Did you know… Albert Einstein is one of the world’s best-known scientists for his development of the Theory of Relativity that revolutionized science in the twentieth century. Here we have some of the most interesting curiosities about this great scientist.
Interesting Facts About Einstein
- Einstein was a hard-headed child. When he was born, seeing the shape of the back of his head, his mother and family believed it was a malformation.
- Young Einstein had a hard time speaking. He spoke very slowly and without much volume. It was difficult for him to construct whole sentences, until at the age of 9 he began to speak normally.
- A compass sparked his interest in science.
When Einstein was 5 years old and sick in bed, his father gave him a compass and the little boy was fascinated that the needle always pointed to the same place. This made him understand that there were forces that drove things where there was apparently nothing. - Einstein did not pass his college entrance exam.
He passed the science and mathematics tests, but failed the other subjects such as history, languages and geography. He had to go to private lessons and take a new exam to get into the university. - He urged the US to build an atomic bomb.
Despite being a pacifist, Einstein, alarmed by the Nazi power, alerted us President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a letter to the intentions of the Germans to create an atomic bomb and offered to collaborate to build it. Roosevelt considered Einstein’s help a risk to the security of the project and dismissed his collaboration. - Einstein’s brain is conserved and has been and is the object of multiple studies. Thomas Stoltz Harvey, the doctor who performed the autopsy on the scientist’s corpse, kept his brain in a jar and, after obtaining permission from Hans Albert Einstein, distributed pieces of it among several scientists.
- He was a talented violinist. One of the most unknown aspects of the physicist’s personal life was his fondness for the violin. At the age of 6 he began to take classes, he himself said that if he had not been a scientist he would have dedicated himself to music.
- Einstein had three nationalities. He was German, Swiss and American. At the end of his life, a journalist asked him what possible repercussions his multiple nationalities had had on his fame. Einstein replied, “If my theories had turned out to be false, Americans would say that I was a Swiss physicist; the Swiss, who was a German scientist; and the Germans, who was a Jewish astronomer.” Being Jewish, Einstein had to endure countless attempts to discredit his research.
- He loathed science fiction. Einstein was against science fiction because he felt it changed people’s understanding of science, giving them a false illusion about things that couldn’t happen. Interestingly, after a few years, his face was the starting point of one of the most famous characters in Star Wars, Yoda who has typical features of his, such as his eyes and wrinkles.
- He could have been Israel’s second president. After the death of Israel’s first president in 1952, Chaim Weizmann, the physicist was a direct candidate to take his place because he was considered “the best living Jew.” However, he immediately rejected the offer arguing that because of his age he did not feel able to assume such responsibility.
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