The Indian Connection: Tagore and Gandhi

Einstein used to refer jokingly to Rabindranath Tagore as Rabbi Tagore. The two men met each other for the first time in Germany shortly after the First World War. On July 1930 they met again at Einstein's summer house in Caputh near Berlin (see picture below), where they held a philosophical colloquy that has been published both in the United States and in India. They met once again on 14^th December 1930 during Einstein's visit to New York city (For details on their meeting one may refer "Einstein Lived Here" by Abraham Pais, Oxford University Press, 1994)

Einstein and Gandhi never met face to face. Their correspondence consists of one letter by Einstein to Gandhi and one letter of reply. However Einstein frequently referred with great respect, though not always critically, to Gandhi's ideas.