At the introduction to this assignment I pulled Albert Einstein out of the bag of choices. Unlike my initial thought I was actually familiar with the name I got. I was then to research him and the different contributions he made during his life that would relate to peace and pacifism.
He was axborn on March 14th, 1879 in Germany. Most people come to know him as the great physicist who came up with the equation, E = mc2 , which proved that matter can be turned into huge amounts of energy. It was because of this discovery that he won the nobel prize in Physics in 1921 (Peace Pledge Union). This is what most people think to when his name gets brought up along with his theory of relativity.
What most people don’t know or I didn’t know was his other passion was peace. He was an active pacifist who went to rallies and anti war movements. He even wrote articles for pacifists hand books, “Who ever cherishes the values of culture cannot fail to be a pacifist” (Peace Pledge Union). He signed the manifesto of the Europeans trying to stop WW1 and only three other activist signed this. He believed the the world’s interdependence on each other (Globalization) will be able to gather enough energy and good will to make war impossible (Peace Pledge Union). I think that he was completely right even though we aren’t quite there yet the more we become more globalized the harder it is to have war. Einstein was also apart of the league of nations for a couple years but felt they weren’t doing enough. His inspiration for peace he says, comes from within “My pacifism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is abhorrent” (Peace Pledge Union). That really speaks to me in terms of inspiration because that how you have always felt.
The most inspirational thing that Einstein did was his work with peace and science together. Einstein faced a problem with this though, “When the two paths met one of the great modern problems was exposed. How responsible are scientist for the consequences of their discovery” (Peace Pledge Union). His work as a physicist gave the world the information needed to build these weapons of mass destruction. He even sent a letter to the president asking him not to use these weapons during the war, sadly the letter was never opened. Strangely enough Einstein wasn’t against entering WWII, “when Hitler came to power, Einstein recognised that against a force like Nazism the tools of pacifism are not effective” (Greco, Pietro). This is what I consider pure intelligence, putting aside your beliefs and recognizing what is better for the greater good. He was a unique kind of man during this time and it would’ve been an experience if I were alive during his time.
Work Cited
“Albert Einstein.” WAR AND WORLD RELIGIONS, Peace Pledge Union, archive.ppu.org.uk/people/einstein.html.
Greco, Pietro. “Albert Einstein, Pacifist.” Lettera Matematica 5.1 (2017): 65-70. Web.