[photo credit: CALTECH]
That transformation — from celebrated physicist collaborating on the birth of modern cosmology to refugee fleeing the collapse of European democracy — is the subject of “Einstein: Beyond the Myth,” a free virtual conversation on Wednesday, April 15, from noon to 1:15 p.m. The program, part of the Caltech Alumni Association’s Techer Live series, is open to the public.
Diana Kormos-Buchwald, who has directed Caltech’s Einstein Papers Project for 25 years and overseen the publication of 10 volumes of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, will be in conversation with Patt Morrison, a Los Angeles Times columnist who shares in two Pulitzer Prizes. The program includes moderated discussion followed by audience questions.
Kormos-Buchwald’s recent work has taken aim at what she describes as deeply entrenched misconceptions about the physicist. Her two-volume Essential Einstein, published by Princeton University Press in 2025, and Free Creations of the Human Mind, published by Oxford University Press the same year, challenge the popular image of Einstein as a solitary genius detached from politics, money, and daily life.
“We also hope to demolish some outstanding myths,” Kormos-Buchwald has said. “Einstein was not the isolated theoretician working by himself in an attic with pen and paper.”
Einstein’s ties to Pasadena ran deeper than most residents realize. His scientific connection to the city reached back to 1913, when he wrote to George Ellery Hale, the astronomer who directed Mount Wilson Observatory, asking whether the bending of light near the Sun could be observed during daytime. When he arrived for his first winter stay in 1931, he collaborated with colleagues on a newly emerging cosmology founded on Edwin Hubble’s observational evidence for an expanding universe.
But his time in Pasadena extended well beyond the laboratory. Einstein gave public talks on international cooperation and pacifism, and met with local leaders, students, and members of Pasadena’s and greater Los Angeles’s Black and Jewish communities. Beneath the media coverage of a hectic social schedule, according to the Caltech Alumni Association event description, ran a more somber reality: as Germany’s democracy foundered, Einstein was contemplating an escape that became inevitable during his last visit. He became a refugee.
Morrison, who created and co-hosted the PBS program Life & Times, has won six Emmys and a dozen Golden Mike awards over more than five decades at the Los Angeles Times. In 2023, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Greater Los Angeles chapter honored her with its Distinguished Journalist Award.
Registration is required by Friday, April 10, at alumni.caltech.edu. For questions, contact Kat Hantman at info@alumni.caltech.edu or 626-395-6592.
The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, when complete, will fill nearly 30 volumes and contain more than 14,000 documents — the fullest record of any scientist’s written legacy. The project is housed on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, where Einstein spent three winters and, as Kormos-Buchwald has noted, actively pursued the causes of disarmament, conscientious objection, and pacifism.
TECHER LIVE: EINSTEIN: BEYOND THE MYTH (VIRTUAL) Date & Time: Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 12:00–1:15 p.m. Venue Address: Online. Organizer: Caltech Alumni Association, MC 1-97, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125. Phone Number: 626-395-6592. Website: https://www.alumni.caltech.edu/event/einstein-beyond-the-myth/
