Mayim Bialik

Education: University of California

Despite the fact that the actors of the TV series "The Big Bang Theory" from the very beginning looked extremely convincing in the images of geeks-klutz, a real scientist in their company appeared only to fourth season. This scientist was Mayim Bialik, aka Amy Farah Fowler. In her youth, Bialik starred in the popular sitcom Blossom, and after that she exchanged the set for a laboratory. The prestigious Harvard and Yale were ready to accept her, but the actress did not want to leave with West coast USA and entered the University of California, where in 2007 she defended her thesis in neuroscience. Unlike her heroine, Bialik did not experiment on monkeys, but studied Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disease in which 7 genes (or parts of them) are absent or not expressed on the 15th - paternal - chromosome, which leads to delays in mental and speech development.

Alexander Bard

Education: Stockholm School of Economics

In Russia, Alexander Bard is known primarily as the mustachioed guy from the pop freak cabaret Army Of Lovers; in Europe - as the founder of the groups Vacuum and Bodies Without Organs (the name of the latter, by the way, is taken from the conceptual apparatus developed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari); in Sweden - as a sociologist, philosopher and futurist. His book "Netocracy. The new ruling elite and life after capitalism, co-authored with journalist Jan Zoderquist, has sold almost half a million copies and has been translated into 16 languages, including Russian. Bard is one of the pioneers in the study of the Internet as a social phenomenon. The term "netocracy" invented by him denotes a form of government in which not material, but informational resources play a decisive role, and which, according to the author, will soon replace capitalism.

Brian May

Education: Imperial College London

Work on the thesis "Radial velocities in the zodiac dust cloud" Queen guitarist started in the mid 1970s. However tour schedule The group was so tense that the musician had to give up his scientific ambitions for a while. Brian May returned to astrophysics only at the beginning of the 2000s, when he received a Ph.D., became honorary rector of Liverpool John Moores University and wrote the book “ Big Bang! Full history Universe" together with his friend, the famous English astronomer Patrick Moore and his colleague Chris Lintott. Moore hosted the popular science series Night Sky on the BBC for more than thirty years, and after his death the Royal Astronomical Society insisted that May be given the presenter's chair. Alas, the position eventually went to the more experienced Lintott.

Natalie Portman

Education: Harvard University

The beautiful Natalie Portman turned out to be also smart: already being a fairly well-known actress and having roles in her assets in “ star wars” and “Everyone says I love you,” she decided to get an education and entered Harvard in the psychology department. There, Portman assisted Professor Alan Dershowitz, a well-known American lawyer and political commentator who specializes in the Arab-Israeli issue. And in 2002, Portman, along with classmates, published the work "Activity of the frontal lobe of the brain with object constancy" under her real name Hershlag. Of course, the actress's contribution to science is small, but she herself claims that Harvard made a much greater impression on her than Hollywood: at the university she was surrounded by extraordinary personalities, and on the set - the most ordinary ones.

Hedy Lamarr

Education: theater school

Hedy Lamarr went down in history as the first actress to appear naked in a feature film: in the Czechoslovak film Ecstasy, she played a young nymphomaniac and splashed naked in a forest lake. Jewish by birth, Lamarr fled Europe for Hollywood long before the outbreak of World War II, but managed to contract a persistent disgust for the Hitler regime and at her leisure tried to come up with technical innovations that would help the US army in battle. The actress's enthusiasm was not in vain: in 1942, she patented a system that allowed her to control torpedoes from a distance and protect them from interception using "frequency hopping" technology. To bring the idea to mind, Hedy Lamarr was helped by her friend George Antheil, an avant-garde composer who was fond of endocrinology. Subsequently, the Lamarr patent formed the basis of Spread Spectrum, techniques and methods for spread spectrum communications; today it is used in mobile telephony, GPS, Wi-Fi. And in German-speaking countries, the actress's birthday - November 9 - is celebrated as Inventor's Day.

Brian Edward Cox

Education: University of Manchester

English physicist Brian Cox case in point of what a modern scientist should look like: smiling, neat and infinitely charming, he clearly has no problems with socialization and does not scare mere mortals with his off-scale IQ. Cox studies physics elementary particles, is a member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, broadcasts for the BBC, and writes books with playful titles like Why E=mc²? (And what do we care about that?)”. At the same time, in his youth, Brian Cox was extremely far from the image of a successful and respected popularizer of science: he wore long hair, dressed in leather from head to toe and played keyboards in Dare and D: Ream. The latter was even quite in demand and was marked at the top of the British charts with the hit Things Can Only Get Better. For Cox, sure.

Alexander Borodin

Education: St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy

The founder of Russian epic symphonism and a member of the Mighty Handful, composer Alexander Borodin with early childhood was fond of not only music, but also chemistry. The illegitimate son of the Georgian prince Gedevanishvili, he received an excellent education and had the opportunity to compose concertos and simultaneously stage experiments. Borodin studied chemistry under the guidance of the great Nikolai Zinin, the first president of the Russian Chemical Society, wrote more than forty scientific papers, defended a dissertation on the topic “On the analogy of phosphoric and arsenic acids in chemical and toxicological relations” and was the first in the world to obtain an organofluorine compound - benzoyl fluoride. He devoted so much time and energy to laboratory experiments that there were practically no left for musical activity: Borodin wrote the opera Prince Igor for 18 years - and still did not have time to complete it.

Zeppo Marks

Education: none

The youngest of the Marx brothers - the patriarchs of Hollywood comedy - in the frame worked in the frivolous amlua "handsome", but in life he was a serious and enterprising man: a self-taught engineer, he could repair any household appliance and often repaired a car that belonged to an acting family contract. In the late sixties, when the Marx brothers retired from filming, Zeppo decided to serve the public good and invented the heart rate monitor: Digital Watch, which emitted an alarm signal if their owner's heart began to beat too often; they were intended primarily for cardio patients. In addition, the comedian patented a heating pad that connected to a steam generator: before that, hospitals used soaked hot water towels. The Marx Brothers made good money in the film industry, but it was not his antics in front of the camera that made Zeppo a multimillionaire, but his inventions.

Greg Graffin

Education: University of California, Cornell University

Although formally punk ideology declares the destruction of all social norms, this did not prevent Greg Graffin, the founder, lead singer and songwriter of Bad Religion, from making a decent academic career. At the University of California, he studied anthropology and geology, and later switched to zoology and defended his thesis at Cornell University, which is part of elite league ivy. The theme of his work is "Monism, atheism and the naturalistic view in the perspective of evolutionary biology". Graffin lectures on Darwinian theory at his California alma mater, and in 2008 the Harvard Society of Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics presented him with an award for excellence in cultural humanism. At the awards ceremony, Graffin sang several Bad Religion tracks with guitar.

Isaac Asimov

Education: Columbia University, Boston University

Isaac Asimov is, without exaggeration, the most famous and authoritative popularizer of science who came out of the literary environment. True, before firmly entering this very environment, he managed to study as a biochemist and get a Ph.D. for a dissertation on the topic “Kinetics of the reaction of tyrosinase inactivation in the process of its catalysis of aerobic oxidation of pyrocachetin”, and later became a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Boston University. At the same time, Asimov's interests went far beyond the natural sciences: for example, he distinguished himself in the field of philology by publishing a guide to Shakespeare's plays. During the Second World War, the writer worked as a chemist at the shipyard for military ships, where his colleague was another representative of the Big Three science fiction writers - Robert Heinlein. In addition to Asimov and Heinlein, it includes Arthur Clark, who, in turn, made a great contribution to the development of global communications systems, proposing the idea of ​​creating a network of communications satellites in geostationary orbit.

Among the Russian scientists of the 19th century there is a very unusual and remarkable figure - Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887). A person gifted in an unusually diverse way (chemist, composer and conductor, teacher, public figure, writer). But, most importantly, - all his life he tried not to give up any of its sides - no matter how they persuaded him to choose a specialization.

We will focus on two of its most famous sides: the chemist and the musician. Majority educated people of the second half of the 19th century, those who had a diverse range of interests were associated with the works of the famous Russian chemist A.P. Borodin with wonderful music written by the composer A.P. Borodin. For them it was two different person. However, for those who knew A.P. Borodin, the fact that all his achievements both as a musician and as a chemist coincided in time was striking. The ideas developed by Borodin in relation to one area flowed into another and activated work in it. He understood this better than others and, apparently, this was the main reason for his unwillingness to give up any of the hypostases of his talent. Thanks to the interaction different parties Giftedness Borodin created the foundations of organofluorine chemistry, the "Bogatyr" symphony, "Prince Igor". And it is not known which of these achievements was initiating.

He showed interest in chemistry very early. His childhood friend M. Shchiglev recalled that "not only his own room, but almost the whole apartment was filled with jars, retorts and all kinds of chemical drugs. Everywhere on the windows there were jars with various crystalline solutions." As a student, Nikolai Zinin became his teacher. Nikolai Nikolaevich highly appreciated the abilities of Borodin the chemist and considered him as his successor, but at the same time he did not approve of his passion for music. Borodin improved his scientific education abroad. A "Heidelberg circle" was formed there, which included D. Mendeleev, I. Sechenov, E. Junge, A. Maikov, S. Eshevsky and others. As chemist A.P. Borodin worked during the formation of the Russian chemical school. He was an associate of the "suitcase master" Dmitry Mendeleev and Alexander Butlerov. Borodin's main area of ​​research was organofluorine synthesis. He synthesized benzoyl fluoride. This substance subsequently made it possible to create freon, widely used in refrigerators, fluoroplastic, a plastic used very widely, in particular, in the design of artificial heart valves that prolong the life of many people. In addition, he carried out a number of studies, the results of which we use to this day.

Having lived only 54 years, Borodin published more than 40 works, many of which by themselves could glorify him. outstanding person. He was among the initiators and founders of the Russian Chemical Society, worked in the Society of Russian Doctors, in the Society for the Protection of Public Health, etc. His musical talent developed in parallel with his chemical one. With the same childhood friend - Misha Shchiglev - all the symphonies of L. van Beethoven, J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn were replayed in four hands. Then, as a child, he also took up musical composition. His first serious recognition in this field was an invitation to join the Mighty Handful, an association of musicians (except for Borodin, these are Mili Balakirev, Caesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), who played a significant role in the formation of the Russian classical musical tradition (its Petersburg branch). For Borodin, joining the "Mighty Handful" allowed him to reach the level of professionalism, thanks to which his gift was embodied in the musical masterpieces he created. However, like Zinin, Miliy Balakirev repeatedly suggested that Borodin focus on musical composition, leaving chemistry (Balakirev himself refused to develop his mathematical abilities).

It was to Borodin that the outstanding art historian Vladimir Stasov, who understood well the main motives of his work as a composer, proposed the idea of ​​writing an opera based on the plot of such a work as The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The idea of ​​the opera perfectly corresponded to the peculiarities of the composer's creativity, a penchant for epic-epic images. And Borodin took up this. In this note, we will touch on only one aspect of its writing. In what an achievement was the opera "Prince Igor", essential role played by the fact that it was written by a man who organically combined the qualities of an outstanding scientist and an outstanding musician. The writing of her libretto (and it was written by Borodin himself) and musical numbers was preceded by a lot of research work. Alexander Porfirievich studies many sources related to the Lay and that era. These are chronicles, and historical stories, studies about the "Word". But he understood that in order for the opera to acquire the character of a true story, all this must be embodied in its musical structure. Authenticity had to sound in the music. And he takes up the study of old tunes, looking for something in them that allowed him to create the melodic characteristics he needed. The most characteristic in this regard is the number that received the name " Polovtsian dances". To create it, Alexander Borodin needed not only to write melodies with an oriental flavor. He needed to get as close as possible to musical material already disappeared people. He is studying a large number of musical material, actually conducts musical "archaeological excavations". And according to their results, he synthesizes (for example, benzoyl fluoride or other substances created by him) melodies that characterize the life of the Polovtsian camp in the opera. The success that crowned this study is evidenced by the fact that the Polovtsian Dances became not only a musical feature in the opera Prince Igor, but also the fact that they acquired the status independent work. "Polovtsian dances" are performed and symphony orchestras, and ballet companies. A number of prominent choreographers staged this number and how individual work and as part of an opera, which strengthened it as a work. Such careful work on the opera required a lot of time, and Alexander Porfiryevich was still conducting chemical research and working in social and scientific organizations.

There is another moment characteristic of such outstanding figures. His research and composer activity(not to mention public) provided little means of subsistence. And Borodin also had to “earn extra money” by translating articles from chemistry journals, most of which were of very poor quality. Such a load led to the fact that at the age of 54 Borodin died. The opera "Prince Igor", written for 18 years, was not finished. And only thanks to his friends on " mighty handful”, who knew the musical material being prepared well (a number of numbers of the opera being written had already been performed at concerts of the Russian Musical Society) and carefully sorted out its draft notes, it was completed.

In fact, Konstantin, Anton and Alexei are working for the benefit of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, the Institute of Transplantology and Moscow State University, respectively. The first is developing probe-optical techniques - a mixture of probe and optical perfocal microscopy; the second is also haunted by probe techniques - he is developing a scanning probe microscope combined with an ultramicroton, which allows making an ultrathin section of the material and studying the surface using a three-dimensional picture with nanometer resolution. Aleksey is an associate professor at the Department of Macromolecular Compounds, Moscow State University. He is engaged in liquid crystal photosensitive polymers, passive optical media, conducts fundamental work in the field of design, synthesis, study of the phase behavior, optical and photo-optical properties of such systems.

And inside - all the same - music! It's been that way since the dashing student days.

The MEPhI hostel is, like all students, guitars, songs, wine, "Garbage Wind" ... - recalls Konstantin Mochalov.- Then the thought appeared that we were better at playing than singing, and we smoothly switched to purely instrumental music. There were guitarists and bassists. The main problem then, in the late 90s, were the drummers. The demand for them was crazy! Now this business has developed, there are a lot of video materials, money, opportunities - they have a place to learn. And then we ran - we were looking for someone to drum for us. Alexei then played in the Inside group, and we met at some concert.

As Alexey himself admits, he began to drum in protest:

- As a student, everyone played the guitars, and in my second year, out of spite, I took the sticks and began to knock on the chair ... For some reason, I wanted to play the drums. Then friends from somewhere dragged me drum set, and I began to choose holes between couples and run to the hostel - during the day, when everyone is in class and I don’t bother anyone, I could study. Various musicians came to me, and in 1995-1996 I played simultaneously in six bands, from reggae to grindcore, perhaps the most extreme style...

In the life of a senior researcher at the Institute of Transplantology Anton Efimov music was always present. But for a long time he remained only a silent admirer - a listener.

Classic rock music: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and others, punk music, alternative and so on. Then I tried to play an acoustic guitar, then a bad $200 guitar, but I didn't learn to play professionally at all, just for myself, and I never thought of playing in a band. Then at work, at the Institute of Transplantology, we met Kostya. We were sitting in neighboring rooms, working on our instruments. Kostya once gave his recordings to listen to, introduced him to Andrey Suchilin, a student of Robert Fripp from King Crimson. We talked about the fate of culture, went to crazy concerts, and at Andrey's suggestion, I played for the first time in Petrozavodsk...

In parallel, somewhere there was study, then work and concern for the fate of mankind ... But the music continued to sound inside.

“Worthwhile things are written when a person can not go to work and calmly study music,” says Konstantin Mochalov, “But I don’t have the right to free creativity - I’m so old that I need to do something else. But in science we have the same situation: if it didn’t fascinate us, we wouldn’t do it.”

In 1999, Konstantin, together with his classmates from MEPhI, organized the Disen Gage group. And so it began: performances in a student club, "self-made" recordings, and in 2004 - the debut CD "The Screw-Loose Entertainment".

Now we are closer to the idea of ​​making low-cost music, since we have few resources, - says Konstantin. - And we strive to play dryer and dryer. Andrey Suchilin, the composer and musician we work with, is an extreme person, in his opinion, the ideal format for performance is a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He once offered to arrange a show, invite some craftsmen to cook shawarma on stage during a concert ...

In 2009 the musicians created new project with the almost obscene name Zen Porno.

At the beginning of the "zero" Alexey Bobrovsky worked in Germany at the University of Marburg and played the German group Isengard. Everything changed when he came across the video lessons of the famous drummer Terry Bozzio - a man who alone creates music on a drum kit.

I realized that you can play music on a “noise” instrument, - says Alexey. - I had an idea to play solo: take a lot of drums, cymbals (cymbals) and other items from which you can extract sounds.

The Alexander von Humboldt scholarship, which Alexey received in 2002, helped the young scientist to create a powerful drum set. For several years, with the tenacity of a maniac, he bought and connected individual parts. Installation total cost about 30 thousand dollars now occupies a quarter of the rehearsal room, which the musicians set up in the basement of an auto repair plant near the Semyonovskaya metro station. The construction, almost unparalleled in the world, consists of more than twenty-five drums arranged in a semicircle, many cymbals, twenty pedals, allowing the musician to create a rhythmic pattern with his feet, freeing his hands for the melody. According to Alexei's colleagues, when he sits down at his installation, "he has eight arms and eight legs." True, despite all this extravaganza, Alexei is not going to share his music with someone - and he does not intend to collect halls! Music is an intimate, deeply personal matter that exists only for one's own use.
But Anton has been actively performing for a couple of years. On average, it turns out one concert per month. With "Magic One-Cell Music" the year before last, they organized a whole marathon - a five-day tour of several cities.

- We noticed that our music does not do well at rock festivals, but very well at rave-electronic festivals. We played at a festival near St. Petersburg - there was electronic and psychedelic music. People from this area reacted with great interest to our undertakings. Apparently, we are getting something close to those directions.

But, although the music does not stop, another "lady" in the life of the musical trinity - science - does not give up its positions. Connecting two creative activities is not difficult if both are interesting. A year ago, Alexey devoted six hours a day to music, now - three or four hours. Anton mainly works at home, coming to the rehearsal base once a week. And Konstantin plays according to his mood, sometimes for days.

Studying the legacy of outstanding theoretical physicists of the 20th century, we get an idea of ​​their “scientific portraits”, but a very important component them creative life associated with music. First of all, we are talking about M. Planck, A. Einstein, V. Heisenberg, M. Born, P. Ehrenfest, I. Prigogine, in whose life music occupied a prominent place, being a kind of spring of their professional activity. This is all the more interesting and significant in connection with the personality of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), whose " greatest discovery, - according to N.K. Roerich, - consisted in the fact that he uttered the word "relativity". This is even more important than his whole theory.” Lyudmila Moiseevna SVIRSKAYA, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, a professional connoisseur of music and its performer. More than once she successfully performed at some institutes hometown and Moscow.

Music and research work in the field of physics are different in origin, but are linked by a unity of purpose - the desire to express the unknown. Their reactions are different, but they complement each other. Science reveals the unknown in Nature, and music - in the human soul, and it is precisely that which cannot be revealed in any other form than music.

Albert Einstein

Outstanding theoretical physicist, one of the founders of quantum mechanics and general field theory, laureate Nobel Prize Werner Heisenberg in his philosophical work Part and Whole remarked: “Science is made by people. This natural circumstance is easily forgotten; one more reminder of it can help reduce the unfortunate gap between the two cultures - the humanitarian-artistic and scientific-technical.

In fact, this abyss is apparent, created, rather, by our consciousness. Science and art are manifestations of the same universal culture, between which there is a deep inner connection. It takes place, first of all, due to the presence of the original harmony inherent in Nature. This has always been intuitively felt by the creators of modern physics, for whom its significance went far beyond the limits of technology. As F. Capra noted, the Way, or Tao, of physics can be a "path with a heart" and can lead to spirituality and self-realization.

A special place in the interpenetration of the two areas of knowledge belongs to the ratio of theoretical physics and music - two powerful methods of knowing the world. At first glance, such a parallel will seem strange - after all, it would seem that theoretical physicists use a purely mathematical language to describe Nature, but what is Nature? An interesting answer to this question is given by a student of P.I. Tchaikovsky, composer I.S. Taneev: “This is the realm of music. Look at the harmony of the worlds, at the uniform movement of the luminaries. Everything is subject to its laws. Man is nothing without music. People need to drop everything and indulge in one music.

Physical theories, born "on the tip of a pen" and describing Nature, have the same elegance as the great musical creations. Strict and wise formulas that frighten the uninitiated do not contain a single superfluous physical quantity, just as, according to Einstein, there is not a single extra note in Mozart's music. Even the terminology used to characterize brilliant physical theories is very "musical". So, about the theory of the hydrogen atom, built by N. Bohr, Einstein said: "This is the highest musicality in the field of thought." A. Sommerfeld remarked: “ Quantum theory represents that instrument full of mysteries on which nature plays spectral music.

Drawing an analogy between two types of art - music and the creation of a physical theory, we will certainly find ourselves in difficulty trying to answer the question: how does a physical theory or a piece of music arise? Max Planck drew attention to this, noting that “these processes are Divine mysteries, which either cannot be explained at all, or can be illuminated only to a certain extent, it would be unreasonable and arrogant to try to penetrate into their essence.”

“I believe in intuition and inspiration,” these words can equally be attributed to the activities of both the scientist and the musician. They belong to the brilliant theoretical physicist of the XX century Albert Einstein.

The meaning of his life was science. To her he was devoted, in her he took refuge, she was the cause of his isolation. In general, the difference between life and death for Einstein was whether he was still able or no longer able to do physics. But music was also his love. As the piano is inseparable from the image of Planck, so the violin is inseparable from the image of Einstein...

Einstein's childhood passed in a musical atmosphere. His mother had great musical ability which Albert inherited. For many years his favorite pastime was to play the piano four hands with his mother or younger sister Maya, as well as composing variations on his own musical themes.

Einstein began learning to play the violin as a child. At first, he perceived these lessons as a boring duty, but one day he heard Mozart's sonatas, which captivated him with their grace and emotionality.

Einstein wrote: I took violin lessons from the age of 6 to 14, but I had no luck with teachers for whom music lessons were limited to mechanical exercises. I really started to study only at the age of about 13, mainly after I "fell in love" with Mozart's sonatas. Trying to somehow convey artistic content and unique grace, I felt the need to improve the technique - it was in this way, and not by systematic exercises, that I succeeded in this. In general, I am sure that love is the best teacher than a sense of duty, in any case, this is true for me» .

His school friend Hans Bilan recalls: “Once we met with Einstein in the noisy hall of the school cafeteria, where they were going to play Mozart's sonatas. When his violin began to sing, it seemed to me that the walls of the hall were parting - for the first time I heard a genuine Mozart, comprehended all the Hellenic beauty and simplicity of his music - sometimes playful and graceful, sometimes powerful and sublime. "It's divine, it must be repeated!" Einstein exclaimed. What a fiery game it was! I didn't recognize him; so that's what this ingenious mocker, who cruelly ridiculed so many people! He could not be otherwise, he was one of those complex natures who know how to hide under a thorny shell filled with tenderness the realm of their intense emotional life. Then, just as now, he felt a simply organic need to perform Schumann's songs: "Halnut", "Lotus" - I can't remember all the names. Heine, his favorite poet, also enjoyed this music. It often happened that the last chord would barely sound out, and Einstein would witty joke is already bringing us back from heaven to earth, intentionally breaking the charm.

The biographer of the scientist Karl Zelig describes the musical side of his school life: “On his violin, Einstein performed Bach's Aria and Chaconne, works by Handel and Mozart, and even made daring forays into the realm of virtuosity, tried to play Tartini's Devil's Trills.<...>

At an open concert in a church, Einstein, at the suggestion of regent Redelsberger, played the first violin part in Bach's Aria, proposed by the regent for several instruments. The warm tone of Einstein's violin and the impeccable rhythm of his playing delighted the second violinist Hans Wohlwend. On Saturdays, Einstein often went with Wohlwend to his parents' house and performed with his friend's mother, who possessed good voice, songs by Schubert and Schumann or works of chamber music. At that time and later, Einstein was especially fond of the Italian and German composers of the preclassical period, Johann Sebastian Bach and Mozart; the transparency, grace and harmony of their works invariably filled his soul with happiness. Handel, as well as Beethoven, whose creations breathe violent passion, were less close to him. Among Einstein's favorite works was Bach's sonata for two violins and piano. He forever remained an ardent admirer of Bach and many years later answered the following question in a questionnaire conducted by a popular German newspaper: "What can I say about Bach's work? Listen, play, love, read and - keep quiet!"

After becoming a student at the Zurich Federal Higher Polytechnic School, Einstein continued to diligently study music. Teacher Susanna Markwalder, from whom he rented a room and ate, says: “In the evenings, impromptu concerts were often arranged, in which Einstein shone with his art as a violinist. Most willingly, he played Mozart, and I accompanied him as best I could.<...>Einstein played the violin not only in our house, where he once sang an impromptu serenade with a sweet Italian tenor to the delight of the tenants, but also with Professor Stern, in whose house he was a frequent and welcome guest. There, he once struck up a lively conversation with another physicist, who fervently tried to attack the theoretical statements of his interlocutor. Einstein, however, did not let himself be upset and at the end of dinner he suggested to his colleague, pointing to the violin that he had brought with him: "Let's move now to the music room. There we can play what you so wanted - the works of Handel" ” .

Einstein's violin playing was notable for its purity and sincere expression. He played boldly and broadly, and if carried away, he could go to the very edge of improvisation. At the same time, he strove for a strict transfer of architectonics piece of music. Revealing the identity of the performer was less exciting for him, and such was his own style of playing.

Some funny episodes are connected with Einstein's passion for music. Fraulein Markwalder writes about one of them: “One summer—Einstein was just about to take out his violin and close the balcony door—the sounds of Mozart’s piano sonata suddenly came from a neighboring house. "Who is this pianist?" he asked. "Do you know her?" I told him that it seemed to be the music teacher who lives in the attic. Hastily thrusting the violin under his arm, he rushed out into the street without collar or tie. I screamed: "You can't go like this!" But he did not hear or did not want to hear. A few seconds later the garden gate slammed shut, and soon we heard the sound of the piano joined by the singing of the violin. Returning, Einstein exclaimed with admiration: "Yes, this is a lovely young lady! I will often play with her." Later we met the pianist. It was the middle-aged Fraulein Wegelin; a few hours later, she came to us in a black silk dress and timidly asked who this strange young man was. We reassured her by telling her that he was a harmless student. She told us how much she was frightened by the appearance of an unfamiliar young man who burst into her room shouting: "Play, play on!"

Beyond the violin playing, Einstein's constant need was for fantasies on the piano: Such improvisation is as essential to me as the work itself. Both allow you to achieve independence from others". Leaving home, he always felt longing for the keys. Already at the age of 70, Einstein wrote to Makrwalder from Princeton: “ I completely abandoned the violin, but I improvise, albeit very clumsily, on the piano» .

Everywhere and always, Einstein found lovers of chamber music to play music together. This was also the case at Winterthur, where Einstein received his first position after passing the diploma exams at the Federal Higher Polytechnic School, becoming a teacher of mathematics at a technical school. AT free time he played in an amateur orchestra. He also found admirers of classical music in Frankfurt am Main. One day Einstein gave a public lecture at the university of this city. After the lecture, a dinner was held in honor of the researcher at the house of Moritz Oppenheim. And Einstein, along with several lovers of chamber music, took part in an impromptu concert, and then patiently listened to the compliments of the ladies around him. Oppenheim and his wife were interested in art and science. John Brahms and Clara Schumann were close friends of this family, where impromptu concerts were often held, in which Einstein took an active part.

As an extraordinary professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich, Einstein also found time to participate in amateur concerts, playing first violin in a quartet. In Zurich, the scientist often visited the family of mathematics professor Adolf Hurwitz, who played the piano well, and chamber concerts were often held in his house. When Einstein returned with his family to Zurich, Sunday concerts at Hurwitz's apartment became regular, with Einstein usually coming with his wife and children. His sonorous voice was still heard at the door: “Einstein is coming with all the brood!” In his declining years, in the autumn of 1951, the scientist wrote to Lizabeth Hurwitz, the daughter of his former professor: “ I feel relatively well, although the old mechanism has worn out in order. I even gave up playing the violin a few years ago. You, of course, remember with what pleasure we played the sonatas of Bach and Gendal under the confident guidance of your father. About forty years have passed since then.» .

Visiting his friend Paul Ehrenfest in Leiden, Einstein also found time to play music together. In Ehrenfest's office there was a piano donated by Einstein. There was also a violin. Most often they played Bach, Brahms, Corelli. It was Einstein who instilled in Ehrenfest a love for Bach.

Going on any trip, Einstein took a violin with him. And, it happened, even at meetings of the Berlin Academy of Sciences he appeared with a violin case, because after the meeting he went to one of his colleagues - Planck or Born, to play music together. Both in Berlin and in America, he sometimes gave public concerts, the proceeds of which were intended for charitable purposes. In 1934, at one of these concerts, Einstein performed a violin concerto; The $6,500 proceeds from this concert went to scientists who emigrated from Germany. Another time at Princeton he took part in charity concert in favor of the children. About one visit of Einstein to New York, where he arrived by steamboat, the newspaper wrote: “The professor went down the ladder to land, carefully holding a violin case under his arm. He gave the impression of a virtuoso violinist, especially since his lush hair resembled an artist's mane.

In 1921, the Prague Scientific Society "Urania" invited the scientist to give a lecture, and after the meeting, when the enthusiastic speeches ended and it was Einstein's turn, he said: " It will, apparently, be more pleasant and understandable if, instead of speaking, I play the violin for you.". And to everyone's pleasure he played a Mozart sonata.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach - "genuine and deepest music of feeling" - attracted Einstein with its grandeur, restrained passion of expression and objectivity. Regarding the last property of Bach's music, Albert Schweitzer wrote very accurately: “Bach must be ranked among the artists of an objective plan. They belong entirely to their time, enjoy art forms and the thoughts that the era offers them. Their lives and experiences are not the only source of creativity, so the essence of these works is not explained by the fate of their creator.

The art of an objective artist is not impersonal, but supra-personal. As if he had one desire: to re-process and convey everything that is in front of him with inimitable perfection. He does not live, but the spirit of the times lives in him. All the artistic searches, aspirations, desires, impulses and wanderings of the previous, as well as contemporary generations, are concentrated in him and create through him.

This genius was not a single, isolated spirit, but universal. Centuries and generations have created a creation, before the greatness of which we stop in awe.

Perhaps it was precisely this quality of Bach's music - objectively impersonal and at the same time giving high sound enjoyment - that was so close to Einstein. Therefore, he highly appreciated Albert Schweitzer as a person and author. fundamental research composer's work. In 1954, the scientist wrote with admiration: “ I, perhaps, have not met anyone in whom kindness and striving for beauty are as perfectly intertwined as Albert Schweitzer. He likes true beauty not only in art, but also in science, without recognizing external prettiness at the same time. He avoids everything soulless and cold. This is clearly felt in his classic work on Johann Sebastian Bach, where he exposes the lack of purity of performance and mannerism of artisan musicians, who distort the meaning of the works of his beloved master and interfere with the direct perception of Bach's music.

He did not preach, did not convince, did not seek to become a model and comfort for many. He acted only from an inner impulse. In fact, most people have an indestructible good beginning, otherwise they would never recognize its modest greatness.» .

Einstein's attitude to other composers was different: “Handel admired Einstein with the perfection of the musical form, but the thinker did not find here a deep insight into the essence of nature. Schumann seemed to him original, refined and melodic, but Einstein did not feel the greatness of generalizing thought in his works. Schubert was closer to him.

When Einstein listened to Wagner's music, it seemed to him that he saw the Universe ordered by the genius of the composer, and not the transpersonal Universe, the harmony of which the composer conveys with the greatest self-forgetfulness and sincerity. Einstein did not find in the works of Wagner a detachment from the "I" - the objective truth of being. He did not find this truth in Richard Strauss either; It seemed to Einstein that Strauss reveals in music only the external rhythms of being.

Einstein could be carried away by the sounds of Debussy, as in science - some mathematically elegant, but not a fundamental problem. But it was only the structure of the work that captured him. Einstein had an extremely "architectural" perception of music. Therefore, perhaps he did not understand Brahms. It seemed to Einstein that the complexity of counterpoint did not give a sense of simplicity, purity, sincerity, which he valued most. And, as in science, purity and simplicity seemed to him the key to an adequate reflection of being.

Einstein's attitude towards Beethoven was very complex. He understood the greatness of his work, but the scientist's heart did not belong to the dramatic collisions of his symphonies and he was more attracted to the transparency of Beethoven's chamber music. Beethoven's symphonies seemed to him an expression of the author's restless and struggling personality; in them, the personal content drowned out the objective harmony of being.

Mozart remained the subject of passion, the ruler of Einstein's thoughts.

Einstein believed that, unlike Beethoven's music, which is "created", Mozart's music is so perfect that it seems as if it has always existed in the universe and was waiting for the coming of the Master to discover it. Somehow, talking about the consequences that could bring nuclear war, Einstein said that then people would no longer hear Mozart. Einstein compared the art of the composer with the work of Bernard Shaw, who was highly valued by him: “ In Shaw's prose there is not a single superfluous word, just as in Mozart's music there is not a single superfluous note. What one does in the field of melodies, the other does in the field of language: flawlessly, almost with inhuman accuracy, conveys his art and his soul.» (Vol. 4). Mozart's music is a real bottomless depth of human feelings. Probably, Einstein could well agree with the statement of J. Haydn, who once remarked to Mozart: “Wolfgang, you know so much about human feelings that it seems as if at first you invented them, and then people learned them and put them into use.

Mozart's works attracted Einstein with their sophistication, the unique charm of each phrase. The same seal of supreme beauty marked everything that came out from the pen of Einstein, whether it was purely scientific work or articles on common problems science. Although the main field of his work was science, the artist lived in Einstein's soul. It is no coincidence that Max Born about such a great discovery of human thought as general theory Einstein's relativity, said: "I admire him as a work of art."

Many of Einstein's works, collected in the 4th volume of his scientific works, have, so to speak, a Mozartian character. When reading Einstein's articles about contemporaries, thinkers of the past, or autobiographical notes, one can feel how Mozart's "Requiem" is consonant with sadness about uniqueness human life, a reconciled but mournful note in Einstein's obituaries and memoirs of the 40s and 50s. At the same time, as in the works of Mozart, where every phrase, every chord is not dissolved as a whole, but speaks of the value of a moment, so in Einstein's biographical articles one can feel the uniqueness and significance of each creator of science.

Einstein's emotional life was also in tune with Mozart's humor. He often laughed at reality in order to protect himself from too hurtful impressions. A sharp word played the same role for Einstein as the performance of Mozart's sonatas - the composer often transformed the tragic impressions of the world into lively and cheerful sounds.

Einstein's jokes, such as "God is a gaseous vertebrate," seemed cynical to some, and this was sometimes called the music of Mozart. This "frivolous" manner often produced a shocking effect. But “not irony, not the transformation of tragic impressions into a calm smile, was Einstein's main feeling when he listened to or played Mozart. The main thing was the feeling of melody - a rational, light, unambiguous and at the same time unexpected connection between individual sounds and musical phrases. After all, the same feeling arises when reading Einstein: unequivocal and at the same time always unexpected conclusions create an amazing melody of scientific thought, and the grains of irony interspersed in the presentation resemble the cheerful passages of Mozart.<... >We feel intercom Mozart's humor and Einstein's humor with the eternal irony of Mephistopheles, with the eternal spirit of Faust, with the "drama of ideas" about which Einstein spoke, and with the emotional drama inseparable from it. Laughter takes on cosmic peals, and the Weimar musician and the Princeton professor stand in line with the generalizing images of Goethe and Byron.

"Mozart's gaiety was a violent self-distraction from his mental storms, from his mental unrest and the fermentation of his thoughts, behind which there was always the image of impending death." And it wasn't just the fear of death. It is about the feeling of the all-bearing time and the statement of the frailty of the world and one's own existence. Thus, Mozart's humor is inseparable from "the most refined world sorrow". The same problem of grief and humor applies to Einstein in full measure. "Mozart's playing passages could occupy such great place in the intellectual and emotional life of the young Einstein because they concealed the deepest tragic, truly Faustian collisions. And in Einstein himself, the sequins of humor hid, or rather, expressed the inseparable from them, intensified work of thought, chained to the most fundamental problems of being.

AT later period this work of thought became even more intense. The theory of relativity in vitro was built. It embodied a clear and joyful spirit ancient thought and classical rationalism. But Einstein was faced with the problem of the microcosm, the problem of the world in which this clear and joyful spirit seemed to disappear. He was threatened by quantum mechanics. Einstein was looking for a synthesis of new concepts of the microcosm and the classical ideal. The search was agonizing. They included the demonic irony of Mephistopheles - a doubt in the fundamental foundations of thought, and the joyfully heroic desire of Faust for new foundations, and humor, which humanized these peaks of generalizing thought.

One can draw a parallel between Einstein and Mozart by comparing Mozart's dissonances with Einstein's paradoxes. "For culture XVII century dissonances were false notes. New beginning with Mozart musical culture talked about dissonances and used them extensively. The current modern musical culture no longer knows dissonances, they are for it a "new harmony". Mozart is the one who discovered the period of dissonances, crossed the watershed in this respect. Similarly, in classical physics, paradoxes were separate dissonances, a kind of off-notes. AT late XIX century, the results of L. Michelson's experiment or experiments that catastrophically contradicted classical theory radiation of an absolutely black body, have become a kind of dissonance. And in the 20th century, from the point of view of the theory of relativity and quantum physics, these are no longer dissonances, but natural consequences of the “new harmony”.

G.V. Chicherin wrote: “Not a single artist of all times gives such a merger of space and life. On the one hand - the worlds, stars, destinies, planets, space, on the other - the worries of the day. Mozart is the bridge between space and real life, between Sirius and a trifle of the day ". Perhaps this cosmism of Mozart's music was so in tune with Einstein.

In September 1952, a young Australian pianist, Manfred Kline, arrived in Princeton. He visited the scientist, played with him and talked with him on various topics, most often musical. “On the way home,” Kline recalls, “I thought about the connection between Einstein’s concepts and Mozart’s music. The latter is not only beautiful, not only graceful. It has some independence from time, place and environment. This music is for Einstein.

In fact, it is never possible to say with certainty why this or that music is so in tune with the human heart. In such an analysis, there is always a large share of subjective perception. musical creations, especially when it comes to such a phenomenon as Mozart - "the most inaccessible, the most secretive, the most esoteric of composers."

For example, when Mozart's Symphony No. 40 sounds, some people think that this music is full of sunlight, others will hear in it elegantly expressed confusion and hidden tragedy, and someone will hear the desire to create order and harmony from chaos. As A. Schweitzer accurately noted, “the main thing in art is the unspoken content contained in it. The tragic fate of musical art lies precisely in the fact that the specific content of the fantasy that gave rise to it is reflected in it only to a small extent.

« Kindness, beauty and truth - these are the ideals that illuminated my life path, again and again reviving joy and courage in my soul, ”said Einstein. All his life he was engaged in the study of objective reality, "eternally elusive and inaccessible in the field of arts and in scientific research ". Over the years, his life, full of internal tension, was increasingly absorbed by the fundamental problems of science, violin playing faded into the background.

“In his old age, Einstein rarely left the house. From time to time he played the piano works of Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart. His favorite violin, which was intended as a legacy to his grandson Bernard, who studied physics, Einstein, due to ill health, got it only in rare cases. In 1948, he happened to meet a pianist and her violinist brother on the street, who had come to Princeton from Paris. Einstein asked the musician if he was playing the Bach Concerto for Two Violins. Having received an affirmative answer, Einstein promised to come to them in the evening. He brought his violin and played with visitors until midnight. In such cases, he did not reckon with time.

Einstein, avoiding the intrusiveness of the curious, spent his 75th birthday at home, feasting on the pie baked by Miss Dukas, and listening to recordings of works by old masters on long-playing records, presented to him with a player by colleagues at the Institute for Higher Studies.

What does the Einstein-Music parallel reveal to us? “Music for Einstein, about which Manfred Klein spoke, and Einstein's attitude towards this music, is a private illustration of the most important feature of science and culture of our century. The 18th century was the century of reason, the 19th century of science, the 20th century of the radically transformative intervention of science in all aspects of the material, intellectual, emotional and aesthetic life of mankind. modern science- this is no longer the owl of Minerva, it does not fly out at night, when the day's worries are over. Its character, style and effect are more associated with the beginning of the day or with spring - with the beginning of true history of humanity” [4] Einstein A. Collection of scientific papers. M., Nauka, 1967.

Pais A. Scientific activity and life of Albert Einstein. M., Nauka, 1989.

Hoffman W. Albert Einstein: creator and rebel. M., 1983.

Zelig K. Albert Einstein. M., Atomizdat, 1964.

Gerneck F. Albert Einstein. M., Mir, 1979.

Schweitzer A.I.S. Bach. M., Music, 1964.

Weiss D. Sublime and earthly. A novel about the life of Mozart. M., Progress, 1970.

Chicherin V.G. Mozart. Research essay. L., Music, 1970.