Albert Einstein birth anniversary: When the father of physics and Tagore debated science and religion
India Today Science DeskNew Delhi,UPDATED: Mar 14, 2023 14:27 IST
On his 144th birth anniversary, we bring to you a scintillating conversation that Einstein had with India's Rabindranath Tagore about the age-old debate between science and religion.
ALbert Einstein Tagore
Portrait of German-born physicist Albert Einstein and Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. (Photo: Getty)
By India Today Science Desk: Born on March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein is considered the father of modern-day physics and is credited for revolutionary theories that have helped science explore the boundaries of the cosmos.
From predicting black holes to his theory of relativity, Einstein has contributed immensely to the world of science, revolutionising our understanding of the universe and the intricate rules governing it. He was given the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1921 "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."
On his 144th birth anniversary, we bring to you a scintillating conversation that Einstein had with India's Rabindranath Tagore.
Indian author and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore (center) visiting Einstein (right) in Caputh. (Photo: Getty)
It was in July 1930 when Einstein hosted India's Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at his home in Berlin where they talked about the age-old debate between science and religion. The conversation is published in the book Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore by David L. Gosling.
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Einstein asked Tagore, did he believe in the divine as isolated from the world? Tagore said that the infinite personality of Man comprehends the Universe. There cannot be anything that cannot be subsumed by the human personality, and this proves that the Truth of the Universe is human Truth.
"I have taken a scientific fact to explain this — Matter is composed of protons and electrons, with gaps between them; but matter may seem to be solid. Similarly, humanity is composed of individuals, yet they have their interconnection of human relationships, which gives living unity to man’s world. The entire universe is linked up with us in a similar manner, it is a human universe. I have pursued this thought through art, literature, and the religious consciousness of man," Tagore told Einstein.
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Einstein quipped that there are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe, which state that the world is a unity dependent on humanity and the world as a reality independent of the human factor. Tagore replied that when our universe is in harmony with Man, the eternal, we know it as truth, we feel it as beauty.
Einstein remarked that this was the human conception of the universe, to which Tagore said that, "There can be no other conception. This world is a human world — the scientific view of it is also that of the scientific man. There is some standard of reason and enjoyment which gives it truth, the standard of the Eternal Man whose experiences are through our experiences."
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Talking about truth and consciousness Einstein said that in our everyday life, we feel compelled to ascribe a reality independent of man to the objects we use. We do this to connect the experiences of our senses in a reasonable way. Giving an example of a table he said that if nobody is in a house, that table remains where it is.
Tagore replied that it remains outside the individual mind, but not the universal mind. The table which I perceive is perceptible by the same kind of consciousness which I possess.
"Science has proved that the table as a solid object is an appearance and therefore that which the human mind perceives as a table would not exist if that mind were naught. At the same time it must be admitted that the fact, that the ultimate physical reality is nothing but a multitude of separate revolving centers of electric force, also belongs to the human mind," Tagore said.
