Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein in 1947

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born scientist. He
worked on theoretical physics.[1] He developed the theory of relativity.[2][3]He
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his theoretical physics. His

famous equation is (E = energy, m = mass, c = speed of light).

Before his job, Einstein thought that Isaac Newton's idea of gravity was not
completely accurate. He developed the special theory of relativityin 1902-1909 to
correct that. However, he realized that the gravitational fields could also extend the
relativity. So, he published a paper on general relativity in 1916 with his theory of
gravitation.
In 1933, Einstein was visiting the United States. In Germany, Adolf Hitler came to
power. His state with the Jews led Einstein not to return to Germany.[4] He lived in
the United States and became an American citizen in 1940.[5] On the beginning
of World War II, he sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He told him
that German was making a nuclear weapon. He recommended that the US would
begin similar research. This eventually led to the Manhattan Project.

Life[change | change source]

Early life[change | change source]
Einstein was born in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany, on 14 March 1879.[6] His family
was Jewish, but was not very religious. However, later in life Einstein became very
interested in his Judaism. Einstein did not begin speaking until he was 2 years old.
According to his younger sister, Maja, "He had such difficulty with language that
those around him feared he would never learn".[7] When Einstein was around 4
years old, his father gave him a magnetic compass. He tried hard to understand
how the needle could seem to move itself so that it always pointed north. The
needle was in a closed case, so clearly nothing like wind could be pushing the
needle around, and yet it moved. So in this way Einstein became interested in
studying science and mathematics. His compass gave him ideas to explore the
world of science.
When he became older, he went to a school in Switzerland. After he graduated, he
got a job in the patent office there. While he was working there, he wrote the
papers that first made him famous as a great scientist.
Einstein married with a 20-year old Serbian woman Mileva Marić in January 1903.
In 1917, Einstein became very sick with an illness that almost killed him. His
cousin Elsa Löwenthal nursed him back to health. After this happened, Einstein
divorced Mileva in 14 February 1919, and married Elsa on 2 June 1919.
Children[change | change source]
Einstein's first daughter was "Lieserl" (no one knows her real name). She was born
in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Austria-Hungary in the first months of 1902. She spent her
very short life (believed to be less than 2 years) in the care
of Serbian grandparents where it is believed she died from scarlet fever.[8] Some
believe she may have been born with the disordercalled Down syndrome, although
it never proves. No one knew her very existence until 1986, when Einstein's
granddaughter discovered a shoe box containing 54 love letters (most of them from
Einstein), exchanged between Mileva and Einstein from 1897 to September
1903.[9]
Einstein's two sons were Hans Albert Einstein and Eduard Tete Einstein. Hans was
born in Bern, Switzerland in May 1904 and Eduard was born
in Zürich, Switzerland in July 1910. Eduard died in 20 years old at schizophrenia.
Later life[change | change source]
Just before the start of World War I, he moved back to Germany, and
became director of a school there. He lived in Berlin until
the Nazi government came to power. The Nazis hated people who were Jewish or
who came from Jewish families. They accused Einstein of helping to create
"Jewish physics," and German physicists tried to prove that his theories were
wrong.
In 1933, under death threats from the Nazis and hated by the Nazi-controlled
German press, Einstein and Elsa moved to Princeton, New Jersey in the United
States, and in 1940 he became a United States citizen.
During World War II, Einstein and Leo wrote to the U.S. president, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, to say that the United States should invent an atomic bomb so that
the Nazi government could not beat them to the punch. He was the only one who
signed the letter. However, he was not part of the Manhattan Project, which was
the project that created the atomic bomb.[10]
Einstein, a Jew but not an Israeli citizen, was offered the presidency in 1952 but
turned it down, stating "I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and
at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it."[11] Ehud Olmert was
reported to be considering offering the presidency to another non-Israeli, Elie
Wiesel, but he was said to be "very not interested".[12]
He taught physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New
Jersey until his death on 18 April 1955 of a burst aortic aneurysm. He was still
writing about physics hours before he died. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics.