Einstein: The Life and Times, Ronald W. Clark: Summary of A non Fiction

"I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part, and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy.”  Albert Einstein (quoted by Philip Frank in July 1949)

Ronald W. Clark was a British biographer. Among his acclaimed works are The Huxleys, JBS (the biography of biologist J.B.S Haldane), The Life of Bertrand Russell, Freud: The man and the Cause, and The Greatest Power on Earth: International Race for Supremacy. The 774-page book was printed by HarperCollinsPublisher, New York in 2011 meanwhile the original edition was printed in 1971.

This is the story of Albert Einstein, scientist, philosopher, and contemporary conscience, with all its impact and influence. Naturally, such revolutionary concepts have been proposed. Clark wrote his remarkable book a number of scientific measurements have confirmed the superiority of relativity theories over all competitors.

Einstein, a German by birth, he suffered the human vicissitudes of two world wars and finally escaped the Hitler purge in 1933. This non fiction brings reader knowing Einstein in details, his younger life, his works and his enigmatic view in religion. This book discusses many aspects of Einstein based on well research, quote of the interview with Einstein, and earlier biography of Einstein.

It’s first time to read a biography and it’s really interested in learning of Einstein, one of the great mortals, his life is really inspiring. How his family did support him since child then he grew up to be self-learner boy. He came from happy family. There are many views on Einstein based on various sources, but I only focus on his early life. I respect the author and his efforts, and sincerely believe that the concept of the book of a noble one in composing inspirational biography to young generation.

Einstein: The Life and Times, Ronald W. Clark: Summary of  A non Fiction: 

Early life of Albert Einstein

The life of Albert Einstein has a dramatic quality that does not rest exclusively on his theory of relativity. German by nationality, Jewish by origin, dissenting in spirit, Einstein reacted ambivalently against these three birthday gifts. He threw his German nationality overboard at the age of fifteen but twenty years later, after becoming Swiss, settled in Berlin where he remained throughout the WWI; after German’s defeated in 1918 he took up German civic rights again, “one of the follies of my life,” as he wrote of it, only to renounce his country a second time when Hitler came to power. His position as a Jew was buttressed by his support of Zionism, yet he offended more than once by insistence that Jew were, more importantly, members of human species.

He was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, an old city on the Danube, under the Treaty of Vienna. His family came from Buchau, a small town between Lake Constance and Ulm. Since 1577 Jews had formed a distinguished and respectable community in the area. They prospered down the countries; they hung on, despite the burning synagogue in 1938 and all that followed it, until 1968.

Only the local papers report: “Death of last Jew in Bachau.” His name was Siegbert Einstein, a relative, many times removed, of the most famous Jew in modern history. Industrious and mildly prosperous, the Einsteins had lived in Buchau at least since 1750s according to the six families registers kept by the Jewish authorities.

Sent first to Catholic elementary school apparently on the grounds that it was convenient, he was a Jew among Christians; among Jews he was, like the members of his family, an outsider. The pattern was to repeat itself through much of his life. Nothing in Einstein’s early history suggests dormant genius. It was quite the contrary. His parents feared that he might be subnormal, and it has been suggested that in his infancy he may be suffered from a form of dyslexia.

Far more plausible is the simpler situation suggested by Einstein’s son Hans Albert, who says that his father was withdrawn from the world even as a boy- a pupil for whom teachers held out of prospects. When Hermann, Einstein’s father asked Einstein’s headmaster what profession his son should adopt, the answer was simply: “It doesn’t matter; he’ll never make a success of anything.”

Soon afterwards another influence entered Einstein’s life. From the age of six he began to learn the violin. Seven years passed before he aroused by Mozart into awareness of the mathematical structure of music. Hermann Einstein and Pauline Einstein with her insistence of music lessons brought two influences to bear on their son. A third was provided by his uncle Jakob, the sound engineer. Einstein said to his early biographer that Uncle Jakob may or may not have played significant part in making mathematics appear attractive, but his influence seems to have been long-lasting.

However, the Einstein family included an in-law more important than Father, Mother, Uncle Jakob who introduced him algebra in young age, and Casar Koch, Pauline Koch’s brother who lived in Stuttgart and whose visits to the Einstein family were long remembered. The influence that initially liked Einstein on to his chosen path did not come from his six years in Luitpold Gymnasium (Junior and Senior High School), but from Max Talmey, a young Jewish medical student who in matriculated at Munich University. Talmey’s elder brother, a practicing doctor, already knew Einstein family, and quickly introduced him to what Max “the happy, comfortable, and cheerful Einstein home where I received the same generous consideration as he did.” He tried to enlist Einstein support, became relativity, and then, like so many others, attempted to explain theory.

Soon afterwards he began to show keenness for mathematics, and Talmey gave him a copy of Spieker’s Lehrbuch der ebenen Geometrie, a popular text book.  After a short time, a few months, he had worked through the whole book of Spieker. He thereupon devoted himself to higher mathematics, studying all by himself Lubsen. Soon the flight of his mathematical genius was so high, Talmey could no longer follow.

Thereafter philosophy was often a subject of our conversation. He recommended to him the reading of Kant’s works. At the time he was still a child, only thirteen years old, yet Kant’s works, incomprehensible to ordinary mortals, seemed to be clear to him. Kant became Albert’s favorite philosopher after he had read through his Critique of Pure Reason and the works of others philosophers.

  

Terjemahan versi Bahasa Indonesia:  Buku Non Fiksi: Einstein: the Life and Times, karya Ronald W. Clark

Buku ini adalah biografi dari Albert Einstein. Pertama kali membaca sebuah biografi dan memang tidak salah memilih yang satu ini. Dituliskan oleh biographer Inggris yang juga telah menuliskan sederatan ilmuwan ternama di dunia seperti ilmuwan psikologi Freud, saintis dan mantan Presiden Benjamin Franklin, dan ilmuwan biologi J.B.S Haldane.

Buku setebal 774 ini pertama kali diterbitkan tahun 1971 dan biografi pada saya saat ini adalah edisi terbitan tahun 2011 dari HarperCollinsPublisher, New York. Karya ini disampaikan dalam bahasa yang bagus dan hasil dari penelusuran dan riset yang dalam selama tiga tahun oleh penulis Clark. Memang agak mengganggu karena pengulangan tulisan dan kutipan kerap terjadi, tapi mengingat kontennya yang informatif dan inspiratif seolah hal itu terkaburkan.

Banyak segmen dituturkan dalam buku ini namun saya hanya bertumpu pada masa kecil saja. Einstein lahir di Ulm yang otomatis menjadi anak Jerman, ayahnya sendiri berasal dari kota Bachau. Kedua orang tuanya berasal dari keluarga Jahudi. Orang Jahudi telah beratus tahun bermukim di sebuah kota kecil Bachau, dimana suku ini dikenal masyarakat sebagai kelompok terpandang dan berada, demikian juga dengan keluarga Einstein.

Beberapa generasi sebelum dirinya, sebuah surat kabar pernah memberitakan kematian seorang terpandang bernama Einstein di Buchau, tentu saja masih kerabat dengan keluarga Einstein. Dia berasal dari keluarga sehat dan bahagia. Masa sekolah dasar Einstein mengkhawatirkan orang tuanya karena menyandang disleksia. Ketika ayah Einstein menanyakan kepala sekolah anaknya tentang masa depan Albert kelak, sang kepala sekolah menjawab bahwa Einstein tidak akan berhasil dalam apapun.

Selain ayah, ibu, seorang pamannya saudara ayahnya bernama Jakob Einstein, dan dia juga dipengaruhi oleh pamannya dari ibunya yang bernama Casar Koch. Kunjungan dan perhatian paman Koch tidak pernah hilang dari ingatannya dan disebutnya sebagai paman terbaik “my best-loved uncle” yang menghangatkan hatinya saat masa kecil.

Dia diajari paman Jakob tentang dasar aljabar lewat pengandaian kata “x” semasa kecil: “Jika kita pergi berburu binatang kecil dan kita tidak tahu namanya, maka kita sebut saja x.” Namun yang menggiring Einstein handal dalam matematika adalah Talmey. Seorang pemuda Jahudi yang merupakan mahasiswa kedokteran. Tak lain pula adalah adik dari dokter yang sudah akrab dengan keluarga Einstein. Talmey memberikannya les matematika setiap minggunya. Setelah diberikan sebuah buku populer tentang Geometri, Einstein dengan mudah mempelajarinya.

Perkembangannya pun pesat, hanya dalam beberapa bulan dia bahkan belajar sendiri sampai-sampai Talmey tak mampu mengikutinya. Guru les itu pun memulai percakapan seputar filosofi. Mengenalkannya pada filosofer Kant pada anak usia tiga belas tahun. Dia juga belajar teori Darwin dan filosofer lainnya. Di sisi lain ibunya mengajarkannya bermain biola pada usia enam tahun. Walau status amatir tetapi Albert telah akrab dengan karya Mozart pada usia dini.

Perhatian dan kasih sayang keluarga termasuk kunjungan pamannya pada masa kecil yang selalu dia ingat, belajar matematika, belajar biola, dan pengetahuan filosofi di usia tiga belas tahun diduga memengaruhinya dan membentuknya kelak dalam penemuan teori relativitas. Buku ini paparan dari seorang jurnalis sekaligus penulis biografi berdasarkan riset yang dalam dari buku-buku yang membahas sang brilian. Masih banyak pula faktor digambarkan dalam buku ini yang kelak membentuknya menjadi seorang ilmuwan brilian. Sebuah biografi yang inspiratif dengan penggalian dalam.