27
The Final Decade
Einstein's mind continued to be intensely active and fully alert until the very end
of his life. During the last ten years, however, his age, the state of his health, his
never-ending urge to do physics, and the multitude of his extra-scientific involve-
ments called for economy in the use of his energies and time. He kept to simple
routines as much as possible. He would come down for breakfast at about nine
o'clock, then read the morning papers. At about ten-thirty he would walk to The
Institute for Advanced Study, stay there until one o'clock, then walk home. I know
of one occasion when a car hit a tree after its driver suddenly recognized the face
of the beautiful old man walking along the street, his black woollen knit cap firmly
planted on his long white hair. After lunch he would go to bed for a few hours.
Then he would have a cup of tea, work some more or attend to his mail or receive
people for discussions of nonpersonal matters. He took his evening meal between
six-thirty and seven. Thereafter he would work again or listen to the radio (there
was no television in his home) or occasionally receive a friend. He normally retired
between eleven and twelve. Every Sunday at noon he listened to a news analysis
broadcast by Howard K. Smith. Guests were never invited at that hour. On Sun-
day afternoons there would be walks or drives in some friend's car. Only seldom
would he go out to a play or a concert, very rarely to a movie. He would occa-
sionally attend a physics seminar at Palmer Laboratory, causing the awed hush I
mentioned before. In those last years, he no longer played the violin but impro-
vised daily on the piano. He also had stopped smoking his beloved pipes [Dl].
At the beginning of his last decade Einstein, sixty-six years old, shared his home
on Mercer Street with his sister Maja, his stepdaughter Margot, and Helen
Dukas, who took care of everything from mail to meals. Soon after the end of the
war, Maja began making preparations for rejoining her husband, Paul, who then
was living with the Bessos in Geneva [El]. It was not to be. In 1946 she suffered
a stroke and remained bedridden thereafter. Her situation deteriorated; in the end
she could no longer speak, though her mind remained clear. Every night after
dinner, Einstein would go to the room of his sister, who was so dear to him, and
read to her. She died in the Mercer Street home in June 1951.
Physics remained at the center of Einstein's being in the final decade, during
which, as I described earlier, he concentrated exclusively on unified field theory
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