Albert Einstein thread. Post questions about him; suggest books,

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Albert Einstein thread.

Post questions about him; suggest books, documentaries, or any other information about him and discuss his life and work.

I have some questions I would like to ask:

1-Let us imagine that Einstein was never born. Is it possible to say that his theories would eventually bloom by the work of other minds in a period of 20-30 years? Or his insights were so unique that we cannot say for certain how much time would pass without anyone reaching them?

2-What is the best book about his life? I know the famous Isaacson one, but I guess there must be some more complete texts.

3-What do you guys think of this Eugene Wigner definition:

>“I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Max Planck (Nobel Prize 1918), von Laue (Nobel Prize 1914) and Heisenberg (Nobel Prize 1932). Paul Dirac (Nobel Prize 1933) was my brother in law; Leo Szilard and Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. But none of them had a mind as quick and acute as John von Neumann. I have often remarked this in the presence of those men and no one ever disputed me.
>… But Einstein’s understanding was deeper even than von Neumann’s. His mind was both more penetrating and more original than von Neumann’s. And that is a very remarkable statement. Einstein took an extraordinary pleasure in invention. Two of his greatest inventions are the Special and General Theories of Relativity; and for all of von Neumann’s brilliance, he never produced anything as original.