Albert Einstein, in a Poem, States That God (or Fate) Had Put Roadblocks in His Path, But He Had “stuck out his tongue” and “survived all the storms”

The poem is the only reference we have seen by Einstein to the sticking out of his tongue, an act he made famous

 

It is on a photograph signed to his early supporter and friend, Rudolf Ladenburg

In June of 1902, Einstein was offered a job as a technical expert (third class) at the Bern Patent Office. For an annual salary of 3,500 francs, he was responsible for deciding whether submitted inventions were deserving of patent protection, whether they infringed on existing patents, and whether the products actually worked. Einstein could complete his tasks so quickly and so well that he had ample spare time in which to pursue his scientific work, and was even granted a raise of 400 francs soon after being hired.

In 1905 Einstein published four articles in the “Annalen der Physik” scientific journal that would prove to be landmarks. They would, in time, contribute substantially to the foundation of modern physics, and change views on space, time, mass, light, and energy. The first article, “…Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light, proposed the idea underlying quantum theory. The second, “On the Motion of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid, as Required by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat”), delineated a new model of Brownian motion (motion of particles). The third, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” was Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, a paper that shocked the science community. The fourth was “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”), in which Einstein deduced what is arguably the most famous of all equations: E = mc2.

But it would be a mistake to conclude that these theories were readily embraced; books have been written about the criticisms of them. Some were academic, some not, some motivated by chauvinism and anti-semitism, and some accused Einstein of plagiarism. There was even a book, “A Hundred Authors Against Einstein”.

Specifically, his work was criticized because it flew in the face of accepted orthodoxy, such as that an “ether” filled the universe, ridiculed as impracticable and absurd, and unproven and unprovable. But it was even more widely ignored. Virtually all the early literature on Einstein’s work came from Germany, his native nation, where some dismissed it as worthless “Jewish science”. In France and the United States, Einstein was largely ignored at first. In Britain, his theories met with outright resistance, because relativity was seen as a direct challenge to the widely accepted theory of ether. These arguments about Einstein continued until 1919, when Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity was proven by an independent scientific expedition. He finally received the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Anti-Semitism was openly pursued by the powerful political right and the emerging Nazi party from 1919, and Einstein was a prime target. As the Nazi movement grew stronger, Einstein helped to organize a group within the Jewish community that advocated a united stand against fascism. But official support of vicious anti-Semitism was making the position of Jews impossible, and at times Einstein’s friends feared for his safety. After Einstein left Germany in 1932 he never returned. In March 1933 he renounced German citizenship. Einstein’s constant confrontation with anti-Semitism was a nightmare that lasted a dozen years, but he, personally, pulled through it.

Rudolf Ladenburg earned his doctorate in 1906 at Heidelberg under the direction of Wilhelm Röntgen. After working at the physics institute at the University of Breslau, Ladenburg became the chief of the physics division at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. His research explored dispersion lines in atomic spectra, and his most original work was on the anomalous dispersion of gases. Ladenburg also investigated hydrogen in excited states. A German Jew, he suffered along with Einstein and the other Jews in Germany. In 1932 he, as Einstein, went to Princeton, where he later succeeded Karl Taylor Compton at the Palmer Laboratory. After he came to Princeton his interest turned to nuclear physics. Ladenburg helped many German scientists come to the US and find employment in the 1930s.

It is believed that Albert Einstein first met Ladenburg 1909 in Bern, when Einstein was still working at the Swiss Patent Office. They had at that time been corresponding for years, at least as far back as 1907. Ladenburg urged him to leave the Patent Office for a career in physics and academia, which Einstein in 1907. Einstein followed Ladenburg to the United States, and to Princeton, in 1933. Finally the two men were in safe waters. Einstein’s new workplace was the Institute for Advanced Study to which he stayed loyal until his death in 1955. The two men, who had supported each other’s work from the start and suffered through so much in Germany, remained friends until Ladenburg’s death in 1952, almost half a century from their first contact.

A beautiful sepia photograph of Einstein smoking a pipe, inscribed by him with a poem, and signed and presented to Ladenburg himself. The poem states:
“Whenever we hatched a plot, The Old Man stuck out his tongue.
But our old friendship, here and there, Has survived all the storms.
Comrade Ladenburg, With heartfelt greetings, A. Einstein 1939.”

This is a moving and important poem. Einstein used the phrase “Old Man” to refer to God in this and other instances. Here he meant that fate – or divine providence – had put roadblocks in his path, and that of Ladenburg. By “here and there” he of course refers to the United States and Germany, the main venues of both their working lives. And they, and there works, survived all the attacks and criticisms, only to triumph. The tongue reference is amusing as well, as the photograph of Einstein sticking out his is a famous one.

We obtained this photograph and poem directly from the Ladenburg descendants, and it has never before been offered for sale.