PRINCETON: Weekend events celebrate Einstein, math, science

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   A Community Park Elementary School fifth grader was crowned king of the math nerds at the Mathlete competition this weekend during Geek Freak weekend.
   But it wasn’t his win that impressed 10-year-old Benjamin Qi’s parents, it was the fact the youth had the moxie to show off his math genius at the third annual Pi Day celebration in Princeton.
   ”This is the first time I’ve seen him perform,” said Zhenhao Qi, his proud father. “I’m very excited to see his fast response. I’m not that fast. He exceeded my expectations.”
   His mother, Hui, continued to heap on the praise.
   ”I’m happy for him. He had the courage to join the contest. That is more important (than winning),” she said.
   Benjamin, who wants to be either a mathematician or scientist, decided to enter the contest on Saturday morning when he woke up.
   Pi Day celebrates math and science on Albert Einstein’s birthday — March 14, or 3.14, the numeric equivalent of pi. Prof. Einstein lived in Princeton for more 20 years after fleeing the Nazis in Germany. He remained in Princeton until his death in 1955.
   There were multiple birthday parties for Prof. Einstein and since the genius was known to hate socks, a no-sock Sock Hop was held at the YWCA with the band Pi Fight.
   Trolley rides that toured Prof. Einstein’s neighborhood and the Institute for Advanced Study, where he did much of his theoretical thinking, was a big hit among the visitors, filling to capacity for each half-hour ride.
   ”We wanted to do the trolley tour,” said Lauren Kim, a Hightstown mother who came with her 8-year-old twin daughters. “The kids are interested in Einstein, they both read biographies. I wanted to learn more about his life and see where he worked and hearing the little facts about him — his divorce and marrying his cousin. I’m going to have to read more about his life.”
   The tour focused on Prof. Einstein’s homes on Library Place and Mercer Street and dispensed quirky facts such as that Prof. Einstein never leaned to drive, loved to sail in Lake Carnegie and couldn’t deal with money. The scientist with bushy white hair also had a police record in Princeton Borough because he constantly got lost when walking and would knock on random doors and ask to use the telephone to call his secretary.
   An estimated more than 6,000 people attended the weekend-long activities.
   Six-year-old Alisa Deczynski took top honors in the childrens’ violin contest.
   This year’s adult Pi recitation winner was a repeat victor, reciting 2,222 digits of the never-ending number. Brian Stevens, a Pennsylvania resident, took home his second win at Pi Day Princeton.
   Thirteen-year-old Juliette Van Schaik, was another Pi recitation winner, reciting 1,705 digits in her 7- to 13-year-old category. Her friend Brooke Greenstein, 14, won the teen category with 420 digits.
   The Einstein Look-A-Like Contest was swept away by 4-year-old Jayden Hunt of Cream Ridge and triple winner Joe Lepis of New York City in the adult division.
   Local baker Dan Antony of Terra Momo Bread Company won the pie contest with a Pina Colada pie. The contest was judged by citizens .
   Pie-eating contest winners included Elizabeth Holt in the adult category; Disha Hedge, for the second year in a row, in the youth teen category and a tie in the 4- to 8- year old youths between Henry Wilkinson and Sawyer Cano of Princeton.
   Organizers gushed about the town embracing the quirky celebration.
   ”It was a complete success! This town really knows how to come together,” said Mimi Omiecinski, co-founder of Pi Day. “Each event was standing room only and we were thrilled to have more contestants for each event this year. We’re already masterminding the 2013/2014/2015/etc. schedules! Pi Day Princeton is here to stay!”
   Literary geeks, or Einstein book authors, also held court at the library. Alan Lightman, author of “Einstein’s Dreams” gave a talk. Authors Alice Calaprice, Freeman Dyson, Robert Schulmann, Linda Arntzenius and Josef Eisinger all signed copies of their books.