' WINTER 2005 ON EINSTEIN THE VoLUME 3I, IssuE I t isn't always easy to get alumni out for a chapter event in the dead of winter, particularly right after the holidays. So imagine tutor Sam Kuder's delight when the Annapolis chapter drew about 25 participants to a S!JOHN'S Saturday morning seminar he was leading on Einstein a week after College 0 e New Year's. Annapolis Johnnies aren't the only ones eager to talk about THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF ST. JoHN's CoLLEGE ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE Einstein and his special theory of relativity during the centennial of ANNAPOLIS • SANTA P'B Einstein's anna mirabilis. Several chapters have seminars planned. THE CoLLEGE (usPs oi8-75o) In this issue of The College, tutors and alumni describe working through the {CONTENTS} paper as one of the most remarkable experiences they've had at the college-one is published quarterly by St. John's College, Annapolis, MD, that stays with them long after they've moved on to other pursuits. and Santa Fe, NM PAGE 12 D E P A R T M E N T S Who isn't familiar with Einstein's struggles in his early education? Born in 1879 Known office of publication: 2 FROM THE BELL TOWERS to middle-class German parents Hermann and Pauline Einstein, young Albert Communications Office THE CHAIR A New President in Santa Fe frustrated his parents and teachers. His penchant for daydreaming and dislike of St. John's College A visit to the Clore factory reveals just rote memorization are well known, but popular lore mistakenly brands him as a Box28oo The Magnificent Seven Annapolis, MD 2I404-28oo what goes into the famous St. John's MacGyver Meets the Johnnies poor student. At the Institute ofTechnologyin Zurich, he preferred independent chair. Mellon Grant Supports Tutors research to the lecture hall. Periodicals postage paid at Annapolis, MD Ringing a Bell for the Annual Fund When he couldn't find an academic job after graduation, he landed at the Swiss PAGE 14 Reunion Class Leaders Patent Office in Bern. His undemanding day job gave him the freedom to think. And POSTMASTER: Send address 8 LETTERS his 1905 paper gave him instant fame-something Einstein accepted graciously, but changes to The College EINSTEIN AND THE Magazine, Communications would gladly have done without. He was more fond of his violin, his sailboat, and his Office, St. John's College, PROGRAM PAGE I2 28 THE FACULTY Box 28oo, Annapolis, MD work. Alumni and tutors say that studying the 2I404-28oo. 29 BIBLIOFILE His unhappy first marriage to fellow physics student Mil eva Marie ended in I go 5 paper is an exceptional experience A co-editor of a new commentary on divorce. Einstein later married his cousin Elsa, who proved the cheerful hostess and Rosemary Harty, editor at St. John's. Milton, William Moeck (A8o) once efficient helpmate Einstein failed to find in his first marriage. He had two sons by John Hartnett (SF8g), Santa Fe editor thought Paradise Lost would be too PAGE 20 Marie and a daughter born before their marriage who may have been given up for Jennifer Behrens, art director boring. adoption. He was fond of Elsa's two daughters, who provided great companionship ATOMIC JoHNNIES in his later years. Annapolis 3I ALUMNI NOTES 410-626-2539 A life long pacifist, Einstein nevertheless decried the Nazis' rise to power and the Los Alamos National Laboratory has PROFILES provided some interesting professional world's failure to stop Hitler earlier. His famous letter to Roosevelt warning that Santa Fe 30 Linnea Back Klee (A67) works for quality and educational opportunities for these child care in San Francisco. Germany was likely building a bomb urged that the U.S. move quickly to develop 505-984-6104 Johnnies. 33 Documentary filmmaker Alex Shear atomic weapons. He later regretted this and became a proponent of nuclear Contributors PAGE I4 (SFoo) encounters baseball fever in disarmament. He died in Princeton, N.J., in 1955, after insisting that his office ··· ·· ·· ············· ·· ···· ·· ·· ······ ···· Sus san Borden (A87) PAGE 26 Japan. at the Institute for Advanced Studies not be preserved, but made available for August Deimel (SFo4) 36 Ross Mackenzie (AGio3) demystifies the someone else. Barbara Goyette (A73) HoMECOMING . Naval Academy. In his essay "The World as I See It," published in 1931, Einstein described himself Erin Hughey-Comers (Aos) Carolyn Knapp (SFOI) It was all for Homer in Annapolis. 46 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS as a "lone traveler." "The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have Andra Maguran given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Jo Ann Mattson (A87) 48 ST. JOHN ' S FOREVER Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation Natalie Rinn (Aos) Roxanna Seagraves (SF83) with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific Christopher Utter (Ao6) endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me," he wrote. Robin Weiss (SFGI82) - Rll Roseanna White (Ao4) PAGE 26 Magazine design by Claude Skelton Design ON THE COVER Albert Einstein Illustration by David]olznson { F R 0 M THE BE L ,L T 0 wE R s} {FRoM THE BELL TowERS} 3 (continued) entailed managing the research arm of the A NEW PRESIDENT IN SANTA FE Council. His experience supervising "You could never leave the apartment "The experience scholars and researchers at the council will St. fohns Finds a Leader at the Council on Foreign Relations without coming back with a story," says make him feel "right at home with the Peters. "There was the time I coasted into really convinced me faculty and students of St. John's," he says. the gas station running on fumes. Even Peters had been aware of St. John's that St. Johns was College for many years. After the executive BY JOHN HARTNETT getting gas was always an adventure in Moscow. There were very few gas a place I would lzke search firm contacted him to gauge his At first glance, it wouldn't Along with experience in stations. The ones they did have were almost interest in the position, he took a trip to appear that St. John's College administration and international hidden-impossible to find. Once you found a to be part if." Annapolis to visit classes. He was impressed (goo students on two campuses) affairs, Peters brings to his new station, you couldn't pay cash-you had to buy by what he saw and heard. "I sat in on a seminar on Aristotle, then and the United States Military position a deep appreciation for coupons from the state, give yom coupons to MICHAEL PE'I'ERS, SANTA FE PRESIDENT Academy (4 ,000 cadets) have a the ancient world, rooted in his the attendant, then wait for the person to set Ptolemy in math tutorial, and a Greek class great deal in common. But early life as the son of a military the pump for the amount of gas you were translating the Meno. The experience really Michael Peters, a West Point officeT. His father was stationed allowed to buy. In one instance I went to the convinced me that St. John's was a place I graduate and the new president in Ankara, Turkey, giving the window, my car on empty, and one of the coupons I had was torn on would like to be part of. The interaction between students and of the Santa Fe campus, sees cmious teen the perfect home the corner. The woman refused to take it. I kept telling her how tutors, the commitment and enthusiasm of the students, and the striking similarities ben-vccn base to explore the great sites badly I needed the gas. I even had the torn corner and offeTed to respect that students have for one another, the tutors, and the the two institutions. of the ancient world. tape it back on, but no matter how I pleaded, she still refused. books were all incredibly powerful. It convinced me to look Both colleges are founded on "My first two years in high Finally I crossed my fingers and coasted off to another station seriously at the college and to find a way I could be part of the principles and missions, and both school, I traveled all over that did accept my coupon-even with the tear." St. John's community," he says. have a clear sense of their own Turkey,Cyprus,andthe PeteTs left Moscow for Berlin, wheTe he wmked as liaison It didn't hurt that in all their travels, Peters and his wife, unique identities. Most impor­ Mediterranean," he says. "It officer to the Soviet Army in East Germany, to work as a Eleanor, found Santa Fe and the Southwest to be among the most tant, says Peters, St. John's and really solidified my interest in conventional aTms negotiatm in Berlin. Later, during the beautiful places they have visited. They are particularly keen to West Point are among the few history. So many of the classics buildup to the 1991 GulfWar, he led an elite Civil Mfairs attend the acclaimed Santa Fe opera-one of their new home­ colleges still concerned with we read at St. John's are set in Battalion in Saudi Arabia. He finished his militaTy career by town's many cultural treasures-this summer. "Wherever Eleanor developing the moral character places vivid in my memories. returning to West Point- this time as an administrator. and I would go in the world, we tried to take advantage of the of their students.