The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel announced the opening of Albert Einstein's online archives on June 5438+09, and will display Einstein's manuscripts and letters on the Internet one after another, including six love letters he wrote, postcards to his mother, a large number of letters from fans and the complete manuscript of the famous theory of relativity, in order to show the little-known side of this scientific genius to the world more completely.
(Text: Yi Xi)
"the real complete Einstein"
According to American media reports, Menachem Ben-Sason, president of Hebrew University, said at the press conference held on June 5438+09, 2009 that the first batch of 2,000 Einstein-related documents (7,000 pages) had been exhibited in the online archives, including the famous manuscript of relativity, speeches for raising money for Hebrew University, wedding invitations and postcards for seriously ill mothers. These documents are divided into five categories: scientific research activities, Jews, Hebrew universities, public activities and private life.
Ben Sason said: "This time, people will be able to know a real and complete Einstein in the online archives." These documents were publicly displayed on the Internet for the first time. Ben Sason said: "Knowledge should not be hidden, but should be made public."
It is reported that Hebrew University will digitize all paper documents in several years, and the main means is to shoot them with high-pixel cameras and then put them on the Internet.
80,000 documents were launched one after another.
Einstein was one of the founders of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Before his death, he bequeathed all his manuscripts, private books and portrait rights to this university. At present, the Einstein Archives of Hebrew University has 80,000 historical documents related to Einstein, including more than 40,000 original Einstein manuscripts, which will be sorted out and uploaded to the Internet in the future.
This is not the first time that Einstein's manuscript has been put on the Internet. In 2003, the Einstein Document Project, in cooperation with Princeton University Press, published 900 scanned copies of Einstein's manuscripts on the Internet. The page received more than 300,000 hits in one hour.
According to Dalya Mendelssohn, one of the directors of Einstein's online archives in Hebrew University, different from previous exhibitions, the online archives provide keyword search, which can accurately obtain the target files from massive scanned files through a special search engine for easy browsing. In addition, Einstein's manuscripts are mainly in German, and the documents displayed in the online archives are all translated into English.
Portraits should not be misused.
It is reported that Hebrew University owns Einstein's portrait right, and advertisers are forbidden to use Einstein's portrait inappropriately. 20 10 Hebrew University took General Motors to court, because in an advertisement published in People magazine, General Motors grafted Einstein's head on a man with no clothes on his upper body and healthy skin color. The advertising slogan was "Creative and sexy".
Running for young Jews
After World War I, German Jewish scientist Fritz Bauer criticized Einstein's decision to go to the United States to raise money for Hebrew universities and accused him of betraying Germany.
In this regard, Einstein wrote: "Although I have international thinking, I often feel that as long as I have the ability, I must speak for my persecuted and oppressed compatriots ... This is loyalty, not betrayal."
Curator Grotz believes that Einstein's position is very clear from this letter. After World War I, German Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe were not allowed to enter universities, which Einstein thought was unfair.
"He couldn't solve this problem in Germany, so he tried to find another way, such as helping young Jews study at universities in Jerusalem." Grotz said.
Contribute to the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Einstein was very concerned about international current affairs and various social problems. Einstein had his own views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Before the founding of Israel, Einstein wrote a letter to an Arab newspaper and exhibited it for the first time. In his letter, Einstein, a Jew, drew a "road map for peace in the Middle East". First, he suggested setting up an eight-member "secret committee" composed of Arab and Israeli doctors, judges, priests and workers' representatives to resolve their differences through negotiations.
Genius makes a teenager.
Lonnie Grotz, director of Einstein's online archives, revealed that they are going to publish a transcript of Einstein's youth when he was studying. Many people think that Einstein did badly in school when he was a child, but this is not the case.
A letter Einstein wrote to scientists at the age of 20 shows that Einstein's research in his youth was very advanced.
This exhibition also includes Einstein's 14 research notes written in small round font, his letters to his colleagues in physics, the manuscript explaining his theory of relativity and the inference manuscript of "E=mc2".
Help lovers escape from Nazi clutches
Through this new exhibition of manuscripts and letters, people can also discover Einstein's little-known side, including postcards he sent to his mother when she was ill, love letters he wrote to his lover, and a bunch of letters from fans commenting on his strange hairstyle.
Einstein was married twice. He famously said, "Marriage is a failed attempt to keep the accident going." In his second marriage with Elsa, Einstein fell in love with Betty Newman on 1923. After 15, the life of Jews became more and more difficult because of Nazi hostile policies. Newman wrote to Einstein for help, hoping to immigrate to America. Einstein finally helped her escape from the Nazis. It is expected that more letters from Newman will be scanned online this year.
In the fan letter, a 6-year-old girl wrote in bold: "I saw your photo in the newspaper." I think you should get a haircut. In another letter, a researcher wrote: "I am conducting a scientific research to understand why geniuses like to have long hair." "I hope it will help you, thank you!