Good evening about him to einsteins war at the lynn howe library and the National World war i museum good evening and welcome to instant. Were a program in partnership with linda howell, the library of national War One Museum and memorial. Two cultural institutions located right ear in kansas city, missouri. And we are delighted to be able to stand at that intersection of science and history and bring in great conversations like this one. Now it is my pleasure and my honor to introduce the president of Linda Hall Library, lisa barry. Thank you, laura. We also are pleased to present tonights program in association with the National World war i museum and memorial. For the past several years, our two institutions and worked together to present programs on a wide range of topics, illustrating the role played by science in the first world war. Tonights event, ice tyrants war, how triumph amid the vicious nationalism of world war i, discusses the effects of that war on the Global Scientific Community and the obstacles that one member of that community, albert, einstein had to overcome. On behalf of everyone at the london hall library, thank you for joining us this evening. Now i will turn it back to laura to introduce tonights distinguished speaker. Lisa, thank you very much. It is truly my honor to introduce dr. Matthew stanley. He is a professor of the history of science that new york university. He obtained his ph. D. From harvard. He is the author of einsteins war, how relative triumphed in the vicious nationalism of world war i. That story of how pacifism and friendship led to a scientific revolution. He has also written practical mystic, religion, science, and a yes addington husk sleaze church and maxwells demon which explore the complex relationships between science and religion in history. And potentially my favorite introductory remark in my tenure career here, he is also a host of what the f. A podcast that you can find on all streaming services. Go to you streaming service of choice. It is a podcast, i think you might enjoy. But if you want to toss it out before you start uploading it, you are in for a treat. You have an hour ahead. Again, we welcome your questions. But even more so we welcome you. Dr. Matt stanley. We fought thanks, laura. And thanks to the national one museum and memorial as well as the Little Library for putting this together. Im really delighted to be here. I think i am supposed to say that i would rather be there in person, but as i am watching the locations that people are putting into the chat, i have to say it is really extraordinary that i am going to get to talk to people from coast to coast and literally around the world. So, as perhaps this will work out better than if i had actually been there in person. So, we are here of course to talk about einstein tonight. Let me get my screen going properly here. An einstein, and sometimes we feel like we all know. His name is synonymous with genius. He is the iconic science. He is literally the image you think of when you think of science and scientists. And kind of what i want to talk about tonight, the story that i want to tell, is how that came to be. And in some sense how extraordinary and unusual it was that in the space of just a few weeks, einstein goes from being and obscure academic to literally being recognized all around the world. And one of the aspects of the story i think are particularly fascinating is that he didnt have much to do with the sudden change. That is, it wasnt just because he was a genius. He became famous because he wasnt a particular place at a particular time. And specifically, that was in berlin during the middle of the great war. He was blockaded, he was starving. It might not sound like this would be conducive to a scientific revolution, but there was one extra element to the story that made all the difference. And that was einsteins friends. That is, it wasnt just him, it was a whole network of people. And we are going to begin the story not with perhaps the old sagely and stein that we all know well, nor the young heroic insulin whose exploits get coated. But rather, the middle age einstein. He is not a padded clerk anymore. He has held a couple of professorships. And as we are picking up the story, it is the summer of 1914 and he is moving to berlin from switzerland. Hes actually moving back to germany for the first time. He was born there in the southern town of home to a secular jewish family. He came to really dislike german forms of authority and classroom instruction. Through various experiences, he became what he describes as a socialist internationalist. So switzerland was a very comfortable place for him. And moving back to germany was a matter of some emotional discomfort. He remembered his difficult childhood there. But he had been sought after, recruited by some of the finest minds in german science. In particular, his contributions to it will eventually become the theory of quantum mechanics. But it is important to note that even though he is being recruited for this job, he is not yet famous. Certainly no one outside of physics knew his name, and really most people within physics wouldnt have known his name either unless they were working on this very specific aspect of quantum theory. And while einstein was recruited to work on the quantum theory, his baby, what he really wanted to spend a scientific time working on was a theory of relativity. And the theory of relativity comes in a couple of different parts. The first part of it is what was called the special theory of relativity that he published in 1905. And as the name suggests, that applied to only very specific and restricted situations. It wasnt applicable to many different kinds of circumstances that you might be interested in. But what i want to do, and he really hadnt had the time to do this in my 1914, was create what he called the general theory of relativity. This was an attempt to extend his conclusions from 1905 to literally the entire universe. To all the conceivable situations in which one might be interested in the laws of nature. And he hopes that moving to this new position in berlin, he will finally be able to do that. These very few teaching responsibilities, very few administrative responsibilities, but the hiccup turns out that he had been having an affair with a woman in berlin for some years. So upon moving to berlin with his family, instead of being able to throw himself into the science, he had to deal with some extremely rocky relationship which. And in fact his first wife, malaysia, leaves him and takes the children. And is devastated by this. He had a very deep connection to his children. But of course this is all someone fault. So is a media thing he has to do is find a place to sleep. He crashes on his friend fits our birds catch for a while, and harbor helps counseling through the emotional wreckage of the end of his marriage. But eventually, einstein is able to settle down and work. As i said, what he is open to work on is this theory of general relativity. General relativity is the idea that the right way to understand the universe is not as a universe made a space and made a time, but rather this four dimensional congratulation of space and time in which we threedimensional creatures dont really experience the universe in the right way. So nonsense universe, space and time are warped by the presence of planets, stars. We talk about the fabric of space time being able to curve and stretch. And a lot of the strange things that we associate with relativity. Things like locks running slow, twins aging at different rates, energy turning into matter, matter turning into energy, or all consequences of the sort of great vision that einstein has of the right way to approach the universe in a scientific and philosophical something. Unfortunately for ads down, he discovers early on in the process of trying to develop general relativity that the mathematics necessary are extremely complicated. And einstein was not a very good student back in college. So it turns out that he had actually skipped the mathematics classes that he needed to develop this particular theory. So in a rather extraordinary turn of events, he goes back to his friend whose notes he had copied so he could pass that class. The sao marcell grossman pictured here, who was by this time of professional mathematician, to ask him for help learning the mathematics that he was supposed to have learned back in. College as the story goes, einstein flings open takes flings open the door and says you must elbow. Crazy. He helped overthrow the superstructure of the theory, einstein have been working on the scientific theory. He published little on the theory at this point what he called his draft version seem pretty good. In particular, by the summer of 1914 he had achieved a milestone. It is not just that he had sort of formally put the equation out there, but rather he had gotten the theory to a point where he had to been tested. This was an important thing for any. He knew that he needed some sort of empirical. Test some physical thing in the world that you can point to and say, this is why you should believe that my theory is correct. In a particular job you are talking about here, theres actually three glass the test. So this is the one that is sort of at hand in 1914. Something called a gravitational reflection of white. So im theory predicts that gravity should pull not just on heavy objects like tables and professors, but also on the most ephemeral things. That is light. So the path of light should be bent by gravity the same way that the path of a thrown ball is bent by gravity. As well. But the effects is very tiny and you need an extremely strong gravitational source to observe this affects. So the way that einstein figured out you could see this effect was if you waited for a Solar Eclipse and then looked for a star that was supposed to be near the edge of the sun stuff. From our point of view here on earth. Look we see that bending of light looks like. Is at the start appears to be in the wrong place. That is that it is displace word from it should be. The effect is very. Small so you need very sophisticated equipment, very skilled observers to see it. And you also have to wait for a solar clips which is somewhat where. Now fortunately for einstein, very soon after he arrives in berlin, there is a Solar Eclipse predicted two acre. Specifically in crimea which at the time was in russia. One of einsteins acolytes, a fan of his, is a trained astronomer, a guy named who agreed to go to russia observe the eclipse. And try to get photographs to prove that einstein is right. At this time, this is a normal thing for scientists to do. That is, to cross borders and go to do scientific projects. There were a half dozen cruise of astronomers in crimea area crimea to try to observe the Solar Eclipse, not necessarily to test the theory but just to see the eclipse. So einstein is biting his nails in berlin waiting to hear results from this expedition. The rest of the world doesnt care in the slightest. Einsteins theory is of no interest except to a tiny handful of people. Everyone else in the world is paying attention to in august 1914 is the culmination of geopolitical conflicts, the arms race, Political Tension and the spark of the and bosnia and herzegovina. That initiates the beginning of world war i. Scientists watch this happen, as the rest of the world does, and find that they hope they can hold themselves above the fray. That science is supposed to be an international enterprise, disconnected from human things like politics and conquest. In particular, as the war began, the British Association for advancement of science is holding its annual meeting an International Meeting as it turned out and many of the scientists there are and they declare that scientists should be above all politics. This seemed like a moment for how science could rise above. One of the scientists in attendance there was Arthur Stanley eddington, a professor at cambridge, and also important for our story, also a quaker. This meant he was a pacifist and internationalist. He was very pleased to see at the meeting these International Outreach efforts. But this was almost immediately bashed. In fact, the moment that one friend was supposed to toast to observe, he was arrested by Russian Police as a german spy and and spends much of the war actually locked up in prison. Scientists on both sides go into hostile national camps. German intellectuals here they give a famous declaration, declaring their solidarity with the german army. Army. This included many of einsteins friends and mentors. British Scientists Say germans could no longer be trusted to do science. This is a particularly famous astronomer, turner, and he did not agree that the lusitania was sunk. The german scientists had gone out of the way to declare their adhesion of these things. German ideals are infinitely farther from the conception of science. Scientists began attacking each other. The Nobel Prize Winner dean caused called for german scientists to no longer be cited in papers. He said that now german should use the term equity partitions theorem again. He has accused british scientists of taking credit for german work, and literally the trenches cross across the telegraph lines that Scientists Use to communicate data back and forth. Scientific journals were withdrawn, and no longer sent to countries. British scientists working in germany and austria are arrested. Einstein finds himself horrified, in particular discovering that he is essentially the only pacifist among the Scientific Community. He joins organizations, he tries to keep up against the war. He is largely ignored. Because he is a person of no consequence at this time. He writes to a friend of his at this time, saying i love science twice as much in these times. I feel so painful for people about their emotional judgment and consequences. We scientists in particular must Foster International relations all the more. And we must distance ourselves from emotions of war. This did not have currency even among scientists. Einstein felt these issues, essentially, immediately. As the war ends, the royal navy blockades germany and germany falls short on food within a week of the beginning of the war. This is a test. Hundreds of die thousands of germans of die of starvation starvation. Einstein einstein was is nearly one of nearly one of them them. He was he is starving, starving, he was very very sick, he sick, he has only survived trouble because he was getting surviving as he was getting food packages sent from food packages sent by friends in his friends and switzerland switzerland. He lost he loses 50 pounds into. Monsey comes as hands are always cold and then he cannot write. For much of the time he is bedridden and actually writes the fundamental papers of modern khan mullah g while under blankets. He feels isolated politically, and intellectually. One of the places he looks for intellectual and social companionship is actually in the netherlands. The netherlands are neutral during the war. So he can go and visit there and and particularly the three gentlemen on the right side and there are physics friends. He enjoys being around the other internationalists and people of left wing politics those are the people that he discusses relative really with these become the only people in the world to know about this work, on general relativity, and as ive suggested, they stop scientific papers just as well as scientific armaments. And who would want to hear what a german scientist had to say in any case . Some of his dutch friends he is an astronomer. The world should hear about einstein and so it happens that he speaks english. So he sends a letter to the Royal Astronomical society in london describing einsteins work. It so happens that the secretary of the society is Arthur Stanley eddington. I cant overemphasize how lucky einstein was that addington was the one who opened up. And this is because as ive been suggesting few scientists were even willing to think about this. But eddington was a pacifist and internationalist and thought that International Relations within science were absolutely critical. He also was one of the few people that understood complicated mathematics. So as it happened, he was chosen as the one corresponded britain who is willing and able to think about einstein and grapple with relativity. And so eddington is excited about the science. He recognizes the scientific significance. And he, like einstein, was feeling isolated. There are very few people he can talk to in england who, within the Scientific Community, share his views. Eddington is very worried about the future of international it seemed to him that it might be ruptured forever. But suggesting that germans as a people could no longer be trusted to cite jens, seemed to him absurd, and which would surely be damage for the long term even working hard to get his. Colleagues to think in international ways, and to moderate some of their anti german hatred. He does this through practical terms. He points out that problems of astronomy are worldwide. Latitude and longer toot lines dont care about borders. He also appeals to philosophical, idealistic and even spiritual concerns, saying that there is a conviction to the pursuit of truth, whether we are in the vast system of the stars, there are vast differences. And this is used as a barrier its interesting to note that what eddington hes doing here, by taking the pacifist views to the war in general and applying them specifically to the realm of science. These include humanizing the enemy, making contact across the trenches and showing the world that the world is a better place united than it is divided. He invites his colleagues, i think not as a symbolic german but as a friend. The german scientist called him a pirate, a baby killer, try to work up a little fury, says the worship of a empire an aerial patriotism of that science has brought the world a disaster. As addington is grappling with these nationals and scientists, so einstein for him can be a symbol of science, reaching above the chasm formed by the war, showing that world changing science depended on international cooperation. On scientists working together. Einstein was perfect for this not just because he was a brilliant physicist but because since einstein was a pacifist as well, as a