November 15, 2009

Lecturing Aboard the 9:04 to Tel Aviv, Israel's Train of Thought

Jonathan Nackstrand, AFP, Getty Images

Israeli rail commuters get a lecture about Einstein's love letters from Hanoch Gutfreund, a professor emeritus of physics at Hebrew U. of Jerusalem.

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Jonathan Nackstrand, AFP, Getty Images

Israeli rail commuters get a lecture about Einstein's love letters from Hanoch Gutfreund, a professor emeritus of physics at Hebrew U. of Jerusalem.

By Matthew Kalman

Albert Einstein, who explained his theory of relativity using the metaphor of a sealed railway carriage, probably did not foresee the day when professors would turn a commuter train into a lecture hall to convey his ideas.

But this month,  Israeli commuters on the 9:04 from Platform Four at Modiin Central to Tel Aviv were treated to an academic lecture on Einstein's love letters to his two wives and various mistresses. It was the first in a series of railway lectures titled