 Hello from the National Archives Public Programs and Education staff. My name is Sarah Lyons Davis and I'm an education specialist at the National Archives in New York City. Welcome to the National Archives Comes Alive Young Learners Program. Today we meet Albert Einstein portrayed by actor and storyteller Bo Solly. Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist who immigrated to America in 1936 to escape growing Nazi aggression. As a professor at Princeton University, he became a citizen of the United States. Considered a genius, Einstein made many discoveries, including the theory of relativity and the photoelectric effect for which he won a Nobel Prize. Today you'll meet Albert Einstein portrayed by actor Bo Solly. The National Archives has many records related to Albert Einstein. This document is his Declaration of Intention. It's a form Einstein filled in as part of a process to become a U.S. citizen. Einstein declares his intention to become a naturalized citizen, which back in the 1930s took several years once a person moved to America and established a permanent address. You can find this 1936 record in Doc's Teach as part of an educational activity. If you read it closely, you can find out about Einstein's family, the ship he sailed to America on, as well as a great photo of Einstein. He eventually became a citizen in 1940 and maintained his faculty position at Princeton University in New Jersey for some time. As a physicist, Einstein worked for the United States and specifically advised the U.S. government on how to harness nuclear energy. In this letter, he writes to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the important need to advance American nuclear research. Einstein was especially concerned that foreign governments might harness a uranium-based nuclear chain reaction to create a weapon to use at war. This letter written in August of 1939 was sent to the president right before the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, and so it was slightly delayed at getting into the president's hands. However, the letter was eventually received and supported by the U.S. government. The letter is credited with launching what would eventually become known as the Manhattan Project. Our programs are brought to you from the National Archives Public Programs and Education Team and the National Archives Foundation. You can find information for teacher and student programs on the National Archives website, archives.gov, under educator resources, or learn about upcoming programs under a tendon event, and on the National Archives Facebook page. And let us now give a warm welcome to Albert Einstein. Hello, dear. My name is Albert. It's nice of you to visit me here in my study in Princeton. It's a comfy little place, much different from the small town of Ulm, Germany, where I was born, on Pi Day, 3.14, March 14, 1879. A table, a chair, a bottle of fruit, a violin, what else does a man need to be having? I am so honored and thankful to the Young Learners Program with the National Archives to ask me to speak to you today, inspiring young people to use their imagination and to understand this amazing world around us is something dear to my heart. My father, German, was a great mathematician, but because of his kind of integrity, he could not cultivate his ability. My mother, Paulina, was a strict disciplinarian who forced me to take violin lessons, which I fought against when I was young, even driving off my first violin teacher with my temper tantrums. But my mother would not give up, and soon I developed a love for music that stays with me to this day. If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. You could say I was a quiet child. My parents were worried because I started to talk comparatively late when they consulted a doctor because of it. I could not tell you how old I was at the time, but certainly not younger than three. I had a younger sister I adored, named Maya. She and I would walk the countryside together, taking in the wonders of nature. Other than Maya, I stayed by myself mostly, working puzzles, when building huge houses of cars. I was a thinker, not a speaker, although my ability to speak was fully intact. When I was just five years old, I felt ill, and I had to stay in bed for weeks to keep me entertained. My father gave me this very compass. I was amazed as I turned the compass round and round, and yet the needle would continue to point towards magnetic north. This sent a chill down my spine as I knew there had to be some kind of mysterious force behind all of nature, and I wanted to know what it was. I wanted to understand everything about the way the world works, but I'm off track again. After graduating from the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, I imagined myself becoming a teacher in mathematics and physics, choosing a theoretical part of them based on my disposition for abstract and mathematical stock, as well as my lack of imagination and practical ability. I failed to impress the faculty or any other employer. It would be more than a year before I could find a temporary teaching job at a high school. Most of them considered me a mediocre talent at best, but the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. What my imagination was spinning off to space and time, which most employers did not consider a desirable trait. Fortunately, a classmate of mine from the university, a friend of mine, hopped his father into getting me a job at the Patent Office in Byrne, begged them to hire me, which they eventually did as a technical expert. Third class, so much for the renowned genius people would later claim I wasn't. My job was to look at other people's inventions to see if they were unique or innovative enough to be granted a patent. To me, being a patent examiner might seem boring, but I found it simulating, do you rather? Although no world changing inventions crossed my desk, I admired the inventiveness of minds looking at problems in new ways, trying to find innovative solutions. I came to believe that most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language that is comprehensible to everyone. As there comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. While I was in the Patent Office, I began publishing papers on theoretical physics, even though I was working along with my thought far removed from the learned men of the field. To some, my ideas were considered radical, coming from a little Jewish man from Switzerland. Even I was afraid I might have ventured too far, but anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. I would think and think and think for months and years, 99 times the conclusion proved false, the hundredth time I was right. I did much of my greatest work during this period. I published papers dealing with molecular dimensions, electromagnetic radiation, statistical mechanics, and most importantly, the theory of special relativity. In 1907, I had the happiest thought of my life. I was sitting on my armchair in a burnt patent office, and suddenly the hollow occurred to me. If a person is in free fall, he does not feel his own weight. I was amazed. This simple thought made a deep impression on me. It drove me into the direction of the theory of gravity and thus on the way to the general theory of relativity. I saw that there was a wonderful simplicity to the universe, and this spoke to me about the existence of God, that deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power which is revealing the incomprehensible universe forms my idea of God. And in the solitude of my own mind, as I contemplated the magnificent engineering of creation, it became clear to me that God does not play dice. To me, science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind. And what was I speaking of? Oh yes, my general theory of relativity. I was so excited by this. The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from Wanda. And so I submitted my doctoral thesis to the University of Berlin, and they rejected it. Yes, rejected it completely. Ten years after I graduated, I was finally granted a teaching position in physics at the University of Zurich. When so, I resigned my job at the patent office, where many of my greatest insights were born. The next few years would be very productive as well. I do my best up in the solitude of my own mind, letting my imagination soar throughout the universe. Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere. When word of my theory spread, so did my recognition. Suddenly, the little patent examiner was suddenly a rock star in the world of physics. When nobody wanted to hire me after graduation, I was now offered teaching position and research fellowships around the world, such as the way of nature. Everything is in constant motion, and just as in space, there is no down and up. So it seemed in my life, I moved from position to position, but my mind was spinning in a different direction. By the concept of gravity, when its effect on light springs in time, I realized all three could be bent by gravity. This could be proven mathematically, and so became an important part of my general theory of relativity. How do I call this relativity? Well, we know the laws of physics never change for an observer standing still, but bodies in motion perceive things differently, especially as they accelerate towards the speed of light. Light from different galaxies can be bent by the sun's gravity. A person on Earth on another in a spaceship zooming towards Jupiter would see that light differently. The speed of light is a constant, but the perception of it is relative to their position. Well, this is true as about time as well. A person in a spaceship traveling close to the speed of light would consider time to be much slower than a person on Earth, for whom time would go faster. It wasn't until 1919 that they began to prove my theories through experimentation and expedition, like the team of British scientists studying the position of stars during the 1919 solar eclipse. After that, the headlines appeared in the London Times, Revolution and Science, new theory of the universe, Newtonian ideas overthrown. But there was those in my native Germany who held demonstrations to stop me from lecturing. Great spirits had always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. I began touring the world, giving lectures, receiving awards, and promoting peace between nations. I felt so grateful at this positive response in all parts of the world. But science was not all exactly enough. My ideas and new science was beginning to be explored. Quantum mechanics. The truth is, I had difficulty in wrestling with those ideas within general relativity. I would spend the remainder of my days trying to find a way to unify these two fields of thought. In December, 1932, Princeton University offered me a research position. The timing could not be more appropriate. The following month, the Nazis came to power and my homeland became openly hostile to the Jews. If only I could advise my fellow Germans to never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it. And so America became my permanent home. And I became a U.S. citizen in 1940. World War II was raging when millions were being called to fight and die. Perhaps my most important contribution was my letter to Franklin de Roosevelt, urging him to put together a group of physicists to develop atomic power before Nazi Germany created their own atomic bomb. It would be hard to imagine what kind of destruction the Nazis would have brought with that kind of weapon in their arsenal. That letter convinced Roosevelt to fund the Manhattan Project, which was used to create the first atomic bomb. A team of the most brilliant physicists, including Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller built the most powerful weapon to date based on some of my theories. When unleashed power of the atom that changed everything, said our modes of thinking, and leave us drifting towards unparalleled catastrophe. And so I remain committed to peace as humanity's only hope of survival. One of my final honors would be asked to be President of the State of Israel in 1952. I turned it down because, as an old man, I am now retreating to the solitude of my own thought. If I could leave you with one word of advice, there are two ways to live. You can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is a miracle. I thank you for visiting. But a new idea has come into my mind, and so I must explore it. Good night to you all, and never stop seeing the world with thunder in your eyes and in your heart. Goodbye. Oh, thank you so much. I know that I learned quite a few things. I very much appreciate your taking the time to speak with us today. I was wondering, would you have a moment for a few questions? Oh, certainly. I always welcome questions. Oh, thank you. So a question we have is, what is it like to be a genius? A genius? Oh, good heavens, no. I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. The truth is, when I was a child, many thought I was a slow-thinking child. My family started to believe there was something wrong with me, because I would not speak. Instead of interacting with other children, even in elementary school, my teachers regarded me as a slow-thinking child. I did not answer as quickly as other children, because I wanted to consider all aspects of the question. I rarely think in words at all. A thought comes when I may try to express it in words afterwards. My fellow students would often tease me, because I was not interested in sports. The truth is, I was bored by most subjects, and did not put any effort into learning things that did not interest me. What did interest me was mathematics. When the natural world around me, I wanted to know everything. How it worked. What force drove things to behave like they do? After all, it is curiosity that prepares creative ideas. Creative ideas propels discovery, and discovery spurs innovation. Knowledge will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere. Everyone can be a genius. But if you judge a dish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life, thinking it is stupid. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. It's a wonderful reminder for all of us. And you mentioned your childhood and your experience in school. Is it true that you failed math as a young man? No. This is something I've heard over the years, but it is absolutely untrue. One cannot always believe everything you read and hear, especially now. My father was a mathematician, and I became interested in mathematics at an early age. I was fortunate to be tutored by a family family named Max Talmud. Max would teach me about mathematics, and even though I was young, he would share to me all the interesting scientific discoveries of the day. It wasn't long before my mathematical abilities began to outpace my teachers. My uncle Jacob, he would also come visit and challenge me with complex math puzzles, which I enjoy. Before I was 15, I had mastered differential and integral calculus. To me, mathematics is purely in its way the poetry of logical ideas. However, there were some subjects that I did poorly in, like the languages, botany, geology, zoology. But I've always had a high aptitude for mathematics. I had to brush up on these other subjects in order to pass the equivalency test to enter the Swiss Polytechnic Institute. So find which you are most interested in and explore it deeply, but do try to learn as many subjects as well. Life will be far more interesting if you do. Thank you. And we have just two more questions. What is your biggest regret in life, would you say? Oh, without a doubt, my biggest regret is that some of my discoveries are used not to celebrate life, but to end it. My theories either directly or indirectly contributed to the senseless destruction of human life. And I wrote to President Roosevelt, warning him of German atomic bomb research, when the needs for the United States to be burst to the ground such a weapon, it was under the assumption that this type of weapon would never be used. I thought it's just a threat of such a weapon. Would be enough to condense the opposing armies to surrender when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My heart bled for all those people who died. War is a terrible thing for all science. It saddens me so to think that a great number of people consider me the father of the bomb. I am only a pacifist, but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. I know not what weapons were. World War III was fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. I'm sorry, I can't emotion. No, we've learned so much about your legacy today and the wide variety of subjects that it includes. I think if you have time for it, we have a final question for you. Actually. Wonderful. What advice do you as Albert Einstein have for young people today? Oh, my advice is to always take the time away from the mundane worldly pursuits and find a distraction, whether it be music or sailing like me, or just a favorite place to go to get away and think. Considering one's purpose in life, what are you passionate about? And then concentrate on that field of study. I chased my problems with a dog in persistence that had me making mistake after mistake. Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. But above all, never let anyone tell you you are wrong or wasting your time. Remember, they all thought I was crazy. If I had listened, well, I'll leave you all to consider where we would be. Though be leaders, not followers, not sheep. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is never stop questioning. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for your wonderful advice and inspiring words. And I know that I learned so much today. And I'm sure I'm sure that our viewers did as well. And now let's take one last look at the DocsTeach educational activity related to Albert Einstein's declaration of intention. And again, that's docsteach.org. I hope you can join next month for our next Young Learners program. Thank you all for participating in our program today.