10 INTRODUCTORYrative. The early period, from Einstein's birth in 1879 to the beginning of his
academic career as Privatdozent in Bern in February 1908, is discussed in (3),
which contains a sketch of his childhood, his school years (contrary to popular
belief he earned high marks in elementary as well as high school), his brief reli-
gious phase, his student days, his initial difficulties in finding a job, and most of
the period he spent at the patent office in Bern, a period that witnesses the death
of his father, his marriage to Mileva Marie, and the birth of his first son. In (lOa)
we follow him from the time he began as a Privatdozent in Bern to the end, in
March 1911, of his associate professorship at the University of Zurich. In that
period his second son was born. The next phase (11 a) is his time as full professor
in Prague (March 1911 to August 1912). In (12a) we follow him back to Zurich
as a professor at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) (August 1912 to
April 1914). The circumstances surrounding his move from Zurich to Berlin, his
separation from Mileva and the two boys, and his reaction to the events of the
First World War, are described in (14a). The story of the Berlin days is continued
in (16) which ends with Einstein's permanent departure from Europe. This
period includes years of illness, which did not noticeably affect his productivity;
his divorce from Mileva and marriage to his cousin Elsa; and the death in his
home in Berlin, of his mother (16a). Following this, (16b) and (16c) are devoted
to the abrupt emergence in 1919 of Einstein (whose genius had already been fully
recognized for some time by his scientific peers) as a charismatic world figure and
to my views on the causes of this striking phenomenon. Next, (16d), devoted to
Einstein's hectic years in Berlin in the 1920s, his early involvements with the
Jewish destiny, his continued interest in pacifism, and his connection with the
League of Nations, ends with his final departure from Germany in December
- The Belgian interlude and the early years in Princeton are described in
(25b), the final years of his life in (26) to (28). The book ends with a detailed
Einstein chronology (32).
Before starting on a similar tour of the scientific part, I interject a few remarks
on Einstein and politics and on Einstein as a philosopher and humanist.
Whenever I think of Einstein and politics, I recall my encounter with him in
the late evening of Sunday, April 11, 1954. That morning, a column by the Alsop
brothers had appeared in the New York Herald Tribune, entitled 'Next
McCarthy target: the leading physicists,' which began by stating that the junior
senator from Wisconsin was getting ready to play his ace in the hole. I knew that
the Oppenheimer case was about to break. That evening I was working in my
office at the Institute when the phone rang and a Washington operator asked to
speak to Dr Oppenheimer. I replied that Oppenheimer was out of town. (In fact,
he was in Washington.) The operator asked for Dr Einstein. I told her that Ein-
stein was not at the office and that his home number was unlisted. The operator
told me next that her party wished to speak to me. The director of the Washington