A TRULY BEAUTIFUL MIND (Beehive)

ALBERT EINSTEIN AT SCHOOL 

1. Here are some sentences from the story. Choose the word from the brackets which can be substituted for the italicised words in the sentences.

•  A few years later, the marriage faltered. (failed, broke, became weak).
•  Einstein was constantly at odds with people at the university. (on bad terms, in disagreement, unhappy)
• The newspapers proclaimed his work as “a scientific revolution.” (declared, praised, showed)
•  Einstein got ever more involved in politics, agitating for an end to the arms building up (campaigning, fighting, supporting)
•  At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled that he left the school for good. (permanently, for his benefit, for a short time)
• Five years later, the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had American physicists in an uproar. (in a state of commotion, full of criticism, in a desperate state)
• Science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus mustache. (interested, challenged, worried)

2.  Who had these opinions about Einstein?

(i) He was boring. His classmates

(ii) He was stupid and would never succeed in life. The  headmaster in his school.

(iii) He was a freak.  His mother.

3.  Explain what the reasons for the following are-

(i) Einstein leaving the school in Munich for good.

Einstein left the school in Munich because he did not like the discipline of the school. He hated the school’s regimentation and often clashed with teachers.

 

(ii) Einstein wanting to study in Switzerland rather than in Munich.

Albert’s parents moved to Milan and left their son with relatives. After prolonged discussion, Einstein got his wish to continue his education in German – speaking Switzerland. As it was more liberal than Munich.

 

 (iii) Einstein seeing in Mileva an ally.

Einstein saw in Mileva Marie an ally against the “Philistines”—those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds. He found that she was a “clever creature”.

(iv) What do these tell you about Einstein?

These tell that Einstein was a genius and had the capabilities to achieve his targets. Moreover, he had his own view of life. He liked freedom too much.

4.  What did Einstein call his desk drawer at the patent office? Why?

He worked as a teaching assistant, gave private lessons and finally secured a job in 1902 as a technical expert in the patent office in Bern. While he was supposed to be assessing other people’s inventions, Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret. He is said to have jokingly called his desk drawer at work the “bureau of theoretical physics.”

5.  Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?

In August 1939, Einstein wrote to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to warn him that the Nazis were working on a new and powerful weapon: an atomic bomb. Fellow physicist Leo Szilard urged Einstein to send the letter and helped him draft it.

6.  How did Einstein react to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction. This time he wrote a public missive to the United Nations. In it he proposed the formation of a world government. Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact. But over the next decade, Einstein got ever more involved in politics — agitating for an end to the arms building up and using his popularity to campaign for peace and democracy.

 

7.  Why does the world remember Einstein as a “world citizen”?

When Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76, he was celebrated as a visionary and world citizen as much as a scientific genius. He is the one who proposed a world government therefore he is called world citizen. He worked for peace and democracy of the world.