Page 1 - A truly Beautiful .. LN

Sai International School
Class IX- English
Chapter-12: A Truly Beautiful Mind

Lesson Notes

Theme;

The author focuses on two aspects of Einstein's personality - as a scientist and as a
human being. As a scientist, his marvellous discoveries created a revolution and as
a human being, he worked towards peace and democracy in the world.

Message:

This account of the life and personality of the famous scientist Einstein gives us the
message that a beautiful mind possesses not only innovative ideas but also makes
sincere efforts to use these ideas for the well-being of mankind. Science should be
solely devoted to the promotion of worldwide peace and prosperity. If used for
destructive purposes, the scientific inventions and discoveries can wreak havoc on
the earth.

Summary:

Albert Einstein was born on 14th March in 1879, in the German city of Ulm. Till the
age of two and half years, he could not speak and when he started speaking, he
spoke every word twice. His playmates considered him to be boring and his mother
thought that he was crazy because of the abnormally large size of his head.

At school, his head master regarded him as stupid and good for nothing. But he
proved them all wrong. At the age of 6, at the insistence of his mother, he learned to
play the violin. He became a gifted violinist. At the age of 15, his family shifted to
Munich. He did not feel comfortable with the strict discipline at the school and left it.
On completing his schooling, he joined the University at Zurich because the
atmosphere there was more liberal and accepted new ideas and concepts. He
showed more interest in Physics and Mathematics.

He met a fellow student, Mileva Maric at the University. She was equally intelligent
and clever. Later on, they married and had 2 sons but unfortunately their marriage
did not survive and were divorced in 1919.

After completing his education, Albert worked as a technical expert in the patent
office at Bern. Here, he worked secretly on his idea on relativity. In 1915, he
published his paper on special theory of relativity, followed by the world-famous
equation E = mc2.In 1915, he published his paper on General Theory of Relativity,
which gave an absolutely new definition to concept of gravity. This theory made him
a famous figure. In 1919, during the solar eclipse, his theory came out to be
accurate and revolutionized physics.

In 1933, he moved to USA as Nazis had come to power in Germany. He did not
want his finding and research to be used for destruction. In 1938, when Germany