A Truly Beautiful Mind
Introduction
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the German city of Ulm. He had no signs of greatness. His mother thought that he was a freak. For about two and a half years he could not speak and when he learned to speak he uttered everything twice. He was ‘Brother boring’ for other children. So he played by himself much of the time.
Education and School Life
At school his headmaster considered him stupid and good for nothing. But he proved them all wrong. When he joined high school in Munich, where his family had moved, he scored good marks in almost all the subjects. He did not feel at ease with the school regimentation and left it for good at the age of 15. He showed great interest in Mathematics and Physics. Later on, for higher education, he joined the university at Zurich.
Marriage
Einstein was attracted to a fellow student, Mileva Maric- equally intelligent and clever, whom he wanted to marry after finishing his studies. Without paying attention to his mother’s opinion that Mileva was too old for him and too intelligent, the pair got married in January 1903.They had two sons but unfortunately the marriage did not survive and they divorced in 1919. Einstein married his cousin Elsa the same year.
Professional Life and Works
After completing his education Einstein worked as a teaching assistant, gave private tuitions and finally became a technical expert at the patent office in Bern. There he secretly developed his own ideas. In 1905 Einstein published his paper on Special Theory of Relativity followed by the world famous equation E=mc2. In 1915 he rose to world fame after the publication of his General Theory of Relativity, which was considered a ‘scientific revolution’. Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
Emigration to the US
Einstein emigrated to the United States when the Nazis came to power in Germany. When Germany discovered the principle of nuclear fission, Einstein wrote a letter to the American President Franklin Roosevelt about the dangers of atomic bomb. In 1945 when America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein was deeply hurt. He wrote a public missive to the United Nations proposing the formation of a world government, but it made no impact. Einstein spent his later days in politics advocating peace and democracy. He died in 1955 at the age of 76. He was celebrated as a visionary and world citizen as much as a scientific genius.
I. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A. ‘Einstein did not know what to do with other children and his playmates called him ‘Brother Boring’. He played by himself and especially loved mechanical toys.’
i. What was Einstein nicknamed? By whom?
ii. Why did they call him so?
iii. How did he like to spend his time?
B. ‘Einstein saw in her an ally against the ‘philistines’- those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds.’
i. Who is ‘her’ in the above lines?
ii. Where was she from? Why had she come there?
iii. What did Einstein see in her?
II. Answer the following questions in 30- 40 words.
i. Why did Einstein hate school?
ii. How did Einstein react to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
iii. What did Einstein call his desk drawer at the patent office and why?
iv. Why does the world remember Einstein as ‘a world citizen’?
Answer the following question in 120- 150 words.
i. Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt? What was the outcome? Did it have any impact on America?
Please click on below link to downloadCBSE Class 9 English Truly Beautiful Mind Worksheet Set B
