A Truly Beautiful Mind

Short Answer Questions.

1. Why did Einstein try to look for wheels on the body of his newly born sister?

Ans: Einstein was much too interested in mechanical toys and had scientific inclinations. When his sister was
born, he thought her to be a new toy; that is why he tried to search for wheels on her body.

2. What did Einstein’s mother think him to be? Why?

Ans: Einstein’s mother thought him to be a ‘freak’ or someone with an unusual physical abnormality or
behaviour problem. She thought of him as a freak because his head seemed too large to her. This made him
look different from the other children of his age.

3. Which musical instrument did Einstein begin to learn? Why?

Ans:Einstein began to learn to play upon the violin at the young age of six. He kept this interest alive
throughout his life and became a gifted amateur violinist. He began learning the violin because his mother
wanted him to.

4. Einstein showed no early signs of his genius one day. Comment.

Ans: As a child, Einstein had a large head and did not start to speak till he was two-and-a-half years old.
Finally, when he did speak, he used to utter everything twice. He could not interact freely with his playmates
either. All this showed the absence of any traces in him of becoming a genius one day.

5. What did Einstein’s playmates call him? Why?

Ans: Einstein’s playmates called him ‘Brother Boring’ as he could not mix up with other children. Neither
did he find their games interesting nor did he know how to interact with other children. Also, he did not talk
till he was two-and-a-half years old, and even then he repeated each word twice. This made his company
boring to his playmates.

6. What kind of toys attracted the attention of Einstein when he was a child? Why?

Ans: Einstein could not enjoy the company of playmates because of his introvert nature. Instead as a child, he
was attracted only by mechanical toys. It showed his scientific temperament since mechanical toys work on
some kind of scientific principles.

7. Who was Mileva Marie? Where did Einstein meet her?

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Ans: Mileva Marie was a Serbian student who had come to Zurich University to study because was one of the
few universities in Europe where women could get degrees. Einstein met at the University. He found her to be
a clever girl. She also shared similar interests in art, literature and music and he developed special interest in
her. Later they got married.

8. Why did Einstein’s mother not want him to marry Mileva?

Ans: There were two reasons for Einstein’s mother not wanting him to marry Mileva. Firstly, the girl was
three years older than Einstein and secondly, she was much too intelligent – ‘a book’ just like him, in his
mother’s opinion.

9. Why did Einstein’s marriage with Mileva not survive long?

Ans: Although Einstein and Mileva had been in love, still their marriage did not survive long because Mileva
gradually lost her intellectual vigour and aspirations. She became a frustrated housewife. There were frequent
scuffles between the couple which resulted in their ultimate divorce in 1919.

Long Answer Questions.

1. What was Einstein’s contribution to the knowledge of science? Which values in his character made
him a ‘global citizen’?

Ans: A special theory of relativity was published by Albert Einstein in 1905, according to which time and
distance are not absolute. The famous equation E = mc2, based on his theory of mass and energy, made him a
renowned scientist.

In his General Theory of Relativity, Einstein calculated in advance the extent to which light from fixed stars
would be deflected as it passed through the gravitational field of the sun. The theory was declared as “a
scientific revolution” by the newspapers. For his contribution to the development of science, Einstein was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

As a result, he received several honours. He was against arms build-up. He advocated peace and democracy in
the world. He did not wish for his invention to be misused. He thought of humanity, of world peace and
democracy. All these values in his character made him a global citizen.

2. Write a short note on Einstein’s education from school to university.

Ans: As a young boy, Einstein did not show any signs of genius. His headmaster had a very poor opinion of
him and he even informed Einstein’s father that his son would never amount to much in life as he wouldn’t be
successful in any career that he chose. However, as he grew up and joined a school in Munich, he showed
appreciable progress in his studies scoring good marks in almost all the subjects.

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But the strict discipline of the school was not to his liking. As a result, he had frequent clashes with his
teachers. Being a person of liberal ideas, he felt so suffocated that he ultimately left that school for good. He
chose to complete his studies in a school in Switzerland where the environment was more liberal as compared
to Munich. Highly gifted in mathematics and having a great interest in Physics, Einstein joined the university
in Zurich after completing school and graduated in 1900.

3. Which values does the life of Einstein teach you?

Ans: Einstein was not only a great scientist but also a man of peace. All discoveries in science should be
aimed at establishing peace and his life history contains the moral lesson that one must love one’s fellow
beings. Einstein had written a letter to American President Roosevelt to warn him against the destructive
atomic bomb that Germany would build on the principle of nuclear fission. But Einstein was shocked when
America caused large-scale destruction in Japan by dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Einstein made sincere efforts to spread the message of peace. He even wrote a letter to the United Nations
proposing that a world government should be established. He did not use his popularity for selfish or personal
gains. Instead, he worked to further the cause of democracy and peace. He was never carried away by his
achievements; on the contrary, the honours bestowed on him encouraged him to work more for the welfare of
humanity. The life of Einstein inspires in us the values of sincere work, devotion to humanity, selfless service
to mankind, and love of peace.

4. Einstein wrote two letters – to President Roosevelt and the United Nations. Did his letters have the
desired impact? Justify your answer.

Ans: Einstein wrote a letter to the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 in which he warned
him about the atomic bomb made and used by Germany. It could not only destroy the whole port on which it
could be dropped but also the territory surrounding it. The impact of the letter was immediate as the
Americans at once developed their atomic bombs in a secret project. These bombs were dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945, and as anticipated by Einstein, these bombs caused terrible
destruction.

The large-scale damage caused by the bombing of Japan perturbed Einstein so much that he wrote a letter to
the United Nations. In this letter, he proposed that there should be a world government. This would put an end
to the enmity between nations and hence stop wars. This letter did not have any impact.