Albert Einstein

Biography

Albert Einstein was an incredibly clever man with a very enquiring mind. Most people would agree that he remains the most famous and talented scientist ever to have lived. All those discoveries he made years ago still help us understand our universe and the events that happen in it today. Einstein showed great promise from an early age – although he apparently wasn’t keen on school! At just 5 years old he became intrigued by a compass his father had bought him, trying to work out just why the needle always pointed north. Einstein got a job checking out other people’s inventions because he couldn’t find work as a teacher but at the same time he was working on his own scientific ideas. He came up with some amazing theories about light, matter, gravity, space, and time.

The group of papers he wrote while working at the Patent Office in Bern showed just what a great scientific thinker Einstein was. He discovered new ways to work out the size of molecules, explained how particles move and made new discoveries about light. Einstein probably remains most famous for his ‘theory of relativity’ and perhaps the most famous mathematical equation ever written, E = mc² – which means Energy (e) equals mass (m) times the speed of light, squared (c²). His theory is even difficult for grown-ups to fully understand! But the equation shows that mass can be turned into energy and vice versa. Because the speed of light squared is such a huge number, it means that even a small amount of mass can be turned into a huge amount of energy!

Albert Einstein died at the age of 76 from heart failure on 18 April 1955. He had hoped to pull all his ideas together into one big theory before he died but he didn’t achieve that goal. After he died, Einstein’s brain was removed and preserved and research was carried out on it to see if there was a reason for his genius!

Timeline of Einstein's Life

• 1879 - Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Germany, the first child of Hermann and Pauline Einstein.
• 1880 - The Einstein family moves to Munich, Germany.
• 1885 - Einstein enrolls in the second grade of a Catholic elementary school called the Petersschule. He receives Jewish religious instruction at home and also begins taking violin lessons.
• 1888 - Einstein is accepted at the Luitpold Gymnasium
• 1889 - The medical student Max Talmud begins joining the Einstein family regularly for dinner and introduces Albert to scientific and philosophical writings.
• 1894 - The Einstein family moves to Milan, Italy, but Einstein remains in Munich to complete his education at the Gymnasium.
• 1895 - After failing the entry exam for the Zurich Polytechnic, Einstein is accepted to the trade department of the cantonal school in Aarau, Switzerland. He lives with the family of Jost Winteler, a teacher in Aarau.
• 1896 - Einstein's officially renounces his German citizenship.
• 1900 - Einstein receives his diploma as a mathematics teacher and starts work on his doctoral thesis.
• 1901 - Einstein officially becomes a Swiss citizen.
• 1902 - Lieserl, Einstein and Mileva Maric's illegitimate daughter, is born in Hungary.
• 1903 - Einstein forms the Olympia Academy with his friends Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht.
• 1905 - Einstein completes his paper on quantum theory.
• 1910 - Eduard, the Einsteins' second son, is born in Zurich.
• 1912 - Einstein is appointed professor of theoretical physics at the Zurich Polytechnic.
• 1914 - Einstein signs a "Manifesto to the Europeans" advocating his pacifist and internationalist ideals. He also completes his formulation of the general theory of relativity.
• 1917 - The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics begins operating under Einstein's management.
• 1919 - Einstein and Mileva obtain a divorce.
• 1921 - Einstein visits the U.S. for the first time on a fund- raising tour for the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
• 1927 - Einstein begins debating with Bohr about the new quantum mechanics at the Solvay Conference in Brussels.
• 1933 - Einstein moves to the United States with his wife and his secretary Helen Dukas.
• 1939 - Einstein signs a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging the acceleration of atomic bomb development.
• 1940 - Einstein becomes an American citizen.
• 1955 - Einstein dies in New Jersey. His body is cremated and his papers turned over to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.