IN a book about Einstein it is not inappropriate to begin with an item that breaks three rules simultaneously: First, it concerns a letter that Einstein did not answer; second, the presentation makes use of footnotes; and third, the item itself has been published before.

In the summer of 1952 Carl Seelig, an early biographer of Einstein, wrote to him asking for details about his first honorary doctoral degree. In his reply Einstein told of events that occurred in 1909, when Einstein was earning his living at the Swiss patent office in Bern, even though he had propounded his special theory of relativity four years earlier. In the summer of 1909 the University of Geneva bestowed over a hundred honorary degrees in celebration of the 350th anniversary of its founding by Calvin. Here is what Einstein wrote:

One day I received in the Patent Office in Bern a large envelope out of which there came a sheet of distinguished paper. On it, in picturesque type (I even believe it was in Latin*) was printed something that seemed to me impersonal and of little interest. So right away it went into the official wastepaper basket. Later, I learned that it was an invitation to the Calvin festivities and was also an announcement that I was to receive an honorary doctorate from the Geneva University.** Evidently the people at the university interpreted my silence correctly and turned to my friend and student Lucien Chavan, who came from Geneva but was living in Bern. He persuaded me to go to Geneva because it was practically unavoidable—but he did not elaborate further.

So I travelled there on the appointed day and, in the evening in the restaurant of the inn where we were staying, met some Zurich professors. … Each of them now told in what capacity he was there. As I remained silent I was asked that question and had to confess that I had not the slightest idea. However, the others knew all about it and let me in on the secret. The next day I was supposed to march in the academic procession. But I had with me only my straw hat and my everyday suit. My proposal that I stay away was categorically rejected, and the festivities turned out to be quite funny so far as my participation was concerned.

The celebration ended with the most opulent banquet that I have ever attended in all my life. So I said to a Genevan patrician who sat next to me, “Do you know what Calvin would have done if he were still here?” When he said no and asked what I thought, I said, “He would have erected a large pyre and had us all burned because of sinful gluttony.” The man uttered not another word, and with this ends my recollection of that memorable celebration.

In late 1936 the Bern Scientific Society sent Einstein a diploma that had just been awarded to him. On 4 January he wrote back from Princeton as follows:

You can hardly imagine how delighted I was, and am, that the Bern Scientific Society has so kindly remembered me. It was, as it were, a message from the days of my long-vanished youth. The cosy and stimulating evenings come back to mind once more and especially the often quite wonderful comments that Professor Sahli [Salis?], of internal medicine, used to make about the lectures. I have had the document framed right away and it is the only one of all such tokens of recognition that hangs in my study. It is a memento of my time in Bern and of my friends there.

I ask you to convey my cordial thanks to the members of the Society and to tell them how greatly I appreciate the kindness they have shown me.

A word of amplification is in order: When the document arrived, Einstein said, “This one I want framed and on my wall, because they used to scoff at me and my ideas.” Of course, he received numerous other awards. But he did not frame them and hang them on his walls. Instead he hid them away in a corner that he called the “boasting corner” [“Protzenecke”].

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In Berlin in 1915, in the midst of World War I, Einstein completed his masterpiece, the general theory of relativity. It not only generalized his special theory of relativity but also provided a new theory of gravitation. Among other things, it predicted the gravitational bending of light rays, which was confirmed by British scientists, notably Arthur Eddington, during an eclipse in 1919. When the confirmation was officially announced, worldwide fame came to Einstein overnight. He never did understand it. That Christmas, writing to his friend Heinrich Zangger in Zurich, he said in part:

With fame I become more and more stupid, which, of course, is a very common phenomenon. There is far too great a disproportion between what one is and what others think one is, or at least what they say they think one is. But one has to take it all with good humor.

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Einstein’s fame endured, and brought an extraordinary assortment of mail. For example, a student in Washington, D.C., wrote to him on 3 January 1943 mentioning among other things that she was a little below average in mathematics and had to work at it harder than most of her friends.

Replying in English from Princeton on 7 January 1943, Einstein wrote in part as follows:

Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.

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Back in 1895, after a year away from school, young Einstein became a student at the Swiss Cantonal School of Argau in the town of Aarau. On 7 November 1896 he sent the following vita to the Argau authorities:

I was born on 14 March 1879 in Ulm and, when one year old, came to Munich, where I remained till the winter of 1894–95. There I attended the elementary school and the Luitpold secondary school up to but not including the seventh class. Then, till the autumn of last year, I lived in Milan, where I continued my studies on my own. Since last autumn I have attended the Cantonal School in Aarau, and I now take the liberty of presenting myself for the graduation examination. I then plan to study mathematics and physics in the sixth division of the Federal Polytechnic Institute.

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Many years later Einstein, now famous, had occasion to prepare another vita. It has some interesting aspects.

Founded in 1652 in the town of Halle was the Kaiser Leopold German Academy of Scientists, in which Goethe had once held membership. On 17 March 1932, in memory of the hundredth anniversary of Goethe’s death, the Academy voted to invite Einstein to become a member. When Einstein accepted, the president of the Academy—in accordance with ancient tradition—sent him a biographical questionnaire with nine basic questions. Since space was scarce, Einstein answered in somewhat telegraphic style.

Although the Nazis had not yet come to power, their anti-Semitic propaganda was blatant. Einstein’s response to the first question is thus of particular interest. It reads as follows (italics added):

I. I was born, the son of Jewish parents, on 14 March 1879 in Ulm. My father was a merchant, moved shortly after my birth to Munich, in 1893 to Italy, where he remained till his death (1902). I have no brother, but a sister, who lives in Italy.

The second and third questions asked for details of his youth and education, which he dutifully supplied. The fourth question asked about his career. He responded as follows:

IV. From 1900 to 1902 I was in Switzerland as a private tutor, also for a while employed as house tutor and acquired Swiss citizenship. 1902–09 I was employed as expert (examiner) at the Federal Patent Office, 1909–11 as assistant professor at Zurich University. 1911–12 I was professor of theoretical physics at the Prague University, 1912–14 at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich also as professor of theoretical physics. Since 1914 I have been a salaried member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin and can devote myself exclusively to scientific research work.

The fifth question asked about his achievements and publications. Some of the dates in his answer are puzzling. For example, the special theory of relativity certainly belongs to 1905 and not 1906, and the general theory of relativity to 1915 and not 1916. It is quite possible that Einstein was answering from memory and his memory played tricks on him. Here is what he wrote:

V. My publications consist almost entirely of short papers in physics, most of which have appeared in the Annalen der Physik and the Proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The most important have to do with the following topics:

In addition mention should be made of papers on the thermal fluctuations, as also a [1931] paper, written with Prof. W. Mayer, on the unified nature of gravitation and electricity.

The sixth question asked about scientific travels. He responded as follows:

VI. Occasional lecture trips to France, Japan, Argentina, England, the United States, which—except for the journeys to Pasadena—did not actually serve research purposes.

The seventh question asked about the goals of his work. He replied:

VII. The real goal of my research has always been the simplification and unification of the system of theoretical physics. I attained this goal satisfactorily for macroscopic phenomena, but not for the phenomena of quanta and atomic structure. I believe that, despite considerable success, the modern quantum theory is also still far from a satisfactory solution of the latter group of problems.

The eighth question asked about honors that he had received. He answered as follows:

VIII. I became a member of many, many scientific societies, and several medals were awarded me, also a sort of visiting professorship at the University of Leiden. I have a similar relationship with Oxford University (Christ Church College).

What is extraordinary here is Einstein’s failure to mention his 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. Surely it cannot be ascribed to faulty memory.

The final question was anticlimactic: It asked for his “exact” address.

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In school in Aarau, Einstein studied French. Here is a more or less literal translation—after corrections by the French teacher—of an essay that Einstein wrote in that language as an exercise. He was some sixteen years old at the time. The title sounds as if it was assigned by the teacher to the whole class:

My Plans for the Future

A happy man is too contented with the present to think much about the future. But, on the other hand, it is always the young people who like to occupy themselves with bold projects. Besides, it is also a natural thing for a serious young man that he should form for himself as precise an idea as possible of the goal of his desires.

If I have the good fortune to pass my examinations successfully, I shall go to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. I shall stay there four years in order to study mathematics and physics. I imagine myself becoming a professor in those branches of the natural sciences, choosing the theoretical parts of them.

Here are the reasons that have brought me to this plan. Above all is the individual disposition for abstract and mathematical thought, the lack of fantasy and of practical talent. There are also my desires, which have inspired in me the same resolve. This is quite natural. One always likes to do those things for which one has talent. Besides, there is also a certain independence in the scientific profession that greatly pleases me.

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In a brief, unpublished biographical essay, Einstein’s sister Maja spoke, among other topics, of Einstein’s lack of interest in material things of the sort that are often prized by others, and, indeed, almost regarded as necessities. She said, for example: “In his youth he often used to say: ‘All I’ll want in my dining room is a pine table, a bench, and a few chairs.’ ”

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Here is an excerpt from a letter that Einstein wrote to his sister in 1898, when he was a student in Zurich (he addressed her in his letters as “Dear Sister” much as, later, he would address Queen Elizabeth of Belgium as “Dear Queen”):

What oppresses me most, of course, is the [financial] misfortune of my poor parents. Also it grieves me deeply that I, a grown man, have to stand idly by, unable to do the least thing to help. I am nothing but a burden to my family. … Really, it would have been better if I had never been born. Sometimes the only thought that sustains me and is my only refuge from despair is that I have always done everything I could within my small power, and that year in, year out, I have never permitted myself any amusements or diversions except those afforded by my studies.

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Shortly thereafter, in the same year, 1898, with the financial circumstances of his parents somewhat improved, Einstein wrote to his sister as follows:

There is a fair amount of work to be done, but not too much. So, now and again, I have time to idle away an hour or so in Zurich’s beautiful surroundings. And besides, I am happy in the thought that the worst worries of my parents are now over. If everybody lived as I do, surely the writing of romantic novels would never have come into being. …

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From the early student days we go to the early days as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. In 1918, after the general theory of relativity was completed, the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich made overtures to see if Einstein would leave Berlin and return to the Polytechnic Institute as a professor there. He wrote to his sister as follows (the dots at the end appear in the original):

I cannot bring myself to give up everything in Berlin, where people have been so indescribably kind and helpful. How happy I would have been 18 years ago if I had been able to become a lowly assistant at the Federal Institute! But I did not succeed! The world is a madhouse. Renown is everything. After all, other people lecture well too—but …

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The following letter, also written by Einstein to his sister Maja, belongs to a later time. It is dated 31 August 1935. Much has happened since those early days in Berlin. Einstein is now in Princeton, striving to generalize his general theory of relativity so that it will become a unified field theory. At the same time, all his instincts cry out to him to be wary of developments in the quantum theory that most other physicists accept with equanimity. But his preoccupation with the problems of physics does not blind him to what is going on in the outside world. He writes to his sister as follows:

As for my work, the going is slow and sticky after a promising start. In the fundamental researches going on in physics we are in a state of groping, nobody having faith in what the other fellow is attempting with high hope. One lives all one’s life under constant tension till it is time to go for good. But there remains for me the consolation that the essential part of my work has become part of the accepted basis of our science.

The big political doings of our time are so disheartening that in our generation one feels quite alone. It is as if people had lost the passion for justice and dignity and no longer treasured what better generations have won by extraordinary sacrifices. … After all, the foundation of all human values is morality. To have recognized this clearly in primitive times is the unique greatness of our Moses. In contrast, look at the people today! …

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In 1936 Einstein wrote to his sister as follows:

I collect nothing but unanswered correspondence and people who, with justice, are dissatisfied with me. But can it be otherwise with a man possessed? As in my youth, I sit here endlessly and think and calculate, hoping to unearth deep secrets. The so-called Great World, i.e. men’s bustle, has less attraction than ever, so that each day I find myself becoming more of a hermit.

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Here are excerpts from a letter that Einstein sent from Berlin to his friend Heinrich Zangger in Zurich in the spring of 1918. The general theory of relativity had already been propounded, but the eclipse verification and world fame were still in the future. Einstein’s older son, then some fourteen years of age, was already displaying a lively interest in engineering and technology:

I, too, was originally supposed to become an engineer. But I found the idea intolerable of having to apply the inventive faculty to matters that make everyday life even more elaborate—and all, just for dreary money-making. Thinking for its own sake, as in music! … When I have no special problem to occupy my mind, I love to reconstruct proofs of mathematical and physical theorems that have long been known to me. There is no goal in this, merely an opportunity to indulge in the pleasant occupation of thinking. …

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On 20 August 1949, in answer to a letter asking about his scientific motivation, Einstein wrote, in English:

My scientific work is motivated by an irresistible longing to understand the secrets of nature and by no other feelings. My love for justice and the striving to contribute towards the improvement of human conditions are quite independent from my scientific interests.

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Here is a sentence from a letter that Einstein wrote on 13 February 1934 to an interested layman with whom he had corresponded:

As for the search for truth, I know from my own painful searching, with its many blind alleys, how hard it is to take a reliable step, be it ever so small, towards the understanding of that which is truly significant.

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In the Berlin days, Einstein often visited Holland, where he had many scientific friends. On a visit to Leyden, Einstein wrote the following in a special memory book for Professor Kammerlingh-Onnes, a pioneer in low-temperature physics who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1913. Einstein’s note is dated 11 November 1922:

The scientific theorist is not to be envied. For Nature, or more precisely experiment, is an inexorable and not very friendly judge of his work. It never says “Yes” to a theory. In the most favorable cases it says “Maybe,” and in the great majority of cases simply “No.” If an experiment agrees with a theory it means for the latter “Maybe,” and if it does not agree it means “No.” Probably every theory will some day experience its “No”—most theories, soon after conception.

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Responding to questions put to him by a correspondent in Colorado, Einstein answered as follows on 26 May 1936:

Outside events capable of determining the direction of a person’s thoughts and actions probably occur in everyone’s life. But with most people such events have no effect. As for me, when I was a little boy my father showed me a small compass, and the enormous impression that it made on me certainly played a role in my life.

I first learned of the work of Riemann at a time when the basic principles of the general theory of relativity had already long been clearly conceived.

Einstein spoke often of the sense of wonder that came over him when he saw the compass. It was clearly a major event in his life. As for the remark about the work of Riemann, it is of considerable significance. Einstein used Riemann’s work as the mathematical basis of the general theory of relativity, and some people have thought that he built on it in the early stages, before the physical concepts had been formulated even in a primitive way. This is, of course, not the only place where Einstein makes the point.

On 17 February 1908, a somewhat aggrieved Einstein in the Patent Office in Bern wrote a postcard to the German physicist Johannes Stark, who was later to receive the Nobel Prize. Here is an excerpt:

I was somewhat taken aback to see that you did not acknowledge my priority regarding the connection between inertial mass and energy.

This referred to Einstein’s now-famous equation E = mc². On 19 February Stark answered in detail and with a warm display of friendship and admiration, assuring Einstein, the patent examiner, that he spoke favorably of Einstein whenever he could, and that if Einstein thought otherwise he was greatly mistaken. On 22 February 1908 Einstein replied as follows:

Even if I had not already regretted before receipt of your letter that I had followed the dictates of petty impulse in giving vent to that utterance about priority, your detailed letter really showed me that my over-sensitivity was badly out of place. People who have been privileged to contribute something to the advancement of science should not let such things becloud their joy over the fruits of common endeavor. …

Unfortunately, this friendly exchange had a less friendly sequel. With the coming of the Nazis, Stark, like many others, became a bitter doctrinaire critic of Einstein and his works.

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In March 1927 Einstein gave a lecture that was taken down verbatim by a member of the audience who suggested to Arnold Berliner, the editor of the scientific journal Die Naturwissenschaften, that the lecture be published therein. Berliner consulted Einstein, who responded as follows:

I am not in favor of its being printed because the lecture is not sufficiently original. One must be especially critical of oneself. One can only continue to expect to be read if, as far as possible, one omits everything that is unimportant.

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On 22 February 1949 Einstein wrote the following letter to the writer Max Brod, who was furious because a reviewer had made a mistaken remark about a book of Brod’s in the course of a review of Philipp Frank’s excellent biography of Einstein:

Your righteous indignation over the review in The [London] Times Literary Supplement caused me good-natured amusement. Someone, for little pay, and on the basis of a superficial skimming, writes something that sounds halfway plausible and that nobody reads carefully. How can you become serious about such a thing? There have already been published by the bucketful such brazen lies and utter fictions about me that I would long since have gone to my grave if I had let myself pay attention to them. One must console oneself with the thought that Time has a sieve through which most of these important things run into the ocean of oblivion and what remains after this selection is often still trite and bad.

Here is a relevant sentence plucked from a letter that Einstein wrote on 21 March 1930 to his friend Ehrenfest:

With me, every peep becomes a trumpet solo.

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And here is one from a letter to his biographer Carl Seelig, written on 25 October 1953:

In the past it never occurred to me that every casual remark of mine would be snatched up and recorded. Otherwise I would have crept further into my shell.

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Einstein found some aspects of the English quite puzzling. For instance, Helen Dukas, Einstein’s secretary, vividly recalls that back in 1930, during a short stopover of their ship at Southampton on the way to the United States, a British reporter asked her if he could have an interview with Einstein. Aware of Einstein’s wishes, she said “No” and braced herself for battle. But, to her surprise, he accepted the “No” without argument and left. This was not an isolated incident. Other British reporters behaved similarly on the same occasion. She mentioned this to Einstein, and it prompted part of the following entry in his travel diary:

3 December 1930 (Southampton): … In England even the reporters are reserved! Honor to whom honor is due. A single “No” is sufficient. The world can still learn a lot here—except that I don’t want it, and always dress sloppily, even at the holy sacrament of dinner.

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Later, Professor F. A. Lindemann, who was to become a scientific adviser to Winston Churchill, arranged for Einstein to visit Oxford. Einstein stayed at Christ Church College, where the rituals were not markedly different from those in other Oxford colleges. Like most of the others, Christ Church was for men only. The rooms were chilly. Each evening the dons and students—five hundred of them—in academic gowns, gathered formally in the great hall for dinner, with grace read out in Latin. Here is part of an entry in Einstein’s travel diary:

Oxford, 2/3 May 1931: Calm existence in [my] cell while freezing badly. Evening: solemn dinner of the holy brotherhood in tails.

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Here is an entry of a different sort, telling of a storm at sea:

10 December 1931: Never before have I lived through a storm like the one this night. … The sea has a look of indescribable grandeur, especially when the sun falls on it.

One feels as if one is dissolved and merged into Nature. Even more than usual, one feels the insignificance of the individual, and it makes one happy.

In sending an etching of himself to Dr. Hans Mühsam, a medical friend in Berlin, Einstein wrote the following underneath the portrait. The date is 1920 or perhaps earlier, and the etching was made by Hermann Struck:

Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest.

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To his friend Paul Ehrenfest, who like himself was a theoretical physicist, Einstein wrote the following sentence in a letter dated 15 March 1922:

How wretchedly inadequate is the theoretical physicist as he stands before Nature—and before his students!

* Actually it was in French, printed in script letters.

** There was a remarkable misprint in the impressive document, and this may have registered in Einstein’s subconscious and influenced his action: The recipient of the degree was given not as “Monsieur Einstein” but as “Monsieur Tinstein.”