Albert Einstein becomes an American citizen (October 1940)
















Between the 1889s and 1914, revolutionary changes occurred in our understanding of science, psychology and philosophy. For three centuries, people had believed that the world was a Newtonian world, that is, regulated by perfect natural laws that were mathematically quantifiable and constant in their workings. The world seemed a predictable place and man’s reason and rationality was elevated in importance since knowledge itself was based on reasonable laws. But in the 1890s, new discoveries dethroned Newton. It turns out that much of what Newton said was wrong. Laws of nature do not act the same in every situation or from every reference point, showed Albert Einstein. Not even space and time can be measured the same for every individual even if they live during the same “time.” Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche argued that man is not a rational being, the world is not a rational place and that aggression is the natural instinct of mankind. Echoes of Darwinism can be seen in their ideas. For our purpose, the importance of all these discoveries was to cause people to exaggerate these ideas and conclude that reason is impossible, war the natural lot of man, and the idea that brute force might be a constructive force after all. By 1914, the stage was set for the First World War.