Albert Einstein Summary and Analysis

Hawking often refers to Einstein's general theory of relativity and the famous equation that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. He brings out details of Einstein's life that are not commonly known.

For example, Einstein becomes a pacifist after he witnesses the tremendous waste of human life during World War I. He demonstrates against the war and encourages his fellow native Germans to resist conscription into the army. He advocates peaceful coexistence after the war and, being of Jewish descent, joins the Zionist movement. Later, when the Nazis take over Germany, Einstein decides to stay in the United States rather than returning to his homeland, even though this means losing all his assets to the German government.

The German people seem not to care about the loss of Einstein, and ironically he encourages the United States...