Tag: Albert Einstein
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Mileva Maric-Einstein
Mirjana Stojković-IvkovićBelgrade, Serbia Mileva Marić was the first wife of Albert Einstein. Although she worked with him for many years, her overall contribution to his success has never been clearly determined. She was born in Serbia in 1875 and had one leg shorter than the other, which caused her to limp. She had a brilliant…
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Look what they’ve done to my brain: Einstein’s last wish ignored
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “…his brain has been mismanaged with great skill.”– Bob Dylan, “License to Kill” Albert Einstein (1879–1955) is considered to be one of the most influential scientists of all time. His childhood, though, was not very promising. He did not speak until he was three years old. There is also reason to believe…
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Discovering genius: The neurobiological substrate of intelligence
Helena Ljulj Zagreb, Croatia Depiction of physiognomy. Profiled Series by Ken Gonzales-Day, 2009. Getty Museum. Image courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Left: Bust of an African Woman by Henry Weeks, 1859. Right: Bust of Mm. Adélaïde Julie Mirleau de Newville, née Garnier d’Isle by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, 1750s. “It is…
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Movie review: Première Année (The Freshmen)
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden “Never memorize something you can look up.” – Albert Einstein “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash. Première Année (literally “First Year”) is a 2018 French film. In it, we meet and follow two young men in their first year of…
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Dr. Gerhard Domagk and prontosil: Dyeing beats dying
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”– Albert Einstein Dr. Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964) was a German pathologist and bacteriologist whose research led to a discovery that saved innumerable lives. He worked for the Bayer chemical company and was also a professor at the University of…
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Dr. Fritz Kahn and medical infographics
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Der Mensch als Industriepalast (Man as Industrial Palace). A human head in profile divided into offices, staffed by little men, and areas of industrial production. Artwork by Fritz Kahn in Das Leben des Menschen; eine volkstümliche Anatomie, Biologie, Physiologie und Entwick-lungs-geschichte des Menschen (Kosmus publishers, Stuttgart, 1926). Chromolithograph. Via the…
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What makes a polymath, a genius, or a man who knows everything?
JMS Pearce Hull, England, United Kingdom Fig 1. Einstein playing his violin. From CMUSE via Quora. Public domain. The question posed in this title is of course imponderable and ridiculous, but nevertheless fascinating. Until the Enlightenment (c. 1750–1800), an intellectual “Renaissance man” could have read most of the important books printed. He might well…
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How Britain rescued scientists from Nazi tyranny
JMS Pearce Hull, England Fig 1. Signatories to Letter to The Times, 22 May 1933 In March 1933 while visiting Vienna, William Beveridge, Director of the London School of Economics, learned that Hitler had just decreed it illegal for “non-Aryan,” mostly Jewish people to hold posts in the Civil Service. Many lawyers, doctors, and…
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Albert Einstein headed off at the “Nobel pass” by Alvar Gullstrand
Jayant Radhakrishnan Darien, Illinois, United States Photograph of Albert Einstein in his office at the University of Berlin. c1920. Accessed via Wikimedia. Allvar Gullstrand. Unknown artist. The National Library of Medicine. Allvar Gullstrand was a brilliant ophthalmologist and the second of eleven surgeons who have received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. He was…