Einstein (38 page)

Langevin, the physicist, and the astronomer Charles Nordmann went ahead to Jeumont on the Belgian border to meet Einstein and traveled with him to Paris. During the trip they discussed the scientific and political questions connected with this visit. In the course of this conversation they asked Einstein for his opinion on the aims and influence of the Left in German political and cultural life. “Well,” replied Einstein, “what is superficially called the Left is actually a multidimensional structure.” Einstein already felt that the roads to the Right and to the Left might occasionally lead to the same end.

Throughout the entire trip Langevin was rather worried. Before his departure from Paris it had been rumored that groups of the “Patriotic Youth” and other nationalistic groups would gather at the station and give Einstein an unfriendly reception. Both Langevin and the French officials did not want any disturbances of this kind to spoil Einstein’s visit. While on their way, Langevin asked for information about the situation in Paris. He received a telegram from the Paris police informing him that groups of excited young people were gathering at the Gare du Nord, where the trains from Belgium arrived. Since it was believed that they were the “patriots,” Langevin was advised to leave the train with Einstein on a sidetrack where no one expected him. They did so, and Einstein was quite happy to be able to slip away from the train through a side entrance of the station into the street without being bothered by reporters or cameramen, and to ride in the subway to his hotel unnoticed by anyone.

At the Gare du Nord, however, a crowd of students who had gathered under the leadership of Langevin’s son to give Einstein an enthusiastic reception and to prevent possible hostile demonstrations by the “patriots,” waited in vain for his arrival. It was these admirers of Einstein whom the police had regarded as a hostile crowd, and it was from them that Einstein had fled.

On March 31 Einstein gave his first lecture at the College de France. Only people with tickets were admitted, the tickets having been given only to persons who were known to have an actual interest in the subject and who would not attend simply to organize a hostile demonstration. Former Premier Painlevé
stood at the door himself and watched to check that only people with invitations were admitted.

Einstein spoke in the hall where great philosophers such as Ernst Renan and Henri Bergson had lectured before large audiences. Here it was easier than in England and America for him to come into contact with his audience, since he spoke French fluently and confidently, but with a slowness to which the French were unaccustomed and which together with his slight foreign accent gave his speech a certain charm and attractiveness — the charm of pensiveness combined with a trace of mystery. This slight trace of mystery contrasted with the evident effort to present everything as logically and clearly as possible, using as few technical expressions and as many metaphorical comparisons as possible. Many internationally known scholars and persons in public life attended the lecture, among them Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium, the great philosopher Henri Bergson, Prince Roland Bonaparte, and many others.

Besides this public lecture there were sessions of the philosophical and mathematical society for scientists who wanted a detailed discussion where everyone could put questions to Einstein and raise all kinds of objections. Einstein answered every question thoroughly and many misunderstandings were cleared up.

It was very strange that the Society of French Physicists did not take part officially in any of these arrangements even though many of its members naturally met Einstein. This attitude was determined chiefly by its nationalistic tendencies, which, it seems, are stronger among physicists and technicians, than among the more abstractly thinking mathematicians, astronomers, and scientific philosophers.

As in Germany, a certain resistance among the “pure” experimental physicists may also have been involved. In France there were also “pure empiricists,” the kind of physicists about whom Einstein often remarked: “Everything that they learned up to the age of eighteen is believed to be experience. Whatever they hear about later is theory and speculation.”

The famous Academy, which had been attacked and ridiculed for years in French literature as a center of all kinds of prejudices, likewise maintained its reputation on the occasion of Einstein’s visit. There were long discussions whether Einstein should or could be invited to give a lecture. Some members maintained that it was impossible because Germany was not a member of the League of Nations. Others, in turn, thought that such an invitation would give rise to a difficult question of
etiquette. Since Einstein was not a member of the Academy, he could not sit among the members, but would have to sit in the audience. Such an unhonorable seat, however, could not be offered to so famous a man. Finally thirty members of the Academy stated very bluntly, without any subtle phraseology, that if Einstein entered the room, they would immediately leave. In order to spare his French friends any unpleasantness and annoyance, Einstein himself declined to participate in a session of the Academy.

On this occasion a Paris newspaper inquired derisively: “If a German were to discover a remedy for cancer or tuberculosis, would these thirty academicians have to wait for the application of the remedy until Germany joined the League?”

The reception in Paris had shown that the need for an understanding of the modes of thought and methods of work of different peoples and individuals existed among scientists in all countries, and could be satisfied if there were a few courageous men. It also became clear that everywhere the forces of ultra-nationalism waited only for a suitable occasion in order to appear on the surface. In order to be able to judge these events correctly one circumstance must not be forgotten. Exactly the same groups that protested violently against the reception of Einstein because he was a German became the most zealous proponents of a policy of “collaboration” with Germany after the Nazis had seized the power there. These French “patriots” prepared the French defeat of 1940 and the German domination of the Continent.

In France just as in Germany it was evident that the attitudes of people to Einstein depended greatly on their political sympathies, since most of them made no serious effort to form an opinion about his theories. A famous historian at the Sorbonne put it as follows: “I don’t understand Einstein’s equations. All I know is that the Dreyfus adherents claim that he is a genius, while the Dreyfus opponents say he is an ass.” Dreyfus was a captain in the French army who in 1894 had been accused of treason by anti-Jewish propagandists. The affair developed into a struggle between the Republic and its enemies, and the entire country was divided into two camps, the defenders of Dreyfus and their opponents. “And the remarkable thing,” added this historian, “is that although the Dreyfus affair has long been forgotten, the same groups line up and face each other at the slightest provocation.”

In Germany the republican government was attacked because
it had allowed Einstein to go to Paris and “overtures” to be made to the French; and in France the mathematicians and philosophers were attacked because they wanted to listen to one “whose people killed our sons.” And when Einstein returned to Berlin and attended the first session of the Prussian Academy again, quite a few of the seats around him were empty.

After these journeys to England and France, where his stay was always bound up with political tensions and where it was really impossible to enjoy the new experiences, it was a relief for Einstein to travel to the countries of the Far East, to experience the varied impressions made upon him, and like a child at play to enjoy the variety of the world without having to consider constantly whether or not national sensibilities at home or abroad were being insulted.

Einstein arrived in Shanghai on November 15, 1922 and in Kobe, Japan, on November 20. He remained in Japan until February, when he sailed for Europe.

He was honored everywhere not only as a scientist, but also as a representative of Germany. In Shanghai he was greeted at the pier by the teachers and pupils of the German school, who sang
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles
. In Japan he was received personally by the Empress, who conversed with him in French.

When I once asked Einstein whether he had not experienced many strange things in his travels through these picturesque and exotic countries, he replied: “I have seen strange things only in my homeland — for instance, at the sessions of the Prussian Academy of Science.”

The Orientals — the Hindus, the Chinese, the Japanese — with their calmness, meditativeness, and politeness, enchanted Einstein. Their liking for moderation and beauty was for him a true relaxation after the exaggerated glorifications and animosities he had experienced in his own country and its immediate neighbors.

With his preference for the music of Mozart, Bach, and the old Italian masters, Oriental music necessarily appeared very strange to him. He was unable to discover anything enjoyable in it. He was impressed, however, by the love for art, that makes
Japanese families often spend a good part of the day in the theater listening to the music, bringing their food with them and not stirring from the spot.

In certain respects it was a similar attitude when hundreds of Japanese listened patiently to Einstein’s lectures without understanding even the language in which he spoke, let alone the content. One time Einstein observed that his lecture, together with the added Japanese translation, lasted more than four hours. He was shocked by this fact, because he pitied the people who listened so long and patiently to him, most of them without understanding much of what he said. When he gave his next lecture he shortened it so that it lasted only two and a half hours. While riding in the train to the next city, he noticed that his Japanese companions were whispering to each other in Japanese, looking at him, and then whispering again. Einstein began to feel uneasy, because such behavior was quite unusual in view of the politeness of the Japanese. Finally Einstein said to one of his companions: “Please tell me quite frankly if there is something amiss.” Thereupon the polite Japanese answered with embarrassment: “We did not dare to say anything to you about it, but the persons who arranged the second lecture were insulted because it did not last four hours like the first one. They considered it as a slight.”

On his way back, Einstein visited Palestine. For him this land was in a different category from China or Japan. Here he was unable to be simply an unparticipating observer, viewing the varied scenery as a pleasant relaxation from his work. Here he was to experience tensions that were both pleasant and unpleasant, because Einstein himself had carried on propaganda for the development of a Jewish national home in Palestine and to a certain degree felt himself responsible for it. Naturally, however, many things were not carried out as he would have desired, with the result that many people held him responsible for things with which he himself was not in sympathy. Einstein’s collaboration in the development of Palestine was always directed only toward the advancement of the main goal, which he regarded as desirable. Of the concrete details of this development, only very few could be attributed to his suggestions. Consequently he was curious to see the actual appearance of what until then had been only a more or less vague dream.

As one of the most prominent advocates of Jewish colonization and as one of the outstanding personalities among the Jews throughout the world, he was received in Palestine, even more
than in other countries, as a public figure. He was invited by the Governor of Palestine to live at his house. The Governor at this time was Viscount Herbert Samuel, a man who had already acquired a reputation in English domestic politics. He was himself a Jew, a fact that the English government apparently considered a particularly appropriate manifestation of its friendly attitude toward the development of the Jewish national home. In practice, however, things did not work out so well. The position of a Jewish governor was particularly difficult in the face of the growing controversies between the Jews and Arabs. Daily he had to prove the absolute impartiality of the English government in this conflict. Since he himself was a Jew, it was only natural to attribute to him a certain bias in favor of the Jews, so that he had to compensate for this by leaning over backward in favor of the Arabs, with the result that in the end he discriminated against the Jews. He could not help making himself generally unpopular.

Like Lord Haldane, Viscount Herbert Samuel was one of those English statesmen whose hobby was to occupy themselves with science, especially with the philosophy of science. Like Haldane he too had a strong personal interest in the relativity theory. As regards its philosophical interpretation, Herbert Samuel’s views were opposed to those of Einstein and were more along the lines of traditional philosophy.

In the land, which was regarded more or less as a colony, an English governor had to present an imposing front in order to keep the “natives,” including both Jews and Arabs, obedient and respectful. When he left his palatial residence a cannon was fired, and when he rode through the city he was accompanied by mounted troops. Within his residence there prevailed a ceremonial formality reminiscent of the ceremonial practices at the English court. It was necessary to arouse in the “natives” a sense of awe in the presence of the direct representative of the King. Einstein did not pay too much attention to all this. He was as simple and natural as anywhere else. Mrs. Einstein, however, felt rather uneasy. She said later: “I am a simple German housewife; I like things to be cozy and comfortable and I feel unhappy in such a formal atmosphere. For my husband it is a different matter; he is a famous man. When he commits a breach of etiquette, it is said that he does so because he is a man of genius. In my case, however, it is attributed to a lack of culture.” Sometimes, to avoid the difficulties of etiquette and ceremonial, she went to bed.