There is a popular expression on the Internet, attributed to the famous physicist, that it is possible and necessary to involve other people in creative activities. We decided to check whether he really called for something like that.

Internet users publish a quote allegedly belonging to the Nobel laureate on their pages on social networks (“VKontakte", X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads) and on blogging platforms (“Zen", LiveJournal). It often appears on thematic portals O creativity, as well as on various websites museums And cultural centers. The wording of this phrase varies somewhat: “Creativity is contagious. Spread it!” and “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on to someone else!”

As in the Russian-language segment of the Internet, in English the quote about the contagiousness of creativity is also very widespread (in the formulation “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on”), and most often its authorship is also attributed to Einstein. At the same time, “Verified” was unable to 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 Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Over the next 70 years, they were carefully studied, digitized, and then posted by the university on open access. Two more of the largest electronic databases dedicated to Einstein's documents were collected by employees Princeton And California Tech universities (USA). It was not possible to find the phrase being analyzed in any of them. In 2011, Princeton University published a collection of quotes from the scientist The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, and there are sections with both his real statements and those erroneously attributed to him. Nothing like this is found in any of them. At the same time, Einstein noted that “he lived in solitude in the countryside and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” This idea somewhat contradicts the quote being analyzed, since the physicist, apparently, believed that it was loneliness that spurred creativity, and not communication with other creative people.

Quote Investigator Researchers found outIt appears that the first time the quote was attributed to Einstein was in 1992, in a newspaper advertisement for the documentary series The Creative Spirit, which was sponsored by IBM. The ad featured a short version of the saying, “Creativity is contagious.” It is likely that an unknown employee of an advertising agency or the marketing department of IBM thought, as often happens, that the statement of the Nobel laureate used in promotion would give the series more credibility among viewers. At the same time, Quote Investigator notes that the phrase about the contagiousness of creativity has been found in the press and literature before, but without indicating a specific author.

The idea itself about the contagiousness of any qualities, feelings and emotions is not new and was encountered long before the phrase about creativity began to be attributed to Einstein. For example, George James in his book “History of chivalry”, published in 1830, stated: “Apart from fear, there is nothing more contagious than enthusiasm.” In 1908, Henry van Dyck in his bookBattle 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" claimed to have found out: "Happiness is contagious."

Thus, there is no credible evidence that Einstein argued that creativity is contagious and should be spread. His other statements about creativity partly even contradict the quote being analyzed. This phrase was first attributed to him several decades after his death.

Cover photo: Paul Ehrenfest, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons