Chapter 41 breakthrough year

I was shopping alone in Bern that day, and got lost several times, and finally realized a trick. Once I got lost, I found the river. When I found the Aare River, I found the most loyal and oldest guide, and I couldn’t go wrong again.Repeated this several times, I made the main street of Bern clearly.When I returned to the hotel in the evening, my friends found a restaurant that should be good from the advertising materials, but they didn’t know how to get there. I stood at the door boldly and said: Please follow!Once the route is figured out, shopping in the next few days will become unrestrained, just swaying and looking around.There is a clock tower at the beginning of Kramm Street. It is not lean and pointing directly at the blue sky like other clock towers, but leans on the street market with a fat body, which is very friendly.Its clock face is larger than normal, and when it rings every hour, it plays some cute little tricks, and many people watch it.It was time to ring the bell, and after watching for a while, I got out of the crowd and walked eastward along the street, thinking that this area should be the location of the ethnic group that is ruled by the same bell every hour.The existence of human life is nothing more than confirmed by time and space, so the sharing of time under the bell tower is actually the sharing of life.Since this kind of sharing is carefully planned hour by hour, even if you have never met in your life, you will feel that you have already made a deep friend.

Suddenly, I felt that the spelling of the letters on the small door on the right was a bit familiar, and when I looked closely, it turned out to be the former residence of Einstein.I identified the door, No. 49, Cram Street, and quickly notified the team members to come and see it. Switzerland can’t show its own long cultural history, but in the past hundred years, some international cultural people have come to live here for a while because of its tranquility and beauty. . What level of cultural people are willing to come and live?How long have you lived?What is created here?These issues are directly related to the sense, honor and disgrace of a city, and are very important, especially for cities with weak foundations.The cultural history of various cities in the modern world is actually the history of the entry, exit and residence of cultural creators.Therefore, seeing Einstein on the streets of Bern should be taken seriously.The partners understood as soon as they heard the greeting, and followed without saying a word.

Without any eye-catching signs, it is just the most common storefront house along the street.A wooden door with glass panes bears both Einstein's name and the name of a restaurant.Open the door and go in. It turns out that the ground floor is really a restaurant. Go straight through the door and there is a narrow passage leading to the stairs. When you go up the stairs and turn a corner, the second floor is the former residence of Einstein. This house is very small, it can only be described as a front and back room.The first half of the room is larger, about 20 square meters, and the second half of the room is small, connected by a door, and a small space can be placed for a desk after being separated by the door.That desk is still there, the original Einstein.The famous relativity formula: E=mc2 was prominently posted on the wall in front of the desk; another line of words was written on it: 1905, a breakthrough year.

On the north wall of the former residence, there is also a section of Einstein's self-report in German and English: The special theory of relativity was born at 49 Kram Street in Bern, and the writing of the general theory of relativity also began in Bern. My friends are very strange, I am not good at English, how can I casually translate special physics terms such as special relativity and general relativity, I said that I have admired him for a long time, and of course I pay attention to his theory.But I knew in my heart that the cause of my attention was not the theory of relativity, but a photographer.

It was when I was still studying in the early 1960s, and I occasionally saw a thin book of Einstein in a bookstore, and unexpectedly saw an amazing black-and-white photo when I flipped through it.His beard and hair are all white, his face is full of wrinkles, he is wearing a thick sweater, his hands are clasped tightly, but his eyes are fixed on the front.The side backlight intensified the depth of his wrinkles and even brought out the age spots.At that time, our eyes were used to looking at smooth, watery, bright red and green images. When we saw this picture, we were not used to it, and even felt ugly. But the strange thing is that we want to turn it back after turning it over, and look at it again and again.His old eyes are full of calmness, innocence and compassion, just the opposite of the excited state we often see in books and magazine photos.I gradually feel that this is a kind of beauty in ugliness, but after a few minutes, I immediately deny it: why is there ugliness?This is a special kind of beauty!I have switched my aesthetic sense countless times in my life, but this is the only time I have transformed ugliness into beauty in a few minutes like a thunderbolt.I immediately bought this book and worked hard to read his special theory of relativity and general relativity. At that time, I happened to be keen on English, so I also memorized the English title on the title page.The name of the photographer who took that photo was not indicated in the book, and this became an unsolved case in my life. Of course I found out later that it turned out to be the most outstanding portrait photographer of this century, Karsh. The albums are all collected.

It's strange that people's admiration starts from the eyes in a photo, but it's a fact to me.I still can't figure out the theory of relativity, and I only care about Einstein's life.Therefore, standing in this room, I can vaguely say that Einstein should have been a technician at the Patent Office when he lived here, married only a year or two ago, and just became a father. Seeing us Chinese pointing fingers, the old woman who managed the former residence handed over a document in English, but unfortunately she could not speak English well.After receiving the information, I realized that Einstein is really a big deal here. His 1905 was earth-shattering: in March, he proposed the light quantum hypothesis, thus solving the problem of the photoelectric effect; in April, he completed the paper "New Determination of Molecular Size". Method"; in May, completed the research on Brownian motion theory; in June, completed the thesis "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", and proposed special relativity; in September, proposed the theory of mass-energy equivalence;

This year, the value of time in this house needs to be calculated in minutes and seconds, and each value points to world-class and historical first-class. This statement is not an exaggeration at all.Last year, Time Magazine selected the person of the century. As a result, there were so many countries and industries, so many heroes and masters in the entire 20th century, but only one remained, that is, Einstein.I remember that I was investigating the Euphrates | Tigris River Civilization, Indus River | Ganges River Civilization and arrived in Nepal. The streets and markets in Kathmandu at the southern foot of the Himalayas were full of photos of Einstein, and even the snowy peaks and cliffs on the roof of the world were proud of him. prestige.

The twentieth century is full of great events and monuments, but its highest glory shines in 1905, which has just started five years, and its greatest monument hides in this room on this street in this city. It is incredible.Could it be that so many highlands with battle flags, eloquent halls, and golden positions have been compared? I really want to find a little historical logic here, but it is very difficult to think about it. Even why Einstein came to Bern, why he lived in this room, and why he left later, there are only some accidental reasons and no inevitable logic. Just as I was thinking, I looked up and saw a sentence from him on the wall, which could barely be translated as: All discoveries are not the result of logical thinking, although those results seem to be very close to logical laws.

Of course I understood what he meant, and I also knew that he negated logical thinking in order to affirm something, so I was secretly happy. This is the Einstein I know, who, although a physicist, often made a name for the humanities.In recent years, Einstein's anthology has been published, and there are a lot of chapters on the humanities, especially his exposition on religion, ethics, peace, human rights, life goals, personal conscience, moral responsibility and the future of mankind. I read it with great interest. There are quite a few sentences that are even unforgettable.The year before last, a reader in Heilongjiang published an open letter in a newspaper, asking me how to deal with being threatened, framed, and besieged by cultural theft groups. I wrote back and said: Read Einstein.

I walked around the former residence twice, but couldn't find the bathroom, and started to worry about Einstein.I'm afraid that he will share the bathroom with others as we did when we had housing difficulties.This kind of waiting, humility, thanks, and evasion countless times a day should not happen to him.But after asking, as expected, he walked down the stairs, and there was a small door at the corner, which was the bathroom shared by Einstein's house and another family. At this moment, the bell of the clock tower rang.This is what Einstein heard countless times, especially in the dead of night.He thought about the time of the universe in a daze while the bell was ringing, so this small room became an infinite space.

Einstein moved several times in Bern, but this little house is the most important because it is the birthplace of the theory of relativity.But Switzerland doesn't like publicity. Look here, only an old lady is in charge. When someone knocks on the door, she will open it. The movement is very gentle, so as not to disturb the neighbors.The noisy small restaurant downstairs did not let it move away, so it could only let its name stand side by side with Einstein on the glass door. Many travelers guessed and wondered after seeing it, thinking that the name of the restaurant was called Love. The former residence of Einstein can be regarded as a kind of ingenuity, and finally he did not push the door to enter. Berne puts on a pomp in such a prosaic way that even the greatest man is here a common citizen.I think they have done a little too much in this regard, and Einstein's former residence should be taken care of; but compared with the former residences of various celebrities who are not classified into ranks, the indifferent way here more comfortable.In fact, it is precisely because of this indifference that real masters are attracted to live quietly.