The King of Pointland

Einstein

From today's Post:

Ernst Straus on ALBERT EINSTEIN 1879-1953

As an assistant to Albert Einstein, Ernst Straus was well acquainted with the physicist's personal foibles.

Often on our way to work, someone would waylay him, tell him how much he had looked forward to meeting the great Einstein. Einstein would pose with the waylayer's wife, children, or grandchildren as desired and exchange a few good-natured words. Then he would go on, shaking his head, saying, "Well, the old elephant has gone through his tricks again."

He was very fond of small children and animals. With children he would go through various tricks, making funny noises with his hands and wiggling his ears. In fact, his ability to wiggle his ears was the only accomplishment of which he would boast shamelessly and which he was quite eager to show off. . . .

I might mention here a good anecdote he told about himself. We were looking for a paper clip for a manuscript and finally found one too badly bent to be usable, so we looked for a tool to straighten it. In doing so we found a drawer full of perfectly good paper clips, and Einstein was just about to bend one out of shape when I asked him what he was doing. "If you hadn't been here, I should certainly have ruined this clip in order to straighten the bent one. This always happens to me when I get stuck on a problem."

Has everybody had a similar experience?