On October 17, 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in New York Harbor aboard the ocean liner Westernland, beginning what would become the final chapter of his life in the United States. He had accepted a position at the newly established Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the previous year. Hitler’s rise to power and the Nazi persecution of Jews had since made a return to Germany untenable.
Although reporters and a welcoming delegation awaited him, Einstein slipped away to Princeton. There, he joined an independent research institution that offered a refuge for scholars fleeing persecution in Europe. Princeton would remain his home for the rest of his life, and his work at the Institute focused increasingly on the search for a unified field theory.
Einstein’s arrival became an enduring symbol of the intellectual talent driven from Europe by Nazism. He obtained permanent residency in 1935 and became an American citizen in 1940, continuing his scientific work in Princeton until his death in 1955.
Image: Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, October 18, 1933 via Wikimedia Commons; public domain in the United States.
