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EuropeanPupils

MagazineMadalina Stancu

High SchoolIon Barbu, Bucharest, Romaniastancu.madalina@yahoo.com

In Romania,rediscovering

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has never been to Romania.But some of his letters have, for years, changed thedestiny of a young girl, Melania Serbu. The corre-spondence between the two started in the autumn of1928 and lasted for 20 years.

Everything started with an envelope addressed as

follows: To ProfessorAlbert Einstein, The Discov-erer of the Theory Of Relativity, Berlin, Ger-many.

Melania had discovered in the short story Sar-manul Dionis (published in 1872), written by ournational poet Mihai Eminescu, some elements re-lated to the theory of restrained relativity, formu-lated by Albert Einstein in 1905.

At the beginning of the short story Eminescuwrote about the relativity of the size of the objects

around us:And the things I can see, when looked atwith one eye, seem smaller; with bothbigger; buthow big are they absolutely? Who knows? We may

be living in a microscopic world and could it be

that it is only our eyes that make us see at the size

that we actually do?The poet also assumed that all the events in our

lives are the results of our own thoughts: In fact theworld is the dream

of our souls. There

is no time, no

space they areonly inside our

souls.

Albert Einsteinw o u l d s e n dMelania, who was18 at the time,

books of mathemat-ics and physics sothat she could un-derstand the theoryof re lat iv i ty .Guided in her self-taught studies byher brilliant intel-

In Romnia, pe urmele

lui Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein nu a fost niciodata n Romnia.Dar scrisorile lui au intrat ani de-a rndul n Rom-nia, schimbnd destinul unei tinere, Melania erbu.

C o r e s p o n -denta dintrecei doi anceput ntoamna anu-lui 1928 i adurat 20 deani.

Totul anceput cu oscrisoare ntr-un plic fradres: Dom-

nului Profe-sor AlbertE i n s t e i n ,

Descoperito-rul TeorieiRelativitii, Berlin, Germania.

Albert Einstein i va trimite Melaniei, atunci nvrst de 18 ani, cri de matematic i fizic pentruca aceasta s poat nelege teoria relativitaii. Ghi-dat n studiile sale autodidacte de strlucita inteli-gen dar i de calda amabilitate a savantului, Mela-

nia descoper frumuseea fizicii i a teoriei relati-vitii.Ea i declar dorina de a urma studii universita-

re de matematic i fizic, dar pentru c absolvise ocoal superioar comercial, nu susinuse examenul

de bacalaureat.n aceste condiii Einstein i scrie ministrului

nvmntului din Romnia, Nicolae Iorga, perso-nalitate marcant a istoriei Romniei interbelice.Einstein i exprim opinia c Melania ar trebuisupusa unei examinri pentru a i se da posibilitatea

urmarii unor studii universitare.Ministrul Nicolae Iorga reacioneaz promt:

modific legea existent introducnd un examen dediferen. Pentru a nu atepta votarea legii n par-25

Albert Einstein

Mihai Eminescu

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MagazineIn Romania,rediscovering

AlbertEinstein

ligence but also by the kindness of the scholar,Melania discovers the beauty of physics and of thetheory of relativity.

The young girl declared her wish to study mathe-matics and physics at the university but because shehad finished a commercial high school she had nottaken a baccalaureate exam.

Under these circumstances, Einstein wrote to theMinister of Education in Romania, Nicolae Iorga,an outstanding personality in the history of interwarRomania. Einstein expressed his opinion thatMelania should be tested so that she might have theopportunity of studying at the University.

The Min is te r reac tedpromptly: he altered the existinglaw by introducing a new type ofexam for the people in Melaniassituation. She succeeded and then

passed her baccalaureate exam.Hired at a bank in Brasov,

Melania obtained a scholarship

from Nicolae Malaxa, the indus-trialist, but she was unable totake advantage of it.

Albert Einstein intervenedonce again and sent a letter to hissuccessor to the Physics Depart-ment in the University of Pra-gue, asking him to acceptMelania as a student.

The young lady was acceptedbut she was then to have a hard

time as she had to face the anti-Semitism of the late thirties.Most of the German-speaking students in Pra-

gue were members of Heinleins National-Socialist

Party. The students who would have liked to talk to

me were prevented by the others even to greet me.

If I sat in a desk in the conference hall, all the

seats around me would remain empty. Because ofthis atmosphere Melania moved to Switzerland, inZurich, where she was to earn a doctorate in phys-ics.

These letters unveil a part ofEinsteins person-ality, always very discreet. You should know that asa student I was in my turn discouraged by the

enormous wisdom university used to abuse me

lamentul Romniei, Melania primete din parteaMinisterului nvmntului o aprobare special

pentru nscrierea la examenul de bacalaureat. Ter-menul de nscriere fiind prea scurt, tnra nu reue-te s se nscrie la examen. Ea va rmne un autodi-dact nc 4 ani, pn n anul 1934.

Angajat la o banc din oraul Braov, Melaniaobine o burs de studii de la industriaul NicolaeMalaxa, dar nu o poate valorifica.

Recunosctor, Einstein i adreseaz lui NicolaeMalaxa o scrisoare de mulumire pentru susinereamaterial acordat Melaniei.

Albert Einstein intervine din nou n destinulMelaniei trimind o scrisoareadresat succesorului su de lacatedra de Fizic, Universitateadin Praga. n care l roag peacesta s o accepte pe Melaniaca student. Tnra este accep-tat, dar ea triete aici expe-riena dur a atmosferei pro-

nunat antisemite de la sfritulanilor 30:Cei mai muli studeni de

limb german din Praga erau

membri ai partidului naional-

socialist al lui Henlein. Stu-

denii care ar fi vrut s stea de

vorb cu mine erau oprii de

ctre ceilali s m salute.

Dac m aezam n sala de

curs ntr-o banc, toate locuri-

le din jurul meu rmneau li-bere. Datorit acestei atmosfere,

Melania se mut n Elveia, la Zurich, unde va ur-ma un program de doctorat n fizic.

Aceste scrisori ridic uor vlul discreiei care lcaracteriza pe Einstein i dezvluie faete mai puincunoscute ale personalitii sale:S tii c i eu, ca

student, am fost descurajat de multa nelepciune

cu care m pocnea fr mil universitatea. Abia

mai trziu am nceput s pricep c cea mai mare

parte a cunotinelor debitate acolo nu erau att de

raionale i utile ct le crezusem la nceput. Nufrecventai cursurile pe care nu le putei nelege n

mod confortabil i care nu corespund nclinaiilor

dvs. Cel mai important lucru este s nvai s26

Nicolae Iorga

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MagazineIn Romania,rediscovering

AlbertEinstein

with. Only later did I manage to understand thatmost of the information provided there was not as

rational and useful as I had thought at the begin-

ning. Do not attend the courses you cannot under-

stand comfortably and which do not match your

talent. The most important thing is that you learn

to master step by step the elementary concepts of

superior mathematics and their applications in

physics.

In 1940, because her scholarship was interrupted,Melania returned to Romania and was again sub-

jected to racial discrimination. When the war ended,Melania became a teacher of mathematics and phys-ics, as Einstein encouraged her in his last letters, tototally and passionately dedicate herself to teaching.

BibliographyMihai Eminescu, Sarmanul Dionis, Corint Publish-

ing House, Bucuresti, 2003www.romlit.ro/scrisori_ctre_i_de_la_albert_einsteinhttp://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihai_Eminescuhttp://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Iorga

Iconographyhttp://librarykvpattom.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/1186http://melindadelgado.wordpress.com/www.longines.com/events/2008/albert_einsteins

AcknowledgementsMy thanks to:Mrs. Marcela Niculae, teacher of physics

Mrs. Liliana Radu, teacher of Englishwho supported me in writing this article.

Albert Einstein while riding a bikeAlbert Einstein mergand pe bicicleta

stpnii ncetul cu ncetul noiunile elementare dematematic superioar i aplicarea lor n fizic.

n anul 1940, datorit ntreruperii bursei, Mela-nia revine n Romnia i trece prin restriciile im-

puse de noua legislaie de discriminare rasial. Dup ncheierea rzboiului, Melania erbu de-

vine profesoar de matematic i fizic iar n ulti-mele sale scrisori Einstein o ncurajeaz s se dedi-ce cu pasiune profesiei didactice.

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