Debunking three myths concerning Albert Einstein
I am going to debunk three widespread myths about the work of and positions held by Albert Einstein, based on recent work with Einstein’s manuscripts at the Einstein Archive. The first myth is that Einstein’s core insight in his development of the general theory of relativity (GR) was that gravity is not “really” a force but reducible to the curvature of spacetime. I am going to show that Einstein even opposed this interpretation, and outline the interpretation of GR he actually held. The second myth to be debunked is that Einstein somewhat naively opposed quantum mechanics (QM). I am going to show that Einstein was instead very appreciative of QM but that he regarded it, quite similarly to how he saw GR, as a stepping stone towards a more complete theory. The third myth to be debunked is that Einstein was naive in worldly and political manners. Using his travel diaries from his first trips to California on the one hand and to Oxford on the other, I am going to show that he was a shrewd observer and sometimes even a rather smooth political operator.

Professor Dennis Lehmkuhl is Chair of Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Science Lichtenberg Professor of History and Philosophy of Physics, University of Bonn. He is a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford for the academic year 2025-26.
Date: 26 January 2026, 16:00
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory
Venue Details: Room 00.063 (ground floor), Schwarzman Centre
Speaker: Dennis Lehmkuhl (Bonn)
Organising department: Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Part of: Oxford Centre for the History of Science Medicine & Technology (OCHSMT) Seminars and Events
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark