Albert Einstein, Genius Collaborator

In her book Creative Collaboration, Vera John-Steiner surveys many different kinds of collaborations, including husband and wife collaborations, sibling collaborations, and collaborations in the arts, sciences and women’s studies. Notes John-Steiner in the introduction to her book:“The notion of the solitary thinker still appeals to those molded by the Western belief in individualism . . . Generative ideas emerge from joint thinking, from significant conversations, and from sustained, shared struggles to achieve new insights by partners in thought.”Her discussion of scientific collaboration included some fascinating information about Albert Einstein. To me, Einstein is a classic illustration of the solitary thinker. Whenever I think of Einstein, I envision him alone in his study working on mathematical calculations. In fact, I can’t even think of a fictional depiction of Albert Einstein as having any kind of partner – romantic or scientific.The common understanding of Albert Einstein is that he was a genius without contemporaries who worked alone.However, like most great thinkers, Einstein had a keen understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. John-Steiner quotes Einstein as saying:“My power, my particular ability, lies in visualizing the effects, consequences and possibilities, and the bearings on present thought of the discoveries of others. I grasp things in a broad way very easily. I cannot do mathematical calculations easily. I do them not willingly and not readily.”It turns out that Einstein had a friend who was an excellent mathematician, Marcel Grossman. The two met at the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, and went on to co-author two papers together. Grossman was indispensable in helping Einstein select mathematical models to explain Einstein’s concept of relativityIn other words, the man best known for a mathematical equation ,E=mc2, turned to a collaborator to help him with his math.So one of the most famous solitary thinkers of modern times was a believer in the power of collaboration.