This is the start of reading a 70 page Wikipedia paper.
The new information I found was that his family had backed DC electricity in their factories in Munich and had effectively backed the wrong horse in the electricity wars. The need to avoid military service explained the renunciation of German Citizenship and the move to Switzerland. I also have a more complete understanding of his approach knowing his was an admirer of Kant. To be frank, I don't know anyone in my circle who has any understanding of his work. However studying his works, and knowing how he was wrestling withe Philosophy of Newton and moderating Leibniz you can see his attitude to Newton. I also see some Kant in the structure of his papers, and even in his approach to the Manhattan project. I think, and bare in mind I am no one of note, that his thought experiment architecture really reads over from Kant's philosophical reasoning. Bare in mind the investigation of magnetic fields generated by currents was a direct result of examination of Kant's ideas.
Having listened to teachers explain ideas with "Einstein" and point to a picture of the chap, I have come to the realization that he has become part of the cultural machinery, and an icon or part of the language like any brand. We have so many confused concepts like beer and nationalism and cars, just to name a few. A real case in point is an incorrect statement in a text book and a few pages earlier a picture of Einstein. Now in practice this was somehow a language I wasn't tuned into. So a lot people explain Einstein with the word Einstein.
I know that Einstein talked with a Swabean accent, and many of his comments are a gentle acceptance of this German in joke.
Another aspect to understanding the Einstein story is to unpack the school culture at the time.
His son who was committed to a Swiss asylum and his various marriages adds shades of grey to the story. He could only solve so much I suppose.
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