 1902, but Einstein's fame in society began in 19 19. "Einstein's legendary story began in London's Times191965438+1October 7." (page 374) This is due to Eddington's measurement. Overnight, Einstein changed from an academic figure to a public figure, and since then, Einstein's reputation has been growing. Pace gave two explanations for why Einstein was worshipped by the public: First, he was born at the right time. The turmoil and panic after the First World War plunged mankind into a desperate situation. At this time, Einstein came into being and brought a new cosmic order to mankind. Praise Einstein by imitating the English poet Pope's poem praising Newton, that is, "mankind and human order are hidden in chaos, and God says, Einstein, come on;" As a result, the world suddenly cleared up. "The second is mystery. Because Einstein's contribution must be introduced in popular language, but what is hidden behind the language is unfathomable mysterious theory. There is a great contrast between everyday language and advanced theory, which makes people crazy for those who create theory.
In my opinion, Einstein appeared as a political figure in the name of a scientist in the second half of his life, which made his social reputation so great and maintained. If Einstein "hesitated between politics and equations all his life", then his first half was mainly equations, and his second half was mainly political and social activities. He is willing to be interviewed by various media and express his views on social issues (which is just the opposite of his academic independence and lonely personality in daily life); His struggle against anti-Semitism (some people equate the theory of relativity with Jews and oppose it together, so he has to fight for his own theory of relativity and Jewish origin at the same time), his connection with American nuclear bomb politics (because he believes that German scientists can make nuclear bombs, he suggests that the United States should develop its own atomic bombs), and he advocates pacifism (he calls for international control of nuclear weapons). In other words, if his academic achievements are put aside, his political behavior alone can arouse the interest of public figures.
Some people think that the media hype created Einstein's magical reputation. In fact, for evaluating a real scientist, social reputation is only an adjunct to academic reputation, and the two cannot be confused. A scientist is said to be great because he has made great contributions to scientific progress (first by himself, and secondly by guiding or influencing others), otherwise those scientists who are only addicted to academics and have made achievements will not rank in the forefront of the list of famous scientists. This is one of the reasons why some biographers focus their biographies on Einstein's bust.
Love, marriage and passion
More and more evidence shows that Einstein has defects in his private life outside of scientific and social activities. Einstein's criticized private life involves his two marriages and several extramarital affairs, as well as his attitude towards children.
When he was young, Einstein had a bohemian modern romantic love. Einstein's real love story happened in Swiss Institute of Technology. Less than 1 year after they met in 1896, 18 years old, his relationship with his female classmate mileva, who is three years older than him, transcended the boundaries of ordinary classmates and ended his hazy first love with the girl next door, which lasted only a few weeks. Despite her physical defects, mileva was one of the best women at that time and the fifth female student in the history of Swiss Institute of Technology. Their love may be based on the same hobby of physics, but their love has been violently interfered by their parents for many reasons: mileva is not Jewish, older than Einstein, physically disabled and an intellectual woman. When mileva pinned her feelings on Einstein, her original excellent academic performance went from bad to worse. She failed the exam twice and gradually gave up science, while Einstein, on the other hand, was obsessed with physics research. During this period, mileva got scarlet fever and got pregnant before marriage, which further widened the intellectual and academic distance with Einstein. They got married in 1903 and 1 year after their daughter Lisa was born. Little Lisa got scarlet fever after she was two years old, and her future fate is unknown. She may be dead or adopted. Since then, mileva has fully served his family, raised children and handled housework, and Einstein's career has also begun to flourish and become famous. Although this marriage lasted until 19 19, it ended when Einstein and his cousin Elsa started dating in 19 12.
Why is Einstein indifferent to the life and death of an illegitimate daughter? Why did Einstein quickly separate from his once-madly-in-love wife and throw himself into the arms of another woman? There may never be a single correct answer.
The possible explanations for the former are: first, mileva is in poor health, and Einstein is unwilling to give up physics research in order to take care of a sick child; Second, Einstein was worried that illegitimate children would affect his reputation and hinder his future in conservative Swiss public institutions; Third, Einstein is in a very difficult period in his life. His father just died, and his family is not very good. However, his work in the Swiss Patent Office has just started, and his income is meager, so it is difficult to take care of two families.
The possible explanation of the latter is that, first of all, when Einstein went further and further in the field of science, he found his research partner. Mileva's intelligence, especially his mathematics level, became insignificant before Einstein. Einstein needs someone who can take care of his life, not someone who is interested in science. At that time, mileva remained interested in physics and psychiatry. Secondly, after experiencing the embarrassing situation of academic frustration, unmarried children and opposition from her mother-in-law, mileva became gloomy and suspicious, and it was difficult to get along with others. Elsa is gentle and enthusiastic, childless and willing to take care of Einstein; Third, mileva gave birth to two boys for Einstein. The second boy, Edward, is mentally ill. She must devote herself to taking care of her two children. She is not used to life in Berlin. The separation between the two places prevented her from taking care of Einstein, who was often ill.
Einstein's attraction to women other than his wife was laissez-faire because of his reputation, and he was inevitably surrounded by women who worshipped him; It is also related to his casual and pessimistic attitude towards love and marriage. Einstein did not refuse the offensive of other women, and often watched operas and went out by boat with them. Elsa, though jealous, had to accept it silently. Einstein needed Elsa's love, not Elsa's care. Similarly, Einstein can satisfy Elsa's vanity as the wife of a great man rather than saying that Elsa needs Einstein's love. Elsa died early, which freed Einstein from more emotional bondage. 1936 After Elsa died, Einstein never got married again, probably because he was tired of married life. Einstein expressed his views on marriage many times, which may be his true feelings about two failed marriages. For example, "marriage is an unsuccessful attempt to make what happens by accident last" and "all marriages are dangerous". Marriage is indeed slavery in the cloak of civilization ","marriage makes people regard each other as their own property, and they are no longer free individuals ".
Generally speaking, Einstein is very indifferent to family life, and treats children as casually as marriage, lacking a sense of responsibility, even though he once gave part of the Nobel Prize to his divorced wife. When a person dedicates all his passion and rationality to the most important scientific cause, his feelings for other lives seem to have to be in an irrational laissez-faire state. Obviously, we can't rely on moral standards to evaluate whether a scientist is a great man or not, nor can we demand a great man of science from a secular perspective, but people still hope that a great man of science is also a perfect and ideal great man in other aspects.
4 Einstein's individualism and opportunism
Why did Einstein have a general relationship with his wife, didn't care about children, and showed inhuman indifference to family life? This is due to a common feature of geniuses, that is, extreme individualism or egoism. Individualists think that what they care about is the most important thing in the world, and that they are more important than others. This feature may be a personality defect in ordinary people, but it is an advantage in many geniuses, which can make them full of confidence in themselves. They are absent-minded about their daily life and subconsciously concentrate all their thinking activities on one goal, thus achieving success. In other words, many geniuses are typical paranoia. Therefore, for Einstein, marriage and family have almost no place in his heart. A more extreme example than Einstein is Newton, who never fell in love and never got married. Genius may be affable and smiling on the surface, but deep down it is always lonely. If Einstein "likes to live among women and loves sex" in his later years, it may be a way for him to solve his inner loneliness, just as Newton concentrated on alchemy and theology in his later years.
Robert Shulman, the current editor-in-chief of the Complete Works of Einstein, gave another reason to explain Einstein's behavior. When answering the biographer Brian's question about why Einstein didn't care about illegitimate children, Schumann put forward his own unique view: "Everyone in Princeton used to regard him as a saint, but I don't think he should be ruled out as an opportunist. Most people are reluctant to mention the word' opportunist'. This word is actually neutral, just saying that no one will ever miss the opportunity to estimate the pros and cons. Once you look at Einstein like this, many actions can be understood. " (quoted from Te Hsiang Teng's translation of Einstein (I) by Brian, Taiwan Province Tianxia Vision Publishing Company, 1998, p. 8 1). By analogy, why did Einstein give up his German nationality but did not object to being called a German scientist, because there are authoritative scientists in Germany who recognize his scientific theory, such as Nernst, Planck and Fischer. ; Why, as a pacifist, he supported the United States to develop an atomic bomb, because he thought that if Nazi Germany had built an atomic bomb earlier, the harm would be even greater; Why does he support Zionism instead of being the president of Israel? Because he thinks that there are not too many Jews after all, and it is difficult to make a difference on the international stage. This shows that Einstein's code of conduct is no different from ordinary people.