Of all the people I’d expect to be checking out floats in Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses parade, Albert Einstein wouldn’t have been high on my list. Nevertheless, here he is with his wife Elsa, who looks like she’s been given some roses of her own. The theme that year was “Nations in Flowers” so it’s understandable that they’d visit the Germany float. At that time things were getting dicey back home under Hitler and the Einsteins were in the process of deciding to emigrate to the US. According to one report I read, the Germany float was the winning entry that year, which must have pleased them.

John W. says: “In 1932, Albert Einstein was spending his second winter as a visiting scholar at Caltech in Pasadena. He described the city as a “paradise. Always sunshine and clear air, gardens with palms and pepper trees and friendly people who smile at one and ask for autographs. The theme of the Rose Parade that year was “Nations in Flowers.” After the parade the famous Nobel Prize winner stopped by to admire the award-winning float “Germany,” which represented a scene from his home country’s Black Forest region According to an article from the Glendale News Press, Einstein complimented float designer Georgia Chobe on her work and “expressed appreciation of the sympathetic understanding accorded Germany by an American designer.” Ms. Chobe had taken on the job after her husband passed away. Einstein spent three winters at Caltech, from 1931 to 1933. In January 1933, only a year after this photo taken, Adolph Hitler would be elected Chancellor of Germany and Einstein would never return to Germany.”