The point of departure for Einstein in Bohemia is a
simple observation: for about sixteen months, from April 1911 to August 1912, Albert
Einstein (1879-1955) was professor of theoretical physics in Prague. Everyone
has heard of Einstein, and he has attracted more than his fair share of
biographers, all of whom mention his time in the capital of Bohemia. For the
most part, though, all you get is a mention. Prague was a “sojourn,” an
“intermezzo,” a “way station.”
Suppose that’s wrong. True, Einstein was only there for less
than a year and a half, but he didn’t know that when he arrived from Zurich; he
had been planning on settling down into his new position. We might judge with
the benefit of hindsight that he was only there for an intermezzo, but in April
1911 Einstein thought he was settling in for the full opera.
So let’s take the Prague period the way Einstein did when he
lived it: seriously. You might try to trace, in micro-historical fashion,
Einstein’s every day as he trotted between his apartment and his office. Even
for a scientist as well documented as Einstein—and there is probably no other
figure in the history of science, with the possible exception of Charles Darwin,
who can compare in terms of the density of surviving materials—this is not possible,
and it would probably be a little dull.
Einstein in Bohemia opts not to narrow the angle, but
to widen it. We know a lot about Einstein, but we also know a lot about Prague.
It was, at that time, the third largest city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a
pivotal economic and cultural center, and one experiencing a demographic
transition from a roughly balanced city between Czech- and German-speakers to
one overwhelmingly the former (93% and 7%, respectively, when Einstein
arrived). It was a city with a strong Jewish community and a rich past and
future.
Picture a messy collision. An especially interesting
individual interacted deeply with an extraordinary place, and then they parted.
Both left traces on each other. The first three chapters of the book chronicle
the narrow interaction: how Einstein got to Prague, the work on general
relativity that he concentrated on while there, and then his daily life until he
came to leave. The four remaining chapters explore the aftermath of the
collision: how Einstein and Prague marked each other when it came to philosophy
of science, literature, Zionism and Judaism, and the intellectual history of
the Czechs.
I want the reader to dive in and feel the immersive effect
of a culture on a person, and vice versa. Whatever preconceptions you have
about Einstein or Prague ought to be jostled by the experience.
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
In a nutshell
The point of departure for Einstein in Bohemia is a simple observation: for about sixteen months, from April 1911 to August 1912, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was professor of theoretical physics in Prague. Everyone has heard of Einstein, and he has attracted more than his fair share of biographers, all of whom mention his time in the capital of Bohemia. For the most part, though, all you get is a mention. Prague was a “sojourn,” an “intermezzo,” a “way station.”
Suppose that’s wrong. True, Einstein was only there for less than a year and a half, but he didn’t know that when he arrived from Zurich; he had been planning on settling down into his new position. We might judge with the benefit of hindsight that he was only there for an intermezzo, but in April 1911 Einstein thought he was settling in for the full opera.
So let’s take the Prague period the way Einstein did when he lived it: seriously. You might try to trace, in micro-historical fashion, Einstein’s every day as he trotted between his apartment and his office. Even for a scientist as well documented as Einstein—and there is probably no other figure in the history of science, with the possible exception of Charles Darwin, who can compare in terms of the density of surviving materials—this is not possible, and it would probably be a little dull.
Einstein in Bohemia opts not to narrow the angle, but to widen it. We know a lot about Einstein, but we also know a lot about Prague. It was, at that time, the third largest city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a pivotal economic and cultural center, and one experiencing a demographic transition from a roughly balanced city between Czech- and German-speakers to one overwhelmingly the former (93% and 7%, respectively, when Einstein arrived). It was a city with a strong Jewish community and a rich past and future.
Picture a messy collision. An especially interesting individual interacted deeply with an extraordinary place, and then they parted. Both left traces on each other. The first three chapters of the book chronicle the narrow interaction: how Einstein got to Prague, the work on general relativity that he concentrated on while there, and then his daily life until he came to leave. The four remaining chapters explore the aftermath of the collision: how Einstein and Prague marked each other when it came to philosophy of science, literature, Zionism and Judaism, and the intellectual history of the Czechs.
I want the reader to dive in and feel the immersive effect of a culture on a person, and vice versa. Whatever preconceptions you have about Einstein or Prague ought to be jostled by the experience.