Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Einstein is described as a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. In popular culture, his name is synonymous with great intelligence and genius. His life is associated with three noteworthy events of the century: the creation of nuclear weapons, the rise of German fascism, and the beginning of modern Zionism. There is also a sense of drama and humor connected to his persona as he was prone to a certain kind of public clowning and in spite of the seriousness of his mental output, it was somehow always placed in the perspective of the follies of the human race.

Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, where there was a community of other prosperous Jews, but soon to Munich because of his father’s electrochemical business. The family ended up in Milan, Italy, but Albert remained behind in Munich for his schooling. He then studied in Zurich where he was eventually granted a teaching diploma in 1900. At the school in Zurich he had met Mileva Marić, whom he married in 1903. They had a son, Hans Albert, in May, 1904, and another son, Eduard, in July, 1910. It was a difficult marriage which ended in divorce in 1919, when Einstein then married his cousin Elsa Löwenthal.

By 1902 he had moved to Bern, Switzerland, and obtained a post at the Swiss Patent Office, charged to evaluate patents relating to electromagnetic devices. He worked there until 1909. this job allowed him to develop his propensity to create theories based on the observation of facts. There were two important aspects to his approach to science: the search for a unity behind disparate phenomena and the acceptance of a reality beyond what can be seen.

During this time Einstein had been writing a number of scientific papers, with varying success, but in 1905, his so-called “Annus Mirabilis,” he published three papers in the Annalen der Physik. The first, “On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light,” which confirmed and expanded Max Planck’s hypothesis of quanta. This paper earned Einstein a Nobel Prize. The second, “On the motion-Required by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat-of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid,” provided empirical evidence for the existence of atoms. The third was “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” which introduced the theory of relativity – an hypothesis of time, distance, mass and energy which was consistent with electromagnetism, but omitted the force of gravity. A fourth paper, published in another journal later that year, included the famous equation, E=mc². After that his reputation grew and he became one of western society’s first modern celebrities – people famous for being well-known.
Quotations by Albert Einstein:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Einstein.html

Theory of Relativity
Please refer to the following sites online for layman’s explanation of Relativity and Special Relativity:

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/GenRelativity.html

Questions for further study:
1. What sort of music were people listening to in Paris in 1904 – in the cafés and in the concert halls? What correlation was there between the music of the time and the prevalent avant-garde ideas about art (and science)?
2. Discuss some of the other written works by Steve Martin – his plays, essays and novellas.
3. How does anachronism function in the play? Is it only a device for humor or does it have another role?
4. Discuss the ways in which art and science can be related to one another, not just in the context of the ideas of the early 20th century but in other times, including the Renaissance and our own time.
5. Describe the ways in which Einstein and Picasso gained an international reputation. How did it happen for each of them and how long did it take?
6. Discuss some of the other art movements which came to the fore at the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th which were related to Cubism in some way.
7. Who is the mystery visitor who appears near the end of the play? Would you have chosen him or someone else as the third pivotal figure of the century? Why?