10 Things That Einstein Might Have Tweeted

Twitter’s influence on the way that we speak and share information is undeniable. The 140 character limit encourages brevity, and the use of hashtags to categorize each tweet has become a powerful tool as well. If the Twitter of today had been available to Albert Einstein in his lifetime, this might be what his timeline would have looked like.

1. “Working on this whole mass & energy thing. Seems promising. #e=mc2” - 1905, often referred to as Einstein’s “Wonderful Year,” saw the birth of his Special Theory of Relativity and it’s application to mass and energy. The now-famous equation, e=mc2, is introduced. Four of his papers were published in the leading German physics journal Annalen der Physik.
2. “I am passionately curious about why the sky is blue. I’ve decided to find out. #CriticalOpalescence” – In 1910, while still working at the patent office, Einstein wrote a paper on critical opalescence and scattering light by individual molecules in the atmosphere, describing why the sky is blue.
3. “Divorcing your wife to marry your cousin: #awkward” – Though they separated in 1914, Einstein and his wife Mileva officially divorced in February of 1919. Einstein married his cousin, Elsa Einstein Loewenthal, who had nursed him through an extended illness the previous year, four months later.
4. “Solar eclipse today TOTALLY proved my Theory of Relativity. #BooYa!” - On May 29, just before his marriage to Elsa Einstein Loewenthal, a solar eclipse proved that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was correct.
5. “Doing a lecture tour of the US. Think I’ll hang out here if this Hitler thing doesn’t cool off. #Princeton” - In 1930, Einstein began lecturing at various American universities. In 1933, in response Hitler’s ascension to Chancellor of Germany, Einstein settled in Princeton, New Jersey.
6. “@FDRoosevelt You should really look into atomic energy. @HerrHitler is all over it. #war– In 1939, Einstein warned President Roosevelt that Germany might build an atomic bomb and urged him to begin nuclear research. As a result, the Manhattan Project was born.
7. “Officially a US citizen now. #DualCitizenship #Switzerland” – 1940 saw Einstein become an American citizen, though he also retained his Swiss citizenship.
8. “US just bombed #Japan. I’d say the #war is over.” – Albert Einstein abandoned his belief in pacifism to urge Roosevelt to research nuclear energy, and was publicly regretful following the disastrous bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
9. “Just appointed chairman of the #ECAS. Next on my list: #disarmament” – The Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, formed by Einstein and Leo Szilard in 1946, was dedicated to warning the world of the dangers associated with misuse of atomic energy and promoting world peace. Half of the members had been directly involved with the Manhattan Project.
10. “Honored that @AbbaEban presented an offer for #IsraeliPresidency. #DeeplyMoved” – Upon the death of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, the post was offered to Albert Einstein. He declined by saying, “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it.”

With his well-documented curiosity and incredible imagination, it’s not hard to believe that Albert Einstein would have readily embraced Twitter. Because of his ability to spin witty one-liners that have become famous quotations, Twitter probably would have loved him back.

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