Just last week physicists proved the existence of gravitational waves in outer space — and in the process confirmed that Albert Einstein was right when he predicted these “ripples in space” a century ago. But as reporters rushed to get a quote from Dr. Roni Grosz, head of Hebrew University’s Albert Einstein Archives, they were in for yet another amazing discovery: the head of the archives is a Kopycznitzer chassid.
“That situation has totally reversed during the last decade. Now we have a generation that can’t remember life before the Internet. They’re used to getting everything for free and at a click — and if it isn’t free and available at a click, it’s not important.”
The Albert Einstein Archives therefore digitalized its entire collection. Although not everything is available on the website, a person can request a document and receive a copy via e-mail.
“If we were to withhold information, we’d be pushed to the sidelines,” says Dr. Grosz. “And that’s the opposite of what we want. We want Einstein to be at the center of people’s interest.”
Einstein, who won the 1921 Nobel Prize for physics, immigrated to the United States after the Nazis came to power in 1933. He became affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where he remained until his death in 1955.
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