On the network, a statement attributed to the Nobel laureate is popular about the difference between the mind and wisdom in a clash with difficulties. We decided to check if the physicist said something like that.

This phrase indicating the authorship of Albert Einstein can be found on sites quotes of famous personalities, in Collections statements physics on different resources, as well as in posts of users of social networks (X, "VKontakte" Instagram, Facebook) And Platform blog. The formulations in different sources differ slightly, but the meaning remains unchanged.

Attributed Einstein Quote is popular not only in Russian, but also on English language, and, in contrast to the translation, in the same option (except for punctuation). For 70 years that have passed since the death of a physicist in 1955, all his surviving work: scientific works, letters, notes were carefully studied, their significant part was digitized. The largest collection is stored in Jewish University In Jerusalem, where, according to the will, most of the legacy of the Nobel laureate was transferred. Two more large Einstein electronic archives were collected by employees Princeton University And California Technological University in the USA. None of them “verified” could find such a statement.

In 2011, Princeton University released a collection of scientist aphorisms The Ultimate QUOTABLE EINSTEIN, and the compilers included not only real quotes, but also attributed erroneously, as well as the statements of other people about Einstein. However, it was also not possible to find the desired phrase in this work - in any of the sections.

Portal for the authenticity of quotes Quote investigator I found out that, apparently, for the first time this statement was attributed to Einstein in the issue of the Times Held newspaper on May 14, 1992, published in the American state of Michigan. The article on the construction plans for the garbage plant Chemist Paul Connet criticized this initiative, using the analyzed phrase and attributing it to Einstein. Perhaps, as is often the case with statements that dispersed with incorrect attribution, so Connet tried to give his words more weight.

At the same time, the idea that a really wise person does not solve the problem, but avoids them, is not new. QUOTE Investigator found many cases of its use in different formulations close in meaning and many years before Renet. Basically, the phrase was given without instructing the author or attributed to other people, for example, the Foreign Minister of Israel Abbe Even. However, with the attribution of Einstein, it spread precisely in the wording chosen by Connet.

Albert Einstein is groundlessly attributed a variety of statements. "Verified" earlier repeatedly analyzed such cases, including phrases: "only The fool needs order, genius dominates chaos, ""The greatest stupidity - do the same and hope for another result, "" only Two things are endless: Universe and human stupidity. " Nobel laureate had nothing to do with any of them. A little less actively on the Internet is distributed bikes About Einstein. There were so many similar false stories at some point that they even gave rise to the meme of "this ... was Albert Einstein."

Thus, there is no reason to believe that Einstein has ever compared the mind and wisdom in the context of the attitude to problems. None of the well -known archives with the texts of the scientist could not find such a phrase. For the first time, this quote was attributed to him almost 40 years after his death, and did this a person who was far from studying Einstein's works. Therefore, there is also no reason to assume that he personally discovered this statement in any previously unknown text of the Nobel laureate.

Photo on the cover: Associated Press, Public Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons