Einstein's genius and life showcased
Physicist and Nobel laureate Yang Zhenning, 97, has shared his connection with great theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.
"I speak as an admirer of Einstein, the greatest physicist of our time, and with Newton the two greatest physicists of all time," he said.
To mark Einstein's 140th birthday, a comprehensive exhibition of his accomplishments and personal life is open at the Shanghai Expo Museum. It runs to October 22.
In 1949 the young physicist Yang attended Einstein's last five lectures in Princeton.
In the early 1950s, he had the good fortune to have a one-and-half-hour discussion with Einstein, who was interested in the article on statistic mechanics co-written by Yang and Lee Tsung-Dao.
"To be frank, I don't remember much of what he said, because I was so nervous and because he spoke many German words in his English, which was quite hard for me to fully understand," Yang recalled.
The three biggest breakthroughs in physics of 20th century are Special Relativity, General Relativity and quantum mechanics.
"Two and half of these three revolutions are attributed to Einstein," Yang said. "He helped decipher the universe, changed fundamentally the way we look at the world and pushed it forward."
Among the more than 130 items at the exhibition are the original manuscript where Einstein noted down the Equivalence of Mass and Energy (E=mc2), his 1922 Nobel Prize medal and a photo from his visit to Shanghai.
The documents and artefacts from the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, shed light on his achievements, public activities, private life and the mythical qualities that characterize his image in popular culture.
The two pages of the General Relativity manuscript, considered to be a national treasure of Israel, are on display for the first time to Chinese visitors.
"Einstein had a very strong and deep connection with Shanghai as well as China," said Avi B. Muller, the exhibition planner. "You can see many original versions of the letters and documents Einstein wrote to prominent Chinese figures."
These include a signed typed letter from Soong Ching-ling in 1949, a letter from physicist Hsin P. Soh, who invited Einstein to move to China, and educator Cai Yuanpei's transcription of a telegram to Einstein via the Chinese delegation in Washington, calling on the world's intellectual community to condemn the Japanese invasion.
There are many anecdotes related to Einstein's stay in Shanghai.
One is that after students received word that he had won the Nobel Prize they carried him from one end of Nanjing Road to the other.
"Many are not true," said Fang Zaiqing, researcher from the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Einstein was also a son, a husband, a father, a music fan and a peace lover. The exhibition displays a large number of items he once used, read, played and collected to show this other side.
His high school diploma reveals that the young Einstein excelled in mathematics, geometry and physics with the highest score of 6 points, but was poor in French with only 3 points. Einstein's personal collection of musical notes and phonograph records is also on display, such as Bach's Sonatas for Violin and Harpsicord, showing his passion for music.
"Einstein had many different dimensions and we want to present Einstein in a fun, comprehensive way," Muller said.
"Even if you know nothing about physics, you can still engage and enjoy the exhibition."