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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Einstein encourages other scientists to check his theories, one of which requires a total eclipse. What prevents that experiment?

2. Einstein is most interested in what part of being a professor?

3. Why is Albert kicked out of school in Chapter Two?

4. As the war drags on, scientists in which country are planning to test Einstein's theory on the total eclipse?

5. When asked if the new Mrs. Einstein understands the theory of relativity, how does Einstein respond?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the job at the Patent Office a good position for Einstein? Explain.

2. Why does Einstein get along better with his peers at the University than he does with his schoolmates previously?

3. Do the townspeople respect Einstein at the beginning of the book?

4. In what ways is Elsa just what Einstein needs? Explain.

5. Based on Einstein's dialogue with community members, what type of person does he seem to be in Chapter One?

6. What does Einstein's theory of relativity have to do with Michelson and Morley's experiment?

7. Why does the author specifically mention that Einstein answers the strange boy on the porch in German?

8. What does the reader learn about Albert from his questions about his father's compass?

9. Why does Mileva decide not to move with her husband to Berlin?

10. Why does Hermann Einstein say that an education is so important? He mentions that "a Jew needs one to get along nowadays." To what situation is Hermann referring?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the ways in which Einstein's experiences at the Polytechnic School form who he is for the rest of his life. What impact do his friends have? What impact does Mileva have? If the school is structured differently, does Einstein become a different person? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Einstein's changing relationship with his religion, from his attitude toward it as a child through young adulthood and finally to old age. In what ways does religion influence him through his life, if at all? How does he reconcile faith with science?

Essay Topic 3

How does the reader reconcile Einstein's pacifism with his decision to become involved with the production of the atomic bomb? Aren't those two things mutually exclusive? Is Einstein a hypocrite, or is there a bigger picture to consider?

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