Is It True That Einstein’s PhD Thesis Was Rejected?

New series released on Netflix “Einsten and the Atomic Bomb”, brought up Einstein’s work and life again. In the film, we can clearly see Einstein’s intelligence, his theories, how he was ostracized and exiled by the German people because he was Jewish, and his opposition to the war.

However, these are not the only things that come to the fore in Einstein’s life. Another controversial issue is Allegation that his doctoral thesis was rejected. Let’s see what is the line of the curve of this issue?

An image of the rejection of Albert Einstein’s doctoral thesis has been widely circulated on the Internet.

The fact that successful people like Einstein experienced failures at some point in their lives can be a source of motivation for us. “There is still hope…” we think. Based on this, an image was shared on X (Twitter) in 2020 and the importance of perseverance emphasized.

In the image was a yellowed letter dated 1907. It was written that Albert Einstein’s doctorate was rejected by the University of Bern. Not deemed suitable for the position of associate professor The letter written by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Sciences of the University of Bern, Prof. It was signed by Wilhelm Heinrich.

If we were to translate exactly what was written on the paper:

“Since your application for a doctorate was not successful, you are not suitable for the position of associate professor. While you put forward interesting theories in your article published in the journal ‘Annalen der Physik’, we believe that your conclusions about the nature of light and the fundamental connection between space and time are a bit radical. In general, your assumptions are a bit radical.” artistic rather than real physics We think it is.

Kind regards.”

Do you think this letter is real?

No, of course it’s fake. However From MPs to celebrities Many people believed in this letter and shared it as if it were real. So how do you know it’s fake?

According to NDTV and Teyit.org, a letter came from the University of Bern in Switzerland, where German is predominantly spoken. be in german It was expected. Moreover, Albert Einstein published all his works in German and was still a German citizen.

According to Snopes, for the postal code in the letter, we go back to 1907, when the four-digit postal code had not yet been adopted and There is no street named “Sidlerstrasse” appeared.

In addition, the University of Bern, previously at its universities There was not even a lecturer, let alone a dean named Willhelm Heinrich. told.

We can expand the evidence much further.

In 1907, the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the university, Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Sciences It had not been separated yet. The stamp in the letter had nothing to do with the university. It even interestingly resembled the coat of arms of the Hungarian dynasty.

It is still unknown where the internet legend about Einstein’s doctoral thesis being rejected came from and who made the forged document. on Instagram admins of motivation pages do you think? 😛

Our other content about Einstein: