Banesh Hoffmann, Author and Mathematician, Dies; Wrote Einstein Biography

Banesh Hoffmann, a physicist, mathematician and colleague and biographer of Albert Einstein, died in his New York City home. He was 79.

Hoffmann, who died Tuesday, was also known as a leading critic of multiple-choice testing, which he branded as superficial examinations of knowledge in his 1962 book, “The Tyranny of Testing.”

His other books included “The Strange Story of the Quantum” in 1947 and “Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel” in 1972.

In 1935, Hoffmann joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, where he worked with Einstein and Polish physicist Leopold Infeld on a paper called “Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion.”

Einstein, an amateur violinist, and Hoffmann, an amateur pianist, played duets on occasion.

“They both could read pretty well, and they both seemed to enjoy it, but it wasn’t for anyone to hear,” said Hoffmann’s wife, Doris.

Hoffmann, born in 1906 in Richmond, England, was the only son of Polish immigrants. While at Oxford University, he was invited to go to Princeton and work as research associate to Dr. Oswald Veblen, a mathematics professor. He later received a doctorate in mathematics and physics from Princeton.