Thomas de Padova is the author of the new book Alone Against Gravity: Einstein in Berlin: The Turbulent Birth of the Theory of Relativity, 1914-1918. A physicist, he has written many other books focusing on science. He lives in Berlin, Germany.
Q: Why did you decide to write this book about Albert
Einstein during World War I?
A: During World War I. Einstein transformed from being a
“pure” physicist into a pacifist and politically engaged scientist and crowned
his General Theory of Relativity. Above all, I wanted to know what provoked
this transformation and how in the same time he accomplished to revolutionize
our understanding of space and time.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn
that particularly intrigued you?
A: It particularly intrigued me, how fast the outbreak of
World War I. changed the activities and minds of scientists like Max Planck or
Fritz Haber.
Therefore, one of the most difficult parts of my research
was to get an idea of Einstein’s relationship to his German colleagues,
especially Haber. In 1914 the chemist Haber had done everything to make life
comfortable for his new Berlin colleague and his family. Einstein had his
office in Haber’s institute, his apartment nearby.
To give an example how thankful Einstein was to Haber: The
great scientist gave private lessons in mathematics to Haber’s 12-year-old son
Hermann for three months.
However, Einstein gave up his office in Haber’s institute
and moved away from Berlin-Dahlem as soon as the director’s preparations for
the chemical warfare started. Their correspondence, lively before, almost
stopped.
From 1915 to 1918 the two scientists did not meet anymore in
the German Physical Society or the Prussian Academy of Science, because Haber
did not participate in such proceedings and conferences during the war. They
frequented completely different social and political circles.
What motivated them? At which point could they have made a
different choice? Posing such questions, I learned a lot about the role of
German scientists in World War I. and Einstein in particular.
Q: During the 1914-1918 period, how famous was Einstein, and
what was his reputation at the point, both scientific and political?
A: In the scientific world, Einstein already enjoyed the
reputation of being the most significant physicist of his time. Max Planck
called him the "new Copernicus." He himself registered with some wonder how
rapidly news of his revolutionary worldview spread in Berlin and beyond.
Nevertheless, during the war only a small fraction of
physicists, astronomers and mathematicians payed attention to his new
achievements. Among them were the British scientists Frank Dyson and Arthur
Eddington.
Enthralled by general relativity, they started to prepare
for an expedition to test Einstein’s theory during an eclipse predicted for May
1919. A really remarkable scientific project in the midst of war.
Politically, Einstein in Berlin felt “alone, like a drop of
oil on water, isolated by attitude and cast of mind” as he expressed in a
letter. It took some months, until he started to frequent the meetings of
pacifist organizations.
His persistent advocacy of peace and democratic ideals
augmented his popularity, even though it was seen as “naïve” by many of his
colleagues. When in fall 1918 new democratic parties were founded in Germany,
Einstein’s name was expected to provide a strong political backing. He could do
little against the misuse of his name in political campaigns in newspapers.
Unfortunately, even 100 years later some of Einstein’s
biographers used his supposed partisanship for the “Deutsche Demokratische
Partei” or the “Demokratischer Volksbund” insisting again on his “naivety”
regarding political questions.
Q: Can you say more about how well Einstein got along with
other leading scientists of the time?
A: Einstein first of all was a physicist, who needed
discussions with other scientists to develop new thoughts and concepts. He
could be sharp in his judgments and in the same time humanly tolerant. This
unusual mixture led to long lasting relationships with people like Max Planck,
even though Planck badly disappointed him from a political point of view.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I just started to work on the history of mathematics.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: People often ask me about Einstein’s famous letter to
President Roosevelt in 1939, warning that Germany might develop atomic bombs.
The period 1914 – 1918 is crucial for the understanding of
Einstein’s political activities in the United States. Einstein had seen what
German scientists were capable of doing in World War I., when his friend Haber
transformed a small science institute into a facility for chemical weapons of
mass destruction.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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