Einstein and Other Essays

What does scientific genius look like from close at hand? Terada Torahiko’s portrait of Einstein finds a dreaming artist behind the famous equations, while his account of Einstein’s educational views asks how curiosity can survive memorization, examinations, and the breath of boredom in a classroom.

These two substantial essays are joined by three very different pieces. A fire unfolds a sequence of remembered visions; short reflections turn the progress of science into fragments waiting to be joined; and summer observations lead from heat and coolness to a jewel beetle, the scent of ice cream, and the meaning of a bridge.

A physicist and literary essayist, Terada moves easily between disciplined reasoning and imaginative attention to ordinary life. Written between 1921 and 1929, these five complete works preserve that mixture of inquiry, humor, and uncertainty. This new English translation includes a translator’s note, brief endnotes, and publication details, keeping the scientific expectations and social attitudes of the period visible rather than rewriting them for the present.