Einstein to be commemorated with statue near Borough Hall

Albert Einstein, pioneer of relativity theory and fashionably unkempt hair, is to be immortalized in a statue in front of Princeton Borough Hall.

For close to 10 years, Melvin Benarde, co-chairman of the citizens' group The Einstein Fund of Princeton, has been working to bring a bronze bust of the eminent scientist head to Princeton as a permanent monument to Einstein's contributions.

"I think he's terrific," Benarde said. "He did such great things for the world. So much of what he did was so practical and without what he did the world wouldn't be functioning as well as it is."

The Borough Council agreed that if the Einstein Fund provided a suitable statue, the Borough would provide space near the front of Borough Hall where the statue could be placed, Mayor Marvin Reed said in a voice mail.

Benarde stresses Einstein's connection to Princeton as reason why the Borough should have a statue. "Einstein and Princeton are entwined. It's as if one without the other doesn't make any sense. Einstein lived here. He was the man of the 20th century," Benarde said referring to Time magazine's selection of Einstein as the Person of the Century. "There ought to be some recognition of him."

The project is still seeking funds and the committee has not settled on a design or an artist. Benarde said the committee is considering designs from the Johnson Atelier, a non-profit fine arts facility in nearby Mercerville, and from Robert Berks, the Long Island sculptor who created the Einstein bust for the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.

"We've no plans to contribute money at the moment," said Roger Martindell, a Borough councilman. "We're contributing land which, in Princeton, is more valuable than money."

The plan right now is for the statue to be unveiled by 2005 as part of a larger celebration of Einstein and his work, Benarde said. The celebration is to mark the 100th anniversary of Einstein's special relativity theory and the 50th anniversary of Einstein's death.

The Einstein Fund plans to raise up to $150,000 to design, produce, install and maintain the statue in the 5 feet by 5 feet piece of land designated by the Borough, said Dana Lichtstrahl, a member of the group.

Einstein came to the United States in 1933 to teach at the Institute for Advanced Studies and lived at 112 Mercer St. until his death in 1955.

Though he was never a faculty member at the University, Einstein did have a temporary office in the old Fine Hall, home of the University's mathematics department while the institute's main building was being constructed.

Benarde lived in Princeton for 30 years and has been campaigning for an Einstein statue in the Borough since 1993. His proposal for a monument to Einstein at Borough Hall was finally approved in May 2001.

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"Things move slowly in Princeton," Martindell said.

There was some opposition to the monument, he said. One argument against the proposed statue invoked Einstein's humility. It was argued that the man who specifically said he did not want his house on Mercer Street turned into a museum would not want to be immortalized in a statue either.

Benarde refuted that idea with evidence that Einstein sat for portrait artists and sculptors during his lifetime, Martindell said.

The Einstein Fund has bigger plans than just the statue, including a scholarship fund for students interested in science and music and to support local non-profit groups wanting to buy material on Einstein's work for public use.