#9 Albert Einstein

On August 22, 1930, Albert Ein­stein gave a short speech during the opening of the seventh Funk­aus­stel­lung radio com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons show at the large ex­hi­bi­ti­on grounds in the Char­lot­ten­burg area of Berlin. In his in­tro­duc­tion, Ein­stein wel­co­mes those who are “present and absent” – ca­re­ful­ly ad­dres­sing both the large crowd of vi­si­tors gathe­red before him and those lis­ten­ing to him on the radio. Three decades later, so­cio­lo­gist Niklas Luhmann echoes Ein­stein when he talks of “com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on between people who are present”, which he sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly con­trasts with the kind of com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on “between people who are absent” that is made pos­si­ble by media.

Ein­stein starts by re­cal­ling that the tech­ni­cal in­no­va­tions of the modern age were brought about by “divine cu­rio­si­ty”, the “play in­stinct of the tin­ke­ring and pon­de­ring re­se­ar­cher”, and the “ima­gi­na­ti­on of the in­ven­tor”. This dia­gno­sis strikes a careful balance between basic re­se­arch and applied re­se­arch, which have to do­ve­tail if in­no­va­tions are to succeed. The fact that he pre­faces the word cu­rio­si­ty with “divine” is evi­dence of a self-con­fi­dence that Re­nais­sance thin­kers did not yet dare to ar­ti­cu­la­te. At the time, the in­tel­lec­tu­al drive to make dis­co­ve­ries was in­ter­pre­ted as blas­phe­mous because it chal­len­ged the belief that know­ledge was the pre­ro­ga­ti­ve of the divine Creator.

In his talk, Ein­stein gives a brief over­view of de­ve­lop­ments in acoustic re­se­arch, from the dis­co­very of elec­tric current’s ma­gne­tic effect and the use of elec­tro­ma­gnets to produce sound to the con­ver­si­on of sound waves into elec­tric current and the in­ven­ti­on of the elec­tric valve tube as a medium for acoustic vi­bra­ti­ons. As well as com­me­mo­ra­ting the great re­se­ar­chers, from Oersted and Maxwell to Hertz and Lieben, the pioneers who made radio pos­si­ble, he also pays homage to the “na­meless tech­ni­ci­ans” who built in­stru­ments and kept on sim­pli­fy­ing and ad­ap­ting them for mass pro­duc­tion, paving the way for radio set ma­nu­fac­tu­ring.

For Ein­stein, radio is a medium that creates true de­mo­cra­cy and in­ter­na­tio­nal un­der­stan­ding. Through its func­tion as a means of cul­tu­ral edu­ca­ti­on, it gives people access to know­ledge and art ex­pe­ri­en­ces that they would not other­wi­se be able to enjoy. Ein­stein sees this as a public edu­ca­ti­on mission – and the­re­fo­re a de­mo­cra­tic mission – of radio. Unlike news­pa­pers, which he be­lie­ved often spread dis­tor­ted na­tio­na­list views and self-in­te­rested ideas, radio was a medium for pro­mo­ting in­ter­na­tio­nal un­der­stan­ding because it pre­sen­ted the fri­end­ly side of people without worry­ing about ar­ti­fi­ci­al borders or en­mi­ties. For Ein­stein, the lis­ten­ing public is a symbol of a suc­cess­ful social com­mu­ni­ty pro­mo­ted by radio. However, as a po­li­ti­cal prophet, he un­de­re­sti­ma­ted the ma­ni­pu­la­ti­ve pos­si­bi­li­ties of the new medium. Just two and a half years later, Hitler’s pro­pa­gan­da mi­nis­ter, Go­eb­bels, would turn radio into an in­stru­ment for in­ci­ting the masses and stir­ring up re­sent­ment, anger, and hatred. In 1930, Ein­stein didn’t think it was pos­si­ble to exploit radio to mo­bi­li­ze people as the Nazis did. Today, we should be more aware than ever before that the media can be used both to inform and to mislead, to il­lu­mi­na­te and to obscure.

Peter-André Alt

Date August 22, 1930
Lan­guage German
Length 3:49 mins 
Title, series Ton- und Bild­be­richt der Er­öff­nungs­fei­er der 7. Dt. Ton- und Pho­no­aus­stel­lung 1930 
Video United States Ho­lo­caust Me­mo­ri­al Museum, Bun­des­ar­chiv Film­ar­chiv