Physics is...

Questions answered by Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) (Sources: Abraham Pais “Raffiniert ist der Herrgott... Albert Einstein. A scientific biography; Albert Einstein, “Mein Weltbild” published by Carl Seelig)

1.What were your reasons for studying physics? Einstein’s intentions (at the age of 16): In case I am lucky enough to pass my examinations, I would like to go to Zurich. There I would like to study mathematics and physics for four years. Then I would like to become a teacher in these fields of natural science, I will choose theory. My intentions are based on the following reasons: First of all my leaning towards thinking in abstract and mathematical terms and my lack of phantasy and practical skills [...]. Moreover, scientific activities have a certain independence – which I like very much.”
2. What university did you go to? In Zurich, Switzerland
3. Did you know a physical experiment at school which particularly impressed you? What are the physical experiments which impress you? “As a child of 4 or 5, it was a miraculous experience for me when my father showed me a compass [...]. There had to be something behind things which was not yet known.”
4. Your physical aha-experience? “The most beautiful thing we can experience is mystery. This is a the feeling which is at the cradle of real science and art. Those who do not know it and are no longer able to be surprised or amazed, are as good as dead and their eyes are lifeless.”
6. Are you also interested in a completely different speciality? Philosophy
8. Have you ever had a chemical kit? Probably not. Favourite activity as a child: building of houses of cards.
9. By what do you recognize a physicist? The theoretical physicist is characterized by a “strange absence of adaptability.”
10. Your recommendation for future students of physics? “Among the things which characterize a valuable education [...] also ranks the development of an independent and critical mind, a development which in many cases is jeopardized by overburdening with subject matter (mark system). Overburdening necessarily leads to superficiality and a lack of culture. Teaching should be so that the things offered are experienced as a valuable gift and not as an unpleasant duty.”
13. Do you understand quantum mechanics? “The idea that an electron exposed to a beam freely decides on the moment and on the direction in which it wants to jump away is intolerable for me. In that case I would rather be a shoemaker or an employee of a casino than a physicist.” Nevertheless, Einstein studied quantum theory for all his life, was not, however, certain as to its significance.
14. What are light quanta? “Fifty years of deliberate mulling haven’t been enough to bring me closer to the answer to the question “What are light quanta.”
17. Do you master a musical instrument? “I play the violin and at present I am improvising every day on the piano.”
21. A good measurement is always carried out very carefully, almost ceremoniously. Is this ceremony comparable with a sacred rite? “You will hardly find a more or less profound scientific mind without a typical religiousness.... His religiousness can be found in ecstatic amazement at the harmony of the laws of nature, which reveal such superior reason against which all rationality of human thinking and ordering is only a pale reflection”.
28. Which physicist do you admire? Niels Bohr! “He is a real genius, it is lucky that someone like him exists. I have much confidence in his thoughts... He expresses his opinions like a permanent quester and not like someone who thinks that he is in possession of final truths.”
30. It is said that Goethe’s last words were “more light!” What should be your last measurement? Despite strong pains, Einstein refused morphine injections and tried to live his dying fully consciously. Observer until the end... “It is time to go. I want to go elegantly.”
32. There was a time when certain physical experiments were suddenly regarded as politically undesired. How political can physics be in your opinion? “If I had known that the Germans wouldn’t succeed in making an atomic bomb, I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help them.” (And not made an appeal to the American President Roosevelt to force development of the atomic bomb.)
34. Is nature really as physics, biology and chemistry describe it? “In any case this is one of the opportunities which do not depend on the anxious question as to whether God really throws dice or whether or not we should hold on to a reality accessible to a physical description.”
35. Try to find a definition for coincidence. Coincidence is not possible: “God does not throw dice.”