Eisenstein biography
Biography from Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film Occupation: Director, theoretician Also: screenwriter, editor Birth Name: Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein Born: January 23, 1898, Riga, Latvia Died: February 10, 1948, Moscow, Russia Education: School of Fine Arts, Riga; Institute of Civil Engineering, Petrograd (architecture); Officers Engineering School (engineering); General Staff Academy, Moscow (Oriental languages); State School for Stage Direction As a youth, Sergei Eisenstein attended the science-oriented Realschule, to prepare himself for engineering school. However, he did find time for vigorous reading in Russian, German, English and French, as well as drawing cartoons and performing in a children's theater troupe which he founded. In 1915, he moved to Petrograd to continue his studies at the Institute of Civil Engineering, his father's alma mater. On his own, he also studied Renaissance art and attended avant-garde theater productions of Meyerhold and Yevreinov. After the February 1917 Revolution, he sold his first political cartoons, signed Sir Gay, to several magazines in Petrograd. He also served in the volunteer militia and in the engineering corps of the Russian army. Although there is little record that Eisenstein was immediately affected by the events of October 1917, in the spring of 1918 he did volunteer for the Red Army. His father joined the Whites and subsequently emigrated. While in the military, Eisenstein again managed to combine his service as a technician with study of theater, philosophy, psychology and linguistics. He staged and performed in several productions, for which he also designed sets and costumes. In 1920 Eisenstein left the army for the General Staff Academy in Moscow where he joined the First Workers' Theater of Proletcult as a scenic and costume designer. After he gained fame from his innovative work on a production of The Mexican, adapted from a Jack London story, Eisenstein enrolled in his idol Meyerhold's experim
Bates College
Sergei Eisenstein (Russian, 1898–1948)
Eisenstein was a director, screenwriter, and film theorist who was known for the montage. His famous films include Strike, Battleship Potemkin, October, Alexander Nevsky, and Ivan the Terrible. He studied architecture and engineering at the Petrograd Institute of Civil Engineering, before joining the Red Army in the Russian Civil War. Eisenstein later went to America under a contract with Paramount Pictures, but couldn’t see eye-to-eye with the studio. Instead, he spent time with Charlie Chaplin and socialist author Upton Sinclair, who would collaborate with him to film in Mexico, which ultimately became a failed pursuit.
Einstein had a fraught relationship with the leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, who thought the film maker was deserting his country with his prolonged absence. Unlike the ruling regime of Stalin, the director envisioned a new society which would subsidize artists and give them total freedom. The artist returned to Russian film through his historic epics. His impact remains through his use of what he called “methods of montage”—a collision of shots presented collage-style to manipulate the emotions of the audience and highlight metaphors. Einstein’s narratives addressed broad social issues like class conflict, utilizing untrained actors from the appropriate classes.
Gotthold Eisenstein
German mathematician (1823–1852)
Ferdinand Gotthold Max Eisenstein (16 April 1823 – 11 October 1852) was a German mathematician who made significant contributions to number theory and analysis. Born in Berlin, Prussia, to Jewish parents who converted to Protestantism before his birth, Eisenstein displayed exceptional mathematical talent from a young age.
Early life and education
Despite suffering from health problems, including meningitis, Eisenstein excelled academically. At 14, he attended Friedrich Werder Gymnasium. By age 15, he had mastered the mathematics curriculum. His teachers recognized his mathematical abilities, one quoted as saying:
His knowledge of mathematics goes far beyond the scope of the secondary school curriculum. His talent and zeal lead one to expect that some day he will make an important contribution to the development and expansion of science.
He then turned to the works of Leonhard Euler and Joseph-Louis Lagrange to study differential calculus.
While still a student, Eisenstein began attending lectures by Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and others at the University of Berlin. In 1843, he met William Rowan Hamilton in Dublin, who introduced him to Niels Henrik Abel's proof of the impossibility of solving fifth-degree polynomials, sparking his interest in mathematical research.
Contributions to mathematics (1843-1848)
Upon returning to Berlin in 1843, Eisenstein passed his graduation exams and enrolled in the University. Within a year, he presented his first work on cubic forms in two variables to the Berlin Academy. He also gained the patronage of Alexander von Humboldt, who secured grants to support Eisenstein's financial needs.
During this period, Eisenstein published numerous papers in Crelle's Journal, including two proofs of the law of quartic reciprocity and analogous laws for cubic and quartic reciprocity. He also visited Carl Friedrich Gauss in Göttingen and re
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