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Einstein in Berlin

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I'm glad I read Thomas Levenson's EINSTEIN IN BERLIN in spite of its atrocious publisher's blurb: "In a book that is both biography and the most exciting form of history, here are eighteen years in the life of a man, Albert Einstein, and a city, Berlin, that were in many way the defining years of the twentieth century." What "the most exiting form of history" may be is never explained. Fortunately, the book is better written than its jacket. Levenson, a documentary filmmaker who produced a two-hour biography of Einstein for Nova, can paint memorable pictures with words too. In general, he does better by Einstein than he does by Berlin.

Levenson strikes a good balance between the details of Einstein's private life, his scientific work, and his political activities. The book's greatest strength is its rendering of Einstein's contributions to theoretical physics into a form digestible even by a scientific illiterate. Levenson shows the process as well as the final result; the failures as well as the triumphs. He explains the ongoing debate between Einstein and Niels Bohr over arcane aspects of quantum mechanics. I was intrigued by the "mind experiments" Einstein used to test his theories and those of other phyicists. The chapters summarizing Einstein's life before and after Berlin give the reader sufficient context for understanding his "defining" years. Some aspects of his personal life get short shrift: his activity as an amateur musician, for example. We learn that his friendship with Queen Elizabeth of Belgium began when they played chamber music together, but we never are given a glimpse of him playing, nor any sense of the time he devoted to this pastime.

Levenson is more impressionistic in his portrayal of Berlin. It is not so much Einstein's Berlin we are shown as that of his friend Count Harry Kessler, a liberal bon vivant whose Diary of a Cosmopolitan is quoted extensively. The reader learns almost nothing about the university that employed Einstein for eighteen years beyond the small circle of scientists with whom he associated. Levenson describes the nightlife and popular culture of Berlin at length, but shows little of its high culture. Much space is devoted to Josephine Baker and Fritz Lang, but Schonberg, Schnabel, Kadinsky and Lotte Leyna are mentioned only when they became refugees. Levenson is thorough in detailing political and economic events in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany, but provides little insight into the daily life of ordinary Berliners.

Levenson gives the reader more of WWI and Adolf Hitler's part in it than seems necessary for this book. Details of the major battles and of Corporal Hitler's medals are unnecessary to an understanding of Einstein's opposition to the war or of Berlin's experience during the war. It was Hitler the politician, not Hitler the soldier, who impacted Berlin and Einstein so profoundly in later years.

Albert Einstein. Adolf Hitler. Germany. The two iconic figures of the 20th century, shaped and nurtured, alternately embraced and rejected by the one nation. Posthumous competitors for the honor of TIME's "person of the century", Levenson's book details the progress and transformation of both men and their nation through the critical period from 1914 to 1932, while Einstein lived in Berlin.

The portrayal of Einstein here is of a great but flawed man, not quite the usual hagiography, despite the imagery reminiscent of the Christmas story at the start. Why did Einstein come to Berlin, the heart of Prussia, after renouncing Germany for Switzerland as a teenager? Why did Germany's extreme climate of militarism not repel him, at this time immediately before the great war? Levenson details the scientific inducements: German physics at the time was unparalleled, and Einstein in Berlin could enjoy the company of the established Max Planck and younger colleagues like Max Born and Lise Meitner, later Heisenberg and many others. But the offer of money and prestige was perhaps as important - Einstein would direct his own "Kaiser Wilhelm" institute of physics. Official Germany wanted to claim Einstein as its own, and Einstein, with just a touch of patriotism, accepted.

Levenson portrays those war years, and the Weimar Republic that followed, with great poignancy. The German people were itching to prove their greatness. Planck and other scientists declared their strong support for the war, and even Einstein tried to help with research on aircraft and more significantly on the gyrocompass. Einstein's close friend Fritz Haber was the Edward Teller of chemical weaponry, developing lethal gases in the same building where Einstein worked out general relativity. All of Europe suffered as the war was prolonged; Einstein himself falling ill to poor nutrition in 1918. Levenson shows how the replacement of the Kaiser by a new republic led by "social democrats", who acquiesced to the Versailles Treaty, divided Germany and would soon threaten the world again. On one side of the divide were those on the left, including Einstein: pacifists, Jews, intellectuals, seemingly now in control. On the other side, the right wing and the remnant of the armed forces; those who still thought the war could have been won, who decried Germany's fall.

Levenson tracks the growth of Einstein's celebrity status, starting in 1919 with the confirmation of General Relativity. The worldwide press, stimulated by the war years and the new movie industry, pounced on the photogenic and genial scientist, and Einstein did not shy away.

Levenson discusses Einstein's stunning contributions to physics in reasonably brief, accurate, and generally accessible terms. Even though his most important work predated 1914, Einstein still helped discover Bose-Einstein condensation, raised awareness of quantum problems, and founded general relativity theory and the theoretical basis for cosmology during his stay in Berlin. Berlin also saw Einstein embark on two quixotic quests that would occupy him to his deathbed: fighting against random chance in the quantum mechanics he helped create, and the search for a unified theory of everything, a pursuit that still engages physicists today. Levenson gets very close to Einstein's essence in describing these ultimately futile efforts - the confidence with which, every year or two, he proclaimed he had found a unified theory, and the humility that inevitably came some months later.

But Levenson's focus is not just Einstein, but the culture of which he was part, and which he partly inspired. Relativity fed into ongoing radical changes in the arts of the time: music, architecture, movies, writing. Some of this was a reaction to the war years and the release from authority the new republic brought. The tragedy and poverty of the trillion-fold hyperinflation period is here - Einstein suffered less than most through funds he had laid aside abroad. Levenson's collection of black and white photos of the period illustrate the range of radical change and questioning: two photos of nudists are featured opposite a seated Einstein. The immorality of the age (Einstein's womanizing was at least Clintoneseque) may have been hyped by the new media - certainly the stories of serial killers and slasher novels are disturbing to us now.

The problems, from hyperinflation to "girl shows", were natural grist for the mill of right-wing outrage at "foreign influences", Jews, and left-wing intellectuals. Levenson details the background of hatred that existed here well before Hitler came along, becoming increasingly strident as the Nazis gained influence. Einstein's reaction to this was an increasing identification with his fellow Jews. While never considering himself a Zionist, Levenson shows Einstein's selfless nature in working to raise money for people he never personally knew; there is a sad contrast with Einstein's poor treatment of his own family.

As a historical work the writing is often somewhat dry; Levenson spent nine years on the book, and has extensive end notes. Starting the book at the end of a long day, I was fast asleep by page 40. But the narrative is excellent, and at times thrilling - we know the outcome, but what Levenson does is show the gradual destructive changes within the German people of the time. The account recalls a quote from Soviet gulag survivor Alexander Solzhenitsyn - "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years." Einstein was imperfect, as we all are; Levenson shows Hitler's self-justification striving for a moral society - the shades of gray here abound. But 1914-1932 saw Solzhenitsyn's oscillation magnify and become almost coherent across the people of one nation, rejecting those like Einstein who were out of phase. Secrecy, lack of respect for human life, fostered hatred of "others" (communists, blacks, Jews), and Hitler's demagoguery were key ingredients. Levenson's text in places suggests dangers in our current world, where we see truth replaced by ideology, that we would be well to watch out for.

If it is easy to see a bit of Einstein's genius and geniality in ourselves, it is also easy to see the shadow of Hitler in those we disagree with. Internet discussions are notorious for descending into cries of Nazism. This brief period of history in Germany is critical to understanding both the best and worst parts of our own nature. There are other books that will tell you more about Einstein's life. There are certainly more comprehensive books on Hitler and the roots of World War II. But
Levenson, combining the two iconic subjects, provides a valuable and unique lens with profound implications for understanding ourselves.

There is a view of human history that believes that the trends are so strong, that no one person can significantly alter what is destined to occur. An opposing view is that there are so many potential paths that the differences that drive movement from one path to another are very small. Not only can one person provide the impetus from one path to another, but also the differences between the paths can be enormous. This book is primarily about Albert Einstein, one who had a dramatic effect on history. His development of new physics in the first decade of the twentieth century completely altered our view of the universe and was revolutionary.
The best measure of how revolutionary is the oft-repeated statement of astronomer Arthur Eddington. When told that he was one of only three people in the world who understood relativity, Eddington seemed puzzled. He was asked if he disagreed with the statement and he responded, "No, I was just trying to think of who the third person would be." Such revolutionary ideas that describe nature will eventually be discovered, but it is clear that Einstein was decades ahead of everyone else in his understanding of the universe.
Another one of the unforgettable people who changed the course of history is a secondary topic of the book. That person is of course Adolph Hitler, whose pathological Nazi movement eventually forced the Jewish Einstein from Germany. In 1913, as a consequence of Einstein's incredible work while a patent clerk in Switzerland, Walther Nernst and Max Planck went to visit Einstein. Their purpose was to offer him the best scientific job in the world, a professorship with no teaching responsibilities at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. The offer was an incredible one, but it was fitting, given Einstein's stature. He accepted and arrived in Berlin shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Outside of his traveling, he stayed there until forced out when Hitler rose to power.
This is a chronicle of Einstein, but it is also a history of Germany in the years from 1914 until 1932. While the events in Europe as a consequence of the rise of Hitler are well known, the situation in Germany during those years is not well known. Few people are aware of the social tension due to deprivation that took place in Germany from 1914 until the rise of Hitler. Near-starvation was universal in the last two years of the First World War, and there was chaos immediately after. The hyperinflation of the early twenties was incredible, it is hard to believe that things were so bad that the exchange rate was one Trillion marks to the dollar. After a few years of relative stability, the onset of the depression at the end of the 1920's once again reduced a large percentage of the population to destitution. There are documented cases of people growing rich by killing people and marketing their flesh as pork. No wonder so many people were willing to surrender their freedom to starve to death and their political freedom for the opportunity to eat regularly. In his criticisms of the German people, which often happened, the well-fed and secure Einstein displayed a social naivete.
Even though it does not cover his entire life, this is one of the best biographies of Einstein the man. While no biography can avoid his physics and this one does not, there is an emphasis on his other activities. The image we have of him now is that of a transcendent genius with wild hair and a wise, grandfatherly manner. He was one of the first celebrities of the media age, and he played to the public fairly well. The personal Einstein was often not a pleasant man. His sudden fame doomed his first marriage to Mileva Maric, and his actions in casting her off were crude at best. Even years after their separation and divorce, he referred to her in very derogatory terms, even to people who were friends to both of them. Throughout his life, even after his marriage to his cousin Elsa, he entertained a sequence of mistresses. His attitude towards Elsa was that she had to leave him to do what he wanted, her feelings in the matter were of little consequence. Her purpose was to cook, keep house and accompany him when needed. Einstein's relationship with his children was also strained at best. He did try to be a part of their lives, but never seemed able to empathize with the problems in their lives.
Einstein is often characterized as strictly a theoretician; it was refreshing to learn that he had real mechanical ability. He received several patents, two of which were for a navigational device for ships and the other for a refrigerator. The international royalties from the patents were one of the ways he was insulated from the monetary disaster of the early twenties.
While the saintly genius that we all know comes through in this book, the other aspects of Einstein's life will likely change your attitude towards him. Yes, he was a great man, perhaps the greatest intellectual genius of the last three hundred years. However, after his rise to prominence, he was largely incapable of forming emotional relationships beyond friendship and at times, he showed a tendency to be contemptuous towards the German people. While some of that was deserved, the Germans were no different than others and many of them were just trying to stay alive.

Einstein in Berlin covers 16 years in the great scientist's life, from 1914 when he accepted the post as a professor in Berlin to 1932 when he was forced to leave Germany forever to escape anti-semitism. Einstein did some of his most important work in Berlin, including the general theory of relativity, and the science of relativity is explained in depth by Levenson. The novel also chronicles Einstein's personal life, and the politics of Germany (and the entire world) during these 16 years. In short, Levenson brings together science and history to give the reader an understanding of the man behind one of the greatest minds of all time: Albert Einstein.

Levenson probably was compelled to write this story out of a desire to show the world the true Albert Einstein. He is glorified in the public mind, and though he was indeed an dedicated, eccentric scientist with wild hair, that was not the whole Einstein. He was a poor student, and nearly did not graduate from college because of his contempt for the schooling system. During his marriages, Einstein always had mistresses, and treated his wives and children with reserve. He was a zionist, a Jew, and a pacifist. To understand the man, the reader must first understand the cirsumstances in which he lived.

For anyone interested in science, this is a must-read. Levenson goes into great detail explaining Einstein's theories, making them somewhat easy to understand. He explains all the preparations and experimenting that went into the development of the theories, and writes about Einstein's blunders as well as his successes. He reveals the man behind the science, and makes him seem more human; some readers would be suprised and encouraged to know that the great Einstein was horrible at math. He, too, had faults, and Levenson exposes all of them, whithout detracting from Einstein's glory.

This book gives a context to science that I have not seen before. Scientists do not work in an isolated bubble (though this one wished he had), but in a home and cultural environment.

Berlin, which prided itself on its science, went through dramatic changes, and the cowardice of the so-called intellectual elite was stunning. Yet Einstein himself seemed unsurprised by this. He was forever enthusiastically working toward the betterment of society, but had no faith in the people in it. He found people predictably disappointing.

The book contrasts his public commitment to his private cruelties. He himself was a disappointing individual, but not in the usual ways of public cowardice. Instead he had a callousness and seeming indifference to his families that he never showed the strangers he worked so hard to enlighten. He was not someone you would want to be married to or have as your father. But he would be great to kibitz with.

Still, his brilliance was not isolated to physics. He had brilliant philosophies and political observations. When I went to the Boston Museum of Science to see his exhibit, I was shocked to learn that he earned himself a file at our own FBI for his views, which I do not remember the book mentioning. It seems he was also brilliantly dangerous, and his disdain for authority was found equally unsettling to both the Nazi and the American governments.

This is a cover-to-cover read, educational historically as well as on Einstein himself and his physics. I have read a few books on Einstein and found this one of the best.

Einstein in Berlin needs no hype. It's an elegantly written narration of Einstein's years in Berlin--years that were vital to his development as a great scientist and humanist, and to Berlin and Germany's descent from post-World-War-I chaos to the madness of the Holocaust. It's not a book for someone wanting yet another idealized portrait of Einstein. But it's a must-read for anyone seeking a genuine understanding Einstein as a man, as a scientist, and as a remarkably influential figure during a critical historical period. Levenson has produced an insightful biography and a sophisticated history, and has woven them together masterfully.

Robert Adler, Ph.D., author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation (John Wiley & Sons, September 2002).

Albert Einstein was a genius, a German (who later became a Swiss citizen), a Nobel Prize Winner, the discoverer of relativity and one of the founding fathers of quantam physics. In this fine book by Thomas Levenson we see the personal side of Einstein during his years as head of the Prussian Institute of Science in Berlin from 1913 to 1931.
Levenson briefly sketches Einstein's remarkable career from his Ulm birth to his schooling, work in Switzerland at the patent office and long career in science. Einstein divorced his wife with whom he had sired two sins. He wed his cousin Elsa who catered to his needs for privacy and devotion. Einstein was a notorious womanizer who was egotistical and vain. He did support pacifism, the establishment of Israel as a modern state and the Jewish religion during a time of persecution. He was an agnositc. He lived and taught in Princeton from 1931-1955. He is the most famous scientist who ever lived and his image pervades our culture.
Levenson discusses World War I and the home front in Germany; the rise of the Nazis under Hitler and the cultural scene in Weimar Germany. Those wanting to focus their attentions on a traditonal biography of Einstein should read Walter Isaacson's popular work. Those wanting a feel for the life and times in which he lived would be enriched by also reading the Levenson book. The book contains several photographs of Einstein, his family and the Germany in which he worked. Levenson is good at explaining complicated scientific theories which even this English Literature major reviewer can fairly well understand.

I selected to read this book after having seen the author Thomas Levenson speak about it on the CSPAN network---and I was not disappointed. I must say that I found his historical expertise of late 19th and early 20th century Germany and Middle Europe a most pleasant and well-told inclusion. Indeed, the author neatly and ably encapsulates the pivotal events that spanned Einstein's life: the Wilhelmine Reich blundering its way into the First World War, mid- and post-war hardships in Germany, the brief Weimar democracy and its cultural oasis that was Berlin of the 1920s---and all of this set against a background the sometimes clandestine sometimes overt German anti-semitism that preceded the rise of Hitler.
And we meet the revealed Einstein: scientific genius who was, by any measure, the successor of Newton; the courageous pacifist; the unfaithful husband; the negligent father; and the Jew, who, though cynical of traditional religious observance, is yet stubbornly loyal to his people.
This volume also provides, for the non-technical reader, a good understanding of relativity and quantum theory, written in as plain English as possible.
All in all, a job well done.

I left this book on my shelves for two years because I thought that Bram Pais said everything that needed to be said about Einstein's physics, and that Albrecht Fo"lsing said everything that needed to be said about Einstein's career. Indeed, Levenson's book supercedes neither. Nor is it the most complete about German politics before the First World War, or Germany in the First World War, nor the best about the hyperinflation, nor the most detailed about the Weimar Republic nor the rise of the Nazis. However, Levenson brings these disparate aspects of Einstein and his times in Berlin together in a masterful way.

Furthermore, Levenson has flashes of insight - into Einstein's detached character and the havoc it wreaked with his intimates, into Einstein's Judaism, into the brutality of German forces in the first world war carrying forward into the FreiKorps, which are invaluable. He has an eye for significant detail - the drastic fall in beer consumption during the Crash, the games which children played reflecting the casual violence and the high unemployment of Berlin during the Crash. The dulness of my own words shows the extent to which I lack Levenson's talent.

I would say that Levenson's book on Einstein would be a good place to start with Einstein's work and life. Pais and Fo"lsing would then follow for the really interested.

One caution: Levenson's biography is interesting but more than a little dismal: Einstein was hard on his family or families, and this is portrayed against a backdrop of war, starvation, antiSemitic hatred, violence, and social disintegration leading to more war. Unfortunately the portrayal is almost certainly accurate.

In Einstein in Berlin, Thomas Levenson, explores the life of Albert Einstein through his years in Berlin from 1914 to 1932.

The book is both science history, centering on Einstein's development of The General Theory of Relativity, which he finished and published whilst living in Berlin, and his later contributions and critique of Quantum Theory; and the social and political history of Germany.

There are things to like and dislike about the book. In some respects the idea works. One of the shortcomings of many popularized accounts of science and scientists is a failure to place their subject in the social and political history of the times and places they live. It is almost as though the science and scientist live a life detached from their everyday experience. In Einstein's case, especially in the Berlin years this is a common shortcoming of scientific biographers. The conflict and ambiguities between Einstein's socialist, Jewish and pacifist outlook with a country that fought an imperialist war and then suffered economic collapse that brought on the fascism and anti Jewish policies of Hitler's Germany is often neglected. Einstein, whilst he lived in Berlin, lived and worked in a country totally at odds with his own personal philosophy. On a more micro level he worked with colleagues who often reflected and supported the policies and political outlook of the state. This is a fascinating human story and Levenson is good at this background, although, for me, at times he uses too much time and too many pages on some of the details of, for example, the first world war. Much of what he says is interesting, but it on occasions takes the reader too far away from the central character and central idea of the book - Einstein's experience of his life in Berlin.

However, it is in the science that I feel the book lacks real bite. The explanations of Einstein's theories are done well enough, but what the book lacks is a narrative flow to Einstein's scientific development and impact. The reason is that the book starts effectively half way through Einsteins' grand years of 1905 to 1916, the years spanning his publication of the `miracle' year papers and the General Theory of Relativity. It is forever having to flash back to his past works in order to place his later contributions in context. It is, of course, a necessary device because the author is dealing with one episode of Einstein's life, but while it works for the social and political history, it detracts from the science.

The book wavered between a three star and a four star for me. In the end I settled for a three, because at the end of the day, to understand Einstein, the reader must always understand him through his scientific prism. Yes, he was many things, but first and foremost he was a physicist. His passion and life was always his physics. In this crucial aspect, the book just fell short.