James+Week+eight

**Albert Einstein ** By FREDERIC GOLDEN   Time magazine released its //Person of the Century// issue at the turn of the millennium, giving the prize to none other than Albert Einstein. Frederic Golden, the author of this article, commences his overly enthusiastic essay on Einstein as someone possessing “the embodiment of pure intellect.” What exactly is //pure// intellect? Is it some fundamental material untarnished by ignorance and self motives? Does this substance contain the mysteries of the universe? If so, where can I get some of that stuff? This type of propaganda surrounding Einstein blurs the actuality of his life. Most people, myself included until enlightened, picture Einstein’s prime of intellectual discovery as his later years, with the shaggy white crazy hair, where in reality between 1905 and 1912, his late twenties, early thirties, was when he made his name among physicists. Yet Golden only feeds into this illusion, depicting that Albert, “ discovered, merely by thinking about it, that the universe was not as it seemed. ”  Now this is not to say that I don’t regard Albert Einstein as a fake, or a phony. His work was revolutionary to scientific, technological and philosophical advancement, a truly mind blowing crossroad of three gargantuan aspects of life. Do I think that his public image and much of the propaganda surrounding his life augmented his chances of receiving this honor? The answer is yes.  All in all, the article does a moderate job of explaining Albert’s personal vendettas, viewpoints and opinions on certain major topics of the 20th century. He recounts Einstein’s escape from Berlin at the first sign of trouble, and his risqué affairs and relationships during his prime. Also, Golden makes a good point recounting Albert’s social power during the Cold War, such as speaking out against the risks involved in nuclear warfare, and the threat of McCarthyism. The disappointments involved in this piece mainly revolve around the fact that Golden never definitively describes this theory of relativity that, in his opinion, made Einstein the man of the century.
 * Person of the Century: **