The story behind the eccentric photo of Einstein sticking out his tongue

This is one of the most famous photos on the Internet and has been used to insert countless memes. And do you really know the story behind it?

When you mention Albert Einstein , what comes to mind first? Relativity? Nobel Prize? Side story with Tesla? A scientist, a rich guy or someone with a funny face, typically a photo of him sticking out his tongue while staring at the camera?

Einstein liked this photo very much and used it to attach it to his personal greeting card.

This photo was taken on March 14, 1951, on his 72nd birthday, and the Guardian called it "one of the most famous press photos of the 20th century" . At Princeton University, after being tired of 'laughing' all night with dozens of photographers, Einstein was about to leave the event and sit in the backseat of the car with Dr. Frank Aydelotte. According to the story, he tried to shout 'enough ', but no one listened, everyone was still crowded around the car, so Einstein stuck out his tongue in the blink of an eye before walking away.

This moment was captured by Arthur Sasse of UPI (United Press International) and Einstein loved it. He asked UPI to provide nine prints and used them to attach to personal greeting cards. The photo as we see is not the original one but was cut out so that only his face remained, and then became the icon it is today. Among the prints, there is still one that he signed for a reporter. In 2017, this painting was sold at the auction house for a total of 125,000 USD.