A truly beautiful mind Summary, Explanation, Word meanings Class 9

By Ruchika Gupta

 

CBSE Class 9 English Chapter 4 A truly beautiful mind Summary, Line by Line Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from Beehive Book

 
A truly beautiful mind – Here is the Class 9 English Beehive Book Chapter 4 A truly beautiful mind Summary and Detailed explanation of the Lesson along with meanings of difficult words.

 

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A Truly Beautiful Mind Class 9 English Beehive Book Chapter 4

 

 

A Truly Beautiful Mind Introduction

This chapter is about Albert Einstein. He was a great scientist. The title of the chapter ‘A Truly Beautiful Mind’ refers to Albert Einstein. This is a short biography of his where some of his qualities have been highlighted – Albert’s interest in Mathematics and Physics and also his humanitarian attribute.

The title – ‘A Truly Beautiful Mind’ makes one wonder how can a scientist’s mind be beautiful. It is so because in this lesson we come across another aspect of Einstein. He was a humanitarian. He advocated world peace, non – violence and that is why the title refers to him as a truly beautiful mind.
 
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A Truly Beautiful Mind Video Explanation

 
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A truly Beautiful Mind Summary

Albert Einstein was born on 14th March in 1879, in the German city of Ulm. Till the age of two and a half years, he could not speak and when he started speaking, he spoke every word twice.
His playmates considered him to be boring and his mother thought that he was crazy because of the abnormally large size of his head. At school, his headmaster regarded him as stupid and good for nothing.
But he proved them all wrong. At the age of 6, at the insistence of his mother, he learned to play the violin. He became a gifted violinist. At the age of 15, his family moved to Munich. He did not feel comfortable with the strict discipline at the school and left it.
On completing his schooling, he joined the University at Zurich because the atmosphere there was more liberal, and accepted new ideas and concepts. He showed more interest in Physics and Mathematics.
He met a fellow student, Mileva Maric at the University. She was equally intelligent and clever. Later on, they married and had 2 sons but unfortunately, their marriage did not survive, and were divorced in 1919.
After completing his education, Albert worked as a technical expert in the patent office at Bern. Here, he worked secretly on his idea of relativity. In 1915, he published his paper on the special theory of relativity, followed by the world-famous equation E = mc2.In 1915, he published his paper on General Theory of Relativity, which gave an absolutely new definition to the concept of gravity. This theory made him a famous figure.
In 1919, during the solar eclipse, his theory came out to be accurate and revolutionized physics. In 1933, he emigrated to the USA as Nazis had come to power in Germany. He did not want his finding and research to be used for destruction.
In 1938, when Germany discovered the principle of Nuclear Fission, he was the first person to write to the American President about the dangers of the atomic bombs. In 1945, when America dropped the Atomic Bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, he was deeply hurt and wrote to the United Nations for the formation of a world government to prevent the recurrence of such destruction.
He spent his later days in politics advocating world peace and democracy. He died at the age of 76 in the year 1955.
 
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A truly Beautiful Mind Summary in Hindi

अल्बर्ट आइंस्टीन का जन्म 14 मार्च 1879 को जर्मन शहर उल्म में हुआ था। ढाई साल की उम्र तक वे बोल नहीं पाते थे और जब उन्होंने बोलना शुरू किया तो हर एक शब्द दो बार बोलते थे।
उसके सहपाठी उसे उबाऊ मानते थे और उसकी माँ ने सोचा कि वह अपने सिर के असामान्य रूप से बड़े आकार के कारण पागल था। स्कूल में, उनके प्रधानाध्यापक ने उसे मूर्ख और व्यर्थ के रूप में माना।
लेकिन उसने उन सभी को गलत साबित कर दिया। 6 साल की उम्र में, अपनी माँ के आग्रह पर, उन्होंने वायलिन बजाना सीखा। वह एक प्रतिभाशाली वायलिन वादक बन गया। 15 साल की उम्र में उनका परिवार म्यूनिक चला गया। वह स्कूल में सख्त अनुशासन के साथ सहज महसूस नहीं करता था और उसे छोड़ देता था।
अपनी स्कूली शिक्षा पूरी करने पर, उन्होंने ज्यूरिख विश्वविद्यालय में प्रवेश लिया क्योंकि वहां का माहौल अधिक उदारवादी था, और नए विचारों और अवधारणाओं को स्वीकार करता था । उन्होंने भौतिकी और गणित में अधिक रुचि दिखाई।
उन्होंने विश्वविद्यालय में एक साथी छात्र मिलेवा मैरिक से मुलाकात की। वह उतनी ही बुद्धिमान और चतुर थी। बाद में, उन्होंने शादी की और उनके 2 बेटे थे लेकिन दुर्भाग्य से, उनकी शादी नहीं टिक पाई और 1919 में उनका तलाक हो गया।
अपनी शिक्षा पूरी करने के बाद, अल्बर्ट ने बर्न में पेटेंट कार्यालय में तकनीकी विशेषज्ञ के रूप में काम किया। यहां उन्होंने अपने सापेक्षता के विचार पर गुप्त रूप से काम किया।
1915 में, उन्होंने सापेक्षता के विशेष सिद्धांत पर अपना पेपर प्रकाशित किया, जिसके बाद विश्व प्रसिद्ध समीकरण E = mc² आया। 1915 में, उन्होंने जनरल थ्योरी ऑफ़ रिलेटिविटी पर अपना पेपर प्रकाशित किया, जिसने गुरुत्वाकर्षण की अवधारणा को बिल्कुल नई परिभाषा दी। इस सिद्धांत ने उन्हें एक प्रसिद्ध व्यक्ति बना दिया।
1919 में सूर्य ग्रहण के दौरान उनका सिद्धांत सटीक निकला और भौतिकी में क्रांति ला दी। 1933 में, जर्मनी में नाजियों के सत्ता में आने के बाद वह संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका चले गए। वह नहीं चाहता था कि उसकी खोज और शोध को विनाश के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाए।
1938 में, जब जर्मनी ने परमाणु विखंडन के सिद्धांत की खोज की, तो वह परमाणु बमों के खतरों के बारे में अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति को लिखने वाले पहले व्यक्ति थे।
1945 में, जब अमेरिका ने नागासाकी और हिरोशिमा पर परमाणु बम गिराए, तो वह बहुत आहत हुए और इस तरह के विनाश की पुनरावृत्ति को रोकने के लिए विश्व सरकार के गठन के लिए संयुक्त राष्ट्र को लिखा।
उन्होंने अपने बाद के दिनों को विश्व शांति और लोकतंत्र की वकालत करने वाली राजनीति में बिताया। वर्ष 1955 में 76 वर्ष की आयु में उनका निधन हो गया।
 
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A Truly Beautiful Mind Explanation

Passage: ALBERT Einstein was born on 14 March 1879 in the German city of Ulm, without any indication that he was destined for greatness.

Word Meaning
destined: fate, a predetermined set of events that has to happen in the future.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein was born on 14th March 1879. He was born in a city named Ulm in Germany. When he was a child, no one could predict that one day he would become a great scientist. He was like all the other children.

Passage: On the contrary, his mother thought Albert was a freak.

Word Meaning
freak: a word used disapprovingly to talk about a person who is unusual and doesn’t behave, look or think like others

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert’s mother thought that Albert was a freak because he did not behave, talk or look like normal people did. He was different from other children of his age. He behaved abnormally. It seemed as if he had lesser intelligence in comparison to other children.

Passage: To her, his head seemed much too large.

Explanation of the above Passage:   Albert’s mother thought that the little boy’s head was a bit too big in comparison to other children’s heads.

Passage: At the age of two-and-a-half, Einstein still wasn’t talking.

Explanation of the above Passage:   Albert Einstein started talking when he was two and a half years of age.

Passage: When he finally did learn to speak, he uttered everything twice.

Word Meaning
Uttered: spoke

Explanation of the above Passage:  Finally, when Einstein started speaking, he used to repeat the words.

Passage: Einstein did not know what to do with other children, and his playmates called him “Brother Boring.”
His playmates used to call him ‘brother boring’ because he remained to himself, he did not play or talk to them.
So the youngster played by himself much of the time.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein remained to himself all the time. He used to play with himself only.

Passage: He especially loved mechanical toys.

Explanation of the above Passage:  From the very beginning, since his childhood, he loved mechanical toys – such toys in which some kind of machinery was used such as automated cars, automated airplanes.

 

Passage: Looking at his newborn sister, Maja, he is said to have said: “Fine, but where are her wheels”?

Explanation of the above Passage:  When his sister was born, and he looked at her, he could not see her feet. He was wondering where the baby’s wheels were, that means the feet of the baby. As Albert Einstein used to play with toys and all the toys had a set of wheels, to him Maja seemed to be a toy too and so, he might have thought that where were her wheels.

Passage: A headmaster once told his father that what Einstein chose as a profession wouldn’t matter, because “he’ll never make a success at anything.”

Explanation of the above Passage:  The headmaster of Einstein’s school told Einstein’s father that Einstein would never be successful in whatever profession he chose.

Passage: Einstein began learning to play the violin at the age of six, because his mother wanted him to; he later became a gifted amateur violinist, maintaining this skill throughout his life.

Word Meaning
amateur: doing something for personal enjoyment rather than as a profession, something which is your hobby and you do it as a pastime.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein was a very good violinist, he learned playing the violin at the age of six because his mother wanted him to learn to play it. All his life, he was an amateur violinist, he played the violin as a hobby not as a profession.

Passage: But Albert Einstein was not a bad pupil. He went to high school in Munich, where Einstein’s family had moved when he was 15 months old and scored good marks in almost every subject.

Word Meaning
pupil: student

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein was a very good student. He went to a school in Munich because his family had moved from Ulm to Munich when he was 15 months old and scored good marks in almost every subject.

Passage: Einstein hated the school’s regimentation and often clashed with his teachers.

Word Meaning
regimentation: order or discipline taken to an extreme

Explanation of the above Passage:  The school where Einstein went had a very strict discipline which he disliked. Due to that he often clashed with his teacher’s opinions and opposed them.

Passage: At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled there that he left the school for good.

Word Meaning
Stifled: unable to breathe; suffocated
Left the school for good: left school forever.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein was so suffocated in that school, he could not follow the strict discipline and so he left the school for ever.

Passage: The previous year, Albert’s parents had moved to Milan, and left their son with relatives.

Explanation of the above Passage:  When Albert Einstein left the school, one year before that, his parents had moved to another city – Milan which is in Italy. Albert was left behind in Munich with his relatives.

Passage: After prolonged discussion, Einstein got his wish to continue his education in German-speaking Switzerland, in a city which was more liberal than Munich.

Word Meaning
liberal: willing to understand and respect others opinions

Explanation of the above Passage:  The school in Munich was very strict, Albert could not follow the discipline over there. He had a long discussion with his family, relatives and finally, his parents agreed to put him in a school in Switzerland and the language used there for communication was German.

Passage: Einstein was highly gifted in mathematics and interested in physics, and after finishing school, he decided to study at a university in Zurich.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein was good at studies, he was highly gifted in Mathematics, so he was exceptionally good in Mathematics and he also had an interest in physics.

Passage: But science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus moustache. (Walrus is a shape of Moustache.)

Explanation of the above Passage:  Science was not the only thing that appealed to Einstein who was a very handsome young man. Other than science he had an interest in something else also.

Passage: He also felt a special interest in a fellow student, Mileva Maric, whom he found to be a “clever creature.”

Explanation of the above Passage:  Other than Maths and Physics, Albert Einstein liked one of his fellow students, her name was Mileva Maric. He thought that she was very clever, sharp and intelligent.

 

Passage: This young Serb had come to Switzerland because the University in Zurich was one of the few in Europe where women could get degrees.

Explanation of the above Passage:  They met at the University of Zurich. Mileva Maric belonged to Serbia (that is why she is called a Serb). She came from Serbia to Switzerland because the University in Zurich was one of the few Universities in Europe which gave degrees to female students.

Passage: Einstein saw in her an ally against the “philistines”—those people in his family and at the university with whom he was constantly at odds.

Word Meaning
ally: a friend or an associate
philistine: a word used disapprovingly to talk about people who do not like art, literature or music

To be at odds means to be in the opposition of someone, to be against someone.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein felt that Mileva was a friend because she also liked art, literature or music. Both shared this common interest.In those days, having interest in art, literature or music was not considered to be good. So those people who were interested in art, literature or music used to call their opponents ‘philistines’.  Albert Einstein’s family and many people in the university were not in favor of this. So, against such people, Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric’s unity helped them face the situation.

Passage: The couple fell in love. Letters survive in which they put their affection into words, mixing science with tenderness. Wrote Einstein: “How happy and proud I shall be when we both have brought our work on relativity to a victorious conclusion.”

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric fell in love and they exchanged love letters to express their feelings. They used to write such kinds of letters where they used to mix science with their feelings. At one instance, Einstein talked about his scientific invention and said that he would be very proud on that day when they would finally conclude their paper on the theory of relativity.

Passage: In 1900, at the age of 21, Albert Einstein was a university graduate and unemployed.

Explanation of the above Passage:  In the year 1900, Albert Einstein was 21 years of age and he completed his graduation from the University but was unemployed.

Passage: He worked as a teaching assistant, gave private lessons and finally secured a job in 1902 as a technical expert in the patent office in Bern.

Word Meaning
patent: a document which gives the rights of an invention to an inventor

Explanation of the above Passage:  From 1900 to 1902, Albert Einstein was working as a Teaching Assistant and gave private lessons also. Finally, in 1902, he got a job in Bern.  Bern is a city in Germany. He got the job of a Technical Officer in a patent’s office in Bern.

Passage: While he was supposed to be assessing other people’s inventions, Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein was supposed to check the inventions done by other people and give them a patent. On the other hand, secretly, he was making his own inventions too.

Passage: He is said to have jokingly called his desk drawer at work the “bureau of theoretical physics.”

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein later said the desk on which he worked was the office of theoretical physics because there only he started working on his inventions.

Passage: One of the famous papers of 1905 was Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, according to which time and distance are not absolute.

Word Meaning
absolute: measured in itself, not in relation to anything else

Explanation of the above Passage:  In the year 1905, Einstein published his first paper. It was about ‘special theory of relativity. In this publication it was written that the measurement of time and distance is not absolute, it depended on something else.

Passage: Indeed, two perfectly accurate clocks will not continue to show the same time if they come together again after a journey if one of them has been moving very fast relative to the other.

Explanation of the above Passage:  According to the theory, if there are two clocks, and both are moving, they will not show the same time. One clock will move faster than the other.

Passage: From this followed the world’s most famous formula which describes the relationship between mass and energy:
E = mc2(In this mathematical equation, E stands for energy, m for mass and c for the speed of the light in a vacuum (about 300,000 km/s).

Explanation of the above Passage:  This theory of relativity gave us this basic formula of physics – E = mc². E stands for energy, m for mass of the object and c for the speed of the light in a vacuum. (Vacuum means where there is no air and the speed of light in vacuum is almost 300,000 km/s). To put it into simpler words, Einstein said that when you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. On the other hand, when you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours—that’s relativity. So a person would feel the timing differently.

Passage: While Einstein was solving the most difficult problems in physics, his private life was unravelling.

Word Meaning
unraveling: starting to fail

Explanation of the above Passage:  Though he was solving the complicated problems in physics for the world, his personal life started becoming problematic. He started to fail in his personal life.

Passage: Albert had wanted to marry Mileva right after finishing his studies, but his mother was against it.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein wanted to marry Mileva Maric soon after he finished his studies but his mother, Pauline Einstein was against this.

Passage: She thought Mileva, who was three years older than her son, was too old for him.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Pauline thought that Mileva Maric who was three years elder to Albert Einstein was very old for him.

Passage: She was also bothered by Mileva’s intelligence. “She is a book like you,” his mother said. Einstein put the wedding off.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Pauline thought that Mileva was very intelligent to be a wife and she told Einstein that Mileva was also like a book and was similar to him.  As his mother was against this marriage, he canceled his wedding with Mileva.

Passage: The pair finally married in January 1903, and had two sons.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein married Mileva Maric in the year 1903 and they had two sons.

Passage: But a few years later, the marriage faltered.

Word Meaning
faltered: became weak

Explanation of the above Passage:  Their marriage failed.

Passage: Mileva, meanwhile, was losing her intellectual ambition and becoming an unhappy housewife.

Explanation of the above Passage:  As Mileva Maric was very intelligent, being a housewife she could not cope with her ambitions. She could not fulfill her ambitions and so, she started becoming unhappy.

Passage: After years of constant fighting, the couple finally divorced in 1919.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Mileva was unhappy from this marriage, she could not fulfill her career dreams, so, finally in the year 1919 after prolonged fighting both of them separated.

 

Passage: Einstein married his cousin Elsa the same year.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein married the second time. He married his cousin Elsa.

Passage: Einstein’s new personal chapter coincided with his rise to world fame.

Explanation of the above Passage:  At the time Einstein married Elsa, another thing coincided. It was Einstein’s rise to world fame. Einstein became world-famous. Everyone acknowledged him as a great scientist.

Passage: In 1915, he had published his General Theory of Relativity, which provided a new interpretation of gravity.

Explanation of the above Passage:  In the year 1915, he published one more paper which was based on the General Theory of Relativity which gave a new interpretation to gravity.

Passage: An eclipse of the sun in 1919 brought proof that it was accurate.

Explanation of the above Passage:  In the year 1919, there was a solar eclipse which proved that Albert Einstein’s General theory of Relativity was correct.

Passage: Einstein had correctly calculated in advance the extent to which the light from fixed stars would be deflected through the sun’s gravitational field. The newspapers proclaimed his work as “a scientific revolution.”

Word Meaning
deflected: changed direction because it hit something

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein had calculated in the year 1915 that in the year 1919 there would be a solar eclipse. Due to it, the apparent position of the stars would change to some extent. His calculation was accurate. So, it was announced that Albert Einstein’s work was a scientific revolution.

einstein received the novel price

Passage: Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics in1921.
The Nobel Prize was based on the will of the famous Swedish scientist, a scientist who belongs to Sweden, Alfred Nobel. It was established in 1895 and the first Nobel Prize was given in the year 1901.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in the year 1921.

Passage: He was showered with honors and invitations from all over the world and lauded by the press.

Explanation of the above Passage:  He was honored and was invited to various places all over the world. Even the press praised him.

Passage: When the Nazis came to power in Germany in1933, Einstein emigrated to the United States.

Word Meaning
Emigrated: leave one’s own country in order to settle permanently in another

Explanation of the above Passage:  In 1933, when Germany came under the power of Nazis, (the famous Nazi ruler was Adolf Hitler), at that time, Einstein left Germany and shifted to the United State of America forever.

Passage: Five years later, the discovery of nuclear fission in Berlin had American physicists in an uproar.

Word Meaning
in an uproar: very upset

Explanation of the above Passage:  After 5 years, the Germans discovered the process of nuclear fission – the process through which nuclear bombs or atomic bombs are made. This process was prepared in Berlin. Due to this, all the physicists in America were upset as they feared misuse of the technology.

Passage: Many of them had fled from Fascism, just as Einstein had, and now they were afraid the Nazis could build and use an atomic bomb.

Explanation of the above Passage: There were many scientists who escaped to America because of Fascism. (Fascism was a dictatorial concept that was started in Europe from Italy by the rule of Benito Mussolini.) All the scientists were afraid that the Nazis could misuse the atomic bomb.

 

a truly beautiful ming franklin d

Passage: At the urging of a colleague, Einstein wrote a letter to the American President, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, on 2 August 1939, in which he warned:“A single bomb of this type . . . exploded in a port,might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.”

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein was requested by a colleague and so, he wrote a letter to the President of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt on 2nd August 1939. He warned him that the atomic bomb which was developed by Germany was very powerful. If one of these bombs exploded on any port, it would not only destroy the area, but also it would destroy the surrounding territory. This shows Einstein’s humanitarian quality. He wanted good for the people, he wanted peace in the world. That is why he wrote his concern to the president of America and warned him.

Passage: His words did not fail to have an effect.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein’s letter had an impact on Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Passage: The Americans developed the atomic bomb in a secret project of their own and dropped it on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Explanation of the above Passage:  The Americans developed the atomic bomb secretly and dropped it on two cities of Japan – Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Germans had just developed the atomic bomb, they did not use it on any country, but America did.

Passage: Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction.

nagasaki and hirosima

Explanation of the above Passage:  Lot of destruction took place and Einstein was shaken.

Passage: This time he wrote a public missive to the United Nations.

Word Meaning
missive: letter, especially long and official

Explanation of the above Passage:  He wrote an official letter to the United Nations Organization.

Passage: In it he proposed the formation of a world government. Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact.

Explanation of the above Passage:  Albert Einstein proposed to form a world government, but this letter did not bear any fruit.

Passage: But over the next decade, Einstein got ever more involved in politics —agitating for an end to the arms buildup and using his popularity to campaign for peace and democracy.

Explanation of the above Passage:  For another ten years, Albert Einstein was involved in World Peace. He was involved in politics and his agenda was to stop the countries involved in collecting arms and developing weapons. He campaigned for world peace and democracy. His main agenda was world peace and the freedom of people.

Passage: When Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76, he was celebrated as a visionary and world citizen as much as a scientific genius

einstein

Word Meaning
visionary: a person who can think about the future in an original and intelligent way

Explanation of the above Passage:  Einstein could foresee the future. When he died in 1955 at the age of 76, the world celebrated him as a visionary. He was a world citizen and a scientific genius too.
 
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Class 9 English Beehive Book Chapter-wise Explanation

The Fun they had Explanation The Sound of Music Part I Evelyn Glennie Listens to Sound without Hearing It Explanation Sound of the Music Part 2 Shehnai of Bismillah Khan Explanation 
The little Girl Explanation A truly beautiful mind Explanation The Snake and the Mirror Explanation
My Childhood Explanation Reach for the Top Part 1 Explanations Reach for the Top Part 2 Maria Sharapova Explanation
Kathmandu Explanation If I were you Explanation

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