Albert Einstein: Seven Things You Didn't Know

You know the hair. You know the goofy sense of humor. You know the relationship between energy, mass, and light. And you have at least a faint grasp on what that whole relativity thing really meant. But as one might imagine, there was an extremely complex individual behind that bushy mustache.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on this date in 1879. His father was an electrical engineer and founder of Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie. The direction of Einstein's life was altered early on when his father showed him a compass, setting him on a path of discovery that would ultimately reshape the scientific world.

Einstein dropped out of school, enrolled at Zurich Polytechnic, got a gig at an office, taught at a number of European Universities, and eventually fled to the United States from his native Germany after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor. In 1939, Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning the president that the Nazis might be developing a nuclear bomb and suggesting the U.S. try to beat them to the punch.

In 1955, Einstein died in his adopted country after being admitted to the hospital for abdominal aortic aneurysm.

But what about Einstein's love life, his political aspirations, and his thoughts on birthdays? And what exactly happened to his brain after he died? 

Born With a Giant Head

Einstein was born with an abnormally large and generally misshapen head. In fact, the thing was so big that doctors were concerned he might be mentally challenged. This concern was apparently present for much of his childhood, as the future physicist spoke slowly until about age nine (those rumors that Einstein didn't speak at all until age four are apparently just that, however). 

Asked to Be Israel's Second President

When Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann, died in 1952, the country's prime minister offered Einstein the job—hey if the guy could do for politics what he did for physics… Einstein ultimately turned down the position, expressing regret at his "lack [of] both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official function." 

Brain Preserved and Went on a Wacky Cross Country Adventure

Einstein died in 1955, at age 76. He refused surgery, telling doctors, "I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly." Seven hours after his death, the scientist's brain was removed for preservation during autopsy, by examiner Thomas Harvery, without consent from his family.

Harvey made off with Einstein's brain, losing his job in the process. He took the brain with him on his move to Wichita, Kansas, where he befriended William Burroughs. Then it traveled with him again on his move back to Princeton, New Jersey, where Einstein had died. In 1997, Harvey and the brain made yet another trek out west, this time to California, when the scientist opted to bring the grey matter to Einstein's granddaughter. Even though she refused the odd gift, Harvey accidentally left it behind at her place.

Ultimately, the brain found a new home in the Princeton lab where it was first removed from the skull of the great scientist. 

The Illegitimate Daughter

Perhaps it was the accent or the rock star hair or the Matthau-esque sense of humor. What ever the case may be, Einstein was reportedly quite the chick magnet in his day. In 1896, he befriended Mileva Marić, one of the first women to study physics in Europe. The relationship soon blossomed into something altogether different, and by 1901, Marić was pregnant with Einstein's child. The daughter, Lieserl, was born in 1902, a year before the two were married. No one knows for sure what happened to the daughter. She was likely either given up for adoption or died some time in 1903. 

Mysterious Last Words

Before Einstein died in his sleep, Einstein uttered his final words to a nurse—in German. Unfortunately, it was a language she didn't speak, so the words were lost forever. At the time of his death, the physicist was writing a piece, which ended abruptly mid-sentence, "Political passions, once they have been fanned into flame, exact their victims..."

Women and War

Einstein's thoughts about women in the military? Simple. Send them to the front line—it'll confuse the hell out of the opponent. From his 1931 Essay, The World As I See It, "In my opinion, the patriotic women ought to be sent to the front in the next war instead of the men. It would at least be a novelty in this dreary sphere of infinite confusion, and besides—why should not such heroic feelings on the part of the fair sex find a more picturesque outlet than in attacks on a defenseless civilian?" 

Couldn't Remember Birthdays—or Anything Else

The smartest guy in the world couldn't be bothered with such trivialities as bringing umbrellas or changing his clothes. Einstein famously had a terrible memory when it came to those things he deemed unimportant—something that extended to birthdays. As he once wrote to his then-future wife, Marić in a letter, "my belated cordial congratulations on your birthday yesterday, which I forgot once again." Well Albert, for what it's worth, we remembered yours.