Interview With Walter Isaacson, Author of Einstein: His Life And Universe - Page 2

Scott: Do you feel that the events of WWII, especially the dropping of atomic bombs, overshadowed the scientific achievements of Einstein and his peers?

Walter: No, I think the dropping of the bomb dramatically brought into focus that e=mc2 was more than an abstraction. The Time issue after the dropping of the bomb has a painting of Einstein on the cover with that equation emblazoned on the mushroom cloud behind him. Because Einstein had signed the letter urging Franklin Roosevelt to launch a bomb project, Einstein felt responsible and worried. He dedicated the last decade of his life largely to pushing for arms control and world peace. The connection between science and politics fascinates me, and it's a theme of the book.

Scott: How do you suggest readers like me reconcile Einstein's morally questionable actions in his private life with some of his positive scientific feats? Do you think Einstein's private problems actually contributed to his successes indirectly? They say, for example, that most/many great writers have had unhappy lives — the theory being that they compensate for this by creating their own worlds. Psychologically, how would this play out for Einstein’s creation of another "universe" — literally and figuratively?

Walter: One of the things we discover, whether about Benjamin Franklin or Albert Einstein, is that they are not made of marble. They are flesh and blood. They have their flaws. Does this diminish them? Well, it makes them more human. We know people like that in our own lives, we can relate to it, and we have to factor it in — however we see fit – in assessing them.

I do not think unhappiness in his personal life contributed to Einstein's greatness. But here's a connection I see: in his politics, personal life, and science, he was always resisting constraints, averse to any bonds, defiant of convention, nonconformist, and disrespectful of authority. That's one of the themes of my book. For better or worse, you see that attitude in him when it comes to the bonds and commitments of family life.

Scott: What is the biggest misconception about Einstein, other than the myth that he failed math?

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

Visit Scott Butki's author page — Scott Butki's Blog