those documents look real...
Written
by Walter Isaacson and was published first in 2009, the biography book of
‘Einstein: The Life of A Genius’ caught my eyes glued to its contents, with
rare documents and facsimile brought to public attention, although there’s a
few grammatical mistakes and typing errors that makes me flabbergasted quite a
while. And not to forget, all thanks to Imran Rasid who let me borrow his book.
Most people recognized Einstein as the
person who proposed the idea of E=mc^2 and its related science of universe, also,
to my continued amazement, with the fact that he experienced dyslexia in his
early childhood years. But, I shall not tell dear readers in what’s his
personal life was like, because it’s aplenty on the net !
Of
religious views
“God
whose existence could be determined in the harmonious beauty of the natural
laws He had established, but who did not intervene in the day-to-day affairs of
mankind.”
This is one of Einstein’s famous
quotes. ‘Twas quite obvious that his principle regarding religion has some
similarities in what has been described by Spinoza – a Dutch philosopher – and
the founders of United States like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. He
sometimes also quoted:
“All
serious scientists eventually realize that there is a guiding hand in the laws
of the Universe, one whose power is manifestly awesome as to leave us feeling
humbled.”
Of
unifying classical physics and quantum theory
Bohr and Heisenberg believed that the
sub-atomic particles’ activities are indeterminable, while Einstein and
Schrödinger frequently rebutted this view and proposed that ‘there should be a
rhythmic law of predicting subatomic activities’.
It is also quite interesting to note that Bohr maintained
the notion that the abandonment of strict causality was so much supported by
the evidence ‘that there really was no other option’. Einstein, on the other
side, thinks that Bohr’s view is baseless. Thus he spent a lot of time in his
golden age to unify classical and quantum physics, and we all knew that he
failed in doing so.
Lord Kelvin (a British physicist) must be certainly wrong
when he said that “there is nothing new to be discovered in physics now”, as we
know now that more and more complex theory and supersymmetry is discovered
after Einstein’s years. And perhaps, CERN is doing their job currently, kan
Of Music
Einstein played violin very well, and
he’s been always inspired by Mozart’s music that he thought as a reflection of
Universe’s inner beauty itself.
Of Nobel
Prize
The Swedish Academy
Ironically, and at last, Einstein
received Nobel Prize only on his work for photoelectric effect (light quanta).
takpe, yang ni pon bolehhh~
Of
Quantum Physics
The argument: whether the Universe’s
course (eg-the start of the universe and its developments) is predetermined, or
subjected to total randomness and chance. Einstein believed in the former notion,
which he struggled to find the unifying formula to the end of his life. What
about our PoV as Muslims, then?
‘And it is He who created the heavens and the
earth in six days - and His Throne had been upon water - that He might test you
as to which of you is best in deed. But if you say, "Indeed, you are
resurrected after death," those who disbelieve will surely say, "This
is not but obvious magic." (11:7)
Of Life Principles
Einstein
was once a Pacifist (not participating in countries’ dispute) because he
regularly questioned authorities and provoking assumptions that scientists
always made. However, to a certain extent, he moved along with the current
situations, and eventually declared that radical pacifism is a dead end when
Adolf Hitler took power (German rearmation).
Continuously
manifesting himself as a Democratic Socialist, Einstein adhered solidly to the
freedom of speech and the freedom of thinking. Between the lines (of pure
democracy and pure socialist) he devoted himself into, and resisted nationalism
throughout his life.
Of Jewish State Israel
In the later years of his life, he
actively assisted the Jews’ migration into America
(especially Jewish scientists in Europe) and Palestine
His support in migrating Jewish to Palestine Israel
Of ‘Red
Scare’
I don’t know much about history, so my
statements gained from little readings might not be correct as well. Wikipedia
had an article regarding this, and I believe that Einstein involved in the
second red scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy assaulted Einstein pertaining loyalty
investigation.
As expected, Einstein maintained his coolness and
stubbornness and urged fellow people affected by the red scare to follow
Mahatma Gandhi’s footsteps. I wondered a thing, does ‘red’ implies Jews, or of
the Communist sorts? What is McCarthy’s then? The white group of KuKluxClan I
might accuse? Haha!
Oh btw, I
loved reading his letters. Those old German words and the beauty of the
language made me in awe. 7 tahun belajar dan cakap bahasa Jerman, tak pernah2
aku baca text yang seindah ini. Sumpah.
