The Genius of Einstein: The Science, His Brain, the Man

What made Albert Einstein one of the greatest scientific geniuses the world has ever known? His scientific breakthroughs revolutionized the way we understand the universe. The World Science Festival, in partnership with the 92Y’s 7 Days of Genius Festival, presents an in-depth look into the genius of Einstein. Join physicist Brian Greene, neurologist Frederick Lepore and author and filmmaker Thomas Levenson for a lively and informative conversation on the science, the brain and the life of one of history’s most fascinating men. Moderated by Cynthia McFadden of NBC News.

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Original Program Date: Mar 6, 2015
Host: Cynthia McFadden
Participants: Brian Greene, Thomas Levenson, Fredrick Lepore

Brian Greene's Introduction. 00:00

Welcome Cynthia McFadden. 3:44

Participant Introductions. 4:58

Albert Einsteins annus mirabilis. 6:00

Einsteins love of the violin. 9:33

Keeping the speed of light constant. 14:12

In 1914 what was Einsteins life like? 21:30

Einsteins note to on bending light. 31:23

How did Einstein see himself? 35:44

why was Einsteins early life more successful that his later life? 42:40

What do we know about Einsteins brain? 50:39

Does the brain make the genius? 1:02:11

Audience questions. 1:09:14

[WorldScienceFestival]

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[mikeahmady]

The beauty of living is not only to have a genius like Einstein, but to have those like Brian Greene articulate that to the world to see and appreciate.

[chanpangchin]

Sir Albert Einstein was an extraordinary genius born at the right time, found himself in the right places and had the fortune of the company of great physicists. He had the confidence to stick to his thoughts throughout his life. Most importantly, he lived by his quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

[trebledog]

People forget that Einstein worked in the patent office that dealt with clocks, time pieces, time devices. he studied the drawings, the intricate gears, springs, that make up the devices that measure time. Mesh that daily work with his commendable knowledge of mathematics and physics and it's interesting to surmise that his daily work in the patent office ignited his ideas about time, space, and relativity and ultimately the thought experiments that resulted in the special relativity and general relativity theories.

[danielpaulson]

Brian Greene is so good at distilling complex into easy to understand explanations. The guy is incredibly good at teaching.

[markTheWoodlands]

Brian Greene gives the best explanation of special relativity that I’ve ever heard.

[zehrajafri]

Brian's passion to impart knowledge is what make's a good teacher. ❤❤

[gastonflatulenza]

I've read about 20 biographies on Einstein, and it's in somebody's book that Einstein ended up at Princeton because they were offering him a job and help in finding a place to live before California did. Einstein just kind of took the first job that was offered to him. Well, he was escaping the Nazis at the time, and he never once made it back to Berlin for the rest of his life. I think they offered him $9, 000 in 1933 (my memory may be off about the amount), and Einstein asked back, "How much money is that? Could I live on less?" But the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study gave him the high salary anyway. I'm sure Einstein never knew what his house payment was or how much he had in his bank account. His wife Elsa said they both ended up really liking the city of Princeton because its environment (trees, architecture, etc) reminded them a lot of where they had lived before in Germany.

[Munecoshh]

All humans should listen to this lecture! The best one, Brian Green ✅

[joppadoni]

Brian Greene is one of the science educators which has the self deprecative humour required to be a good teacher. He also has a fantastic voice and enthusiasm which are prevalent in all great teachers. He may never stumble across a great unknown but he will, along with the greatest epidemic of science educators that are around today, be the reason the folks that do accomplish it even exist. He as well as the others should be applauded for the gift they will give even when they are gone. I won't list them all but I will just say, RPF.. He started it for me.

[kevinhealey]

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…
the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.
If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”
Albert Einstein

[lailaknight]

It's so inspiring to have an insight into Einstein's life events and the way he dealt with them. I have something to add concerning the question of the lady: "Why did he nurture brilliant ideas only at the beginning of his life?" I am not in measure to offer an answer, but from what I've seen in artists and in great minds, I can speculate that the following happens:
If you look at Tchaikovsky or at Mozart, they created brilliant masterpieces until their death. In fact, Tchaikovsky's Pathetica was written before his suicide and Mozart worked himself to death while writing the Requiem.
So I suspect that the act of creation is so strong that it surpasses the human abilities of an artist. If you want to create something never seen before, the work haunts you, it drives you to overwork, and to burnout, and it depletes you.
The work becomes like this big monster eating alive his own master. And the master dies but he becomes immortal through this titanic work.
And I suspect that perhaps Einstein realized what the price for it is. He has already faced tumulous times in his youth, and perhaps he wanted to still work to solve those mysteries but without compromising his health for them.
Do you see what I mean?
Of course, this is just speculation. But as an artist, I can see what your own work can do to you, and there is a limit to how far you choose to go. If you see yourself as a human being and you choose to take care of yourself in a complete way.
But if you see yourself only as an artist/scientist/etc, you will sacrifice your humanity for it and you will have a dramatic end. Like Tchaikovsky.
Perhaps Einstein didn't want to die in a dramatic way.
Perhaps he chose more balance.
At least I suspect.

[fredpauser]

I've been interested in Einstein for almost 50 years. I've been intrigued by not only by his accomplishments, but by the fact that he was interested in what is actually true of reality above ALL else. He did not care about ego or what others thought of him. Such concerns would have detracted from his main interest of learning about the structure of reality. He made such amazing scientific discoveries in large part due to his tremendous HONESTY!

[Sarconthewolf]

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”
― Albert Einstein

[popipagkalou]

Science and phisics offers to humanity many tools which made our life better and made us to learn endless things of our world!

[kennethflorek]

This comment is directed to people who complain about the moderators of these World Science Festival videos. If it isn't obvious that these moderators were selected and recruited BECAUSE they know little about the subject, it should be, because they introduce themselves specifically as such. The evident concept, which I think is correct, is that they may be the only intermediates that potentially could get across the material to the nearly 100% of people who also know nothing much about the subject. It is not hard to see that there has been some kind of run-through, with the participants saying similar lines in the live recording as they had before, including the funny stuff and off-hand comments. The moderator is looking at notes, and going through the topics, patter, and questions as prearranged. They are cueing the guests, not asking off-hand questions as they come to mind. If the questions don't sound as a knowledgeable person would ask, that is as intended. It is for the guests to frame a sensible answer.

 All this is obvious, so why do I have to explain it?

[supreethmv]

Einstein was a genius because he worked on something in which he made a breakthrough when no one else in the whole world never even bothered about that concept for the previous three centuries. Usually, in research, there will be fellow scientists working on the same concept, but Einstein remains a peerless genius.

[NG-VQVHR]

I know why they chose moderators that aren’t experts. But they could at least get someone who has a real interest in learning about the subject, or at least
a capacity to understand it and follow the explanations enough to ask pertinent questions.

[MauMadRooCon]

They should have just let Brian Greene host this. The journalists role seems very insignificant.

[ketiboablay]

Very true!
Geniuses emerge with time and environmental circumstances in addition to their special brains.
Many, many potential Geniuses are lost to war and poverty and miss the opportunity to shine.