Physicist. Born March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. Einstein grew up in Munich, where his father, Hermann, owned a small electrochemical factory. The strict discipline of German schools did not appeal to the young Einstein, who was a poor student but conducted his own studies of philosophy, math, and science. In 1895, after Hermann’s busines failed, the Einstein family moved to Milan, Italy. Albert stayed behind to continue his studies, but soon left school with no diploma to rejoin his family. He continued his independent studies, teaching himself calculus and higher scientific principles. After failing his first entrance examination to the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Einstein gained admittance in 1896 and began his four years studying physics and mathematics.
After his graduation in 1900, Einstein became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1901 and got a job as a technical assistant at the Swiss patent office in Bern. In 1903, he married his university sweetheart, Mileva Maric. While employed at the patent office, Einstein continued his own investigations in theoretical physics. In 1905, he published an article entitled “A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions” in the well-known German physics monthly Annalen der Physik. The article earned him a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich. That same year, Einstein published four other papers in Annalen, including his revolutionary theory that light exists in both waves and particles. His major proposal of 1905, however, was his special theory of relativity, which dismissed the traditional notion that time and space were absolute concepts, suggesting instead that both time and space vary with circumstances.

Einstein worked as a professor of physics at universities in Prague and Zurich before moving to Berlin in 1914 with his wife and two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard. He took a post at the Prussian Academy of Sciences, where he could continue his research and lecture at the University of Berlin. Unhappy with life in Berlin, his wife Mileva returned to Switzerland with their sons near the beginning of World World I; their separation led to a divorce in 1919. Einstein married his second cousin, Elsa Lowenthal, later that year.

In 1915, Einstein perfected his general theory of relativity, summing up his theory with the mathematical equation E=mc² (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). His findings on relativity were published in The Principle of Relativity, Sidelights on Relativity, and The Meaning of Relativity. In November 1919, the Royal Society of London announced that their experiment conducted during the solar eclipse of that year had confirmed the predictions Einstein made in his general theory of relativity. The implications of this announcement shook the world of science and earned Einstein the international acclaim he had long deserved.

Controversy continued to surround his scientific theories, as well as his political convictions, which became more pronounced as his fame increased. In the years following WWI, he received a great deal of criticism within Germany for his theories, as well as his active support of pacifism (including the League of Nations), liberalism, and Zionism. He traveled a great deal to deliver lectures on relativity, touring Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Einstein first toured the United States in the spring of 1921, in order to raise money for the Palestine Foundation Fund.

In 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. He was cited by the prize committee “for your photoelectric law and your work in the field of theoretical physics.” There was no mention of his still-controversial work with relativity, which would become his most enduring legacy. From the 1920s on, Einstein worked to unify concepts of gravity and electromagnetism into a “grand unified theory of physics,” or a single mathematical formula to relate the universal properties of matter and energy—a quest that would remain unfulfilled.

Meanwhile, Einstein’s legendary pacifism only strengthened during the years before World War II. He was exceedingly distressed by the failure of the 1932 World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, and later began a famous correspondence with Sigmund Freud about man’s inherent love of war. In 1933, just after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Einstein renounced German citizenship and emigrated to America, where he was offered a full-time position at the newly-founded Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Early on, Einstein recognized the serious threat to world security posed by Hitler and Nazism. Despite his history of pacifism, he publicly urged European nations to ready themselves for defense. Realizing the implications of a possible Axis victory, he urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to step up nuclear fission research in the U.S. Though he played no direct part in the development of the atomic bomb and was publicly horrified by its use in Japan in 1945 and its implications for the future of war, his name and research were inextricably linked to the dawning of the age of atomic power.

After Elsa’s death in 1936, Einstein lived alone in Princeton, throwing himself even more completely into political activism. He joined other scientists in a push to prevent future use of atomic weapons, proposing the establishment of a system of world government that would provide “the binding authority necessary for world security.” He also denounced McCarthyism and called for an end to bigotry and racism, and was widely criticized for his liberal views among the anxious age of the Cold War. He died on April 18, 1955, at the age of 76.

(biographỵcom)