ALBERT Einstein G207

 ALBERT Einstein

(Continued)

As time went on, Einstein's theory proved to be correct and by 1914 he had become famous all over the world. His work was stopped, however, by the First World War. The war and the suffering that it caused affected him greatly. He lost interest in much of his research. Only when the war was over in 1918 was he able to get happily back to work. During the postwar years in Germany, many honors were given to Einstein. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. In 1929 a great celebration was held on his fiftieth birthday in Berlin. Being a shy man, Einstein did not attend, but he received several baskets full of cards, letters and telegrams of congratulation. The gifts to him would have filled a railway car.

When Hitler came into power in Germany, Einstein, who was a Jew, found the doors of study closed to him. Not only was everything that he had taken away from him, but also his German citizenship. He became a man without a country.

Fleeing Germany, Einstein went first to France, then to Belgium, and then to Britain. There he received a letter inviting him to go to the United States to teach at a well-known research institute at Princeton. He accepted, but asked for a very small salary. Einstein cared little for money, though he could have been very rich. He once refused to speak on the radio for $1,000 a minute. Another time he was seen using a check for $1,500 as a bookmark. Then he lost the book!

In 1940 Einstein became an American citizen. He lived the rest of his life in the United States. Besides his work in physics, he spent much time working for human rights and progress.

Like many scientists, Einstein loved music; he played the violin fairly well. In Princeton he lived quietly, working at the institute and enjoying himself by playing his violin in his simple home. Often there were visitors like the twelve-year-old girl who, for a time, formed the habit of visiting him on her way home from school. After some time, the puzzled mother of the girl met Dr. Einstein and asked him what he and her daughter talked about. The doctor smiled and explained: “Oh, she brings me cookies, and I do her arithmetic homework for her.”

Such was Albert Einstein, a simple man of great achievements.