Curated playlist
Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
- Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein once spent his days examining patents for gravel sorters.
- Hans L. TrefousseHans Trefousse once argued for eleven hours to make a Nazi commander surrender in Leipzig.
- Kurt WeillA song Kurt Weill wrote for a petty criminal in 1928 became a jazz standard.
- Arnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg died on Friday the 13th, fifteen minutes before midnight. He had long dreaded the number thirteen.
- Elsa EinsteinElsa Einstein was related to Albert Einstein in two separate ways at once. Their mothers were sisters, which made the two of them first cousins. Their fathers were also first cousins, which made them second cousins as well. Elsa was born…
- Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger made a secret trip to China in July 1971. It helped end 23 years of diplomatic isolation.
- Herbert MarcuseHerbert Marcuse analyzed Nazi ideology for American spies before students made him a hero.
- Rudolf CarnapRudolf Carnap argued that most deep philosophical questions were meaningless.
- Paul TillichTheologian Paul Tillich argued that the God most people debate is not God at all.
- Edward TellerEdward Teller stood and watched the Trinity test while nearly everyone else lay face-down.
- Alfred EinsteinAlfred Einstein said Mozart's last three symphonies were never played in his lifetime. Later evidence showed otherwise.
- Joseph WeizenbaumJoseph Weizenbaum's secretary asked him to leave so she could keep chatting with his program. She knew it was a machine.
- Erich FrommErich Fromm argued that falling in love is not love at all. His 1956 book The Art of Loving became a bestseller.
- Gerald HoltonGerald Holton was labeled an "Enemy Alien" in America, yet Harvard hired him. He taught naval officers to use radar.
- Peter BergmannPeter Bergmann's mother wrote to Einstein in 1933 asking him to take her son as a student.
- Emmy NoetherEmmy Noether lectured at Göttingen under a man's name. Her classes were advertised as Hilbert's, with her as assistant.
- Paul HindemithJoseph Goebbels publicly called composer Paul Hindemith an "atonal noisemaker" in December 1934.
- Erwin PanofskyIn 1934, Erwin Panofsky argued a famous Flemish painting was really a legal contract.
- Otto SternOtto Stern and Walther Gerlach fired silver atoms through a magnetic field in 1922. The atoms landed in two bands.
- Eric GutkindEinstein told philosopher Eric Gutkind the Bible was "a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends."