Quantum_ Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality - Manjit Kumar [168]
The renewal of their friendship was signalled by the fact that Einstein let Bohr use his office. One day Bohr was dictating a draft of a paper in honour of Einstein's 70th birthday to Pais. Stuck on what to say next, Bohr stood looking out of the window, every now and then muttering Einstein's name aloud. At that moment Einstein tiptoed into the office. His doctor had banned him from buying any tobacco, but had said nothing about stealing it. Pais later recounted what happened next: 'Always on tiptoes, he made a beeline for Bohr's tobacco pot, which stood on the table at which I was sitting. Bohr, unaware, was standing at the window, muttering, "Einstein … Einstein …" I was at a loss what to do, especially because I had at that moment not the faintest idea of what Einstein was up to. Then Bohr, with a firm "Einstein", turned around. There they were, face to face, as if Bohr had summoned him forth. It is an understatement to say that for a moment Bohr was speechless. I myself, who had seen it coming, had distinctly felt uncanny for a moment, so I could well understand Bohr's own reaction. A moment later the spell was broken when Einstein explained his mission. Soon we were all bursting with laughter.'84
There were other visits to Princeton, but Bohr never managed to get Einstein to change his mind on quantum mechanics. Nor did Heisenberg, who saw him only once after the war during a lecture tour of the United States that overlapped with Bohr's last visit in 1954. Einstein invited Heisenberg to his home and, over coffee and cakes, they chatted for most of the afternoon. 'Of politics we said nothing', recalled Heisenberg.85 'Einstein's whole interest focused on the interpretation of quantum theory, which continued to disturb him, just as it had done in Brussels twenty-five years before.' Einstein remained resolute. '"I don't like your kind of physics", he said.'86
'The necessity of conceiving of nature as an objective reality is said to be superannuated prejudice while the quantum theoreticians are vaunted', Einstein had once written to his old friend Maurice Solovine.87 'Men are even more susceptible to suggestion than horses, and each period is dominated by a mood, with the result that most men fail to see the tyrant who rules over them.'
When Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, died in November 1952, the prime minister David Ben-Gurion felt compelled to offer Einstein the presidency. 'I am deeply moved by the offer from our state of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed because I cannot accept it', said Einstein.88 He highlighted the fact that he lacked 'both a natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions'. 'For these reasons alone,' he explained, 'I should be unsuited to fulfil the duties of high office, even if advancing age was not making increasing inroads on my strength.'
Ever since the summer of 1950 when doctors discovered that his aortic aneurysm, a bulge in the aorta, was getting larger, Einstein knew he was living on borrowed time. He wrote his will and made it clear that he wanted to be cremated after a private funeral. He lived to celebrate his 76th birthday, and one of his last acts was to sign a declaration written by the philosopher Bertrand Russell calling for nuclear disarmament. Einstein wrote to Bohr asking him to sign it. 'Don't frown like that! This has nothing to do with our old controversy on physics, but rather concerns a matter on which we are in complete agreement.'89 On 13 April 1955, Einstein experienced severe chest pains, and two days later he was taken to hospital. 'I want