The Philosophy Department of De La Salle University-Manila in cooperation with DLSU Pilosopo held a big lecture entitled “Albert Einstein: The Scientist as Activist.” And the reason for this celebration was to commemorate the International Year of Light which celebrates the 100th year anniversary of the famous theory of Albert Einstein and this was the Theory of Relativity. Some say this is a milestone for Einstein’s work for he has shed light to some of the mysteries of science. And through this talk I have learned that Einstein was not just that noble prize winning, nerdy, shaggy-haired scientist, but he was an activist as well. We all know that as technology progresses through the years, the dangers it posses to the world and most importantly to humanity also increases. And during the time when Einstein was seen as the image of human intellect there was a war, it was a war between the United States and Japan which led to the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and Nagasaki in the same year. This incident alerted the world that super weapons can cause a devastating effect to anywhere it is used. And just after a few days after the bombing Glasgow Forward published the first known comment of Bertrand Russell regarding nuclear weapons which would later on appear in the so called Russell-Einstein manifesto and as I quote :

“The prospect for the human race is sombre beyond all precedent. Mankind are faced with a clear-cut alternative: either we shall all perish, or we shall have to acquire some slight degree of common sense. A great deal of new political thinking will be necessary if utter disaster is to be averted.”

And this statement by Bertrand Russell attracted the attention of scientists around the world to answer the daring problem at hand. But only Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell  and 9 others signed this. This manifesto was a call to the world that nuclear weapons or technology as a matter of fact may become a problem to society in the future. That we should still stay humane as possible even though it is for the sake of science there are still many things to consider when doing so. Moreover, this manifesto laid the foundation to Einstein being an activist, a political one maybe? But one that wasn’t afraid to tell the world the harsh truth for what have people become with the power granted by technology. And I wanna quote one more line from the manifesto that really striked me as a scientist :

“Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.”

This topic was from the talk of Mr. Apolega which interested me so because of how enlightened I became to know that Einstein was not just brains, but he also very much cares for humanity.

To my idol Mr. Einstein I salute to you for all your contributions to this world