Summary & Question-and-answers of The Chapter:4- A Truly Beautiful Mind with the concerned video

Summary

A Truly Beautiful Mind

Albert Einstein was born on 14th March in 1879, in the German city of Ulm. Till the age of two and half years, he could not speak and when he started speaking, he spoke every word twice. His playmates considered him to be boring and his mother thought that he was crazy because of the abnormally large size of his head. At school, his head master regarded him as stupid and good for nothing. But he proved them all wrong.At the age of 6, at the insistence of his mother, he learned to play the violin. He became a gifted violinist. At the age of 15, his family shifted to Munich. He did not feel comfortable with the strict discipline at the school and left it. On completing his schooling, he joined the University at Zurich because the atmosphere there was more liberal and accepted new ideas and concepts. He showed more interest in Physics and Mathematics. He met a fellow student, Mileva Maric at the University. She was equally intelligent and clever. Later on, they married and had 2 sons but unfortunately their marriage did not survive and were divorced in 1919.

After completing his education, Albert worked as a technical expert in the patent office at Bern. Here, he worked secretly on his idea on relativity. In 1915, he published his paper on special theory of relativity, followed by the world-famous equation E = mc2.In 1915, he published his paper on General Theory of Relativity, which gave an absolutely new definition to concept of gravity. This theory made him a famous figure. In 1919, during the solar eclipse, his theory came out to be accurate and revolutionized physics. In 1933, he emigrated to USA as Nazis had come to power in Germany. He did not want his finding and research to be used for destruction. In 1938, when Germany discovered the principle of Nuclear Fission, he was the first person to write to the American President about the dangers of the atomic bombs.In 1945, when America dropped the Atomic Bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, he was deeply hurt and wrote to the United Nations for the formation of a world government to prevent

recurrence of such destruction.

He spent his later days in politics advocating world peace and democracy. He died at the age of 76 in the year 1955.

Thinking about the Text

(Page 50)

Question 3.
Explain what the reasons for the following are:

1. Einstein leaving the school in Munich for good.
2. Einstein wanting to study in Switzerland rather than in Munich.
3. Einstein seeing in Mileva an ally.
4. What do these tell you about Einstein?

Answers:

1. Einstein left the school in Munich because he did not like the discipline of the school. He hated the school’s regimentation and often clashed with teachers.
2. Albert’s parents moved to Milan and left their son with relatives. After prolonged discussion, Einstein got his wish to continue his education in German – speaking Switzerland. Actually, it was more liberal than Munich.
3. Einstein saw in Mileva Marie an ally against the “Philistines”—those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds. He found that she was a “clever creature”.
4. These tell that Einstein was a genius and had the capabilities to achieve his targets. Moreover, he had his own view of life. He liked freedom too much.

Question 4.
What did Einstein call his desk drawer at the patent office? Why?
Answer:
Einstein called his desk drawer at the patent office the “bureau of theoretical physics”. Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret and his drawer had all the evidences which could reveal the secret.

Question 5.
Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?
Answer:
With the emergence of Nazis in Germany,
Einstein emigrated to the United States. It was the fact that the Nazis had the ability to develop the atomic bomb. It could destroy the whole world. 

6.How did Einstein react to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Answer:
The atomic bomb devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction and wrote a public missive to the United Nations.

Question 7.

Why does the world remember Einstein as a ‘world citizen’?
Answer:
The world remembers Einstein as a ‘world citizen’ because he believed in universal peace. When there was the rat race for becoming atomic power, he was worried about the aftermaths of the bomb. He was really a world citizen who was concerned with humanity.

Question 8.

Here are some facts from Einstein’s life. Arrange them in chronological order.

[ ] Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity.
[ ] He is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
[ ] Einstein writes a letter to U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and warns against Germany’s building of an atomic bomb.
[ ] Einstein attends a high school in Munich.
[ ] Einstein’s family moves to Milan.
[ ] Einstein is bom in the German city of Ulm.
[ ] Einstein joins a University in Zurich, where he meets Mileva.
[ ] Einstein dies.
[ ] He provides a new interpretation of gravity.
[ ] Tired of the school’s regimentation, Einstein withdraws from school.
[ ] He works in a patent office as a technical expert.
[ ] When Hitler comes to power, Einstein leaves Germany for the United States.

Answers:

[1] Einstein is bom in the German city of Ulm.
[2] Einstein attends a high school in Munich.
[3] Einstein’s family moves to Milan.
[4] Tired of the school’s regimentation, Einstein withdraws from school.
[5] Einstein joins a University in Zurich where he meets Mileva.
[6] He works in a patent office as a technical expert.
[7] Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity.
[8] He provides a new interpretation of gravitation.
[9] He is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
[10] When Hitler comes to power, Einstein leaves Germany for the United States.
[11] Einstein writes a letter to U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt and warns against Germany’s building of an atomic bomb.
[12] Einstein dies.

Thinking about language
(Page 51)

Question 1.
Here are some sentences from the story.
Choose the word from the brackets which can be substituted for the italicised words in the sentences.

1. A few years later, the marriage faltered, (failed, broke, became weak)
2. Einstein was constantly at odds with people at the university, (on bad terms, in disagreement, unhappy)
3. The newspapers proclaimed his work as “a scientific revolution”, (declared, praised, showed)
4. Einstein got ever more involved in politics, agitating for an end to the arms build up. (campaigning, fighting, supporting)
5. At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled that he left the school for good. (permanently, for his benefit, for a short time)
6. Five years later, the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had American physicists in an uproar, (in a state of commotion, full of criticism, in a desperate state)
7. Science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus moustache, (interested, challenged, worried)

Answers:

1. failed
2. in disagreement
3. declared
4. campaigning
5. permanently
6. in a state of commotion
7. interested.

Question 2.
Study the following sentences:

• Einstein became a gifted amateur violinist, maintaining this skill throughout his life.
• Letters survive in which they put their affection into words, mixing science with tenderness.

The parts in italics in the above sentences begin with ing verbs, and are called participial phrases. Participial phrases say something more about the person or thing talked about or the idea expressed by the sentence as a whole. For example:

—Einstein became a gifted amateur violinist. He maintained this skill throughout his life.

Complete the sentences below by filling in the blanks with suitable participial clauses. The information that has to be used in the phrases is provided as a sentence in brackets.

1. ……………. the firefighters finally put out the fire. (They worked round the clock.)
2. She watched the sunset above the mountain, ……………. (She noticed the colours blending softly into one another.)
3. The excited horse pawed the ground rapidly, ……………. (While it neighed continually.)
4. ……………. ,I found myself in Bangalore, instead of Benaras. (I had taken the wrong train.)
5. ……………., I was desperate to get to the bathroom. (I had not bathed for two days)
6. The stone steps, ……………. needed to be replaced. (They were worn down).
7. The actor received hundreds of letters from his fans, ……………. (They asked him to send them his photograph.)

Answers:

1. Working round the clock the firefighters finally put out the fire.
2. Noticing the colours blending softly into one another she watched the sunset above the mountain.
3. Neighing continually the excited horse pawed the ground rapidly.
4. Having taken the wrong train I found myself in Bangalore instead of Benaras.
5. Having not bathed for two days I was desperate to get to the bathroom.
6. The stone steps being worn down needed to be replaced.
7. The actor received hundreds of letters from his fans asking him to send them his photograph.

Writing newspaper reports
(Page 53)

Here are some notes which you could use to write a report.

21 August 2005—original handwritten manuscript of Albert Einstein unearthed— by student Rowdy Boeynik in the Univer¬sity of Netherlands—Boeynik researching papers—papers belonging to an old friend of Einstein—fingerprints of Einstein on these papers—16 page document dated 1924—Einstein’s work on this last the¬ory—behaviour of atoms at low temper¬ature—now known as the Bose-Einstein condensation—the manuscript to be kept at Leyden University where Einstein got the Nobel Prize.

Question 1.

Write a report which has four paragraphs,
one each on :

• what was unearthed.
• who unearthed it and when.
• what the document contained.
• where it will be kept.

Your report could begin like this:
Answers:
Student Unearths Einstein Manuscript 21 August 2005. An original handwritten Albert Einstein manuscript has been un-earthed at a University of Netherlands.

A student named Rowdy Boeynik was researching on the papers belonging to his old companion Einstein.

The document contained papers of Ein-stein’s work on the last theory—Behav¬iour of Atoms at Low Temperature. Now¬adays it is known as the Bose-Einstein Condensation.

The manuscript will be kept at Leyden University where Einstein got the Nobel Prize.