What if Albert Einstein’s unruly early childhood had been handled with enforced conformity?
The toddler with a ferocious uppercut grew up to produce mind-blowing theories changing the way we view time and space
Cursed with an affliction, I can’t resist buying books about Einstein, though my knowledge of physics is limited and I certainly don’t have a full understanding of his theory of relativity.
It does stretch a little beyond his rudimentary explanation of it that featured in the New York Times in March 1929. The article noted he once told a secretary that when she was bothered by inquisitive interviewers wanting to know what relativity really meant, she should answer:
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“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”
In other words, its core is the subjective perception of time. The simplified version of E=mc² is simultaneously easy for people (including me) to understand while also expressing something that feels profound. It is central to nuclear physics, explaining energy in stars and bombs.
If the hot stove story is true, it is yet another illustration of his ability to deliver delightful, witty aphorisms. The Quotable Einstein (Princeton University Press) is a particular joy in that regard; a book always worth returning to.
Of course, his theories were so mind-blowing that they changed the way we view time and space. This man was a genius. Coinciding with the rise of mass media, his face (and messy hair) and ideas became well known globally. His unique take on science and its place in society, his profound sense of justice, the many myths about him and those compelling maxims ensured he became an icon of popular culture throughout the 20th century.
The pool of quotes formed largely due to a habit of his secretary and keeper of his archive Helen Dukas. In the latter role she did everything possible to protect his reputation. But during the years she ruled over the archive, she kept a wooden box close by, where she put snippets; quotes she found striking or enchanting. She typed out her own copies and placed them in the box.
His relationship with women was never straightforward, to put it mildly, and today might have led to him being drummed out of a prestigious university in disgrace with breakthroughs unfulfilled, leaving the world a diminished place. He valued female companionship undoubtedly. He was charming yet emotionally cold. He was notoriously unfaithful, admitting to being incapable of stable long-term monogamy.
But his early childhood is where I ask the “what ifs?”. Einstein had an unusually large head when he was born. His parents feared he might be intellectually disabled. He did not speak until he could do so with full sentences when at least three years of age – and after they were quietly mumbled to himself, as if to check in advance they were correct.
He was a rebellious and often angry child, known for intense temper tantrums, particularly when dealing with authority or rote learning. Reports suggest he would get so angry he would turn yellow, and his sister recalled he once threw a chair at his violin teacher.
Reputedly, as a toddler he was so strong he could knock out an unsuspecting adult with an upper cut to the jaw. What if he had been over-punished for such antics or physically abused by over-correcting parents? He grew up when children were expected, even more than today, to behave the way they were told and to obey without question. His era was a period when children were supposed to be moulded into a single fit – a belief that dominated for decades though it risked inhibiting creativity, undermining individual thinking and impairing development of talent.
Luckily this did not happen. Einstein was not forced down the road of conformity, and the unruly behaviour had disappeared by the age of seven. Though his parents were clearly anxious in the face of repeated meltdowns, they gave him time to blossom. Many researchers speculated he may have had high-functioning autism, particularly Asperger’s syndrome, based on posthumous analysis of his behaviours and traits. But his sense of humour and playfulness would suggest otherwise.
In a notable commentary titled Albert Einstein was a Child – An Insight for All Children, Autistic or Not, Frank L Ludwig observed: “Albert’s life would have been a lot easier if he had tried to fulfil the others’ expectations, to fit in, to think the way he was told to think and not to question things. But if he had done that, nobody would know his name today, and his world-changing discoveries would have remained undiscovered.”
This lesson from the late 19th century still applies.
Kevin O’Sullivan is an environmental commentator and consultant
