In Times Past Of Genius

By Aniruddh Jahagirdar

Albert Einstein, the Genius was at ease on a chair, sipping a cup of coffee, loving the sound of heavy rain and thunder in the crepuscule of second Monday of 1955 on the Mercer Street in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States and living in a pleasing dream.

The uninterrupted heavy scheduled days in Einstein’s life unknowingly contrived him not to bring to mind his past grins and memories. The timeless riches were snatched from him. He was involved in research to such an extent that he didn’t even remember the memories of his childhood days. So, to recollect those memories, he made it possible, ‘the dream of time travelling to the past’ that was controversial to his own theory of relativity itself. He travelled to the year 1895 where the sixteen years old Einstein lived in Aarau in Switzerland which was located on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of Aare, on the river’s right bank and at the southern foot of the Jura foothills where even the driest month has a lot of rain.

The younger Einstein was rejoicing with the Jost Winteler’s daughter and son, Marie and Paul respectively. Jost was the bureaucrat of a Cantonel school in Aarau and the Einstein stayed in his home. Tears burned the eyes of Genius and his lower lips trembled when he saw Marie, his first love. When Paul was little far from younger Einstein and Marie, he called him and said to inform Einstein to meet him near Garten Schmidlin that eventide.

The younger Genius was put in appearance at Schmidlin terminating the long wait of the elder one who was seating on his dearest bench rollicking with his favorite flowers. The younger was welcomed.

“We haven’t met anytime till now I guess” said the younger.

“The past is not definitely over”, older muttered and said “Gutten Abend Brother boring! Ich bin Albert Einstein aus der ihre Zukunft”.

Younger stood rooted to the spot while the older was like a dog with two tails. He tried to escape but the moment when older mentioned about Marie as his first love, he was surprised and questioned him about the same.

“I came here to recollect my memories through time travelling” he said and questioned “Is there any improvement in French and Chemistry?”.

“Most certainly not. But if happened so earlier, I would have been in Zurich right now and had been studying in Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule.”

“I have a question” said the younger.

“Indubitably. It is very important not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

“Will I be triumphant in future?”

“If you are determined enough. Well, try to attend at least some classes of Heinrich Weber.”

“Who is he?”

“Your professor during graduation. I would have found a job long ago if he had not played a dishonest game with me.”

“I think I can’t change my destiny.” “Actually” replied the older one.

“How will be my upcoming years?”, older replied, “You will stop dead in your tracks and move to the lowest point of your life. The business of vater will go bankrupt and you will take the lowly jobs tutoring children. The worse will arrive when you will be fired from even these jobs. Probably after a year, your bosom buddy, Marcel Grossmann will help you to get a position of Clerk in Swiss Patent office in Bern”.

“I can handle this” the younger said.

“Only until this. Your repeated failures will make your father to be down in dumps, his number will be up and you’ll end up feeling blue.”

The younger was scared and downhearted concurrently.

“Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. You should be thankful to God as he will be ending his sufferings in little time.”

“That’s true. I’ve got a question. What would happen if we race alongside a light beam?”

“I was clued about it. The answer for this will alter the modern course of Physics. After a decennium, your four papers published in Annalen der Physik will be regarding the formulation of the General theory of relativity further and receiving the Nobel Prize.”

“In simple words, I’m going to be the successful person. Right?”

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”

“Sorry, my apologies. I had that wrong. By the way, have you ever committed a mistake in life?”

“No person on the planet has the count for it as zero. I’m also included. But it’s good when they’re correctable. Some cannot be forgiven and bring a lifelong and deepest pain. I still carry it.”

“What’s that?”

“The neutron-driven fission of heavy atoms could be used for causing a nuclear chain reaction that could yield boundless quantity of energy for generation of power or the atomic bombs. The physicist of Hungary, Leo Szilard, living in the United States and the German nuclear physicist, Siegfried Flugge were involved in the same experiment. Szilard came to know that Germans started occupying Uranium from the Belgian Congo, the largest source of Uranium ore. This led to suspicion that Germans could be building an atomic bomb and discussed about the same with the fellow physicist of Hungary, Eugene Wigner. So, they came to a decision of warning the Belgians. Wigner knew that I had the connections with the Belgian Royal Family and hence thought me as a suitable person to do this. On August 2, 1939, Szilard wrote a letter to the President of United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt that was signed by me. It warned him that the Nazis were working on building an atomic bomb and suggested that U.S should start its own nuclear program. It led to the launch of Manhattan project, led by Robert Oppenhiemer, to develop the very first atomic bomb in the world. There were two atomic bombs built, ‘The little boy’ and ‘The fat man’. The German surrendered unconditionally to America on May 9,1945 after the Hitler’s death on April 30 of the same year. Japan didn’t accept the defeat that led to the dropping of those bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 respectively and death of more than two lakh innocent people after which the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito surrendered himself on April 15. After the war, I came to know that Germany had made no greater progress towards an atomic bomb. Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I never would have moved a finger. I believe it was my greatest mistake and that cannot be forgiven.”

“Tough times. I can’t even believe that. It’s simply horrible.” reacted the younger and questioned, “Why did you take the American citizenship?”

“To escape from Nazi Germany. The first major Nazi leader and the instigator of World War II, Adolf Hitler was very cruel during the Holocaust. The repressive policies of his newly formed party forced me to criticize publicly, resign from the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin and find a temporary home on the Belgium’s coast. I was not willing to be a citizen of the country where inequality was practiced. So, I took the American citizenship. During this, Germany’s puppet media platforms, bought off by the Hitler, defamed me persistently with uncorroborated news and by burning my research papers. They also claimed that I, along with communists, was plotting against Germany and was made as a central antagonist of the country. Their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels unveiled my photo titled ‘Yet to be hanged’. So, I went to England for increased protection. Fake news was spread across the country to show that Jews were responsible for the loss of Germany in World war I. They made people believe that the Hitler was the saviour who would save the people from Jews. I criticized him for his act as I know that the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. I have survived two wars, two wives and Hitler” described the older one.

“Courageous like me. My future, I’m getting kind of late. Are you going to stay here or getting back to your real time?”

“I’m satisfied and will be moving to my real time. Remember one thing, stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution”, said the Genius and saw half-drunk coffee. “Pleasurable one after a long time. Thank God, my theory of relativity is safe” he murmured.

By Aniruddh Jahagirdar