Strange But True Facts About Albert Einstein

December 2, 2021 | Rachel Seigel

Strange But True Facts About Albert Einstein


“Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?”

Born in Germany in 1879, Albert Einstein was one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century, and one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He was a celebrity famous for his wit as well as his genius, and was a larger than life figure.

Here are 48 facts you may not have known about this brilliant scientist.

 


Albert Einstein Facts

48. The “People’s Scientist”

Albert Einstein was known as the “people’s scientist” because of his down-to-earth sense of humour and his approachable manner. His hair was always uncombed, clothing disheveled, and he never wore socks- not even when visiting President Roosevelt at the White House!

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

47. Cluttered desk, Creative Mind.

Einstein said: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” A famous photograph taken on the day he died showed bulging book shelves, a desk cluttered with notebooks, journals, a pipe & a tobacco tin.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

46. A Musical Mind

Einstein was a talented violinist. He began music lessons at age 5, but fell in love with music when he discovered Mozart’s violin sonatas at age 13. His violin was nicknamed “Lina”, and he said that the most joy in his life came from his violin.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

45. Einstein Failed Math? Nope.

Einstein was not actually a poor student. He never “failed math.” At age 16, He failed his entrance exam to the Federal Polytechnic school in Zurich, but only because he struggled with the non-science subjects (especially French). Einstein continued to study and was able to attend the school the following year.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

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44. The Father of the Atomic Bomb (Sort of)

Fearing a German nuclear bomb, Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt encouraging him to work on a nuclear weapon. This led to the creation of the Manhattan project, which was responsible for the atomic bomb. His famous equation E = mc2 also made the bomb theoretically possible.

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43. President Einstein- Almost

In 1952, Albert Einstein was offered the chance to be president of Israel. He turned down the offer insisting that he was unqualified.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

 

42. World’s Worst Husband

When Einstein’s marriage to Mileva Maric was failing, he gave her a list of rules for remaining together. The list demanded that she be his maid, but should expect no affection or attention from him. After a few months, she left him, and five years later, filed for divorce.

Albert Einstein FactsWikipedia

41. Coupled Cousins

Einstein and his cousin Elsa became romantically involved while he was separated from his first wife, and was known for her devotion to him. She also acted as gatekeeper, and would scare away unwanted visitors.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

 

40. The Einstein Syndrome

Einstein didn’t start speaking until age 3 or 4. When he did, his first sentence was to complain at dinner that the soup was too hot. When asked why he hadn’t spoken before then, he replied: “because up to now, everything was in order.”

Albert Einstein FactsWikipedia

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39. Thinks Before He Speaks

Up until he was 9, Einstein would think through what he wanted to say before speaking. He preferred to practice his sentences in his head or under his breath until he got them right.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

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38. The Big Giant Head

Einstein was born with what his family thought was a grotesquely oversized head. The doctor was able to convince them that his body would catch up. Once it did, his grandmother complained to his parents he was too fat.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

37. The Case of the Stolen Brain

When Einstein died, a man named Thomas Harvey performed an illegal autopsy and stole Einstein’s brain! For decades, he kept pieces of the preserved brain in two mason jars, which he stored in his Philadelphia lab, his basement, and in a cider box stored under a beer cooler.

Albert Einstein FactsShutterstock

36. Final Destination

Harvey eventually returned Einstein’s brain to the Princeton Hospital where he performed the autopsy. Today, the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia is the only place where the public can view Einstein’s brain.

 

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

35. Eyeballs in New York

Harvey also removed Einstein’s eyeballs and gifted them to Einstein’s eye-doctor Henry Abrams. To this day, the eyeballs are stored in a safe deposit box in New York City.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

34. The Absent-Minded Professor!

Einstein had a terrible memory for details he deemed unimportant. When questioned about why he had to look up his phone number, Einstein replied: ““Why should I memorize something I can so easily get from a book?”

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

33.  Einstein Got Kicked Out of Class.

At age 15, Einstein’s refusal to bend to the authority of one of his teachers led to him being kicked out of class. In college, he irritated his professors with his impertinence, never hiding the fact that he found their classes boring.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

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32. Draft Dodger

In 1896, Einstein followed his parents to Italy but, would have been accused of desertion if he didn’t report for conscription in Germany. To avoid military service, he renounced his German Citizenship at age 17.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

31. Reluctantly German Again

When Einstein was sworn in as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1921, he was considered a state official. Since only Ethnic German Citizens could be state officials, he was forced to retake his German Citizenship.

Albert Einstein FactsWikipedia

30 Odd jobs

Einstein graduated with a teaching degree, but couldn’t get hired at a university. In 1902, he got a job at the patent office in Bern, which he held for 7 years. The job was boring, and gave him lots of time to work on his theories.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

29. Miracle Year of Einstein

In 1905, Einstein’s miracle year, he published his four different academic papers. They cemented his theories on the principle of relativity, and among them was the paper that contained the famous formula E=mc2.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

28. The Lost Theory

Einstein played around with an alternative to the big bang theory. The theory proposed that the universe expanded steadily and eternally instead of all at once in a big bang. Einstein later abandoned the theory, and the paper was never published.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

27. His Biggest Blunder

Einstein was the first to discover the equation that showed the universe is expanding, but he thought it was a mistake. Years later, Hubble’s telescope confirmed that the theory of relativity was correct, and his biggest blunder was thinking he was wrong!

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

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26. It Was All in His Head

Einstein’s greatest breakthroughs came from visual experiments performed in his head. His theory of relativity was born from him imagining lightning striking a train at different times as the train speeds along.

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

25. Einstein Invented…a Refrigerator?

Einstein and his colleague Leo Szilard designed an absorption refrigerator that had no moving parts and required no electricity. The fridge never became a commercial product, largely due to the discovery of Freon.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

24. Keep Calm, Smoke a Pipe.

Einstein loved to smoke. He believed that pipe smoking “contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” He gave up smoking on doctor’s instructions, but didn’t give up the pipes themselves. He would often stick one into his mouth and chew on it.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

23. Einstein the Sailor Man.

Einstein loved to sail. His boat was called “Tinef” which is Yiddish for worthless or junk, and it equally described his sailing skills. Not only was he a lousy sailor, but he didn’t even know how to swim!

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

22. Einstein’s Nobel Prize

Einstein never won a Nobel Prize for the general or special theory of relativity. He was awarded the prize in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

21. I’d Like to Thank My Compass.

When he was five years old, and sick in bed, Einstein’s father brought him a compass to play with. The force that guided the needle ignited his curiosity and inspired his lifelong interest in physics.

Albert Einstein FactsPixabay

20. Say Cheese!

As he left his 72nd birthday party, Einstein was surrounded by photographers. Tired of fake smiling, he stuck his tongue out instead. Einstein ordered 9 pictures for personal use, and signed one of them for a reporter. That photograph sold at an auction for $74,324!

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

19. Whatever happened to Baby Lieserl?

When he was 22 years old, Einstein had an illegitimate daughter. The baby, named Lieserl, disappeared from historical records shortly after her birth. Today, her fate is still unknown.

Albert Einstein FactsPixabay

18. Oddly Shaped Brain

Einstein’s brain was overall smaller than average, but the parietal lobes were 15% wider than normal. These areas are linked to mathematical ability, and visual and spatial awareness. Researchers believe that this is why Einstein tackled scientific thought the way he did.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

17. Why drive when you can walk?

Einstein never had a car of his own, and he never learned to drive. If he needed to go somewhere by car, he had friends or a chauffeur drove him.

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

16. The FBI Spied on Him

In December of 1932, the FBI started keeping a file on Einstein. At the time of his death, the file was 1427 pages long. Then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was deeply suspicious of Einstein, and believed he was an extreme radical and a communist.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

14. The Russian Affair

Towards the end of WWII, Einstein had a passionate affair with Margarita Konenkova – a brilliant scientist and Russian spy. Their affair only ended when she and her husband returned to Moscow in 1945.

Konenkova was allegedly tasked with learning about and "influencing" the American nuclear program, and was instructed to get close to J. Robert Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project. Einstein was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project, so it’s not entirely clear what Konenkova was hoping to get out of him.

Albert Einstein FactsWikipedia

13. Lost in translation

Right before he died, Einstein uttered his final words to a nurse. Unfortunately, the words were spoken in German—a language the nurse didn’t speak or understand.

Albert Einstein FactsMax Pixel

12.Einsteinium

Einsteinium is the 99th element on the periodic table. It’s named after Albert Einstein, though he actually had nothing to do with its discovery or research.

Albert Einstein FactsShutterstock

11. Yoda is Einstein

Einstein’s eyes and wrinkles were worked into Yoda’s design, giving him a wise and intelligent look.

Star Wars FactsFlickr, Marco Verch

10. Einstein for Equality

After moving to the United States, Einstein became an active member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and courageously took a public stand against racial segregation in America.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

9. My Winnings for a Divorce!

Einstein made an unusual bargain with his first wife. In exchange for a divorce, he promised to give her the winnings from his anticipated Nobel Prize. Three years later, when Einstein won the prize, he gave her the money.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

 

8. The Depressed Cat

Einstein had tomcat named Tiger that got depressed whenever it rained. Einstein was heard empathizing with the cat and saying: "I know what's wrong, dear fellow, but I don't know how to turn it off."

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

7. The Greatest Day

In 1923, Einstein traveled to Jerusalem to present the first scientific address at the Hebrew University he’d helped to fund. At one of his speaking engagements, he declared: “I consider this the greatest day of my life”.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

6. Einstein’s Advice to a Little Girl Who Wanted to Be a Scientist

In a letter from a little girl in South Africa, she explained to Einstein that she had now become resigned to being a girl. He responded: “I do not mind that you are a girl, but the main thing is that you yourself do not mind. There is no reason for it.”

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

5. He Could Have Extended His Life

When Einstein entered the hospital two days before his death, doctors suggested surgery, he refused. He felt that prolonging life artificially was “tasteless.”

Albert Einstein FactsFlickr

4. A Signature for a Buck!

Einstein’s wife Elsa managed his fan mail and collected $1.00 for an autograph and $5.00 for a photograph. Einstein donated the proceeds to charity.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

3. Einstein’s List

Einstein tirelessly wrote letters to Presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders asking them to take in unemployed German-Jewish scientists during the Nazi regime. His letters saved over 1,000 Jews from persecution and the Nazi camps. He also wrote a now-famous letter to FDR shortly before the figuring out uranium-powered nuclear chain reactions, which would power the atomic bombs.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

2. Not Yet Hanged

A Nazi magazine in Germany printed an enemies list, and Einstein was on it listed as “Not Yet Hanged.” It also offered a $5000 Bounty for his head.

Albert Einstein FactsGetty Images

1. Einstein Was a Refugee

Einstein realized his life was at risk after Hitler assumed power in Germany. Einstein fled to Belgium, where he learned that his boat and cottage had been seized. He then escaped to England, and he was kept under armed protection until he found safety in America.

Albert Einstein FactsWikimedia Commons

Sources:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,  10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

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