Einstein::Political Activities

Einstein supported a number of political causes that branded him a radical in the eyes of many in the U.S. government.

He wrote of his support for socialism, for example, and described capitalism as "economic anarchy". Such statements, combined with his advocacy of nuclear disarmament and civil rights, made Einstein a highly controversial figure in the 1950s, when the House Committee on Un-American Activities and Senator Joseph McCarthy were accusing many of being Communists. Indeed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation amassed a file with almost 1,500 pages of information on Einstein's allegedly subversive political activities.

Einstein never backed down from his beliefs, however—and always emphasized the importance of intellectual freedom.

"I have never been a Communist," he said. "But if I were, I would not be ashamed of it."

Einstein despaired over the effects of McCarthy accusion :

"The current investigations are an incomparably greater danger to our society than those few Communists in our country ever could be. These investigations have already undermined to a considerable extent the democratic character of our society."

source::http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/global/mccarthy.php

Einstein::Was A Communist Spy ?

Although the United States and the Soviet Union were WORLD WAR II allies against the Nazis, many in America were deeply suspicious of the Communist country. As the tensions of the Cold War deepened, fear of Communism reached its peak in the early 1950s.

The U.S. Congress, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, conducted witch-hunts in search of Communist sympathizers.

The accused had two options. They could refuse to testify —and risk losing their jobs and friends. Or they could cooperate and accuse friends and colleagues of being Communists. At the same time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led by J. Edgar Hoover, monitored citizens' activities, searching for "subversive" behavior.
Einstein and his leftist political convictions attracted the attention of the U.S. government as early as the 1930s. Denounced as a Communist spy and watched by the FBI, Einstein persisted in publicly criticizing McCarthyism as a dangerous threat to democracy and freedom of expression.

Einstein Or Newton::Who Was Right?

Before 1905, when Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity, most people believed that space and time were as Sir Isaac Newton described them back in the 17th century: Space was the fixed, unchanging "stage" upon which the great cosmic drama unfolded, and time was the mysterious, universal "clock in the sky."

Even today, people commonly assume that this intuitive sense of space and time is correct. It's not.
Einstein's 1905 paper, along with another one he published in 1915, painted an entirely different and mind-bending picture.

Space itself is constantly being warped and curved by the matter and energy moving within it, and time flows at different rates for different observers. Numerous real-world experiments over the last 100 years indicate that, amazingly, Einstein was right.

source::http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/28mar_gamma.htm

Einstein::Was A Religious Man?

Einstein's Thought On God::

“The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion.

A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms-it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls. Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavour to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.”

Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", Secaucus, New Jersy: The Citadel Press, 1999, p. 5.