How was Albert Einstein like as a person?

My mother knew Einstein’s stepdaughter when all three were at Princeton during the mid forties. They did tea with Einstein at his house (112 Mercer St.) on Sunday afternoons. Einstein waited until he heard the tea kettle whistling before coming down the stairs to the kitchen to join them. He was invariably disheveled.

He was usually in deep thought and not very sociable and would soon politely excuse himself to return to work. But when he dallied it was because he had a chance to discuss things of interest that had previously escaped his notice and thought. And this, despite my mother’s efforts, was not talking about physics. Her field was what today we would call molecular biology but he resisted her efforts to have him explain physics to her.

But occasionally, Einstein would pick up on a discussion that the animated younger women were having for which Einstein had questions. Politely, and with a cool intellectual demeanor, he would ask my mother questions. And he would bore in to a deeper point. One example she related was on her plans on hosting a Jewish religious meal (Seder). My mother was from Italy and hence Sephardic Jewish. Einstein, though German and hence Ashkenazi Jewish, had lived for a time in Italy and knew some of the differences in customs. Though not interested in the religious parts, he queried her understanding of these different customs and their meaning. Like an anthropologist, he tried to calculate where and when the Jewish traditions had diverged.

Einstein was, according to my mother, genuine and gentle but persistent and occasionally impatient. He was inquisitive. He didn’t make small talk. He tried to understand things, and only spoke to ask a question or clarification. He never patronized or disrespected these two young women. And, according to my mom, when asked on the IRS tax forms for his occupation, Einstein wrote in “student”. I’ve tried to do the same.

BTW, my younger brother was born 5 days after Einstein died, April 18, 1955, and was named Albert.

Said
Alfredo A. Sadun
Professor at University of California