Tag Archives: obscure monuments

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Obscure Monuments and Memorials

Photo courtesy of
‘Albert Einstein’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Having lived in the District for several years, and considering myself pretty knowledgeable about how to get around the city, I’m always happy to point tourists in the right direction when they’re wandering around lost.  But this past weekend, I was stumped– I was asked for directions to the Titanic Memorial, and I had no idea that such a memorial even existed in the District.  If I hadn’t heard about that one, what else was I missing out on?

If you know where the obscure Albert Einstein Memorial (above) is located, it’s easy to think you know where all of the monuments and memorials in the District are.  But would you believe that there’s a monument dedicated to Maine lobstermen here?  Or a park dedicated to Sonny Bono?  Or a memorial showing a fireman being run over? Let me just go ahead and confirm the myth– all these things exist.  Read on to find out what you’re missing!
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Monumental, The Features
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Monumental: Albert Einstein

Photo courtesy of
‘Albert Einstein Memorial Statue’
courtesy of ‘bbmcder94’

Tucked across the street near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall and completely overshadowed by the nearby Lincoln Memorial sits a memorial to Albert Einstein. Located on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences on Constitution Avenue, the bronze statue lounges in a small grove of elm and holly trees on a circular-stepped dais.

The statue honoring the physicist was unveiled in 1979 on the centennial of Einstein’s birth. The figure weighs four tons, sits twelve feet high and holds a paper with three of the scientist’s most important mathematical equations: the photoelectric effect, the theory of relativity and the equivalence of energy and matter. Three of his more famous quotations are engraved on the bench where the statue is seated. Continue reading →