Arthur Sasse, March 14, 1951 (AFP getty images)
Albert Einstein with his Tongue Out
Professor Albert Einstein is remembered for his brilliance, having changed history with his contribution to nuclear physics, and helping to lay the foundations for today’s theories of quantum mechanics.
Often, he is portrayed in modern popular culture as somewhat of a whacky sort of genius, and has inspired many humourous works of fiction,
such as 
IQ an entertaining rom-com starring Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins and Walter Mathau as a really mischievous, cheeky Einstein playing cupid, Yahoo Serious’ Australian film Young Einstein, and Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile.
IQ an entertaining rom-com starring Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins and Walter Mathau as a really mischievous, cheeky Einstein playing cupid, Yahoo Serious’ Australian film Young Einstein, and Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile.
This popular image of a genius with a quirky personality was ingrained in the public conciousness by a photograph taken on Einstein’s 72nd birthday by one Arthur Sasse.
While working for United Press International, Sasse was one of many photographers trying to get a picture of Einstein as he was leaving his birthday celebrations at Princeton campus.
Trying to escape the incessant hounding of the press, Einstein was being whisked away by his friends, Dr. Frank Aydelotte and his wife, in their car.
Upon being goaded to smile for the millionth time, Einstein stuck tongue out instead. Sasse was the only one to capture the moment which humanised the man known for his brilliance, and the photograph was an instant hit with both newspapers and Einstein himself, who cut out the Aydelottes and the car from the picture, and sent copies to his friends and colleagues.
The The Boston Channel reported that “the only known signed copy of the photograph went up for auction and sold for nearly US$75,000 in June, 2009″.
Much more about ze genius here:
- Einstein A to Z - everything you wanted to know, and then some…
- M. Alex Johnson gives the run-down on the difference between Einstein the man and Einstein the icon for MSNBC: “Nutty Professor or One Cool Dude?”
- See more characters based on or inspired by Einstein at Wikipedia: Albert_Einstein_in_popular_
culture
