Einstein: Kalam guest, Swiss housekeeper

Now, on the centenary year of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the Swiss government seems to have woken up, too. It has finally decided to acquire the house in Berne and convert it into a ‘‘world class’’ museum.

Says Berne Mayor Alexander Tschappat, ‘‘Berne has done nothing for the house in which Einstein lived. He is nobody for Berne. In America, every spot or university where Einstein spent even an hour has been converted into a tourist spot.’’

It may sound unbelievable but what President A P J Abdul Kalam described as ‘‘a pilgrimage’’, after walking down the winding staircase out into the street below, was in the hands of a property dealer till the Albert Einstein Society took it on rent a few years ago. They moved in some Einstein memorabilia and mounted an exhibition which hundreds of tourists visit every day.

But Tschappat says that is not enough. ‘‘The property’s ownership has not changed hands nor has it been renovated. Now I am determined that the government buys the house so that we do not run the risk of some enterprising American doing so any more.’’

Berne authorities are negotiating with the house’s owner to buy the property for around $ 3.6 million. ‘‘The Einstein house is a jackpot for Berne. If you come back in two months, you will see the difference. Hopefully, we would have bought it by then,’’ says the Mayor.

Currently, the exhibits include clothes of Einstein and his former Physics student Mileua Maric—whom he married in 1903—some furniture, and the crib, toys and books of their daughter Lieseri and son Hans.

Besides renovation, the Mayor plans to bring in other Einstein memorabilia, including his passport and that famous violin.

According to records here, Einstein came to Berne at 23, penniless. He first tried to work as a private tutor but landed a job as a ‘‘technical expert third class’’ at Berne’s patent office. By 1909, he was associate professor of theoretical physics at Zurich University.

In between, he wrote this letter on life at 49, Kramgasse: ‘‘I have an awful lot to do. Everyday, I spend 8 hours in the office, followed by at least one private class and then I still work on my science stuff.’’

That stuff, incidentally, was what made history. In 1905, Einstein published nine of his works—one of them titled ‘Concerning the electrodynamics of bodies in motion’ is now known as the Special Theory of Relativity.