Albert Einstein’s trip to the California Institute of Technology in December 1931, for the first of three annual visiting professorships, marked a crucial juncture in his life. The rise of the Nazi party in Germany, with its vehement anti-Semitism, was forcing the physicist to reconsider his future in his homeland, and his decision to connect with the academic community in the United States through Caltech signified a strategic move beyond mere scientific collaboration. The following diary entry, written on 10th December 1931 as he crossed the Atlantic, sees him reflecting on nature’s majesty amidst this upheaval.

The Diary Entry

10. XII.

Never before have I lived through a storm like the one this night. . . The sea has a look of indescribable grandeur, especially when the sun falls on it.

One feels as if one is dissolved and merged into Nature. Even more than usual, one feels the insignificance of the individual, and it makes one happy.

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Further Reading

Einstein’s original travel diaries live at the Albert Einstein Archives. In 1981, some entries were translated and reprinted in the excellent book, Albert Einstein, The Human Side: New Glimpses From His Archives, published by Princeton University Press and edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann.

Also…

• Browse Einstein’s travel diary at the Albert Einstein Archives
• Anti-Semitism Drives Einstein From Berlin to America (YUL)
• Albert Einstein at Wikipedia

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Translated transcript used with permission of Princeton University Press, from Albert Einstein, The Human Side: New Glimpses From His Archives, Albert Einstein, 1981; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.