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Rosenkranz was not the only person to feel uneasy about the arrangement. In early 2011, when she was 70, Einstein’s adoptive granddaughter, Evelyn, announced plans to sue the Hebrew University for what she considered to be a gross overreach of their role. What had started out as an act of curation had, in her view, evolved into a form of exploitation. “I was really offended by some of the stuff that was being OKed,” Evelyn told a journalist from the New York Post. Evelyn’s friend, the lawyer Allen Wilkinson, told me that “she could not stand the fact that they were profiting from Einstein bobbleheads and other bits of memorabilia that have nothing to do with literary rights”. The university, Evelyn claimed, had ignored her requests for an arrangement that would allow her to profit from the sales to help pay her medical bills. Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany and showed an early aptitude for mathematics and physics. He studied at the Polytechnic School in Zurich, Switzerland, and later at the University of Zurich, where he graduated in 1900. He then worked as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland while he continued to work on his theories in his spare time.
The university seemed happy to keep a low profile while Richman fought its profitable battles. “I didn’t get the impression that people were at all aware of the university’s role during this period,” Rosenkranz told me. “But Richman had the reputation of being a tough cookie in the negotiations – which was in the university’s interest.” His intellect made Einstein famous, but it was his appearance that made him an icon. Few understood the implications of his work – “ 4,000 bewildered as Einstein speaks,” wrote the New York Times – but his image, spread via the accelerating technologies of print and television, was eminently approachable. The frazzled hair, the frowsy jumper, the caterpillar moustache, the hangdog jowls and those sad, galactic eyes. “He was slovenly,” Robert Schulmann, a former editor of the Collected Papers of Einstein told me. “And at some point, it began to work in his favour.” Einstein’s image endeared him to the world, suggesting that here was a mind too occupied with higher questions to spare much thought to, say, a comb. During World War II, Einstein left Germany and immigrated to the United States. He accepted a position at Princeton University, where he spent the remainder of his career. He continued to work on his theories and also made important contributions to the field of quantum mechanics. A brown vest worn over the shirt is an essential part of the costume as it helps to create a more formal and dressed-up look. The task had fallen to Rosenkranz after Ehud Benamy died in late 1990. The academic deliberated over each request with a scholar’s sense of duty, balancing his speculation as to what Einstein may have wanted with the pressure he felt from Richman to greenlight anything that did not carry an obviously harmful association. “It was basically an issue of taste,” he recalled. “Sometimes I didn’t think the product in question, or its design, or the accompanying text were sufficiently ‘lofty’.”
Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76. His death was a loss not only to the scientific community but also to the world at large. His contributions to science and his dedication to peace and civil rights continue to inspire people today. His name has become synonymous with genius and his work continues to be studied and debated by scientists and non-scientists alike. Whenever he walked into the living room of his parents’ house in the town of Washington, New York, Roger Richman saw a framed photograph of Albert Einstein standing with his father. Richman’s father, Paul, had befriended Einstein in the 1930s when they worked together to help German Jews resettle in Alaska, Paraguay and Mexico. (At the time, most of the US was closed to those fleeing Nazi oppression.) Richman’s father died in 1955, three months after Einstein, but the Richman family remained close to the keepers of Einstein’s legacy. While researching the law, Richman found a case involving the son of Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian-American actor best remembered for his performance as Dracula. In 1966, Lugosi’s son sued Universal Pictures, claiming that he and his stepmother owned his father’s image rights, not the movie studio. Lugosi’s son won the case at trial, but the high court overturned the ruling on the grounds that his father had not sold his image for commercial purposes during his lifetime. Richman deduced, then, the heirs of any celebrity who had sold his or her image during their lifetime had a claim on their publicity rights. In 1905, Einstein published a series of papers that laid the foundation for modern physics. These papers included his theory of special relativity, which explained how the laws of physics change at high speeds, and his famous equation, E=mc². In 1915, he published his theory of general relativity, which explained how gravity works by warping the fabric of spacetime. The matter is far from settled. Prof Roger Schechter from George Washington University Law School describes the law around postmortem publicity rights as “a complete mess”. While Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and Mexico have national laws that specify the definition and duration of postmortem publicity rights, in the US the law varies between states. Only 24 states have adopted a formal statute on postmortem publicity rights, which can last anywhere from 20 years after a person’s death (Virginia) to 100 (Oklahoma, Indiana). A celebrity who dies in California therefore has different rights to one who dies in New York. New Jersey, where Einstein died, is one of 17 US states that has placed no limitation on the right of an heir to profit from a dead celebrity’s publicity rights – which could allow the Hebrew University to bring legal action against alleged infringers indefinitely. “If I were looking for a problem to put on a final law exam that would put my students through their paces,” Schechter told me, “Einstein would be it.”
In November 2009, General Motors had placed an advertisement in People magazine that depicted Einstein’s face pasted on to a muscled body, accompanied by the slogan: “Ideas are sexy too.” The Hebrew University protested: “Dr Einstein with his underpants on display … causes injury to [the university’s] carefully guarded rights in the image and likeness of the famous scientist.” A humanoid robot with a face resembling Einstein at the World Robot Conference, Beijing, September 2021. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images Einstein’s impact on science and society is undeniable, and his legacy continues to inspire new discoveries and advancements in various fields. His name is synonymous with brilliance and his work continues to be studied and debated by scientists and non-scientists alike.
Beyond the world of costumes and festivities, Doc Cotton finds solace and joy in van life and outdoor adventures. Whether he's hitting the open road, camping beneath the stars, or exploring the great outdoors, he cherishes every moment of his outdoor escapades. A business leather belt is an important accessory that helps to complete the formal look of the costume. Richman considered himself the underdog. “Oftentimes I became despondent over the power and influence of the opposition,” he wrote in an unpublished memoir. “I was fighting major advertising agencies, broadcasters, film studios, manufacturers and publishers – a belligerent field.” He was energised, however, by what he considered to be a moral cause. How could anyone, Richman wrote, “not want to remove a presidential dildo from the marketplace?” Six decades after his death, Einstein’s earnings show no sign of slowing. That Einstein remains so in demand is a function not just of his otherworldly brilliance and unforgettable appearance, but also the values he embodied. It has always been easy for diverse groups to embrace Einstein – a short, dyslexic hypochondriac from a persecuted minority – as their own. His seemingly contradictory positions – he opposed the creation of a Jewish state and deplored the victimisation of Palestinian Arabs, while raising funds for Zionist causes; he disdained the idea of divine revelation, but believed in God – made it possible even for opposed groups to adopt him as their figurehead. Whether you’re a science buff or just looking for a unique and recognizable costume, this guide is perfect for you. So grab your glue gun, your cardboard, and let’s get started on creating an Albert Einstein costume that will blow everyone’s mind! Shirt
Doc Cotton is a man of simple pleasures and diverse interests. His heart belongs to the world of cosplay, costumes and fancy dress, with a special fondness for Halloween, where his creative spirit truly shines. Over the years he has been hired by people across the country to make custom halloween costumes and other fancy dress for specific events. In the years since, there have been repeated calls for US Congress to step in and pass a uniform statute for the entire country. “Until they do, it’s highly variable,” said Schechter. Outside of the US, the law is equally uneven. In Brazil, posthumous rights persist for as long as there are living heirs. In Germany, the period is 70 years. In England and Wales, by contrast, there is no clear right of publicity at all. Lawyers seeking to protect an individual’s image and personality must instead resort to what one firm describes as “ a patchwork of legal rights”.
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Einstein understood the power of images. Throughout his life he conjured simple scenes to illustrate complex ideas: a plummeting elevator, a train speeding through a lightning storm, a blind beetle creeping along a curved surface. To explain his special theory of relativity he would joke: “A minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour, but an hour sitting with a pretty girl passes like a minute.” In time, he too would become a symbol, the purest embodiment of that enigmatic quality: genius. Rosenkranz was uneasy about his role. He believed Einstein would have been against most, if not all, marketing associations. “If it was purely commercial, he was usually against it,” he said. Yet Richman put pressure on him to approve a far wider range of proposals. Rosenkranz recalled that when he rejected a deal from Huggies diapers, Richman was particularly unhappy. “It wasn’t purely about profit for him,” recalled Rosenkranz. “But in the end, it was a business. And I am in academia. It was not an easy topic.” Einstein’s work in physics, specifically his theory of general relativity, has been confirmed through various experiments and today it is the foundation of modern cosmology and our understanding of the universe. His work in physics and his ideas have also been extended to other fields such as chemistry and computer science. Roger Richman, the lawyer and agent widely credited with helping to invent the dead-celebrity publicity industry, at his Hollywood office in 1985. Photograph: Paul Harris/Getty Images
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