albert einstein biography

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Albert Einstein

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 16, 2019 | Original: October 27, 2009

The German-born physicist Albert Einstein developed the first of his groundbreaking theories while working as a clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern. After making his name with four scientific articles published in 1905, he went on to win worldwide fame for his general theory of relativity and a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his explanation of the phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect. An outspoken pacifist who was publicly identified with the Zionist movement, Einstein emigrated from Germany to the United States when the Nazis took power before World War II. He lived and worked in Princeton, New Jersey, for the remainder of his life.

Einstein’s Early Life (1879-1904)

Born on March 14, 1879, in the southern German city of Ulm, Albert Einstein grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in Munich. As a child, Einstein became fascinated by music (he played the violin), mathematics and science. He dropped out of school in 1894 and moved to Switzerland, where he resumed his schooling and later gained admission to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich. In 1896, he renounced his German citizenship, and remained officially stateless before becoming a Swiss citizen in 1901.

Did you know? Almost immediately after Albert Einstein learned of the atomic bomb's use in Japan, he became an advocate for nuclear disarmament. He formed the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists and backed Manhattan Project scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in his opposition to the hydrogen bomb.

While at Zurich Polytechnic, Einstein fell in love with his fellow student Mileva Maric, but his parents opposed the match and he lacked the money to marry. The couple had an illegitimate daughter, Lieserl, born in early 1902, of whom little is known. After finding a position as a clerk at the Swiss patent office in Bern, Einstein married Maric in 1903; they would have two more children, Hans Albert (born 1904) and Eduard (born 1910).

Einstein’s Miracle Year (1905)

While working at the patent office, Einstein did some of the most creative work of his life, producing no fewer than four groundbreaking articles in 1905 alone. In the first paper, he applied the quantum theory (developed by German physicist Max Planck) to light in order to explain the phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect, by which a material will emit electrically charged particles when hit by light. The second article contained Einstein’s experimental proof of the existence of atoms, which he got by analyzing the phenomenon of Brownian motion, in which tiny particles were suspended in water.

In the third and most famous article, titled “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” Einstein confronted the apparent contradiction between two principal theories of physics: Isaac Newton’s concepts of absolute space and time and James Clerk Maxwell’s idea that the speed of light was a constant. To do this, Einstein introduced his special theory of relativity, which held that the laws of physics are the same even for objects moving in different inertial frames (i.e. at constant speeds relative to each other), and that the speed of light is a constant in all inertial frames. A fourth paper concerned the fundamental relationship between mass and energy, concepts viewed previously as completely separate. Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2 (where “c” was the constant speed of light) expressed this relationship.

From Zurich to Berlin (1906-1932)

Einstein continued working at the patent office until 1909, when he finally found a full-time academic post at the University of Zurich. In 1913, he arrived at the University of Berlin, where he was made director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. The move coincided with the beginning of Einstein’s romantic relationship with a cousin of his, Elsa Lowenthal, whom he would eventually marry after divorcing Mileva. In 1915, Einstein published the general theory of relativity, which he considered his masterwork. This theory found that gravity, as well as motion, can affect time and space. According to Einstein’s equivalence principle–which held that gravity’s pull in one direction is equivalent to an acceleration of speed in the opposite direction–if light is bent by acceleration, it must also be bent by gravity. In 1919, two expeditions sent to perform experiments during a solar eclipse found that light rays from distant stars were deflected or bent by the gravity of the sun in just the way Einstein had predicted.

The general theory of relativity was the first major theory of gravity since Newton’s, more than 250 years before, and the results made a tremendous splash worldwide, with the London Times proclaiming a “Revolution in Science” and a “New Theory of the Universe.” Einstein began touring the world, speaking in front of crowds of thousands in the United States, Britain, France and Japan. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect, as his work on relativity remained controversial at the time. Einstein soon began building on his theories to form a new science of cosmology, which held that the universe was dynamic instead of static, and was capable of expanding and contracting.

Einstein Moves to the United States (1933-39)

A longtime pacifist and a Jew, Einstein became the target of hostility in Weimar Germany, where many citizens were suffering plummeting economic fortunes in the aftermath of defeat in the Great War. In December 1932, a month before Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Einstein made the decision to emigrate to the United States, where he took a position at the newly founded Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey . He would never again enter the country of his birth.

By the time Einstein’s wife Elsa died in 1936, he had been involved for more than a decade with his efforts to find a unified field theory, which would incorporate all the laws of the universe, and those of physics, into a single framework. In the process, Einstein became increasingly isolated from many of his colleagues, who were focused mainly on the quantum theory and its implications, rather than on relativity.

Einstein’s Later Life (1939-1955)

In the late 1930s, Einstein’s theories, including his equation E=mc2, helped form the basis of the development of the atomic bomb. In 1939, at the urging of the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt advising him to approve funding for the development of uranium before Germany could gain the upper hand. Einstein, who became a U.S. citizen in 1940 but retained his Swiss citizenship, was never asked to participate in the resulting Manhattan Project , as the U.S. government suspected his socialist and pacifist views. In 1952, Einstein declined an offer extended by David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s premier, to become president of Israel .

Throughout the last years of his life, Einstein continued his quest for a unified field theory. Though he published an article on the theory in Scientific American in 1950, it remained unfinished when he died, of an aortic aneurysm, five years later. In the decades following his death, Einstein’s reputation and stature in the world of physics only grew, as physicists began to unravel the mystery of the so-called “strong force” (the missing piece of his unified field theory) and space satellites further verified the principles of his cosmology.

HISTORY Vault: Secrets of Einstein's Brain

Originally stolen by the doctor trusted to perform his autopsy, scientists over the decades have examined the brain of Albert Einstein to try and determine what made this seemingly normal man tick.

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Biography Online

Albert Einstein Biography

Einstein is also well known as an original free-thinker, speaking on a range of humanitarian and global issues. After contributing to the theoretical development of nuclear physics and encouraging F.D. Roosevelt to start the Manhattan Project, he later spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons.

Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Einstein settled in Switzerland and then, after Hitler’s rise to power, the United States. Einstein was a truly global man and one of the undisputed genius’ of the Twentieth Century.

Early life Albert Einstein

Einstein was born 14 March 1879, in Ulm the German Empire. His parents were working-class (salesman/engineer) and non-observant Jews. Aged 15, the family moved to Milan, Italy, where his father hoped Albert would become a mechanical engineer. However, despite Einstein’s intellect and thirst for knowledge, his early academic reports suggested anything but a glittering career in academia. His teachers found him dim and slow to learn. Part of the problem was that Albert expressed no interest in learning languages and the learning by rote that was popular at the time.

“School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam.” Einstein and the Poet (1983)

At the age of 12, Einstein picked up a book on geometry and read it cover to cover. – He would later refer to it as his ‘holy booklet’. He became fascinated by maths and taught himself – becoming acquainted with the great scientific discoveries of the age.

Albert Einstein with wife Elsa

Despite Albert’s independent learning, he languished at school. Eventually, he was asked to leave by the authorities because his indifference was setting a bad example to other students.

He applied for admission to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. His first attempt was a failure because he failed exams in botany, zoology and languages. However, he passed the next year and in 1900 became a Swiss citizen.

At college, he met a fellow student Mileva Maric, and after a long friendship, they married in 1903; they had two sons before divorcing several years later.

In 1896 Einstein renounced his German citizenship to avoid military conscription. For five years he was stateless, before successfully applying for Swiss citizenship in 1901. After graduating from Zurich college, he attempted to gain a teaching post but none was forthcoming; instead, he gained a job in the Swiss Patent Office.

While working at the Patent Office, Einstein continued his own scientific discoveries and began radical experiments to consider the nature of light and space.

Einstein in 1921

He published his first scientific paper in 1900, and by 1905 had completed his PhD entitled “ A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions . In addition to working on his PhD, Einstein also worked feverishly on other papers. In 1905, he published four pivotal scientific works, which would revolutionise modern physics. 1905 would later be referred to as his ‘ annus mirabilis .’

Einstein’s work started to gain recognition, and he was given a post at the University of Zurich (1909) and, in 1911, was offered the post of full-professor at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague (which was then part of Austria-Hungary Empire). He took Austrian-Hungary citizenship to accept the job. In 1914, he returned to Germany and was appointed a director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. (1914–1932)

Albert Einstein’s Scientific Contributions

Quantum Theory

Einstein suggested that light doesn’t just travel as waves but as electric currents. This photoelectric effect could force metals to release a tiny stream of particles known as ‘quanta’. From this Quantum Theory, other inventors were able to develop devices such as television and movies. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

Special Theory of Relativity

This theory was written in a simple style with no footnotes or academic references. The core of his theory of relativity is that:

“Movement can only be detected and measured as relative movement; the change of position of one body in respect to another.”

Thus there is no fixed absolute standard of comparison for judging the motion of the earth or plants. It was revolutionary because previously people had thought time and distance are absolutes. But, Einstein proved this not to be true.

He also said that if electrons travelled at close to the speed of light, their weight would increase.

This lead to Einstein’s famous equation:

Where E = energy m = mass and c = speed of light.

General Theory of Relativity 1916

Working from a basis of special relativity. Einstein sought to express all physical laws using equations based on mathematical equations.

He devoted the last period of his life trying to formulate a final unified field theory which included a rational explanation for electromagnetism. However, he was to be frustrated in searching for this final breakthrough theory.

Solar eclipse of 1919

In 1911, Einstein predicted the sun’s gravity would bend the light of another star. He based this on his new general theory of relativity. On 29 May 1919, during a solar eclipse, British astronomer and physicist Sir Arthur Eddington was able to confirm Einstein’s prediction. The news was published in newspapers around the world, and it made Einstein internationally known as a leading physicist. It was also symbolic of international co-operation between British and German scientists after the horrors of the First World War.

In the 1920s, Einstein travelled around the world – including the UK, US, Japan, Palestine and other countries. Einstein gave lectures to packed audiences and became an internationally recognised figure for his work on physics, but also his wider observations on world affairs.

Bohr-Einstein debates

During the 1920s, other scientists started developing the work of Einstein and coming to different conclusions on Quantum Physics. In 1925 and 1926, Einstein took part in debates with Max Born about the nature of relativity and quantum physics. Although the two disagreed on physics, they shared a mutual admiration.

As a German Jew, Einstein was threatened by the rise of the Nazi party. In 1933, when the Nazi’s seized power, they confiscated Einstein’s property, and later started burning his books. Einstein, then in England, took an offer to go to Princeton University in the US. He later wrote that he never had strong opinions about race and nationality but saw himself as a citizen of the world.

“I do not believe in race as such. Race is a fraud. All modern people are the conglomeration of so many ethnic mixtures that no pure race remains.”

Once in the US, Einstein dedicated himself to a strict discipline of academic study. He would spend no time on maintaining his dress and image. He considered these things ‘inessential’ and meant less time for his research. Einstein was notoriously absent-minded. In his youth, he once left his suitcase at a friends house. His friend’s parents told Einstein’s parents: “ That young man will never amount to anything, because he can’t remember anything.”

Although a bit of a loner, and happy in his own company, he had a good sense of humour. On January 3, 1943, Einstein received a letter from a girl who was having difficulties with mathematics in her studies. Einstein consoled her when he wrote in reply to her letter

“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are still greater.”

Einstein professed belief in a God “Who reveals himself in the harmony of all being”. But, he followed no established religion. His view of God sought to establish a harmony between science and religion.

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

– Einstein, Science and Religion (1941)

Politics of Einstein

Einstein described himself as a Zionist Socialist. He did support the state of Israel but became concerned about the narrow nationalism of the new state. In 1952, he was offered the position as President of Israel, but he declined saying he had:

“neither the natural ability nor the experience to deal with human beings.” … “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it.”

Einstein receiving US citizenship.

Albert Einstein was involved in many civil rights movements such as the American campaign to end lynching. He joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and  considered racism, America’s worst disease. But he also spoke highly of the meritocracy in American society and the value of being able to speak freely.

On the outbreak of war in 1939, Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt about the prospect of Germany developing an atomic bomb. He warned Roosevelt that the Germans were working on a bomb with a devastating potential. Roosevelt headed his advice and started the Manhattan project to develop the US atom bomb. But, after the war ended, Einstein reverted to his pacifist views. Einstein said after the war.

“Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I would not have lifted a finger.” (Newsweek, 10 March 1947)

In the post-war McCarthyite era, Einstein was scrutinised closely for potential Communist links. He wrote an article in favour of socialism, “Why Socialism” (1949) He criticised Capitalism and suggested a democratic socialist alternative. He was also a strong critic of the arms race. Einstein remarked:

“I do not know how the third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth—rocks!”

Rabindranath Tagore and Einstein

Einstein was feted as a scientist, but he was a polymath with interests in many fields. In particular, he loved music. He wrote that if he had not been a scientist, he would have been a musician. Einstein played the violin to a high standard.

“I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music… I get most joy in life out of music.”

Einstein died in 1955, at his request his brain and vital organs were removed for scientific study.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of Albert Einstein ”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net 23 Feb. 2008. Updated 2nd March 2017.

Albert Einstein – His Life and Universe

Albert Einstein – His Life at Amazon

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19 Comments

Albert E is awesome! Thanks for this website!!

• January 11, 2019 3:00 PM

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• January 10, 2019 4:11 PM

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• December 23, 2018 8:06 PM

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• December 08, 2018 10:14 AM

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• November 15, 2018 7:03 PM
• By Madalyn Silva

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• November 02, 2018 3:37 PM
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• October 17, 2018 4:39 PM
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• October 12, 2018 4:25 PM
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Albert Einstein: Biography, facts and impact on science

A brief biography of Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955), the scientist whose theories changed the way we think about the universe.

• Einstein's birthday and education

Einstein's wives and children

How einstein changed physics.

• Later years and death

Gravitational waves and relativity

Additional resources.

Albert Einstein was a German-American physicist and probably the most well-known scientist of the 20th century. He is famous for his theory of relativity , a pillar of modern physics that describes the dynamics of light and extremely massive entities, as well as his work in quantum mechanics , which focuses on the subatomic realm. 

Albert Einstein's birthday and education

Einstein was born in Ulm, in the German state of Württemberg, on March 14, 1879, according to a biography from the Nobel Prize organization . His family moved to Munich six weeks later, and in 1885, when he was 6 years old, he began attending Petersschule, a Catholic elementary school.

Contrary to popular belief, Einstein was a good student. "Yesterday Albert received his grades, he was again number one, and his report card was brilliant," his mother once wrote to her sister, according to a German website dedicated to Einstein's legacy. But when he later switched to the Luitpold grammar school, young Einstein chafed under the school's authoritarian attitude, and his teacher once said of him, "never will he get anywhere."

In 1896, at age 17, Einstein entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. A few years later, he gained his diploma and acquired Swiss citizenship but was unable to find a teaching post. So he accepted a position as a technical assistant in the Swiss patent office. 

Related: 10 discoveries that prove Einstein was right about the universe — and 1 that proves him wrong

Einstein married Mileva Maric, his longtime love and former student, in 1903. A year prior, they had a child out of wedlock, who was discovered by scholars only in the 1980s, when private letters revealed her existence. The daughter, called Lieserl in the letters, may have been mentally challenged and either died young or was adopted when she was a year old. Einstein had two other children with Maric, Hans Albert and Eduard, born in 1904 and 1910, respectively.

Einstein divorced Maric in 1919 and soon married his cousin Elsa Löwenthal, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1912.

Einstein obtained his doctorate in physics in 1905 — a year that's often known as his annus mirabilis ("year of miracles" in Latin), according to the Library of Congress . That year, he published four groundbreaking papers of significant importance in physics.

The first incorporated the idea that light could come in discrete particles called photons. This theory describes the photoelectric effect , the concept that underpins modern solar power. The second explained Brownian motion, or the random motion of particles or molecules. Einstein looked at the case of a dust mote moving randomly on the surface of water and suggested that water is made up of tiny, vibrating molecules that kick the dust back and forth. 

The final two papers outlined his theory of special relativity, which showed how observers moving at different speeds would agree about the speed of light, which was a constant. These papers also introduced the equation E = mc^2, showing the equivalence between mass and energy. That finding is perhaps the most widely known aspect of Einstein's work. (In this infamous equation, E stands for energy, m represents mass and c is the constant speed of light).

In 1915, Einstein published four papers outlining his theory of general relativity, which updated Isaac Newton's laws of gravity by explaining that the force of gravity arose because massive objects warp the fabric of space-time. The theory was validated in 1919, when British astronomer Arthur Eddington observed stars at the edge of the sun during a solar eclipse and was able to show that their light was bent by the sun's gravitational well, causing shifts in their perceived positions.

Related: 8 Ways you can see Einstein's theory of relativity in real life

In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the photoelectric effect, though the committee members also mentioned his "services to Theoretical Physics" when presenting their award. The decision to give Einstein the award was controversial because the brilliant physicist was a Jew and a pacifist. Anti-Semitism was on the rise and relativity was not yet seen as a proven theory, according to an article from The Guardian .

Einstein was a professor at the University of Berlin for a time but fled Germany with Löwenthal in 1933, during the rise of Adolf Hitler. He renounced his German citizenship and moved to the United States to become a professor of theoretical physics at Princeton, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1940.

During this era, other researchers were creating a revolution by reformulating the rules of the smallest known entities in existence. The laws of quantum mechanics had been worked out by a group led by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr , and Einstein was intimately involved with their efforts.

Bohr and Einstein famously clashed over quantum mechanics. Bohr and his cohorts proposed that quantum particles behaved according to probabilistic laws, which Einstein found unacceptable, quipping that " God does not play dice with the universe ." Bohr's views eventually came to dominate much of contemporary thinking about quantum mechanics.

Einstein's later years and death

After he retired in 1945, Einstein spent most of his later years trying to unify gravity with electromagnetism in what's known as a unified field theory . Einstein died of a burst blood vessel near his heart on April 18, 1955, never unifying these forces.

Einstein's body was cremated and his ashes were spread in an undisclosed location, according to the American Museum of Natural History . But a doctor performed an unauthorized craniotomy before this and removed and saved Einstein's brain. 

The brain has been the subject of many tests over the decades, which suggested that it had extra folding in the gray matter, the site of conscious thinking. In particular, there were more folds in the frontal lobes, which have been tied to abstract thought and planning. However, drawing any conclusions about intelligence based on a single specimen is problematic. 

Related: Where is Einstein's brain?

In addition to his incredible legacy regarding relativity and quantum mechanics, Einstein conducted lesser-known research into a refrigeration method that required no motors, moving parts or coolant. He was also a tireless anti-war advocate, helping found the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , an organization dedicated to warning the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons . 

Einstein's theories concerning relativity have so far held up spectacularly as a predictive models. Astronomers have found that, as the legendary physicist anticipated, the light of distant objects is lensed by massive, closer entities, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which has helped our understanding of the universe's evolution. The James Webb Space Telescope , launched in Dec. 2021, has utilized gravitational lensing on numerous occasions to detect light emitted near the dawn of time , dating to just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

In 2016, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory also announced the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves , created when massive neutron stars and black holes merge and generate ripples in the fabric of space-time. Further research published in 2023 found that the entire universe may be rippling with a faint "gravitational wave background," emitted by ancient, colliding black holes.

Find answers to frequently asked questions about Albert Einstein on the Nobel Prize website. Flip through digitized versions of Einstein's published and unpublished manuscripts at Einstein Archives Online. Learn about The Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C. 

This article was last updated on March 11, 2024 by Live Science editor Brandon Specktor to include new information about how Einstein's theories have been validated by modern experiments.

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Adam Mann is a freelance journalist with over a decade of experience, specializing in astronomy and physics stories. He has a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from UC Berkeley. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Wired, Nature, Science, and many other places. He lives in Oakland, California, where he enjoys riding his bike. 

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• Problematic Thinker His brain was eclpsed by other body parts concerning women. His wife worked to support him through school, forfeiting her own education until later, then he repaid her by having an affair with his much younger cousin and divorcing the wife. Quite an honorable little guy. Reply

Problematic Thinker said: His brain was eclpsed by other body parts concerning women. His wife worked to support him through school, forfeiting her own education until later, then he repaid her by having an affair with his much younger cousin and divorcing the wife. Quite an honorable little guy.

admin said: So much more than funny hair. Albert Einstein: The Life of a Brilliant Physicist : Read more

• William Madden Albert Einstein was never, ever a "professor of physics" at Princeton University. At the time, Princeton, like most Ivy League universities, was highly anti-Semitic and either forbad the hiring of Jewish faculty or enforced a quota on their number. Einstein accepted a position at the newly established Institute For Advanced Study, headquartered in the the town of Princeton but legally and operationally distinct from the university. At the time, this was not known to be a particularly elite appointment, the Institute having no track record whatsoever. Its ability to attract many of the finest minds in their fields quickly changed that perception. (Nevertheless, Richard Feynman, years later, was highly critical of its cloistered atmosphere and, in science at least, its disconnection with the experimental side of the constituent disciplines. ) The Institute is a purely postdoctoral entity, granting no degrees and offering no classes (apart from ad hoc seminars). In the ensuing years, some faculty at the Institute have established collaborative relationships with faculty and postdoctoral fellows at Princeton University, including Einstein with Nathan Rosen (who later moved from the university to the Institute). However, the Institute remains to this day entirely independent of Princeton University. Reply

William Madden said: Albert Einstein was never, ever a "professor of physics" at Princeton University. At the time, Princeton, like most Ivy League universities, was highly anti-Semitic and either forbad the hiring of Jewish faculty or enforced a quota on their number. Einstein accepted a position at the newly established Institute For Advanced Study, headquartered in the the town of Princeton but legally and operationally distinct from the university. At the time, this was not known to be a particularly elite appointment, the Institute having no track record whatsoever. Its ability to attract many of the finest minds in their fields quickly changed that perception. (Nevertheless, Richard Feynman, years later, was highly critical of its cloistered atmosphere and, in science at least, its disconnection with the experimental side of the constituent disciplines. ) The Institute is a purely postdoctoral entity, granting no degrees and offering no classes (apart from ad hoc seminars). In the ensuing years, some faculty at the Institute have established collaborative relationships with faculty and postdoctoral fellows at Princeton University, including Einstein with Nathan Rosen (who later moved from the university to the Institute). However, the Institute remains to this day entirely independent of Princeton University.

• James DeMeo Einstein's theory of relativity was negated by the positive ether-drift experiments that both preceded and followed his earliest works. Michelson-Morely got a 5 to 7.5 kps ether-drift, Dayton Miller got 11.2 kps, and in more recent years Munera got an 18 kps ether wind detection. Each progressively higher value was at higher altitudes, indicating an altitude-velocity dependency, which affirmed a material, entrainable and dynamic ether. Einstein knew these experimental detections would destroy both his general and special relativity theories, and wrote in June 1921, to Robert Millikan: "I believe that I have really found the relationship between gravitation and electricity, assuming that the Miller experiments are based on a fundamental error. Otherwise, the whole relativity theory collapses like a house of cards" In July 1925, Einstein wrote to Edwin Slosson: "My opinion about Miller's experiments is the following ... Should the positive result be confirmed, then the special theory of relativity and with it the general theory of relativity, in its current form, would be invalid. Experimentum summus judex." Miller's ether-drift work was carried out over many years, using a far more sensitive apparatus than M-M, including high atop Mount Wilson. The Mt.Wilson experiments ran over four seasonal epochs, detecting variations in net ether-wind velocity, and overall proving that space is not empty, and light-speed is variable according to direction, and in accordance with the velocity of the emitter and receiver. Experimentum summus judex? In spite of a slap-jack amateurish effort to "prove" Miller's work was due to thermal artifacts -- an unethical effort supported by Einstein in the year before he died -- Miller's findings, and those of other ether-drift experimenters (there are many) who got positive results stand unchallenged. By ignoring such empirical results, the discipline of astrophysics has run itself into a metaphysical cul-de-sac, and today uses brute force firings of professors, dismissals of students and censorship to maintain its assertions of an increasingly complicated and bizarre universe. A prime example is how Halton Arp's findings challenging redshifts as distance indicators was systematically ignored, censored, and he then being forbidden additional telescope time. He was forced to move to Germany to sustain an academic post. There are other examples, many, who didn't have Arp's good reputation prior to making his heresy, and who suffered far worse. Einstein's "space time gravity warps", the "big bang", "black holes", and other bizarre metaphysical fantasies of modern astrophysics will eventually go the way of the Ptolemaic astrologer's epicycles. A good introduction to these facts of science history is found in the book "The Dynamic Ether of Cosmic Space: Correcting a Major Error in Modern Science". https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Ether-Cosmic-Space-Correcting/dp/0997405716 Reply

James DeMeo said: Einstein's theory of relativity was negated by the positive ether-drift experiments that both preceded and followed his earliest works. Michelson-Morely got a 5 to 7.5 kps ether-drift, Dayton Miller got 11.2 kps, and in more recent years Munera got an 18 kps ether wind detection. Each progressively higher value was at higher altitudes, indicating an altitude-velocity dependency, which affirmed a material, entrainable and dynamic ether. Einstein knew these experimental detections would destroy both his general and special relativity theories, and wrote in June 1921, to Robert Millikan: "I believe that I have really found the relationship between gravitation and electricity, assuming that the Miller experiments are based on a fundamental error. Otherwise, the whole relativity theory collapses like a house of cards" In July 1925, Einstein wrote to Edwin Slosson: "My opinion about Miller's experiments is the following ... Should the positive result be confirmed, then the special theory of relativity and with it the general theory of relativity, in its current form, would be invalid. Experimentum summus judex." Miller's ether-drift work was carried out over many years, using a far more sensitive apparatus than M-M, including high atop Mount Wilson. The Mt.Wilson experiments ran over four seasonal epochs, detecting variations in net ether-wind velocity, and overall proving that space is not empty, and light-speed is variable according to direction, and in accordance with the velocity of the emitter and receiver. Experimentum summus judex? In spite of a slap-jack amateurish effort to "prove" Miller's work was due to thermal artifacts -- an unethical effort supported by Einstein in the year before he died -- Miller's findings, and those of other ether-drift experimenters (there are many) who got positive results stand unchallenged. By ignoring such empirical results, the discipline of astrophysics has run itself into a metaphysical cul-de-sac, and today uses brute force firings of professors, dismissals of students and censorship to maintain its assertions of an increasingly complicated and bizarre universe. A prime example is how Halton Arp's findings challenging redshifts as distance indicators was systematically ignored, censored, and he then being forbidden additional telescope time. He was forced to move to Germany to sustain an academic post. There are other examples, many, who didn't have Arp's good reputation prior to making his heresy, and who suffered far worse. Einstein's "space time gravity warps", the "big bang", "black holes", and other bizarre metaphysical fantasies of modern astrophysics will eventually go the way of the Ptolemaic astrologer's epicycles. A good introduction to these facts of science history is found in the book "The Dynamic Ether of Cosmic Space: Correcting a Major Error in Modern Science". https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Ether-Cosmic-Space-Correcting/dp/0997405716

Mario Sanchez said: Thanks, for these irrelevant informations that are nothing important to understand the matter.

Pifou said: Feminist zealots in despair fellows. They think that there is always someone smarter that is being exploited while the other one steals all the glory. Do not worry about them here they are just dumb as bricks. They have been trying to push this story about Einstein for the last 40 years while themselves cant even make a good sandwich

• Mario Sanchez Who is really this participant adopting these names? (Shwinger_Feinmann) Reply
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Biography of Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

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Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879–April 18, 1955), a German-born theoretical physicist who lived during the 20th century, revolutionized scientific thought. Having developed the Theory of Relativity, Einstein opened the door for the development of atomic power and the creation of the atomic bomb.

Einstein is best known for his 1905 general theory of relativity, E=mc 2 , which posits that energy (E) equals mass (m) times the speed of light (c) squared. But his influence went far beyond that theory. Einstein's theories also changed thinking about how the planets revolve around the sun. For his scientific contributions, Einstein also won the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics.

Einstein also was forced to flee Nazi Germany after the rise of Adolf Hitler . It's no exaggeration to say that his theories indirectly helped lead the Allies to victory over the Axis powers in World War II, particularly the defeat of Japan.

Fast Facts: Albert Einstein

• Known For : The General Theory of Relativity, E=mc 2 , which led to the development of the atomic bomb and atomic power.
• Born : March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
• Parents : Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch
• Died : April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey
• Education : Swiss Federal Polytechnic (1896–1900, B.A., 1900; University of Zurich, Ph.D., 1905)
• Published Works : On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light, On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, Does an Object’s Inertia Depend on Its Energy Content?
• Awards and Honors : Barnard Medal (1920), Nobel Prize in Physics (1921), Matteucci Medal (1921), Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1926), Max Planck Medal (1929), Time Person of the Century (1999)
• Spouses : Mileva Marić (m. 1903–1919), Elsa Löwenthal (m. 1919–1936)
• Children : Lieserl, Hans Albert Einstein, Eduard
• Notable Quote : "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable."

Early Life and Education

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany to Jewish parents, Hermann and Pauline Einstein. A year later, Hermann Einstein's business failed and he moved his family to Munich to start a new electric business with his brother Jakob. In Munich, Albert's sister Maja was born in 1881. Only two years apart in age, Albert adored his sister and they had a close relationship with each other their whole lives.

Although Einstein is now considered the epitome of genius, in the first two decades of his life, many people thought Einstein was the exact opposite. Right after Einstein was born, relatives were concerned with Einstein's pointy head. Then, when Einstein didn't talk until he was 3 years old, his parents worried something was wrong with him.

Einstein also failed to impress his teachers. From elementary school through college, his teachers and professors thought he was lazy, sloppy, and insubordinate. Many of his teachers thought he would never amount to anything.

When Einstein was 15 years old, his father's new business had failed and the Einstein family moved to Italy. At first, Albert remained behind in Germany to finish high school, but he was soon unhappy with that arrangement and left school to rejoin his family.

Rather than finish high school, Einstein decided to apply directly to the prestigious Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Although he failed the entrance exam on the first try, he spent a year studying at a local high school and retook the entrance exam in October 1896 and passed.

Once at the Polytechnic, Einstein again did not like school. Believing that his professors only taught old science, Einstein would often skip class, preferring to stay home and read about the newest in scientific theory. When he did attend class, Einstein would often make it obvious that he found the class dull.

Some last-minute studying allowed Einstein to graduate in 1900. However, once out of school, Einstein was unable to find a job because none of his teachers liked him enough to write him a recommendation letter.

For nearly two years, Einstein worked at short-term jobs until a friend was able to help him get a job as a patent clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Finally, with a job and some stability, Einstein was able to marry his college sweetheart, Mileva Maric, whom his parents strongly disapproved.

The couple went on to have two sons: Hans Albert (born 1904) and Eduard (born 1910).

Einstein the Patent Clerk

For seven years, Einstein worked six days a week as a patent clerk. He was responsible for examining the blueprints of other people's inventions and then determining whether they were feasible. If they were, Einstein had to ensure that no one else had already been given a patent for the same idea.

Somehow, between his very busy work and family life, Einstein not only found time to earn a doctorate from the University of Zurich (awarded 1905) but found time to think. It was while working at the patent office that Einstein made his most influential discoveries.

Influential Theories

In 1905, while working at the patent office, Einstein wrote five scientific papers, which were all published in the Annalen der Physik ( Annals of Physics , a major physics journal). Three of these were published together in September 1905.

In one paper, Einstein theorized that light must not just travel in waves but existed as particles, which explained the photoelectric effect. Einstein himself described this particular theory as "revolutionary." This was also the theory for which Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

In another paper, Einstein tackled the mystery of why pollen never settled to the bottom of a glass of water but rather, kept moving (Brownian motion). By declaring that the pollen was being moved by water molecules, Einstein solved a longstanding, scientific mystery and proved the existence of molecules.

His third paper described Einstein's "Special Theory of Relativity," in which Einstein revealed that space and time are not absolutes. The only thing that is constant, Einstein stated, is the speed of light; the rest of space and time are all based on the position of the observer.

Not only are space and time not absolutes, Einstein discovered that energy and mass, once thought completely distinct items, were actually interchangeable. In his E=mc 2  equation (E=energy, m=mass, and c=speed of light), Einstein created a simple formula to describe the relationship between energy and mass. This formula reveals that a very small amount of mass can be converted into a huge amount of energy, leading to the later invention of the atomic bomb.

Einstein was only 26 years old when these articles were published and already he had done more for science than any individual since Sir Isaac Newton.

Scientists Take Notice

In 1909, four years after his theories were first published, Einstein was finally offered a teaching position. Einstein enjoyed being a teacher at the University of Zurich. He had found traditional schooling as he grew up extremely limiting and thus he wanted to be a different kind of teacher. Arriving at school unkempt, with hair uncombed and his clothes too baggy, Einstein soon became known as much for his appearance as his teaching style.

As Einstein's fame within the scientific community grew, offers for new, better positions began to pour in. Within only a few years, Einstein worked at the University of Zurich ( Switzerland ), then the German University in Prague (Czech Republic), and then went back to Zurich for the Polytechnic Institute.

The frequent moves, the numerous conferences that Einstein attended, and preoccupation of Einstein with science left Mileva (Einstein's wife) feeling both neglected and lonely. When Einstein was offered a professorship at the University of Berlin in 1913, she didn't want to go. Einstein accepted the position anyway.

Not long after arriving in Berlin, Mileva and Albert separated. Realizing the marriage could not be salvaged, Mileva took the kids back to Zurich. They officially divorced in 1919.

Achieves Worldwide Fame

During  World War I , Einstein stayed in Berlin and worked diligently on new theories. He worked like a man obsessed. With Mileva gone, he often forgot to eat and sleep.

In 1917, the stress eventually took its toll and he collapsed. Diagnosed with gallstones, Einstein was told to rest. During his recuperation, Einstein's cousin Elsa helped nurse him back to health. The two became very close and when Albert's divorce was finalized, Albert and Elsa married.

It was during this time that Einstein revealed his General Theory of Relativity, which considered the effects of acceleration and gravity on time and space. If Einstein's theory was correct, then the gravity of the sun would bend light from stars.

In 1919, Einstein's General Theory of Relativity could be tested during a solar eclipse. In May 1919, two British astronomers (Arthur Eddington and Sir Frances Dyson) were able to put together an expedition that observed the  solar eclipse  and documented the bent light. In November 1919, their findings were announced publicly.

After having suffered monumental bloodshed during World War I, people around the world were craving news that went beyond their country's borders. Einstein became a worldwide celebrity overnight.

It wasn't just his revolutionary theories; it was Einstein's general persona that appealed to the masses. Einstein's disheveled hair, poorly fitting clothes, doe-like eyes, and witty charm endeared him to the average person. He was a genius, but he was an approachable one.

Instantly famous, Einstein was hounded by reporters and photographers wherever he went. He was given honorary degrees and asked to visit countries around the world. Albert and Elsa took trips to the United States, Japan, Palestine (now Israel), South America, and throughout Europe.

Becomes an Enemy of the State

Although Einstein spent the 1920s traveling and making special appearances, these took away from the time he could work on his scientific theories. By the early 1930s, finding time for science wasn't his only problem.

The political climate in Germany was changing drastically. When Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, Einstein was luckily visiting the United States (he never returned to Germany). The Nazis promptly declared Einstein an enemy of the state, ransacked his house, and burned his books.

As death threats began, Einstein finalized his plans to take a position at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. He arrived at Princeton on Oct. 17, 1933.

Einstein suffered a personal loss when Elsa died on Dec. 20, 1936. Three years later, Einstein's sister Maja fled from  Mussolini's Italy and came to live with Einstein in Princeton. She stayed until her death in 1951.

Until the Nazis took power in Germany, Einstein had been a devoted pacifist for his entire life. However, with the harrowing tales coming out of Nazi-occupied Europe, Einstein reevaluated his pacifist ideals. In the case of the Nazis, Einstein realized they needed to be stopped, even if that meant using military might to do so.

The Atomic Bomb

In July 1939, scientists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner visited Einstein to discuss the possibility that Germany was working on building an atomic bomb.

The ramifications of Germany building such a destructive weapon prompted Einstein to write a letter to  President Franklin D. Roosevelt  to warn him about this potentially massive weapon. In response, Roosevelt established the  Manhattan Project , a collection of U.S. scientists urged to beat Germany to the construction of a working atomic bomb.

Even though Einstein's letter prompted the Manhattan Project, Einstein himself never worked on constructing the atomic bomb.

Later Years and Death

From 1922 until the end of his life, Einstein worked on finding a "unified field theory." Believing that "God does not play dice," Einstein searched for a single, unified theory that could combine all the fundamental forces of physics between elementary particles. Einstein never found it.

In the years after World War II , Einstein advocated for a world government and for civil rights. In 1952, after the death of Israel's first President Chaim Weizmann , Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel. Realizing that he was not good at politics and too aged to start something new, Einstein declined the offer.

On April 12, 1955, Einstein collapsed at his home. Just six days later, on April 18, 1955, Einstein died when the aneurysm he had been living with for several years finally burst. He was 76 years old.

Resources and Further Reading

• “ The Year Of Albert Einstein. ”  Smithsonian.com , Smithsonian Institution, 1 June 2005.
• “ Albert Einstein. ”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 14 Feb. 2019.
• Kuepper, Hans-Josef. “ The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. ”  Albert Einstein - Honours, Prizes and Awards.
• Albert Einstein Printables
• The Life and Work of Albert Einstein
• Ancestry of Albert Einstein
• Biography: Albert Einstein
• 10 Things You Don't Know About Albert Einstein
• Einstein's Theory of Relativity
• Leo Szilard, Creator of Manhattan Project, Opposed Use of Atomic Bomb
• Erwin Schrödinger and the Schrödinger's Cat Thought Experiment
• Most Influential Scientists of the 20th Century
• Max Planck Formulates Quantum Theory
• Edward Teller and the Hydrogen Bomb
• 14 Notable European Scientists Throughout History
• James Clerk Maxwell, Master of Electromagnetism
• Introduction to the Major Laws of Physics
• Heinrich Hertz, Scientist Who Proved Existence of Electromagnetic Waves
• Georges-Henri Lemaitre and the Birth of the Universe

Albert Einstein: In Brief

1895 At the age of fifteen, Albert quit high school, disgusted by rote learning and martinet teachers, and followed his family to Italy where they had moved their failing electrotechnical business. After half a year of wandering and loafing, he attended a congenial Swiss school. The next year he entered the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom.

1900 After working hard in the laboratory but skipping lectures, Einstein graduated with an unexceptional record. For two grim years he could find only odd jobs, but he finally got a post as a patent examiner. He married a former classmate.

1905 Einstein wrote four fundamental papers, all in a few months. The first paper claimed that light must sometimes behave like a stream of particles with discrete energies, “quanta.” The second paper offered an experimental test for the theory of heat and proof of the existence of atoms. The third paper addressed a central puzzle for physicists of the day—the connection between electromagnetic theory and ordinary motion—and solved it using the “principle of relativity.” The fourth showed that mass and energy are two parts of the same thing, mass-energy ( E = mc 2 ). Click here for more on the 1905 papers.

“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.”

1909 Einstein became an assistant professor at the University of Zurich, his first full-time physics job. In 1911, he moved on to the German University of Prague. He continued to publish important physics papers, and was beginning to meet fellow scientists, for example, at the exclusive Solvay Conference. The next year, he returned to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as Professor.

1914 Einstein moved to Berlin, taking a research post that freed him from teaching duties. He separated from his wife and two sons. When the First World War broke out, Einstein rejected Germany’s aggressive war aims, supporting the formation of a pacifist group.

1915 After a decade of thought, with entire years spent in blind alleys, Einstein completed his general theory of relativity. Overturning ancient notions of space and time, he reached a new understanding of gravity. Meanwhile, he continued to sign petitions for peace.

The years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alternations of confidence and exhaustion and the final emergence into the light—only those who have experienced it can understand it.

1918 As Germany collapsed, Einstein became more involved in politics and supported a new progressive party. The next year he remarried. And his general theory of relativity received stunning confirmation from British astronomers: as Einstein had predicted, gravity bends starlight. In the popular eye he became a symbol of science and thought at its highest.

1921 Aided by his fame, Einstein championed the fledgling German republican government and other liberal causes. Partly as a result of this, he and his theory of relativity came under vicious attack from anti-Semites. He began traveling, attended an International Trade Union Congress in Amsterdam, and he visited the United States to help raise funds for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The following year, he received the Nobel Prize.

1924 Einstein contributed to the struggling new quantum theory. Meanwhile, he searched for a way to unify the theories of electromagnetism and gravity. In 1929, he announced a unified field theory, but the mathematics could not be compared with experiments; his struggle toward a useful theory had only begun. Meanwhile he argued with his colleagues, challenging their belief that quantum theory can give a complete description of phenomena.

1933 Unwilling to live in Germany under the new Nazi government, Einstein joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He turned away from strict pacifism, and he warned world political leaders to prepare for German aggression. He also worked to rescue Jewish and other political victims of the Nazis.

1939 Einstein signed a letter that informed President F. D. Roosevelt of the possibility of nuclear bombs, warning that the Germans might try to build them. The next year, Einstein became an American citizen.

“How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of goodwill! In such a place even I would be an ardent patriot.”

1952 Einstein was asked to become the second President of the State of Israel but declined. He was supporting many causes, such as the United Nations and world government, nuclear disarmament, and civil liberties.

“The feeling for what ought and ought not to be grows and dies like a tree, and no fertilizer of any kind will do much good. What the individual can do is give a fine example, and have the courage to firmly uphold ethical convictions in a society of cynics. I have for a long time tried to conduct myself this way, with varying success.”

1955 The search for a true unified field theory for a more profound understanding of nature continued to fill Einstein’s days. While corresponding about a new anti-war project and writing a speech for Israel, he was stricken and died.

One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

This resource on Einstein’s life and work is based on a traveling exhibit that was originally created for the Institute for Advanced Study by The Center for History of Physics on the occasion of the Einstein Centennial in 1979. It was reformatted into an online exhibit, Einstein: Image and Impact , which is available in its entirety through The Center for History of Physics © Copyright 1996–2016 American Institute of Physics.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879, into a non-observant Jewish family. At age five, his father showed him a pocket compass, and Einstein realized that something in "empty" space acted upon the needle; he would later describe the experience as one of the most revelatory of his life.

Although considered a slow learner, possibly due to dyslexia, simply shyness or the significantly rare and unusual structure his brain (examined after his death), Einstein built models and mechanical devices for fun. Another, more recent, theory about his mental development is that he had Asperger's syndrome, a condition related to autism.

Einstein began to learn mathematics around age 12. In 1894, his family moved from Munich to Pavia, Italy (near Milan), and this same year Einstein wrote his first scientific work, The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields. He continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland, and in 1896, he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, he gained his diploma and acquired Swiss citizenship. Unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office, obtaining his doctor's degree in 1905.

In 1908, Einstein was appointed Privadozent in Berne. The next year, he became Professor Extraordinary in Zurich, and in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in 1912 to fill a similar post. In 1914, he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933, when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton. He became a U.S. citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.

In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that they correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation, and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time, he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics. In the 1920s, he embarked on the construction of unified field theories, continuing to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in America. He won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas, and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.

Einstein initially favored construction of the atomic bomb, in order to ensure that Hitler did not do so first, and even sent a letter, dated August 2, 1939, to President Roosevelt encouraging him to initiate a program to create a nuclear weapon. Roosevelt responded to this by setting up a committee for the investigation of using uranium as a weapon, which in a few years was superseded by the Manhattan Project.

After the war, however, Einstein lobbied for nuclear disarmament and a world government. Along with Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell, he fought against nuclear tests and bombs. As his last public act, and just days before his death, he signed the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which led to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

Einstein's latter years were also spent searching for a unified field theory, for a universal force that would link gravitation with electromagnetic and subatomic forces, a problem on which no one to date has been entirely successful.

Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920s, he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East and was awarded Fellowships or Memberships to all of the leading scientific academies throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.

Einstein married Mileva Maric in 1903, and they had a daughter and two sons; the marriage was dissolved in 1919, and that same year he married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal, who died in 1936. Einstein died on April 18, 1955, in Princeton, New Jersey. Element 99 was named einsteinium (Es) in his honor.

Albert Einstein

This brilliant physicist worked to crack open the mysteries of the universe. Check out the time line below to learn about the life of this legend.

Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Germany . As a child, the prodigy enjoys solving math riddles and building skyscrapers out of playing cards. Some of his card creations are 14 mini-stories tall!

Sixteen-year-old Einstein writes his first scholarly paper on the force of magnetism. Bet that pulled in a lot of readers. Ha-ha. Get it?

Living in Switzerland , the physicist figures out that matter—the tiny particles that form objects—can be turned into energy, and vice versa. He also comes up with the famous formula E=mc2, which calculates the energy produced by converting a given amount of matter. He’s now a star!

Einstein wows the world by publishing his theory of relativity. The theory explains gravity—basically ginormous objects such as planets bend the space around them as they travel or pulsate. These curves in space then produce a gravitational pull toward the planet.

Einstein receives the Nobel Prize in physics—an award for major scientific accomplishments.

The science genius continues his research at Princeton University in New Jersey , and his life’s work helps completely change people’s understanding of the universe. The contributions of this brainy guy are mind-blowing.

more to explore

Women heroes, african american heroes, native americans.

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 MacTutor

Albert einstein.

If I were to have the good fortune to pass my examinations, I would go to Zürich. I would stay there for four years in order to study mathematics and physics. I imagine myself becoming a teacher in those branches of the natural sciences, choosing the theoretical part of them. Here are the reasons which lead me to this plan. Above all, it is my disposition for abstract and mathematical thought, and my lack of imagination and practical ability.

I have given up the ambition to get to a university ...

To my great joy, I completely succeeded in convincing Hilbert and Klein .

Revolution in science - New theory of the Universe - Newtonian ideas overthrown.

... a German national with or without swastika instead of a Jew with liberal international convictions...

I never realised that so many Americans were interested in tensor analysis.

... said hardly anything beyond presenting a very simple objection to the probability interpretation .... Then he fell back into silence ...

I have locked myself into quite hopeless scientific problems - the more so since, as an elderly man, I have remained estranged from the society here...

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Additional Resources ( show )

Other pages about Albert Einstein:

• A meeting with Einstein
• Ether and Relativity
• Geometry and Experience
• Einstein; the Nazis and the German Academies
• Max Herzberger on Albert Einstein
• Times obituary
• Multiple entries in The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles ,
• Astronomy: The Infinite Universe
• Astronomy: The Reaches of the Milky Way
• Einstein's 1929 New York Times article
• Carlos Graef argues with Albert Einstein
• D D Kosambi on Einstein
• Miller's postage stamps

Other websites about Albert Einstein:

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• History of Computing Project
• Princeton University Press
• American Institute of Physics
• Albert Einstein Online
• Plus Magazine ( Einstein and relativity )
• Kevin Brown ( Reflections on Relativity )
• Mathematics Today
• Nobel prizes site ( A biography of Einstein and his Nobel prize presentation speech )
• Mathematical Genealogy Project
• MathSciNet Author profile
• zbMATH entry

Honours ( show )

Honours awarded to Albert Einstein

• Nobel Prize 1921
• Fellow of the Royal Society 1921
• LMS Honorary Member 1924
• Royal Society Copley Medal 1925
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1927
• AMS Gibbs Lecturer 1934
• Lunar features Crater Einstein
• Popular biographies list Number 13

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• History Topics: A brief history of cosmology
• History Topics: A history of Quantum Mechanics
• History Topics: A history of time: 20 th century time
• History Topics: A visit to James Clerk Maxwell's house
• History Topics: General relativity
• History Topics: Greek astronomy
• History Topics: Light through the ages: Relativity and quantum era
• History Topics: Newton's bucket
• History Topics: Orbits and gravitation
• History Topics: Special relativity
• History Topics: The development of the 'black hole' concept
• History Topics: Wave versus matrix mechanics
• Societies: Brazilian Academy of Sciences
• Societies: Canadian Mathematical Society
• Societies: Irish Royal Academy
• Societies: Israel Academy of Sciences
• Societies: Kaiser Wilhelm Society
• Societies: Max Planck Society for Advancement of Science
• Societies: Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• Societies: Zurich Scientific Research Society
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 1
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 7
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 8
• Other: 14th September
• Other: 1932 ICM - Zurich
• Other: 2009 Most popular biographies
• Other: 25th November
• Other: 29th May
• Other: 4th June
• Other: 4th May
• Other: 5th April
• Other: 5th December
• Other: 9th June
• Other: Cambridge Individuals
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (B)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (E)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (G)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (T)
• Other: Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Other: Jeff Miller's postage stamps
• Other: London Learned Societies
• Other: London Museums
• Other: London individuals H-M
• Other: Most popular biographies – 2024
• Other: Oxford Institutions and Colleges
• Other: Oxford individuals
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• Other: The Infinite Universe
• Other: The Reaches of the Milky Way

A Total Solar Eclipse Made Albert Einstein a Scientific Superstar

An eclipse in May 1919 had a pivotal role in proving one of Einstein’s most famous theories.

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A solar eclipse in May 1919 helped prove one of Albert Einstein ’s most famous hypotheses: his theory of general relativity. The discovery changed our understanding of physics and cemented Einstein’s status as one of the most influential scientists in history .

Einstein’s theory of general relativity dates back to 1905

Einstein’s theory , completed in 1915, is centered around gravity. Rather than being an invisible force that attracts objects to each other, gravity—as explained by relativity—is a curving or warping of space-time caused by concentrations of mass and energy. According to Einstein, this affects the motion of anything that passed nearby, including light.

Einstein had begun working on his theory in 1905 and was so confident in his principle that he asked researchers to carry out an eclipse experiment as early as 1911. He even raised his own money to fund it. He found a volunteer in German astronomer Erwin Freundlich in 1914, but the expedition was scrapped following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the outbreak of World War I.

Finally, in 1919, Einstein got his chance.

The 1919 solar eclipse experiment focused on the stars

In order to test Einstein’s idea, English astronomers named Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson launched expeditions to chart stars during the total solar eclipse on May 29, 1919. The scientists planned to pinpoint the positions of stars around the sun during “totality,” or when the sun’s light is completely blocked by the moon, and compare them to normal conditions. If there was a difference in their locations—even one so slight that it would be visible to the human eye—this would indicate the sun had deflected their light through a curving of space.

According to Smithsonian Magazine , Eddington traveled to the island of Principe, off the African coast, while Dyson sent two members of his staff to Sobral, Brazil, to perform the calculations. Whereas the 2024 eclipse has a maximum length of 4 minutes, 28 seconds along the path of totality, the duo and their teams had more than 5 minutes to examine the sky. The stars’ positions were recorded on glass plates, which were then brought back to England for further examination.

The results were, mostly, expected

Eddington and Dyson both deemed the experiment successful, as their results were very close to Einstein’s predictions for the amount of deflection. Well, at least the majority of them. One of the telescopes in Dyson’s expedition produced odd readings , with the stars looking like smudges and not rounded circles. So, he threw those respective plates out.

This has led some historians to speculate Dyson might have done so to exclude data that didn’t match the intended outcome, but University of Arkansas physics professor Daniel Kennefick, who wrote the book No Shadow of a Doubt about the 1919 eclipse and its findings, said this was highly unlikely. “It is rare to be completely neutral in science or life. Punishing Eddington for being honest in articulating his preferences is merely asking that scientists dishonestly suppress their views,” Kennefick said .

Einstein never doubted his theory

Einstein found out in September 1919 via telegram the results of the experiment had proven him correct. Although, he already knew they would.

Kennefick told Smithsonian Magazine that physicist Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider was allegedly with Einstein when he received the message and surprised by his lack of enthusiasm for the findings. “She said, ‘Well, what would you have said if the theory had found against you? Would you have been disappointed, in that event?’” Kennefick explained. “And [Einstein] smiled and said, ‘Well then I would have been sorry for the dear lord, because the theory is correct.’”

Another solar eclipse in 1922 would offer a chance to confirm Eddington and Dyson’s results, but the scientific community was eager to celebrate Einstein as a luminary before then. Eddington presented the results at a Royal Society meeting in London on November 6, 1919—in front of a picture of Sir Isaac Newton , whose ideas of gravity Einstein had revolutionized—and they were published the following day.

The Times of London called the findings a “revolution in science,” and Einstein’s popularity skyrocketed. He soon embarked on lecture tours across the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Japan, with crowds lining up to see him. According to Discover magazine , one woman even fainted upon meeting Einstein.

Two years later, in 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for “his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect,” all but cementing his legacy.

The theory of general relativity continues to help us navigate our world and understand the universe beyond. According to the Royal Astronomical Society , astrophysicists use relativity to explain the movement of stars and planets and how matter behaves in extreme regions of space—particularly black holes. Non-scientists rely on relativity every day, as satellite navigation systems use it to pinpoint travel coordinates. Knowing that it all ties back to a solar eclipse, you now have a better understanding of the gravity of Monday’s eagerly-awaited celestial event.

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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