We all know he was a genius, but what is there that you might not have known about the great man?
So you know all about the E=mc2 guy huh? Or at least you think you do anyway, but what with today being his 135th birthday (if he were still alive), we thought we’d bring you a few facts about one of the most famous scientists around that you might not have known. If you did already know them, well then aren’t you brilliant…
1) He was born with a big head and was very slow to talk
It seems logical for a man with one of the best brains around to be born with a big head, but as a child doctors were concerned that his head was abnormally large. Whether it was connected or not, little Albie was also slow to learn to talk, with some reports claiming that he was almost four years old when he spoke his first words. We’re not too sure on that one, but the big head thing seems to be pretty well reported. Still, maybe it was normal-sized in some parts, it’s all relative.
2) He never failed maths
“Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” is responsible for spreading plenty of things that are untrue, including the most notable example of something that really caught on when they claimed in 1932 that the Great Wall of China was the only manmade structure visible from space, but they’re also responsible for claiming that the world’s greatest mathematician failed maths back in his school days. That’s not true in the slightest, and in fact he’d mastered differential and integral calculus before he turned 15. We don’t even know what that means now, but we presume that’s good… right?
3) He wasn’t a man for socks
Einstein apparently didn’t care for socks, no matter the occasion. Whether he was coming up with theories on his blackboard at home (that’s how we imagine it anyway) or visiting the White House, he simply didn’t care about them. Apparently they annoyed him as they used to get holes all the time, and he didn’t see any point in wearing shoes and socks, as they both covered the feet, one or other would do the job.
4) He declined the presidency of Israel
Einstein was Jewish, but not a citizen of Israel, however that didn’t stop them offering him the Presidency after Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel died in 1952. Albert decided that, while he was honoured by the offer, it wasn’t for him, as he didn’t think he’d be able to get to grips with the diplomacy involved.
5) He might have started the Manhattan Project
Einstein was a famous pacifist, but he was part of the group of physicists that signed a letter urging Franklin D. Roosevelt to begin research into making the atomic bomb. He reasoned that Germany was more than likely already working on something similar, and it would be remiss not to at least look in to it. Both he and Leo Szilard (more on him in a minute) a former pupil put together a letter that recommended the US begin to stockpile uranium and give funding into research in to making a weapon of “a new kind”, and thus the top-secret Manhattan Project began.
6) He invented a fridge
Along with his former student Leo Szilard, Einstein worked on designing a new type of fridge, as both he and his erstwhile pupil believed that the model which existed at the time based on using a cooling fluid was pretty dangerous. The fluid had leaked and caused the death of a family in a home in Berlin, and they wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. There was talk a few years back that the fridge was more eco-friendly and may be revamped and brought back to life, but we haven’t looked into that yet.
7) He married his cousin
By all accounts, Albie was a hit with the ladies (so if you are a super intelligent guy out there who’s having no luck on that front, chin up and all that) but even with all the female attention he was getting, he only had eyes for one woman…provided you’re not counting his first wife. Anyway, point is he married his cousin Elsa Löwenthal in 1919. Apparently that was alright, so perhaps he was living in Shelbyville, who knows?
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