einstein's legacy? we'll review einstein life and put that question to einstein experts alice and bert. captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 e- mail: ♪ [music] ♪ [music] ♪ if. for such a small if i live to a hundred. if social security isn't enough. if my heart gets broken. if she says yes. we believe if should never hold you back. if should be managed with a plan that builds on what you already have. together we can create a personal safety net, a launching pad, for all those brilliant ifs in the middle of life. you can call on our expertise and get guarantees for the if in life. after all, we're metlife. ♪[music] ♪ welcome. >> thank you. >> we are celebrating the 100th@anniversary, the sennennary of albert einstein's burst of scientif discovery. what is it exactly that we are saluting? i k you, dr. robert shulman? >> we're celebrating this incredib burst of creativity that he showed in 1905. wealso are celebrating the fact that he, in essenc came from nowhere and put s stamp on 20th century physics, in this, a humble patent clerk is an achievement that is probably unparalleled certainly in this 20th century. >> he becamea celebrity ientist and an icon, and he has affected the popular culture. can you tell us about@that, >> he became an icon i think general theory of relativity was proven to becorrect by some british astronomers and he gained worldwide fameright after that. and -- >> so the scientific legacy is really the genesis of all the re? >> is that co"rect? and he was@very outspoken lar on, on potical situations and social situations with the state of israel. >> what was remarkable about einstein's scientific discery? was it method as well as results? >> it was a matter of method. i mean, one thang thank's fascinating@about him is at that time when he made his scoveries, he was, as i said before, a humbpat earnt clerk. working fourhours on his e was patent application and fou" hours on his work that he came the other theory is he he was working on it eight hours a@day under the table. it's unclear, both of those of leges. but the meod, one@thing that we've learned@from the love let$ers is that he was well aware of the literature, read all of the primary sou"ces from contemporary and soin one sense he cos from nowhere and on the other nd he's someone who is wl versed in the physics of the dayí >> this is one of the volumes you were able to produce. tell us about@this. >> this is volume ven@which cors the period from the -- of the first@world war. these are his pars, so the series that we worked on is two serieswritings and@ correspondence. this is the -- these are the writings. this is also the critical period where he stops stewg or where he not@only does science but also does political work. >> i don't e any footnotes in his original drafts of his footnotes. he had no -- he dealt in pure thought,that right? >> well, did he do foottes but one of the spectacular things about the 1905 per, the most famous moving bodies, it has most no equations. the initial period of einstein's creativity has a when you say it's pure thought that really rings true because it is not -- ere is no elaborate mathematical system to it or mathematical structure@ to it. >> he wrote a painer in 1905 and he discovered that light waves are really particles and that light waves curve. and that had an impact, did it not, on quantum physics. and it had an impact on ape lot invented since then. been >> and his paper on relativity water in isaac newton's, what, 200 year acceptance of his formula with regardtoweight and space and light, gravi$y? >> at really applies more general relativity, so i mean blowing newton out of the water as the "new york times" said heaven's all askew. einstein surpasses newton. that really is for the general relativitywhich is papers th he did at the end of 1915, 1916. moving bodies, his specl theory of lativity establishes the eqvalence of mass and@energy.@ thisis the famous e equals mc squared equati that later is falsely claimed to ma him the father of the atomic bomb. >> e stands for energy, m stands r mass. the small c is a. >> speed of light. >> a term of science. the c itself is the speed of light and you square the speed of light and then matter and matter becomes interchangeable with -- >> energy. >> with energy. >> yes. >> and this of course is at a very sic level the secret to the atomic bomb. , of course, rejected with i@ think completely correctly rejected the idea th he had hehad nothing to do with that p"ogm, but he did come up with the equation and soaked in. though,it? >> he could not see what the equation produced. >> he wrote a letter to roosevelt and said that uranium is susceptible to the atomic power in so many words. th could be done by others. that was s-ggested in a tter, correct? and that led@rooselt to form a committee. that committee would then assemble in the manhattan projectí now as i read einstein, he's very careful to say i didn'to any of at. he didn't. he wasn't involved in the project directly but he planted e seeds in roosevelt to get with it and get on with atom power for military use because others were gonna do it. >> he was afid -- >> isn't thattrue? >> yes. >> he was afraid the germans might be able to develop a weon, but i don't think he knew exactly what kind of a weapon -- one thing he did not understand and he says that. he did not understand the chain reaction. chain reaction was brought into being by the four scientists who werewho? >> talking abt oppenheimer, salard. this wasthen t"ansferred to los@alamos. >> the original four were fermie, text ellah and@they form roosevelt's coittee. then they participated with oppenheimer, did the9 not on the manhattan project? >> certainly salard did not. sk. e was considered security so he was kept out of los alamos. feramie was heavily involved. if i could@just say one thing about what y justsaid, the committee that s formed after einstein wrote the letter in augustof 39 had the so-cled lyman briggs committee had a very unhappy exisnceí the americans really only picked up on the atomic bomb research after the british and the tube alloy program in england, ortly before pearl harbor suggesd the nuclear at that point, the americ program really took fire. >> to elaborate a little bit more on what einstein said about this, this is from your book, recordable einstein. great volume, by the way. >> thank you. a lot of surprising terial in here as to an indication of the range -- asyou pointed out. was a multi-disciplinarian. he was not in the narrow boards situation that scientists are in today where they bore down and down in a relatively small area. he was able to interrelate. he was able to connect. he saw -] huh? >>he w the connections. >> this is what you quote him as saying. father of the release. lf the my father was quite indirect. i did not in fact foresee that it would be released in my lifetime. i beeve@only that it was theoretically possible. it became practical only through the accidental discovery of a chain reaction. this was not something i could have predicted." >> yeah. >> it's a chain reaction that he didn't see. but he saw the atomic power was therep. >> he sawthe possibilities@of that, yes, and this is why he wanted to warn roosevelt. he was afraid the germans would develop the bomb and then the united states would have no way of defending@itself. >> did roosevelt have him in for dinner? >> he had him to the white house, yeah. >> he was at the white house, not on that occasion. >> with wives? >> yes. it was soon after he came in 1933 and elsa was with him. >>wasn't there an invitation that ein sign that who? so he wouldn't go to the white house? >> yeah. >> why wouldn't he want him to einstein like a mother hen? r >> was itas simple as that? >> . >> no? >> i think it was also he's afraid of einste's one of the things that we admire so much about him that he spoke his mine. i think flecksner was worried about that, also. the atomic bomb? i think@one@thing that should be de clear -- >> was he the catalyst of e atomic bomb? >> he really didn't know much about nuclear physics. he didn't know much about the subatomic particles. >> he discovered them. >> no, he discovered the at tom. he discovered the mechanics of the at tom. >> anlecules. >> that's right. but i mean, that's a completely different channel to -- >> you mean level of discovery? >> yes. yes. >> than what was invol6ed than the actual production of the >> we're not en sure that he knew in 1932 when koffroff discer the p"o ton that he he was aware of that. >> so he was a commanding genius and there's been no equal to him over the course of the entire century. that safe say? you think he is fully@ appreciated for what he was? what he was? >> what he was? yes. appreciated today? s fully do you think if you asked students day why is einstein important they're not gonna tell you it's because of his image that i see on fuji film? >> i think many understand what physics has meant to scientists and engineers since we made his discovery. >> are we not seeing an einstein reappraisal@that is far reaching? einstein seminars around the world? a seminal figure for science@ and advance@of our technology? from him you get some say even the computer. you get a whole series of imputed involvements of einstein, satellites, lasers, photocopies, television, telecommunication, clear power, true? >> i think tha$ in part einstein's image has overwhelmed the person, and it's something that i think he wo&ld be very unhappy about. >> is there a repraisal of great significance going on worldwide about eitein's accomplishmen$s and his genius? >> certainly with respect to cosmoly. >> you talking astrophysics >> i'm not talking it, i'm describing it. >> you mn onthe impact of this on what? on the universe? >> yes.@ that the re appraisal of his contributions to technology than it@is that he may have been right about certain phenomenon where the mizzickists are still working on a general of everything, einsin's news are coming into new scrutiny. >> you're talking gravity, space and time? >> yes. >> is there any harm done by the marketing of einstein's image of automobiles, computers, mineral ter, neckties, mugs, t-shirts, even action figures? einstein himself deplored the use of his image as a commercial endorsement. but we'll put that question to our guests. first, however, here is an es sceeth on albert einstein. born 1879, germany. the earliest known photograph of einstein believed to have been taken in munich in the 1880s. einstein's father herman, einstein's mother pauline koch. einstein and his sister are maya about 1893. einstein at the age of 17. einstein in the classroom in switzerland, his teacher. toward the end of the 19th century. einstein at the swiss patent office burned in the early 1900s. einstein and his first wife taken in 1911 when both were in their early 30s. einstein and his wife meleva and their son hans albert, 1904. einstein and max plank, the originator of the quantum theory which played a key part in the development of einstein's theories. einstein and his second wife elsa. einstein in middle age as institute,erlin. einste on the cover of berlina, december 14, 1919. a new great figure in world history. einstein in winston churchill on the grounds of country home 1933. einstein on the day following his arrival princeton institute of advanced studies, october 1933. signing the letter to franklin delano roosevelt,a reconstructed set piece photo of the 1939 warning to president roosevelt from einstein about the dangerous possibilities of others developing nuclear weapons. einstein and his wife elsa in pasadena during one of his visits to the california institute of technology. in 1945, almost overnight, einstein became the conscience of the world. he wrote, spoke and broadcast throhout the last ten years of his life. einstein and several famous american physicists gatheredin princeton, new jersey to launch an appeal for $a million to educate americans on implications of nuclear fission. portrait of albert einstein, 1879 to 1955. 76 years of age. that's a lot in those photographs that we can cue off and discuss, but before we do that, did einstein make any commercial endoements to allow his likeness to be used for marketing purposes that you are aware of? ice? by the way, alice, i should point out that you've done the quotable einstein? you also have a volume here of albert einstein's letrs to and from children. tell us about@that a little bit. >> well, it's a collection of letters thatchildren had written to einstein. there are@about 50 or 60 lette"s on all kinds of topics. they also included the answers to some of the letters. he wasn't able to answer all of the letters. some ofthem are fairly trivial and requi"e@no answer, buhe did his best. >> you also produced the einstein almanac which goes year by year right up to 1955, is that correct? >> yes. >> and you also point out in 1955 early in the year russell approached einstein asking him to issue a joint statement declaring thata nuclear war there there would be no winners or losers, only a permanent state of catastrophe. signed april 11 and returned it to russell. with it, he se a short you speak to that? i ask you, robert. >> well, the -- this was seven days fore he died. i think he died before the letter reached russell. this then came the toh stone for the pugwash conferences@to control internationally the use of >> you mean, to put the genie back inthe bottle? >> less to put the nie back in the bottle an to control@ the genie. well, put it back into the bottle. >> that didn't work, did it? >> no, there are still discussions of giving up some this was something that was very suspect for a lot of people, but that was the gist of his id. >> if roosevelt hadn't gotten into the act here there would be no atomic bomb. there would be no atomic bomb in the second world war. >> we now have a new book in germany which suggts that the germans not only aiseerg was working but other oups within the german high comantd were working. so it's conceivable that that which einstein feared, the development by the germans that a nuclear weapon might have happened. >> can you account for the extreme distaste einstein felt for his countrymen, he being german himself? he really disliked the germs. why? >> well, he disliked them mainly because of their author therien d military ntality, especially when he was growing up as a child during the time of business park and keyser wilhelm ii. and he was such an independent minded and free-spirited boy that he he found such authority oppressing to him. >> have they despite the fact this einstein disliked the rmans for the reasons have theyembraced them? i went to berlin and the streets that the book indicates that he was -- that he lived on is not accurate. the streets werechanged. i finally found where he lived. he lived in anapartment house and that's a parkoutside inditing he lived there. it was not easy to get to. is he now being@hidden? >> quite the ntrary. >> qui$e the contrary? >> if i@could disagree with my colleague a bit, einstein was very favorable to germany until the nazis came to power. that is to say he certainly i >> what he writes about his school year's written kin 1955 seenthughoutprism already of what the nazis have done. >> he feared the third reich,that right? >> he not only feared it, he wrote many appeals then during the war saying that e germans had descended to a level. >> don't you think this really goes a little beyond that just the@third reich? >> it's the elimination what's now called the holocaust, which@ was then the genocide against the jews. >> isn't there something else about the german psyche, the german temrament? is it because he experienced what, a extremely disciplined >> i mean, i rely don't think -- >> d e holocaust. >> his childhood was a rather pleasan$ one. he does say of cour there was a peculiar antisemitism in the -- that this didn't bother him i really think that he's seeing that is the period of the eing nazi rule that colete disenchanted him. >> on the marketing of the genius einstein, he sets the stage himself for the commercialization of his image when he bequeathed his papers to the hebrew university of jerusalem because the hebrew university of jerusalem now licensing agency run s attorney robert richmond to sell the rights to the use of einstein'simage. the proceeds go to the university. am i right on that? >> yes. >> now, despite the fact that einstein himself had this to say about commercial endorsements. "it is -- is it not a sad meantair commentary onthe commercialition and i must add the corruption of our time that business firms make these offers with wanting to insult me? it evident i had means this corruption itis, is widespread." that makes it clear that he didn't want his name usedon any products, correct? >> he did not in his lifetime. i guess he had no control. >> he wanted to give it to the university, p"obly the central thinin s life. i don't think he imagined in his wildest dreams that i$ would turn into a corn that cope yaof endorsements. >> do you think hebrew university in jerusalem is exploiting einstein's image? >> i thk they are, shall i say, capitalizingon it. commercialized?@ >> apparently, they have the right to it if they want to. >> you think they have it in the light of what einstein corruptionnvolved, the commercial endorsements?@ >> well, his will did not specify, i think that they cannot do this, and i don't think he foresaw that they would actually do this and fire an agencyto sell his image. >> is there any harm done by the marketing of einstein's image? >> i think that einstein is untouchable in the sense a$ his true commit -- true acevemen both in physics and in the political sphere are safe from this kind of in a wa9, he towers so far above the commercialization that i dot ink that it -- >> is it like the branding of any corporate image that's hamm into the american psyche in this particular instance that popular culture takes over and soon the image replaces the reali$y behi it. >> that's probably true. >> is thatdeplorable? >> in some ways it is, yeah. >> sorry. >> on the other hand it also keeps his work alive and his contribution. >> alice, how many times was einsin married? >> he was married twice and each time for 17 years. >> what happened dung those@ marriages? d he have any additional liaisons? >> not during his fit marrge until he met the -- or he reacquainted himself with his cousin elsa. >> we haven't really discussed that. we haven't diussed einstein the man. we'll@do that in part two of this program.