I could write up fiction and call it a true story aswell. The important question is not if it claims to be a true story but if it IS a true story. And there is much evidence speaking against it and none speaking in favour for it.

I think it is quite likely that if something like this happened in real life and you told the story to someone who then told the story to someone else and so on. The first time it might work well since the one telling is an eyewitness. The secound time it will be a bit strained. The third time the story has lost some of its power. Who cares about what Joe Jones in Averageville did in class (unless you know him personally)? But if Joe Jones in Averageville is replaced with, say Albert Einstein? Ah, the story works again.

And furthermore, I dont think this story requires such an event to have happened at all. As you read in the Snopes page, it follows the standard mold a bit to closely to indicate a real life precedence.

Thomas

The story was interesting on its own. The legend part is that Einstein was the student.
But is the "laws of physics" part correct?

I think generally yes. Heath or warmth is the movement of atoms. The more they move, the warmer it is. And light is either seen as photons moving or electromagnetic waves within a defined spectra. And the two are connected in such a way that these electromagnetic waves are generated by either the nuclear collapse of atoms or when the atom is charged with too much energy and is released when the atoms energy levels go down to more manageable levels again.

As I think the highschool explanation would be.

The part about cold being the absence of heat is correct. In order to make a room colder (or a refrigerator), warmth must be removed.

Then the only question seems to be the true story part in connection with Albert Einstein?

With that was the punchline of the story. If you take that away, you don't have much of a story. You might as well just say something like, "Just as cold is the absence of heat, and does not exist as an entity unto itself, so is evil the absence of good, which cannot stand alone."

As far as I know, Einstein was an atheist, or agnostic at best. But I don't think "Einstein" is the most interesting part of the story.

I think the physics part is accurate. Darkness is a lack of light and coldness is a lack of heat.

What's interesting to me is the assertion that evil is the lack of God (or good). Did Satan become "evil" because he expelled God from his heart? Are we evil, and do evil things because we are not led by the Spirit of God?

In contrast, if we allow God into our hearts, and follow His lead, what will happen to our evil characteristics and actions? Will it be like the darkness that is eradicated by light? Will it be like the cold that is overcome by heat? I am reminded of phrases such as, "By beholding we are changed" and "Whoever is born of God cannot sin because His Seed remains in him."