我眼中的世界.pdfVIP

THE WORLDAS I SEE IT Albert Einstein PREFACE TO ORIGINALEDITION Only individuals have a sense of responsibility. --Nietzsche This book does not represent a complete collection of the articles, addresses, and pronouncements ofAlbert Einstein; it is a selection made with a definite object-- namely, to give a picture of a man. To-day this man is being drawn, contrary to his own intention, into the whirlpool of political passions and contemporary history.As a result, Einstein is experiencing the fate that so many of the great men of history experienced: his character and opinions are being exhibited to the world in an utterly distorted form. To forestall this fate is the real object of this book. It meets a wish that has constantly been expressed both by Einsteins friends and by the wider public. It contains work belonging to the most various dates-- the article on The International of Science dates from the year 1922, the address on The Principles of Scientific Research from 1923, the Letter to anArab from 1930--and the most various spheres, held together by the unity of the personality which stands behind all these utterances.Albert Einstein believes in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutual helpfulness, and in the high mission of science. This book is intended as a plea for this belief at a time which compels every one of us to overhaul his mental attitude and his ideas. J. H. INTRODUCTIONTOABRIDGED EDITION In his biography of Einstein Mr. H. Gordou Garbedian relates that an American newspaper man asked the great physicist for a definition of his theory of relativity in one sentence. Einstein replied that it would take him three days to give a short definition of relativity. He might well have added that unless his questioner had an intimate acquaintance with mathematics and physics, the definition would be incomprehensible. To the majority of people Einsteins theory is a complete mystery. Their