Intense zeal for this rationalistic religion of science led even Albert Einstein into deceitfulness. So fierce was his faith in the epistemology of science that he tried to cover-up a major discovery that contradicted that faith.
In documenting this attempt, Jastrow quotes from correspondence between Einstein and Dutch astronomer, Willem de Sitter, concerning de Sitter’s use of Einstein’s equations of general relativity. De Sitter had discovered something that Einstein had failed to notice, namely that the equations predicted an exploding universe – the so-called Big Bang.
Einstein was quite upset, not because he had overlooked something, but because the universe might have had a beginning! Urging de Sitter not to publish, Einstein wrote:
“This circumstance of an expanding universe is irritating … To admit such possibilities seems senseless.”
Commenting on Einstein’s outburst, Jastrow says:
“This is curiously emotional language for a discussion of mathematical formulas. I suppose that the idea of a beginning in time annoyed Einstein because of its theological implications. We know that he had well-defined feelings about God, but not as the Creator or the Prime Mover.”
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