Space Time Playground

"The central concept in the theory of relativity replaces earlier concepts of space and time as separate absolute entities. In space-time, events in the universe are described in terms of a four-dimensional continuum in which each observer locates an event by three spacelike coordinates and a timelike coordinate. Time is not absolute but is relative to the observer."

This site was renamed in 1996 for the concept first coined in 1905 by the physicist Albert Einstein, for whom the adjacent J.H.S. 131 is named. The land was acquired by the city in 1963. The playground has been jointly operated by Parks and the Board of Education since it was built, along with the school, in 1972. Albert Einstein (1879-1955), one of the greatest theoretical physicists of all time, was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. He is best known for his special and general theories of relativity as well as for his contributions to the kinetic theory of matter and the theory of specific heats. He was also one of the pioneers of quantum theory.

Einstein, who did not excel in his early schooling, graduated from the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland in 1900. It was not until 1905, while working full time in a patent office, that he first published scholarly papers on the subjects that would transform modern science. By 1919 Einstein had attained an international reputation for his work on the photo-electric effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

Seeking asylum from the persecution of Jews in Germany, Einstein made a permanent home and career in the United States, attaining citizenship in 1941. In the 1930s he accepted a permanent post at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey where, in addition to making scientific advances, the avid pacifist concerned himself with the social consequences of science and control of nuclear weapons. Einstein died in Princeton on April 18, 1955.

The playground was renovated in 1996-97 under a $592,000 Parks capital project funded by Bronx Councilmember Lucy Cruz. New features include wood and steel play equipment, asphalt and concrete pavement, fencing, basketball courts, game tables, spray showers and plantbeds.

Richard A. Daily Square

Richard Albert Daily (1956-1991) was a Bronx native and a graduate of Herbert H. Lehman High School. He received his B.S. degree in psychology from Lehman College in 1979. Daily worked as a railway clerk for the New York City Transit Authority from 1984 until his untimely death at the hands of a gunman on July 8, 1991.