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(source) Albert Einstein

German-American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.



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Albert Einstein

“That’s Relativity”

Illustrated Quote - Large (800 x 600 px)



(source) “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity..” — Albert Einstein Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (1957)

Being an early form of this quote, it may be more faithful to Einstein’s original words. It appeared in the News Chronicle (14 Mar 1949), as given and cited The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations (2000). 1

A variation is often seen, and being much enjoyed, is often spread between websites, and gathered in various printed quote collections, but typically without any citation to the original source. However, the Yale Book of Quotations (2006) is more meticulous, and cites James B. Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (1957).2 The reprint edition of Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations (1988) annotates it very briefly that it is a recollection at the time of Einstein’s death (18 Apr 1955), and expresses it as:3

“When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute—and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.”

The wording is slightly different in Einstein in America: The Scientist's Conscience in the Age of Hitler and Hiroshima (1985), but it tells how the quote originated as a quip for reporters. In this book, Jamie Sayen, explains in his own words: 4

“Einstein devised the following explanation for [his secretary, Helen Dukas] to give when asked to explain relativity: An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.”

So, these variants of the quote, printed after his death, are poorly documented as to when and where they were said. The way the idea was expressed may have changed with each recorded different retelling. Webmaster has not yet seen a hard copy of the early News Chronicle article from 1949. If you have access to a copy, please make contact the Webmaster so this web page can better clarify the context of this quote:

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”