The network is popular with the expression attributed to the famous physics that other people can and should be involved in creative activity. We decided to check if he really called for something like that.

Internet users publish a quote allegedly owned by the Nobel laureate on their pages on social networks ("VKontakte" X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads) and on the blog-platforms ("Zen" Livejournal). It is often found on thematic Portals O creativityas well as on sites of various Museums And cultural centers. The formulations of this phrase are somewhat different: “Creativity is contagious. Distribute it! " And "Creativity is contagious. Give it to another! "

As in the Russian -speaking segment of the Internet, in English a quote about the infectivity of creativity is also very Distributed (in the formulation of “Creativity Is Contagious. Pass it on”), and most often its authorship is also attributed to Einstein. At the same time, “verified” could not find this statement in any authoritative archive where the most complete collections of the scientist’s heritage are collected.

After the death of the physicist, all his manuscripts and documents were, according to his will, transferred to the Jewish University in Jerusalem. Over the next 70 years, they were carefully studied, digitized, and then laid out by the university in Open access. Two more largest electronic databases devoted to Einstein's documents were collected by employees Princeton And California technological universities (USA). None of them could find a disassembled phrase. In 2011, Princeton University published a collection of quotes of a scientist The Ultimate QUOTABLE EINSTEIN, and there are sections both with his real statements and with the erroneous attributed to him. In none of them, nothing like this is found. At the same time, Einstein noted that "he lived in solitude in the village and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." This thought somewhat contradicts the quotation of the dismantled quote, since the physicist, apparently, believed that creativity is fastened with loneliness, and not communication with other creative people.

Researchers Quote Investigator found outWhat was first attributed to Einstein, apparently, only in 1992 in the newspaper advertising of the documentary series The Creative Spirit, which was sponsored by IBM. Advertising contained a short version of the statement: "Creativity is contagious." It is likely that an unknown employee of an advertising agency or marketing department of IBM considered how this often happens that the statement of the Nobel laureate used in the promotion will provide the series with more confidence in the audience. At the same time, QUOTE Investigator notes that the phrase about the infectivity of creativity was found in the press and literature earlier, but without indicating a particular author.

The very thought of the infectivity of any qualities, feelings and emotions was not new and met long before the phrase about creativity began to attribute to Einstein. So, for example, George James in his book "The history of chivalry", Published in 1830, argued:" Besides fear, there is nothing more contagious than enthusiasm. " In 1908, Henry Van Dike in his book "The battle of life»Listed a whole list of contagious virtues: courage, kindness, honesty. And in 1948, Dale Carnegie in the book "How to stop worrying and start living»He claimed that he found out:" Happiness is contagious. "

Thus, there are no trustworthy testimonies that Einstein claimed that creativity is contagious and should be distributed. His other statements about creativity partly even contradict the dismantled quote. For the first time, this phrase was attributed to him a few decades after death.

Photo on the cover: Paul Ehrenfest, Public Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons