Identifying Einstein

The names commonly used to describe one’s ‘identity’ are not entirely under one’s control. "Today I am described in Germany as a ‘German savant’, and in England as a ‘Swiss Jew’. Should it ever be my fate to be represented as a bête noire should, on the contrary, become a ‘Swiss Jew’ for the Germans and a ‘German savant’ for the English." Michael D Gordin, writing in Aeon magazine looks at the multiplicity of identification.