Einstein is the biggest rock star of the 20th century

Every so often a news story is published where this or that scientist claims to have achieved something surprising: deny or confirm a theory put forward by Albert Einstein more than a hundred years ago. The unusual interest that the physicist arouses today is only the result of a process that already occurred while he was still alive: his status as a “star”, his status as celebrity.

How is it possible that a theoretical physicist has achieved such fame and recognition? At WorldOfSoftware we believe we have the answer: remove Adele and Taylor Swift because, behind Einstein’s casual hair, hides the biggest pop-rock star of the 20th century.

Einstein’s story has everything to succeed, a story that could be called “the gravitational physics equation that made Spielberg cry”: that of a young Jewish man, shy, somewhat clumsy and with speech problems who fails his exams and, as he finishes his degree, cannot find a job. in yourshas to get to work in a gray patent office. That young man will take three years to revolutionize the world of physics and, by extension, the world in general.

The tours

Einstein spent much of the 1920s and 1930s on tour. In fact, he was outside Germany when the Nazis took power and that, taking into account the desire they had for him, surely saved his life. He visited many places and there are hilarious anecdotes.

Of course he was also in Spain. And the media and society at the time went a little crazy. Julio Camba wrote in El Sol that “the public that filled the classroom of the Faculty of Sciences. Mr. Einstein was welcomed with a great round of applause. Undoubtedly, all of us gathered there admired him a lot; but if someone asks us why we admired him, they will put us in quite a serious situation.”

Cartoons like this image of Bagaria that we attach below filled the front pages of the newspapers in Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona. After all, he was already a Nobel Prize winner (the diamond disk of science).

Thanks to that he became popular even among the lower classes, as the historian Thomas Glick says, walking down the street, a chestnut seller recognized him on the street and yelled at him “Long live the inventor of the automobile!“How long live it!”

The groupies and the haters

There is no rock star without groupies. That’s how it is. Fans sneaking into the singer’s house to steal a souvenir are a classic in the world of music. It also happened to Einstein. In late May or early June 1978, Michel Aron (newly named editor of New Jersey Monthly) approached a 27-year-old editor named Steven Levy and said, “I want you to find Einstein’s brain.”

Rumors about the brain in question had been circulating for years. Steven Levy scoured the entire United States to find the coroner who performed the physicist’s autopsy. When he found Thomas S. Harvey He confessed that he had stolen the organ without the family’s permission and had been taking it around the United States for more than 30 years. Undoubtedly, Einstein also took the fan phenomenon to another level.

Einstein some strong smear campaigns. It is logical, considering that among his detractors were some of the greatest experts on haterism in history. “100 scientists against Einstein” was perhaps the most aggressive campaign. But he resolved it with one phrase: “One hundred? Why so many? If I were wrong, only one would be enough…”.

For the rest, the truth is that it must be recognized that he quickly became an endearing, distracted and somewhat crazy being.

Einstein for a while

They say that at a social gathering, Marilyn Monroe crossed paths with Albert Einstein, they started talking and, at some point, she said to him: “Professor, we should get married and have a child together. Can you imagine a baby with my beauty and intelligence?”

Einstein very seriously responded: “Unfortunately I fear that the experiment will go the other way and we will end up with a son with my beauty and intelligence.” The anecdote, which is almost certainly lieshows the social and cultural stature of that Jew from Ulm called Albert Einstein. A carving that has generated countless cultural products. Some tremendously good.

Become a symbol of peace, creativity and the use of science to help humanity, any excuse is good to celebrate it publicly. For our part, we just need to finish with what is perhaps the most important quote that Einstein said in his life. “Rest and be relatively good.”

In WorldOfSoftware | Einstein’s first violin had passed unnoticed. Until an auction house put it up for sale.

In WorldOfSoftware | What is a light year and why it is impossible to travel it in less than a year, according to Einstein’s relativity

In WorldOfSoftware | More than 100 years ago Einstein predicted gravitational lensing. Thanks to this we have discovered a “dark matter bridge”

Image | Collab Media