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Germany reclaims Einstein as their
hero | |
Suffering from an acute lack of heroes after
losing two world wars, Germany has reclaimed Albert Einstein as one of its
greatest national figures even though the Jewish physicist fled the Nazis
hating his native country.
A century after the German-born scientist formulated his famous theory
of relativity in Switzerland, and 50 years after his death on April 18,
1955, Einstein is being reclaimed by the country he rejected.
Celebrations of the so-called "Einstein Year" of 2005 are taking place
around the world, but nowhere are the tributes to the man with the
droopy eyes and bushy grey
hair so laden with historical baggage as in Germany.
The German government has
gone all out to latch onto Einstein, who became one of the
world's first pop icons after his theories about space, time and
relativity revolutionised science in the early 20th century.
"It is a bit strange," said Juergen Neffe, author of a German biography
on Einstein that has been near the top of best-seller lists here since it
was published in January.
"Einstein hated the Nazis and extended his hatred to all Germans for
letting it happen. It's certainly true that he hated Germany, but he would
nevertheless be pleased about Germany's development in the last 30 years."
Germany's rediscovery of Einstein began in 2003 when he was picked by
millions of television viewers in a survey as one of the "best Germans" of
all time.
Born in the Bavarian city of Ulm in 1879, Einstein moved to Switzerland
at 17 to evade military service. After graduating from the Polytechnic
School in Zurich he wrote scientific papers in his spare time while
working as a Swiss patent officer.
In 1905, Einstein's "miracle year", he formulated his theory of
relativity, an explanation of the relationship between time and space that
challenged a view of the universe that had stood since the days of Sir
Isaac Newton 200 years before.
Einstein's fame soared in 1919 after his theory was proven. He won a
Nobel Prize in 1921, after which Germany and Switzerland both claimed him
as theirs.
But Einstein didn't stop. His special theory also provided the basis
for his most famous discovery, E=mc2, an equation that opened the door to
the atomic age. The formula is known around the world even if few
understand it.
Einstein returned to Germany in 1914 and lived in Berlin for 19 years
before fleeing Hitler's Nazis in 1933. He took a post at Princeton
University, and spent the rest of his life there.
His house in Berlin was ransacked by the Nazis. Einstein gave up his
German citizenship in 1932 and became a naturalised American citizen in
1940.
（Agencies) |
經(jīng)歷了兩次世界大戰(zhàn)的慘敗，德國(guó)人一直苦于自己的國(guó)家嚴(yán)重缺乏英雄人物，現(xiàn)在他們重新將艾伯特·愛(ài)因斯坦視為德國(guó)歷史上最偉大的人物之一，盡管這位猶太裔物理學(xué)家曾因自己的血統(tǒng)遭到納粹黨人的仇視而流亡國(guó)外。
愛(ài)因斯坦生于德國(guó)，一個(gè)世紀(jì)前，他在瑞士發(fā)表了著名的相對(duì)論。1955年4月18日，他永遠(yuǎn)離開(kāi)了這個(gè)世界。50年后的今天，他曾摒棄的國(guó)家為他重?fù)P美名。
2005年被稱(chēng)為“愛(ài)因斯坦年”，世界各地紛紛展開(kāi)各種慶?；顒?dòng)。但是沒(méi)有一個(gè)地方像德國(guó)一樣，在對(duì)這位有著低垂眼睛和濃密灰發(fā)的老人予以盛贊的同時(shí)，還要肩負(fù)沉重的“歷史包袱”。
德國(guó)政府開(kāi)始竭盡全力了解愛(ài)因斯坦。20世紀(jì)早期，他關(guān)于宇宙、時(shí)間和相對(duì)論的理論給當(dāng)時(shí)的物理學(xué)帶來(lái)了顛覆性的變革，他也由此成為世界上第一位大眾偶像級(jí)科學(xué)家。
“這有點(diǎn)奇怪?！钡聡?guó)版愛(ài)因斯坦傳記的作者于爾根·內(nèi)費(fèi)說(shuō)。該書(shū)自從一月份出版以來(lái)，在暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)榜上一直位居前列。
“愛(ài)因斯坦憎恨納粹，并將這種反感之情延伸到所有德國(guó)人身上，在他看來(lái)德國(guó)人造成了這一切。他確實(shí)非常討厭德國(guó)，但是無(wú)論如何，他肯定會(huì)為德國(guó)最近30年來(lái)取得的發(fā)展感到欣慰的?！?
德國(guó)對(duì)愛(ài)因斯坦的“重新發(fā)現(xiàn)”始于2003年。在當(dāng)時(shí)的一次調(diào)查中，他被數(shù)百萬(wàn)電視觀眾推選為德國(guó)歷史上“最偉大的人物”之一。
1879年，愛(ài)因斯坦出生于德國(guó)烏爾姆的巴伐利亞市，17歲時(shí)，為逃避服兵役，他移居瑞士。從蘇黎世聯(lián)邦工業(yè)大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，他供職于瑞士聯(lián)邦專(zhuān)利局，并在業(yè)余時(shí)間撰寫(xiě)科學(xué)論文。
1905年是愛(ài)因斯坦的“奇跡年”，他創(chuàng)立了闡釋時(shí)空關(guān)系的相對(duì)論，挑戰(zhàn)了物理學(xué)巨人艾薩克·牛頓始創(chuàng)的宇宙觀，那些理論200年來(lái)一直固若磐石。
1919年，愛(ài)因斯坦的理論為科學(xué)家們所證實(shí)，一時(shí)他聲名鵲起。1921年，他獲得了諾貝爾物理學(xué)獎(jiǎng)，隨后德國(guó)和瑞士都爭(zhēng)著說(shuō)愛(ài)因斯坦是屬于自己國(guó)家的。
但是愛(ài)因斯坦沒(méi)有停滯不前。他的獨(dú)特理論也給他最為著名的發(fā)現(xiàn)奠定了基礎(chǔ)，那個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)就是E=mc2——一個(gè)打開(kāi)原子時(shí)代大門(mén)的方程式。全世界都知道這個(gè)公式，雖然沒(méi)多少人能真正理解它。
1914年，愛(ài)因斯坦回到德國(guó)，隨后在柏林居住了19年，直到1933年為躲避希特勒的納粹軍團(tuán)的迫害而逃亡國(guó)外。他曾在美國(guó)普林斯頓大學(xué)執(zhí)教，并在那里度過(guò)了晚年。
他在柏林的住宅曾遭納粹黨人洗劫。1932年，愛(ài)因斯坦放棄了德國(guó)國(guó)籍，并于1940年加入美國(guó)國(guó)籍，成為一名美國(guó)公民。
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-04-15 10:12
