Alexander Moszkowski (15 January 1851 – 26 September 1934) was a German satirist, writer and philosopher also of Polish-Jewish descent. He was the brother of the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and pianist Moritz Moszkowski. He was a friend of many celebrities in Berlin, among them the theoretical physicist

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

, about whom he was the first to publish a book in the summer of 1920 and consequently popularize the

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...

. In his autobiography he wrote: "At the beginning of the 20th century the question of the conceivability of other worlds with modified physics and mathematics will be highly employed."Palm, Goedart,
Alexander Moszkowski
'' Telepolis Magazin (2005)

Life

He was born on 15 January 1851 in Pilica, near Prussia-Russia border. His parents emigrated the following year to Breslau where he grew up with his brother Moritz, who later achieved fame as a pianist and composer. As a young man Alexander Moszkowski moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

where he met Julius Stettenheim, who noticed his qualities as a writer and hired him for his satirical magazine ''Berliner Wespen'', in which he worked from 1877 until 1886. However, there being many differences between Stettenheim and him, he founded his own satirical magazine, the '' Lustige Blätter,'' which reached large print runs particularly in the

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

of the time. Moszkowski was from 1892 a member of the ''Gesellschaft der Freunde.'' He was a personality of the Berliner society, and with celebrities such as Albert Einstein, he was among the first writers to bring the Theory of Relativity to a wider audience. He died on 26 September 1934 in Berlin.

Works

In addition to his satirical works, the work of Moszkowski includes many popular

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

, philosophy and science-fiction books like his 1922 novel ''Die Inseln der Weisheit'' ('' The Islands of Wisdom''), in which he prophetically described mobile telephones and

holography Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interfe ...

and the acceleration of our present-day high-tech information society. Scharwenka - Notenquetscher

*''Marinirte Zeitgeschichte, Gesammelte Humoresken'' (1884) *''Anton Notenquetscher's Lustige Fahrten'' (1895) *''Das Buch der 1000 Wunder '' (1916) *''Sokrates der Idiot'' (1917) *''Der Sprung über den Schatten'' (1917) *''Die Ehe im Rückfall und andere Anzüglichkeiten'' (1918) *''Das Geheimnis der Sprache'' (1920) *''Die Welt von der Kehrseite'' (1920) *''Der Venuspark, Phantasien über Liebe und Philosophie'' (1920) *''Fröhlicher Jammer, Ein Vortrags-Brevier'' (1922) *''Das Panorama meines Lebens'' (1924)

References

Sources

*''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia. A List of contributors can be found there at the''

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

''section''.

External links

*
Moszkowski.de
Website in honor of Alexander Moszkowski
Einstein, the Searcher – His Work Explained From Dialogues With Einstein
at Readanybook.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Moszkowski, Alexander 1851 births 1934 deaths 19th-century Polish Jews German satirists German satirical novelists German science fiction writers German philosophers of science Jewish philosophers 19th-century German philosophers 19th-century German writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire Immigrants to the Kingdom of Prussia 20th-century German philosophers 20th-century German novelists German male novelists 19th-century German male writers 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers German magazine founders