Speakers: Andrew Robinson

In the autumn of 1933, Albert Einstein was living alone in an isolated holiday hut in Norfolk, ‘on the run’ from Nazi death threats. There, he toiled peacefully at mathematics while occasionally stepping out for walks or to play his violin. Andrew Robinson tells the story of the world’s greatest scientist’s long and fruitful relationship with Britain for the first time. Young Einstein’s passion for British physics, epitomized by Isaac Newton, had sparked his scientific development around 1900. British astronomers had confirmed his general theory of relativity, making him internationally famous in 1919. Welcomed by the country’s inhabitants, who helped him campaign against Nazi antisemitism, he even intended to become a British citizen in 1933. So why did Einstein then leave the UK for America, never to return to Europe?