Editing Albert Einstein (section)

=== Touring the US (1930–1931) ===
[[File:Albert_Einstein_writing_on_a_blackboard_in_Pasadena_(1931).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Einstein in [[Pasadena, California]], 1931]]
In December 1930, Einstein began another significant sojourn in the United States, drawn back to the US by the offer of a two month research fellowship at the [[California Institute of Technology]]. Caltech supported him in his wish that he should not be exposed to quite as much attention from the media as he had experienced when visiting the US in 1921, and he therefore declined all the invitations to receive prizes or make speeches that his admirers poured down upon him. But he remained willing to allow his fans at least some of the time with him that they requested.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=368}}

After arriving in New York City, Einstein was taken to various places and events, including [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]], a lunch with the editors of ''The New York Times'', and a performance of ''[[Carmen]]'' at the [[Metropolitan Opera]], where he was cheered by the audience on his arrival. During the days following, he was given the keys to the city by Mayor [[Jimmy Walker]] and met [[Nicholas Murray Butler]], the president of [[Columbia University]], who described Einstein as "the ruling monarch of the mind".{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=370}} [[Harry Emerson Fosdick]], pastor at New York's [[Riverside Church]], gave Einstein a tour of the church and showed him a full-size statue that the church made of Einstein, standing at the entrance.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=370}} Also during his stay in New York, he joined a crowd of 15,000 people at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]] during a [[Hanukkah]] celebration.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=370}}

[[File:Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin City Lights premiere 1931.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|left|Einstein with [[Charlie Chaplin]] at the [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] premiere of Chaplin's ''[[City Lights]]'', January 1931]]

Einstein next traveled to California, where he met [[Caltech]] president and Nobel laureate [[Robert A. Millikan]]. His friendship with Millikan was {{qi|awkward}}, as Millikan {{qi|had a penchant for patriotic militarism}}, where Einstein was a pronounced [[pacifist]].{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=373}} During an address to Caltech's students, Einstein noted that science was often inclined to do more harm than good.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=374}}

This aversion to war also led Einstein to befriend author [[Upton Sinclair]] and film star [[Charlie Chaplin]], both noted for their pacifism. [[Carl Laemmle]], head of [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]], gave Einstein a tour of his studio and introduced him to Chaplin. They had an instant rapport, with Chaplin inviting Einstein and his wife, Elsa, to his home for dinner. Chaplin said Einstein's outward persona, calm and gentle, seemed to conceal a "highly emotional temperament", from which came his "extraordinary intellectual energy".{{sfnp|Chaplin|1964|p=320}}

Chaplin's film ''[[City Lights]]'' was to premiere a few days later in Hollywood, and Chaplin invited Einstein and Elsa to join him as his special guests. [[Walter Isaacson]], Einstein's biographer, described this as {{qi|one of the most memorable scenes in the new era of celebrity}}.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=374}} Chaplin visited Einstein at his home on a later trip to Berlin and recalled his "modest little flat" and the piano at which he had begun writing his theory. Chaplin speculated that it was {{qi|possibly used as kindling wood by the Nazis}}.{{sfnp|Chaplin|1964|p=322}} Einstein and Chaplin were cheered at the premiere of the film. Chaplin said to Einstein, "They cheer me because they understand me, and they cheer you because no one understands you."{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=374}}