André Krell
Reproduced, with the author’s permission, from http://members.tripod.com/alkimia/
The photograph beside this text is famous. One of the most renowned scientists of the 20th century sticking out a considerable tongue at a photographer, with an expression seemingly quite untroubled by the consequences this act would certainly bring. Einstein is better known for his tongue than for the Theory of Relativity or for his conception of the laser!
But was this genius of science really going mad, as some suspected? Had he been abducted, and had the aliens experimented on his tongue, and did he want to show us that we had truly already made contact?
At the time this photograph was taken, Einstein was involved in the study of nuclear energy. He was right about the amount of energy that could be generated by the fusion or fission of atomic nuclei.
Contrary to what some say, Einstein was fully aware that there was an intention to use nuclear energy for military purposes, since it was the American Ministry of Defense that bore the costs of the research — in the then Manhattan Project. He simply did not foresee two things: the first, that a Second World War would break out, and the second, that this energy would one day actually be used for the purpose of mass destruction. He also knew well the effects of the uranium bomb.
Einstein frequently sent letters to President Roosevelt, informing him of the project’s progress and requesting human or instrumental resources when necessary. He also requested radioactive materials and informed the government about their effects.
But the first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese enemy in 1945, over the city of Hiroshima. From then on, Einstein came to regard the study of nuclear energy for military purposes as one of the greatest mistakes of his life.
Feeling guilty, Einstein sent a letter to the president requesting that the nuclear attacks be suspended immediately, since their effects were “greater than predicted.” But Japan was cornered and the president’s popularity was rising with the prospect of the end of the war and with the retaliation for Pearl Harbor. So Einstein turned to the media and the American people, asking the population to send letters to the president requesting an end to the nuclear attacks.
But the American public and media were caught up in the military’s speeches about the end of the war, and in the way credit was attributed to the powerful new weapon developed by the great scientist Albert Einstein and his team.
The photograph was taken during an interview Einstein was giving to the press in order to promote his campaign against the use of nuclear energy for military purposes. It was at the moment when he was answering the following question from one of the reporters: “The President of the United States offers us peace in exchange for the use of the bomb; what do you have to offer the American people in exchange for peace?” It was then that Einstein, sticking out his tongue at the reporter and the photographer, replied: “I offer my tongue, so they can lick their stamps!”
