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Pretty sure Einstein was always that way: a generous, compassionate, and perceptive person who cared a lot about music and wanted to help other people understan

Pretty sure Einstein was always that way: a generous, compassionate, and perceptive person who cared a lot about music and wanted to help other people understand the world. Read a few pages from https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780874875843/page/75 https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780874875843/page/75

wsc981 4y ago
There was a letter Einstein wrote to his wife [0], in which we see a different side of Einstein. People are complicated beings. --- [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/06/arts/dark-side-of-einstein-emerges-in-his-letters.html https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/06/arts/dark-side-of-einstei...
- reasonabl_human 4y ago
  Wow. Really grounding to see the personal troubles of such a monumental figure.
- shadowofneptune 4y ago
  A while back I found in his wiki article that when he worked for the Kaiser Wilhelm institute he had visited Japan and written some racist things in his personal notes. It was oddly reassuring. Einstein, probably the most deified scientist out there, had attitudes and behaviors completely typical for his time period and social status.
- jacobolus 4y ago
  Someone having a break-down in communication and then a falling out with their spouse, ultimately leading to divorce, doesn’t mean either partner is a bad person, lacking in generosity or compassion, etc. Marriages can be delicate, take a lot of hard work, and can break in any number of ways, when the two partners’ priorities don’t align. It’s a particular challenge if one of the partners is extremely busy with their work, often traveling alone, has lots of external obligations and commitments .... These particular letters are evidence that Einstein had a bad relationship with his wife for many years and probably fell well short of her original expectations, being more occupied with his career than his family. But not necessarily evidence that he was a jerk or mistreating anyone. Without knowing a whole lot more about the situation it’s pretty hard to judge from a few letters. (It is generally shitty that women were (and are) often expected to give up their careers to support their husbands’ careers, and later to raise children. As a society we could do a lot more to promote gender equality and help support families.)

wsc981 4y ago

There was a letter Einstein wrote to his wife [0], in which we see a different side of Einstein. People are complicated beings. --- [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/06/arts/dark-side-of-einstein-emerges-in-his-letters.html https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/06/arts/dark-side-of-einstei...

reasonabl_human 4y ago
Wow. Really grounding to see the personal troubles of such a monumental figure.
shadowofneptune 4y ago
A while back I found in his wiki article that when he worked for the Kaiser Wilhelm institute he had visited Japan and written some racist things in his personal notes. It was oddly reassuring. Einstein, probably the most deified scientist out there, had attitudes and behaviors completely typical for his time period and social status.
jacobolus 4y ago
Someone having a break-down in communication and then a falling out with their spouse, ultimately leading to divorce, doesn’t mean either partner is a bad person, lacking in generosity or compassion, etc. Marriages can be delicate, take a lot of hard work, and can break in any number of ways, when the two partners’ priorities don’t align. It’s a particular challenge if one of the partners is extremely busy with their work, often traveling alone, has lots of external obligations and commitments .... These particular letters are evidence that Einstein had a bad relationship with his wife for many years and probably fell well short of her original expectations, being more occupied with his career than his family. But not necessarily evidence that he was a jerk or mistreating anyone. Without knowing a whole lot more about the situation it’s pretty hard to judge from a few letters. (It is generally shitty that women were (and are) often expected to give up their careers to support their husbands’ careers, and later to raise children. As a society we could do a lot more to promote gender equality and help support families.)