Einstein Hailed As He Passes 60th Birthday Quietly at Princeton

While Prof. Albert Einstein passed his sixtieth birthday quietly at Princeton, a small dinner party being scheduled for the evening, he was the object of nation wide praise. The New York Times keynoted the nation’s tribute when it said editorially that American science might almost thank Germany for “the most distinguished of living mathematical physicists.”

The editorial said, in part: “Congratulations will pour in upon Einstein today, his sixtieth birthday. They ought to pour in on the country too. Thanks to the barbarity and the bigotry of the present German Government, the most distinguished of living mathematical physicists, one of the great figures in the history of intellectual achievement, is a resident of the United States and a citizen-to-be. If the dazzling gift of Einstein were not darkened by a tragedy which has brought despair to fifteen hundred university professors, American science would be justified in cabling a warm ‘thank you’ to the Fuehrer who has out done the Middle Ages in fanatic cruelty and so far blighted German research that not for a generation after his evil influence has passed can it expect to recover something of its former glory…..We owe to Einstein a new world outlook, something worth far more in the long run than a process for converting mercury into gold.”

Prof. Einstein, in a written reply to a question, favored the proposed creation of a world “court of wisdom.” Such a body, he said, would “represent a sort of conscience of mankind” and could exert a “highly beneficial” and ultimately “standard setting influence on the development of the social and economic affairs of the world.” He declared that “the practical functioning of such a body would be to take a stand openly and collectively in the problems which are of vital interest for the human community.”