Einstein has been THE mascot for intelligence for your entire life. Because of that, you might think you know all there is to know about him.
However, Einstein's life was just as wild as his scientific theories. And here are the most
bizarre facts you never knew about this genius!
1
The identity politics of the Nazi Party led them to marginalize Albert Einstein's quantum physics as "Jewish Physics", which prevented Nazi Germany from pursuing an effective nuclear weapons program. -u/JimCalinaya
2
As a result of the "Baby Einstein" franchise of videos and books being named after Albert Einstein, royalties paid to his estate made Einstein one of the top five earning dead celebrities for a time. -u/jcd1974
3
In 1931 Albert Einstein sent a letter to Sigmund Freud titled "Why War?" to better understand the psychological causes of war. Freud responded that biological evolution, inherent power differences within groups, and the paradox of peace (times of peace allow empires to be built) cause war. -u/HotFlamingo7676
4
Einstein's support for pacifist, civil rights and left-wing causes in Europe had drawn suspicion from J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, and after his arrival to America, the Bureau launched what would eventually become a 22-year surveillance campaign since the FBI believed Einstein was a Soviet spy. -u/KimCureAll
5
While Einstein's theory of general relativity was complete by 1916 the theory was not seen as very applicable to physics. It took till the 1960s, nearly 50 years later, before the theory became central to modern physics. -u/HotFlamingo7676
6
Two guys flew a clock around the world in different directions and proved Einstein's theory of relativity - 50 years ago. The airline tickets (the clock needed seats too) and hotels cost $8000. -u/Burritoman_209
7
In 1921, when Einstein arrived in the United States he was given a "hero's welcome" and was cheered by thousands of people. -u/WalkLikeAnEgyptian69
8
Einstein had a "Year of Miracles". In one year, he published 3 papers that changed modern physics. The first about the particle theory of light (won him his Nobel Prize), the second led to people accepting the existence of atoms, and the third introduced special relativity (E=mc^2). He was 26. -u/rasye
9
Einstein bequeathed his personal archives, library and intellectual assets to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. -u/MijTinmol
10
Einstein once gave a note in lieu of a tip to a Japanese courier. The note said, “a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest”. It sold in 2017 for $1.56m. -u/We-are-straw-dogs
11
The EPR paradox was proposed by Einstein. Quantum mechanics shows if you measure two quantum particles, they will be in opposite states no matter how far away they are. For this to be true, then information exchanged between the particles would have to be faster than the speed of light. -u/HotFlamingo7676
12
Evelyn Einstein, the granddaughter of Albert, was married to an anthropology professor who tried to prove the existence of Bigfoot. When Einstein attended Berkley in the 60s, she felt anxious because she couldn't tell whether men were interested in her because of her or her name -u/van_datascience
13
Gold's yellow color and inertness are explained by Einstein’s theory of relativity. Gold's electrons travel so close to the speed of light that relativity contracts some of their orbits. This shrinks an energy gap so it absorbs blue light, and makes the outer electron less reactive. -u/ocdumbos
14
Albert Einstein spent more time as a Swiss citizen (54 years) than as a German citizen (36 years). In third place comes his American citizenship (15 years). -u/NicoE4
15
Einstein's view of gravity is not a force of attraction between matter, but a natural consequence of curved space and time caused by mass. Einstein's extraordinary claim is that there is no force of attraction between the Earth and moon; it is simply the moon following curved spacetime. -u/KimCureAll
16
Robert Millikan disliked Einstein's results about light consisting of particles (photons) and carefully designed experiments to disprove them, but ended up confirming the particle nature of light, and earned a Nobel Prize for that. -u/SawOnGam
17
Einstein failing a math exam is a myth. He failed the entrance exam to Zurich Polytechnic because he did poorly on botany, zoology and language sections. -u/amansaggu26
18
When Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric's marriage wasn't going well, Einstein left his family, moved to Berlin and began a relationship with his cousin, Elsa. Einstein and Maric divorced in 1919, with Einstein giving her his Nobel Prize as part of their divorce settlement. -u/dcdiehardfan
19
There is an official world record for time traveling. It's held by cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who has spent 803 days total in orbit around Earth. According to Einstein's theories of relativity, this would mean Sergei effectively has travelled about 0.02 seconds forward in time. -u/Al_Capwned13
20
As a child, Einstein's Uncle Jakob introduced him to algebra and called it "a merry science". He compared algebra to hunting a little animal. You didn't know the name of the animal, so you called it "x". When you finally caught the animal you gave it the correct name -u/thepresident45
21
The orbit of Mercury follows a unique pattern different from other planets which remained unexplained until Einstein’s theory of bending space-time due to large nearby gravitation. Previous theory was there was another planet between mercury and the sun, Vulcan. -u/reduxde
22
Albert Einstein was Charlie Chaplin's special guest at the 1931 premiere of Chaplin's movie, City Lights. The two became friends, and Chaplin would go on to remember Einstein fondly in his autobiography. -u/SeizeOpportunity
23
The Theory of Relativity was an attempt to explain Mach's principle, the fact that centrifugal force cannot be explained by any existing theory. Einstein failed to explain it, and remains the only known violation of relativity. -u/Legitimate_Mousse_29
24
Einstein Wrote a 1935 New York Times Obituary upon Emmy Noether's demise to highlight her mathematical genius, which was oft-overlooked because of her gender. -u/CryptoCreativity
25
Einstein hated wearing socks. In a letter to his wife, he said that the reason he stopped wearing them was because his big toe always ended up making a hole in them. -u/Tokyono
