Germany reclaims Einstein as their hero Germany reclaims Einstein as their hero Suffering from an acute lack of heroes after losing two world wars, Germany has reclaimed Albert Einstein as one of its greatest national figures even though the Jewish physicist fled the Nazis hating his native country. padding-bottom: 129.55%;"> A century after the German-born scientist formulated his famous theory of relativity in Switzerland, and 50 years after his death on April 18, 1955, Einstein is being reclaimed by the country he rejected. Celebrations of the so-called "Einstein Year" of 2005 are taking place around the world, but nowhere are the tributes to the man with the droopy eyes and bushy grey hair so laden with historical baggage as in Germany. The German government has gone all out to latch onto Einstein, who became one of the world's first pop icons after his theories about space, time and relativity revolutionised science in the early 20th century. "It is a bit strange," said Juergen Neffe, author of a German biography on Einstein that has been near the top of best-seller lists here since it was published in January. "Einstein hated the Nazis and extended his hatred to all Germans for letting it happen. It's certainly true that he hated Germany, but he would nevertheless be pleased about Germany's development in the last 30 years." Germany's rediscovery of Einstein began in 2003 when he was picked by millions of television viewers in a survey as one of the "best Germans" of all time. Born in the Bavarian city of Ulm in 1879, Einstein moved to Switzerland at 17 to evade military service. After graduating from the Polytechnic School in Zurich he wrote scientific papers in his spare time while working as a Swiss patent officer. In 1905, Einstein's "miracle year", he formulated his theory of relativity, an explanation of the relationship between time and space that challenged a view of the universe that had stood since the days of Sir Isaac Newton 200 years before. Einstein's fame soared in 1919 after his theory was proven. He won a Nobel Prize in 1921, after which Germany and Switzerland both claimed him as theirs. But Einstein didn't stop. His special theory also provided the basis for his most famous discovery, E=mc2, an equation that opened the door to the atomic age. The formula is known around the world even if few understand it. Einstein returned to Germany in 1914 and lived in Berlin for 19 years before fleeing Hitler's Nazis in 1933. He took a post at Princeton University, and spent the rest of his life there. His house in Berlin was ransacked by the Nazis. Einstein gave up his German citizenship in 1932 and became a naturalised American citizen in 1940. 經歷了兩次世界大戰的慘敗，德國人一直苦於自己的國家嚴重缺乏英雄人物，現在他們重新將艾伯特·愛因斯坦視爲德國曆史上最偉大的人物之一，儘管這位猶太裔物理學家曾因自己的血統遭到納粹黨人的仇視而流亡國外。 愛因斯坦生於德國，一個世紀前，他在瑞士發表了著名的相對論。1955年4月18日，他永遠離開了這個世界。50年後的今天，他曾摒棄的國家爲他重揚美名。 2005年被稱爲“愛因斯坦年”，世界各地紛紛展開各種慶祝活動。但是沒有一個地方像德國一樣，在對這位有着低垂眼睛和濃密灰髮的老人予以盛讚的同時，還要肩負沉重的“歷史包袱”。 德國政府開始竭盡全力瞭解愛因斯坦。20世紀早期，他關於宇宙、時間和相對論的理論給當時的物理學帶來了顛覆性的變革，他也由此成爲世界上第一位大衆偶像級科學家。 “這有點奇怪。”德國版愛因斯坦傳記的作者于爾根·內費說。該書自從一月份出版以來，在暢銷書榜上一直位居前列。 “愛因斯坦憎恨納粹，並將這種反感之情延伸到所有德國人身上，在他看來德國人造成了這一切。他確實非常討厭德國，但是無論如何，他肯定會爲德國最近30年來取得的發展感到欣慰的。” 德國對愛因斯坦的“重新發現”始於2003年。在當時的一次調查中，他被數百萬電視觀衆推選爲德國曆史上“最偉大的人物”之一。 1879年，愛因斯坦出生於德國烏爾姆的巴伐利亞市，17歲時，爲逃避服兵役，他移居瑞士。從蘇黎世聯邦工業大學畢業後，他供職於瑞士聯邦專利局，並在業餘時間撰寫科學論文。 1905年是愛因斯坦的“奇蹟年”，他創立了闡釋時空關係的相對論，挑戰了物理學巨人艾薩克·牛頓始創的宇宙觀，那些理論200年來一直固若磐石。 1919年，愛因斯坦的理論爲科學家們所證實，一時他聲名鵲起。1921年，他獲得了諾貝爾物理學獎，隨後德國和瑞士都爭着說愛因斯坦是屬於自己國家的。 但是愛因斯坦沒有停滯不前。他的獨特理論也給他最爲著名的發現奠定了基礎，那個發現就是E=mc2——一個打開原子時代大門的方程式。全世界都知道這個公式，雖然沒多少人能真正理解它。 1914年，愛因斯坦回到德國，隨後在柏林居住了19年，直到1933年爲躲避希特勒的納粹軍團的迫害而逃亡國外。他曾在美國普林斯頓大學執教，並在那裏度過了晚年。 他在柏林的住宅曾遭納粹黨人洗劫。1932年，愛因斯坦放棄了德國國籍，並於1940年加入美國國籍，成爲一名美國公民。 Vocabulary: droopy :下垂的, 無精打采的 go all out : 全力以赴 latch onto: 明白，瞭解 naturalised: 加入…國籍的
