We already brought you part one of our list of 15 things you probably did not know about Albert Einstein, and now we’re back with part two! Check out eight more fascinating facts about this brilliant physicist that you definitely (probably) did not know below. You might be surprised by what you find out!
Number Eight: He Valued Creativity Over Knowledge. Einstein is famous for valuing his imagination more than actual knowledge. He said, “Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Number Seven: He Was Not a Very Good Father. We mentioned that Einstein was a pretty terrible husband in part one of this list, but he was also a bad father. His oldest son was named Hans Albert, and he became very angry with Einstein after Einstein refused to take care of Hans Albert’s mother after they got divorced. Einstein did not leave very much for his son after he died.
Number Six: His Brain Traveled the World. After he died, Einstein’s son allowed for pieces of his brain to be sent to labs to be studied. It was found that he has more glial cells than the average person, which may have allowed him to synthesize information in a unique way.
Number Five: He Encouraged the Atom Bomb. Einstein may have been a pacifist, but he actually encouraged president Roosevelt to continue with the Manhattan Project.
Number Four: He Loved to Sail, But… Though Einstein was passionate about sailing and loved going out on his boat, he was actually quite terrible at it. His neighbors in Long Island would often have to travel out to rescue him because he capsized his boat so frequently.
Number Three: The Theory of Relativity Began in His Head. Einstein liked to perform thought experiments in his own head. One of these experiments involved him riding next to a beam of light at the speed of light. He began wondering if, while riding at the same speed as light next to a beam of light, that beam of light would look stationary. That question eventually was realized as the theory of relativity.
Number Two: He Slept With His Cousin. Einstein’s second wife was named Elsa, and she was actually his second cousin.
Number One: He Was Almost a President. In 1952, Israel’s president, Chaim Weizmann, died. Einstein was asked to become the next president, but he turned the offer down.