Einstein on Bees

A lot of you have probably been hearing the 'buzz' about the disappearing bees. Almost every news story prints a quote attributed to Albert Einstein. The quote goes: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left."

I was reading DailyKos and some commenter said that Einstein did not make that quote which I'm inclined to believe. So I googled the phrase and couldn't find anything to say where it came from. I searched google groups and couldn't find any post before 2002. Since Usenet groups go way back I figured someone would have quoted it before 2002. Here is a link to the oldest story I could find with the quote:

http://www.cyberbee.net/news/mites.htm

Does anyone know if Einstein actually said this (I don't think he did) or who actually first said this? I can guess why someone would falsely attribute the quote to Einstein. Because it would carry more weight.

I did find one quote that I think can be reasonably attributed to him about bees http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm:

"It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees."

[snopes]

There's nary an entry in The New Quotable Einstein that mentions the word "bees." The closet match is a 1922 statement that referenced beetles:

"When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a curved branch, it doesn't notice that the track it has covered is indeed curved. I was lucky enough to notice what the beetle didn't notice."

- snopes

[KathyB]

A blogger tried to find the source. Einstein quote. He traced it to an article in a German Journal. [Elsewhere, you can find the original quote in a translation of an articel in Der Speigel. Are GM Crops Killing Bees?. The German is

dann hat der Mensch nur noch vier Jahre zu leben; keine Bienen mehr, keine Bestäubung mehr, keine Pflanzen mehr, keine Tiere mehr, keine Menschen mehr.

The blogger concludes

The footnote [in the journal article] that looks like it might offer a source for the quote just says, "for more in the theme of this paper see the position paper of the German Beekeeper's Federation, in 'Genetic Agriculture and Professional Beekeeping', from December 2003", with a pointer of where to download it.

Quoted in The Independent in England


"The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left"."

I really don't think he said this, and it is spreading like wildfire with this bee situation.

[Bonnie]

Perhaps a French snopester (or at least someone who writes well in French) wouldn't mind contacting somebody at the Union Nationale de l'Apiculture Française (see "Contacts") and inquiring about the origin of this quotation, which the UNAF has been toting around for more than a decade.

A pamphlet distributed [in Brussels] by the National Union of French Apiculture quoted Albert Einstein. "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!" [From Chris Mclaughlin's "Fearful Beekeepers Plead for Curbs on Honey Imports," The Scotsman, 25 January 1994.]

and

The beekeepers' warnings had some heavyweight expert support. A pamphlet distributed by the National Union of French Apiculture quoted Albert Einstein. "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live," Einstein was quoted as saying. "No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!" [From Paul Ames's report for the Associated Press, "Life's Not So Sweet for Europe's Embattled Beekeepers," 24 January 1994.]

Bonnie "Bee = mc²" Taylor

[James G]

BBC Radio 2 is quoting it today. No change there then. I'm convinced that 99% of the stuff they spout out on that station is urban legends.

[Don Enrico]

I googled the German quote KathyB found, but all it gave me were several versions of "like Einstein said", with no cite apart from citing news-outlets that gave no cite themselves.

Don Enrico

[rlobinske]

No offense to Einstein, but he wasn't an entomologist or an ecologist. Even if he did say that, it doesn't prove that the statement is accurate.

Bees are very important pollinators, but they are not the only ones. Other insects can and will continue pollinating flowers even if honeybees disappear.

[Don Enrico]

Originally Posted by rlobinske

No offense to Einstein, but he wasn't an entomologist or an ecologist. Even if he did say that, it doesn't prove that the statement is accurate.

But don't you know that Einstein was a GENIUS, and every statement backed up with a (uncited) quote of Einstein becomes true immediatly?



Don "'Believe him, he's telling the truth!- A. Einstein" Enrico

Well, the other day hen I posted here, I emailed, the man who put the quote in his paper back in 2003. I asked him where he found the quote and he said he found it in a book of Einstein quotes and that the full quote is as follows:

"Wenn die Biene von der Erde verschwindet, dann hat der Mensch nur noch
vier Jahre zu leben. Keine Bienen mehr, keine Bestäubung mehr, keine Pflanzen mehr, keine Tiere mehr, keine Menschen mehr."

He suggested I google the quote for sources. I don't speak German, but what I found mostly seemed to be recent blog postings regarding the bee die off, and this:

http://www.herd-und-hof.de/index/cmd...ow/20/search//

which I had a friend who speaks German look over and she says that it questions the quote and believes it was invented for political gain, but they don't know where it originated. If anyone can do a better interpreting job, please do so.

I emailed back the paper's author to ask him for the name of the book and told him I'd like to quote him here regarding it. He hasn't replied as of yet. I believe he's telling the truth that he found the quote in a book, but I'd be very interested in finding out the name of it, since I'm not finding this anywhere else. I also emailed the proprietor of an Einstein website, but I have not heard back from him either.

[Don Enrico]

The website seems to belong to an agricultural publishing house and looks rather trustworthy to me. The relevant part of the article you linked is:

So wurden von Herd-und-Hof.de vier internationale Forschungseinrichtungen und ein Verband danach befragt, ob sie das Zitat kennen, schon einmal verwendet haben und eine Quellenangabe hätten? Nicht alle haben geantwortet, aber das Ergebnis ist eindeutig: Jeder kennt das Zitat, es wird auch schon mal „aus politischen Gründen“ verwendet, aber jeder hat Zweifel, dass es auch von Einstein stammt.
Dabei haben die Autoren der Antworten schon vorher heftig durch unterschiedliche Archivsuchen versucht, dass Zitat "dingfest“ zu machen. Von „weitgehend verschlossenen Archiven“ bis zum aktuellsten Einstein-Zitatebuch gab es keine Quellenangabe, dass der Physiker es einmal gesagt hat.

My translation:

Herd-und-Hof.de asked four international research establishments and one association whether they knew the quote, had used it before and had a cite. Not all of them did answer, but the outcome is clear: Everybody knows the quote, it may be used "for political reasons" sometimes, but everybody doubts that it originates from Einstein.
The authors of the answers had even tried to "nail down" the quote by searching different archives. From "largely closed archives" to the latest book on Einstein quotes no cite was found that the physicist ever said something like that.

According to that, we can positivly state the the quote in the OP isn't from Einstein.

Don Enrico

[charlie23]

Discovery Channel Europe is currently using it in one of their TV ads as well.

[Ana Ng]

Did anyone see Bill Maher's New Rules this week? He spoke about it.

The clip's not up yet, but I'll have a look.

[geminilee]

I did. He cited Einstein and completely overlooked the role other animals play in pollination

[snopes]

A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is now wiping out bees across the U.S.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...927458130.html

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070106/bob9.asp

"At least 75 percent of the 4,500 bee species in the United States and Canada live solitary lives."

"They may offer alternatives to honeybees as pollinators for crops. And research is starting to reveal their importance in the wild."

So, no made who made that quote I think we will live longer than 4 years after the death of honeybees.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Duckie Queen

So, no matter who made that quote I think we will live longer than 4 years after the death of honeybees.

Perhaps, but the quote refers to the disappearance of all bees, not just honeybees in particular.

- snopes

[rlobinske]

Originally Posted by snopes

Perhaps, but the quote refers to the disappearance of all bees, not just honeybees in particular.

- snopes

An extremely unlikely occurance unless there is a very broad mass extinction event. There are over 3500 species and many different families of bees in North America alone.

Even then, there are many other species of insects and other animals that act as plant pollinators.

[Eddylizard]

Perhaps we need an electrical engineer to explain it.

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

But don't you know that Einstein was a GENIUS, and every statement backed up with a (uncited) quote of Einstein becomes true immediatly?



Don "'Believe him, he's telling the truth!- A. Einstein" Enrico

As Einstein said, "Hairdressers are unnecessary."