Profiles in Pipes –– Albert Einstein

TPLHistory

Albert Einstein (3/14/1879 – 4/18/1955) may be the most intelligent person to ever smoke a pipe. In fact, his very name and image have become synonymous with genius-level intellect and scientific breakthrough. 

Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, which was a part of the German Empire. He didn’t speak until he was three years old, but quickly began to excel at math and physics as a boy. At age 12, he taught himself algebra and independently discovered the Pythagorean theorem. 

When he was 17, Einstein renounced his German citizenship to study physics in Zurich, Switzerland. It was there that he met his first wife, Mileva Maric––who very well may have collaborated with Einstein on his fabled 1905 papers. Though Einstein would only marry twice, he was a noted womanizer, and he had numerous extra-marital relations throughout his life–– including a brief affair with an alleged Russian spy.

Einstein began work at a Swiss patent office in 1900 and in 1905 published four landmark papers during his “annus mirabilis” or “miracle year.” The papers laid forth (among many other things) the nature of photons (for which Einstein would eventually be awarded his only Nobel Prize in 1921), the existence of atoms, the theory of special relativity, and the most famous equation in human history –– E = mc2 –– which in turn contributed to the unlocking of atomic energy. Einstein would later develop the theory of general relativity in 1916. Much of Einstein’s work laid the basis for modern physics. 

Einstein moved around often during his lifetime––traveling from Germany, to Switzerland, to Prague, to South America, and finally to the United States. Einstein was one of a small minority of German intellectuals to oppose the First World War, and he immigrated to the United States in 1933 to avoid persecution under the Third Reich in Germany (Einstein himself was Jewish). Though he was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear bombs, he did urge the US government to pursue the matter, at first. Later in life he called this decision a mistake, and he ultimately advocated leaders against using nuclear arms. 

On a personal level, Einstein was an odd assortment of eccentricities. He never wore socks. He enjoyed sailing and playing the violin. He forgot basic things like birthdays and names. And, of course, he smoked pipe tobacco with obvious delight. Einstein is credited with saying, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” His favorite blend was Revelation tobacco, and though he was advised by his doctor to cease pipe smoking in his later years, it’s believed he still chewed on pipes out of habit. Indeed, one of Einstein’s pipes is currently on display at the Smithsonian.

After World War II, Einstein spent his remaining years advancing social causes (he joined the NAACP), giving lectures, and working as a professor at several universities. He died in 1955.