David Topper

Here is the compact story of this famous man, from the smiling contrarian in his grade school picture to the nonconformist adult who refused to groom his hair. As such, it fills a gap: the need for a very short book on Einstein that gives a brief but up-to-date story of his life and thought, with a simple explanation of what he contributed to 20th century physics and beyond.  

There is a chapter on his habitually thorny relationships with women and close relatives. His first love, his first and second wives, his parents and his children – none of which was a painless union. The birth of an illegitimate daughter, the estrangement of his sons after divorcing his first wife, his incessant struggle with his controlling mother – all had a strong physiological effect on Einstein’s personality.

Next is a chapter on the young Jew struggling with self-identify, who in adulthood was unwaveringly committed to social justice that he believed was rooted in Jewish ethical values. It began with his early flirtation with Orthodox Judaism, only to be vehemently rejected by the science-obsessed teenager. Then his exposure to overt anti-Semitism when he moved to Germany was followed by his subsequent espousal (with reservations) of the Zionist movement. Lastly he moved to the USA fleeing Nazi Germany, only to be confronted with endemic racism towards African-Americans, to which he boldly spoke-out supporting the burgeoning civil rights movement.   

Finally, there is the scientist who expresses his ideals through his radical ideas about the physical world, as he reworked our conceptions of space, time, and motion. The result was a new cosmic model of the universe that is being developed further today. As well, his commitment to an ordered and predictable universe was ultimately expressed in his final (but still unfulfilled) quest for a theory unifying all forces of nature into one whole.