PURPOSE AND PLAN l~]As a conclusion to this introductory sketch of Einstein the man, I should like to
elaborate the statement made in the Preface that Einstein was the freest man I
have known. By that I mean that, more than anyone else I have encountered, he
was the master of his own destiny. If he had a God it was the God of Spinoza.
Einstein was not a revolutionary, as the overthrow of authority was never his
prime motivation. He was not a rebel, since any authority but the one of reason
seemed too ridiculous to him to waste effort fighting against (one can hardly call
his opposition to Nazism a rebellious attitude). He had the freedom to ask scien-
tific questions, the genius to so often ask the right ones. He had no choice but to
accept the answer. His deep sense of destiny led him farther than anyone before
him. It was his faith in himself which made him persevere. Fame may on occasion
have flattered him, but it never deflected him. He was fearless of time and, to an
uncommon degree, fearless of death. I cannot find tragedy in his later attitude to
the quantum theory or in his lack of success in finding a unified field theory,
especially since some of the questions he asked remain a challenge to this day
(2b)—and since I never read tragedy in his face. An occasional touch of sadness
in him never engulfed his sense of humor.I now turn to a tour of Einstein's science.
Einstein never cared much for teaching courses. No one was ever awarded a
PhD degree working with him, but he was always fond of discussing physics prob-
lems, whether with colleagues his age or with people much younger. All his major
papers are his own, yet in the course of his life he often collaborated with others.
A survey of these collaborative efforts, involving more than thirty colleagues or
assistants, is found in (29). From his student days until well into his forties, he
would seek opportunities to do experiments. As a student he hoped to measure the
drift of the aether through which (as he then believed) the earth was moving (6d).
While at the patent office, he tinkered with a device to measure small voltage
differences (3, 29). In Berlin he conducted experiments on rotation induced by
magnetization (14b), measured the diameter of membrane capillaries (29), and
was involved with patents for refrigerating devices and for a hearing aid (29). But,
of course, theoretical physics was his main devotion.
There is no better way to begin this brief survey of his theoretical work than
with a first look at what he did in 1905. In that year Einstein produced six papers:
- The light-quantum and the photoelectric effect, completed March 17 (19c),
(19e). This paper, which led to his Nobel prize in physics, was produced before
he wrote his PhD thesis. - A new determination of molecular dimensions, completed April 30. This was
his doctoral thesis, which was to become his paper most often quoted in modern
literature (5c).