Tagged: e=mc2

“One explanation for this historical amnesia is that [Albert] Einstein’s biographers and others who shaped our official memories felt that some of his ‘controversial’ friends, such as [Paul] Robeson, and activities, such as co-chairing the antilynching campaign, might somehow tarnish Einstein as an American icon. That icon, sanctified by Time magazine when it dubbed Einstein the ‘Person of the Century,’ is a myth, albeit a marvelous myth. In fact, as myths go, Einstein’s is hard to beat. The world’s most brilliant scientist is also a kindly, lovably bumbling, grandfather figure: Professor Genius combined with Dr. Feelgood! Opinion-molders, looking down from their ivory towers, may have concluded that such an appealing icon will help the great unwashed public feel good about science, about history, about America. Why spoil such a beautiful image with stories about racism, or for that matter with any of Einstein’s political activism? Politics, they argue, is ugly, making teeth grind and fists clench, so why splash politics over Einstein’s icon? Why drag a somber rain cloud across a bright blue sky? Einstein might reply, with a wink, that without rain clouds life would be very, very short. Or he might simiply say that a bright blue sky is a fairy tale in today’s war-weary world. Yet, despite Einstein’s clear intention to make his politics public — especially his antilynching and other antiracist activities — the history molders have seemed embarrassed to do so.”

Source: Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor. Einstein On Race and Racism. pg. ix-x. 2005.