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Albert Einstein (

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the pillars of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to theoretical physics, especially his discovery of the photoelectric effect. Einstein immigrated to the United States in 1933 to escape Nazi Germany and became an American citizen. He is best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has greatly influenced modern physics.

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54 views

Albert Einstein (

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the pillars of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to theoretical physics, especially his discovery of the photoelectric effect. Einstein immigrated to the United States in 1933 to escape Nazi Germany and became an American citizen. He is best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has greatly influenced modern physics.

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Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (/ˈaɪnstaɪn/ EYEN-styne;[4] German: [ˈalbɛʁt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March


1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist[5] who developed the theory of
relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).[3][6]:274 His
work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.[7][8] He is best known to the
general public for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has been dubbed
"the world's most famous equation".[9] He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his
services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric
effect",[10] a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
The son of a salesman who later operated an electrochemical factory, Einstein was born in
the German Empire, but moved to Switzerland in 1895 and renounced his German
citizenship in 1896. Specializing in physics and mathematics, he received his academic
teaching diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School (German: eidgenössische
polytechnische Schule) in Zürich in 1900. The following year, he acquired Swiss citizenship,
which he kept for his entire life. After initially struggling to find work, from 1902 to 1909 he
was employed as a patent examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer
enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic
field. This led him to develop his special theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss
Patent Office. There is evidence—from Einstein's own writings—that he collaborated with his
first wife, Mileva Marić on this work. The decision to publish only under his name seems to
have been mutual, but the exact reason is unknown.[11] In 1905, called his annus
mirabilis (miracle year), he published four groundbreaking papers, which attracted the
attention of the academic world; the first outlined the theory of the photoelectric effect, the
second paper explained Brownian motion, the third paper introduced special relativity, and
the fourth mass-energy equivalence. That year, at the age of 26, he was awarded a PhD by
the University of Zurich.
Although initially treated with skepticism from many in the scientific community, Einstein's
works gradually came to be recognised as significant advancements. He was invited to teach
theoretical physics at the University of Bern in 1908 and the following year moved to the
University of Zurich, then in 1911 to Charles University in Prague before returning to ETH
(the newly renamed Federal Polytechnic School) in Zürich in 1912. In 1914, he was elected
to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, where he remained for 19 years. Soon after
publishing his work on special relativity, Einstein began working to extend the theory to
gravitational fields; he then published a paper on general relativity in 1916, introducing his
theory of gravitation. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and
quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules.
He also investigated the thermal properties of light and the quantum theory of radiation, the
basis of the laser, which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, he applied
the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe.[12][13]
In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to power. Because
of his Jewish background, Einstein did not return to Germany.[14] He settled in the United
States and became an American citizen in 1940.[15] On the eve of World War II, he endorsed
a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting FDR to the potential development of
"extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the US begin similar
research. This eventually led to the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported the Allies, but he
generally denounced the idea of using nuclear fission as a weapon. He signed the Russell–
Einstein Manifesto with British philosopher Bertrand Russell, which highlighted the danger of
nuclear weapons. He was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New
Jersey, until his death in 1955.
He published more than 300 scientific papers and more than 150 non-scientific works.[12]
[16]
 His intellectual achievements and originality have made the word "Einstein" synonymous
with "genius".[17] Eugene Wigner compared him to his contemporaries, writing that "Einstein's
understanding was deeper even than Jancsi von Neumann's. His mind was both more
penetrating and more original than von Neumann's."[18]

Albert Einstein

Einstein in 1921

Born 14 March 1879

Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German

Empire

Died 18 April 1955 (aged 76)

Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Kingdom of Württemberg, part of


Citizenship
the German Empire (1879–1896)[note 1]
Stateless (1896–1901)

Switzerland (1901–1955)

Austria, part of the Austro-


Hungarian Empire (1911–1912)
Kingdom of Prussia, part of the

German Empire (1914–1918)[note 1]


Free State of Prussia (Germany,

1918–1933)

United States (1940–1955)

Education Federal Polytechnic

School in Zurich (Federal teaching diploma,

1900)

University of Zurich (PhD, 1905)

Known for General relativity

Special relativity

Photoelectric effect

E=mc2 (Mass–energy equivalence)

E=hf (Planck–Einstein relation)

Theory of Brownian motion

Einstein field equations

Bose–Einstein statistics

Bose–Einstein condensate

Gravitational wave

Cosmological constant

Unified field theory


EPR paradox

Ensemble interpretation

List of other concepts


Mileva Marić
Spouse(s)

(m. 1903; div. 1919)

Elsa Löwenthal

(m. 1919; died[1][2] 1936)
Children "Lieserl" Einstein

Hans Albert Einstein

Eduard "Tete" Einstein

Awards Barnard Medal (1920)

Nobel Prize in Physics (1921)

Matteucci Medal (1921)

ForMemRS (1921)[3]

Copley Medal (1925)[3]

Gold Medal of the Royal

Astronomical Society (1926)
Max Planck Medal (1929)

Member of the National Academy

of Sciences (1942)

Time Person of the Century (1999)

Scientific career

Fields Physics, philosophy

Institutions Swiss Patent Office (Bern) (1902–

1909)
University of Bern (1908–1909)

University of Zurich (1909–1911)

Charles University in

Prague (1911–1912)
ETH Zurich (1912–1914)

Prussian Academy of

Sciences (1914–1933)
Humboldt University of

Berlin (1914–1933)
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (director,

1917–1933)
German Physical

Society (president, 1916–1918)
Leiden University (visits, 1920)

Institute for Advanced


Study (1933–1955)
Caltech (visits, 1931–1933)

University of Oxford (visits, 1931–

1933)

Thesis Eine neue Bestimmung der

Moleküldimensionen  (A New Determination

of Molecular Dimensions) (1905)

Doctoral advisor Alfred Kleiner

Other academic Heinrich Friedrich Weber

advisors

Influences Arthur Schopenhauer

Baruch Spinoza

Bernhard Riemann

David Hume

Ernst Mach

Hendrik Lorentz

Hermann Minkowski

Isaac Newton

James Clerk Maxwell

Michele Besso

Moritz Schlick

Thomas Young

Influenced Virtually all modern physics

Signature

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