NO: Absorbed in his work, he would have dodged the debate
Albert Einstein was too busy discovering the building blocks of the universe to spend much time or effort dealing with something as mundane as climate change.
Although climate change is a national obsession for us ordinary mortals, it likely wouldn’t concern Einstein greatly or take much of his time if he were among us today.
To consider that he would bother to be a climate change skeptic is like thinking Babe Ruth would stoop to being a batboy or Tiger Woods a caddy.
To make sure he had enough time and mental energy for his major projects, Einstein cut out nonessentials, and took minimalism for his lifestyle.
He even gave most of his Nobel Prize money to his wife. He rarely wore socks or suspenders. He couch surfed when he traveled. When he was scheduled to visit a group of prominent scientists, he emerged from the thirdclass train car to greet them. A man of simplistic tastes, indeed.
But he knew well how to distinguish right from wrong.
For example, concerning truly big things, soon after Einstein learned of the atomic bomb’s use in Japan, he advocated for nuclear disarmament.
He formed the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists and backed Manhattan Project scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in his opposition to the hydrogen bomb.
Between 1905 and 1925, Einstein truly transformed humankind’s understanding of nature on every scale, from the smallest part to that of the cosmos as a whole. His name became synonymous in the public mind with the word “genius.”
Even today, we’re still exploring Einstein’s universe. The general theory of relativity, for instance, was the first major theory of gravity since Newton’s, more than 250 years before, and the results had a huge effect worldwide.
In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize in physics, but for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. This law explained how and why some metals give off electrons after light falls on their surfaces, and played a key role in the development of modern electronics, including radio and television.
In one paper, he stated that light travels both in waves and in particles, which he called photons. This idea is an important part of what is called the quantum theory. Another of his noted papers was about the motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or gas called Brownian motion. It confirmed the atomic theory of matter.
Einstein also demonstrated that absolute time must be replaced by a new absolute: the speed of light.
Einstein totally dismissed the “old physics.” He saw a world where space and time are relative and the speed of light is absolute. It was then thought that space and time were absolute and the speed of light was relative.
Most famously, he asserted the equivalence of mass and energy, which led to the famous formula E=mc2.
In 1910, Einstein answered a basic question: “Why is the sky blue?” His paper solved the problem by examining the cumulative effect of the scattering of light by individual molecules in the atmosphere.
Working at that level, you leave it to lesser minds to explain why the Earth is getting slightly hotter — or it isn’t.
This past Wednesday was the 139th anniversary of Einstein’s birth.
At Princeton University where he spent many happy days before his death in 1955, students, alumni and friends celebrate Einstein Day by donning Einstein masks and wigs.
Chances are the celebratory throng this year included many people who believe in the urgency of slowing climate change and many so-called “deniers” who see the issue as an outright hoax.
But there were no outbursts of profanity and fisticuffs. Princeton, unlike some of its Ivy brethren, still believes the proper role of higher education is allowing students to harden their intellects on the forge of competing ideas.