Revisiting the Albert Einstein Memorial
What’s weird about revisiting the Albert Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of Sciences is, shamefully, that we had never visited there in the first place.
Maybe some of you are in the same boat. Maybe you’ve been to the Mall monuments so many times that you’ve developed a kind of over familiar path that you walk every trip you take there. We certainly do. And, well, we learned that it’s time for that path to change.
If it isn’t already, the Einstein Memorial must be added to your Mall monuments tour. Granted, it’s not technically on the Mall—it’s directly across Constitution Avenue from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—and Einstein may not be as prominent in American history textbooks as, say, President Lincoln or World War II. But if the man who changed the very way humanity views the world can’t get your attention, who can?
Besides, the memorial itself is gorgeous. Separated from the hubbub and traffic of the Mall and Constitution Ave., the sitting figure of Einstein is surrounded by elm and holly trees. The shady spot has ample benches and you can even go and sit right on Einstein’s lap. It’s the kind of place that makes you wish you could just sit around and come up with theorems all day.
Photo by Egghead
Einstein sits there peacefully, with a ream of paper on which is scribbled three of the theorems that changed the world forever: the photoelectric effect, the theory of general relativity, and the equivalence of energy and matter. His right hand rests on the three-step bench and his right foot is plopped nonchalantly on the floor.
But the base of the memorial is not just a block of concrete. It’s actually a 28-foot celestial map on emerald pearl granite from Norway. The granite is embedded with some 2,700 metal studs, each representing a planet, moon, star, or other celestial object like quasars and double stars, and each position calculated by the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Having Einstein’s foot right in the middle of the universe makes him seem relaxed and at home. It combines with the serene, welcoming expression on the scientist’s face to make the Memorial space nothing less that totally inviting.
The memorial was designed by famous sculptor Robert Berks, who also sculpted the bust of JFK at the Kennedy Center. His works feature a rough, seemingly uneven application of clay, with random little grooves, known as facets, creating the figure. Berks said that this technique creates a texture that “simulates motion. As you move around it, the light moves. New sets of parallel facets come to your vision, and it is an entirely new vision.”
Berks met with Einstein for two days in 1953. According to one report, Einstein was quite fond of the result. “If I had my life to live over again,” he said, “I would be a sculptor.” Berks's wife later joked that Einstein probably said the same thing to his plumber.
It took Berks twenty-five years to find a sponsor who would actually do something with his statue of Einstein. Finally, the National Academy of Sciences agreed to pay the $1.6 million, and the Memorial was unveiled (to Jean-Joseph Mouret’s "Rondeau" -- the theme from Masterpiece Theater, of all things) on April 22, 1979. It was exactly 39 days after the centennial of Einstein's birth.