Anthony's+Week+Einstein

One common theme of all great scientists throughout history is that we as society have a romance with who we think they are. From Galileo, to Newton, to Einstein, we hold views of them that are… for lack of a better word, false. Galileo is seen as the heretic that the Catholic Church needed to silence, Newton the man in the endless pursuit of science with no time for religion (even though both were very religious) and Einstein as the embodiment of all that is science. Of these three however, Einstein is far ahead of the other two in popular culture and celebrity. Everyone instantly thinks of E=mc2 and how this and all those other equations he must have come up with govern the Universe (even though most don’t not know what E m and c stand for, and all of Einstein’s other discoveries). This pop culture obsession lead to one of the most prestigious awards you could be bestowed. Einstein was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Century, not year, not decade, but a full 100 year period. Now not to take anything away from his amazing work in the field of physics, but all most of us know about him is that he is “embodiment of pure intellect” and the “genius among geniuses “ (as stated in the Person of the Century article). Not many people really know exactly what he figured out (with the exception of that whole E=mc2 thing). Most people won’t be able explain anything about the photoelectric effect, special or general relativity. Yet if you tell people Einstein said it, it must be this amazing all powerful equation that somehow makes our lives work on a day to day basis. We are so infatuated with his intellect that is brain was saved after his death and has been studied thoroughly to try to find out what set him apart from the rest of our lesser brains. Not many people know what Einstein’s life was like. How he dropped out of college, came up with his great ideas not in a lab, but in a patient office, and enjoyed spending time with female friends. He struggled to find jobs in his young age; he was married twice, and had children that he wasn’t close to. It seems that this greatest of the greats was more human than most people have know. However, this is nothing different than anyone else who has gained such a celebrity. When we come to idolize a person, all their faults seem to disappear. We focus so much on all the positives that the negatives don’t really mean anything. We just want to remember E=mc2, and just have this vague idea of “oh yeah he must have come up with some other crazy sciencey thing that has to be correct, because, come on he’s Einstein, he sat in a lab and figured out the universe.” We have this great understanding of the celebrity, but no understanding of the man.