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The Great Scientist Albert Einstein- The Biography

Albert Einstein- Family and Education
Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany about 100 km east of Stuttgart. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich. about 100 km east of Stuttgart. His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein. He enjoyed classical music and played the violin. After a failed attempt to skip high school and attend the Swiss Polytechnic University in 1895, Albert went to Aarau, Switzerland to finish high school. He graduated from high school at the age of 17 and enrolled at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich. Albert graduated in 1900 with a degree in physics. Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of five until ten. In 1889 Max Talmud (later changed to Max Talmey) introduced the ten-year old Einstein to key texts in science, mathematics and philosophy, including Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and Euclid’s Elements (which Einstein called the “holy little geometry book”). In 1894, following the failure of his fathers electrochemical business, the Einstein’s moved from Munich to Pavia, Italy (near Milan). Albert remained behind to finish school, completing a term by himself before rejoining his family in Pavia. in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. Einstein subsequently enrolled at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. The same year, he renounced his Württemberg citizenship, becoming stateless. In 1900, he was granted a teaching diploma by the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor’s degree.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920’s he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East and he was awarded Fellowships or Memberships of all 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.
In 1898, Einstein met and fell in love with Mileva Maric, a Serbian classmate (and friend of Nikola Tesla). Einstein and Marić married in January 1903. Einstein and Mileva Marić had a daughter they called Lieserl in their correspondence, born in January, 1902 in Novi Sad where the parents of Mileva lived. Lieserl, at the time, was considered illegitimate because the parents were unwed. In May 1904 the couple’s first son, Hans Albert Einstein, was born in Bern, Switzerland. Their second son, Eduard, was born in Zurich in July 1910. Marić and Einstein divorced on 14 February 1919 in the same year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936.

Albert Einstein- Scientific Career
Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds in world history. Einstein is known as a brilliant physicist who contributed more to the scientific world than any other person. Albert is widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century. Einstein is best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity. 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.” One story Einstein liked to tell about his childhood was of a wonder he saw when he was four or five years old: a magnetic compass. The needle’s invariable northward swing, guided by an invisible force, profoundly impressed the child. The compass convinced him that there had to be “something behind things, something deeply hidden.” Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics.

Albert Einstein with Family

Einstein’s theories on relativity paved the way for how science currently views time, space, energy, and gravity. Einstein was so advanced in his thinking that his studies and work set the standards for the control of scientific energy and space explorations currently being studied in the field of astrophysics.
His first article in 1905, named “On the Motion—Required by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat—of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid”, covered his study of Brownian motion. Using the then-controversial kinetic theory of fluids, it established that the phenomenon, which still lacked a satisfactory explanation decades after it was first observed, provided empirical evidence for the reality of atoms. It also lent credence to statistical mechanics, which was also controversial at the time. During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. Einstein thought about the nature of the gravitational field in the years 1909–1912, studying its properties by means of simple thought experiments. A notable one is the rotating disk. Einstein imagined an observer making experiments on a rotating turntable. He noted that such an observer would find a different value for the mathematical constant pi than the one predicted by Euclidean geometry. The reason is that the radius of a circle would be measured with an uncontracted ruler, but according to special relativity, the circumference would seem to be longer, because the ruler would be contracted.
Since Einstein believed that the laws of physics were local, described by local fields, he concluded from this that spacetime could be locally curved. This led him to study Riemannian geometry, and to formulate general relativity in this language.
In 1912, Einstein returned to Switzerland to accept a professorship at his alma mater, the ETH. Once back in Zurich, he immediately visited his old ETH classmate Marcel Grossmann, now a professor of mathematics, who introduced him to Riemannian geometry and, more generally, to differential geometry. On the recommendation of Italian mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita, Einstein began exploring the usefulness of general covariance (essentially the use of tensors) for his gravitational theory. For a while Einstein thought that there were problems with the approach, but he later returned to it and, by late 1915, had published his general theory of relativity in the form in which it is used today. This theory explains gravitation as distortion of the structure of spacetime by matter, affecting the inertial motion of other matter. During World War I, the work of Central Powers scientists was available only to Central Powers academics, for national security reasons. Some of Einstein’s work did reach the United Kingdom and the United States through the efforts of the Austrian Paul Ehrenfest and physicists in the Netherlands, especially 1902 Nobel Prize-winner Hendrik Lorentz and Willem de Sitter of Leiden University. After the war ended, Einstein maintained his relationship with Leiden University, accepting a contract as an Extraordinary Professor; for ten years, from 1920 to 1930, he travelled to Holland regularly to lecture. In 1933, he joined the staff of the newly created Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He accepted this position for life, living there until his death. Einstein is probably familiar to most people for his mathematical equation about the nature of energy, E = MC2.
The idea of light quanta contradicted the wave theory of light that followed naturally from James Clerk Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetic behaviour and, more generally, the assumption of infinite divisibility of energy in physical systems. Even after experiments showed that Einstein’s equations for the photoelectric effect were accurate, his explanation was not universally accepted. However, by 1921, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize and his work on photoelectricity was mentioned by name in the award citation, most physicists thought that the equation (hf = Φ + Ek) was correct and light quanta were possible.
The theory of light quanta was a strong indication of wave-particle duality, the concept, used as a fundamental principle by the creators of quantum mechanics, that physical systems can display both wave-like and particle-like properties. A complete picture of the photoelectric effect was only obtained after the maturity of quantum mechanics.
In 1935, Einstein returned to the question of quantum mechanics. He considered how a measurement on one of two entangled particles would affect the other. He noted, along with his collaborators, that by performing different measurements on the distant particle, either of position or momentum, different properties of the entangled partner could be discovered without disturbing it in any way.
He then used a hypothesis of local realism to conclude that the other particle had these properties already determined. The principle he proposed is that if it is possible to determine what the answer to a position or momentum measurement would be, without in any way disturbing the particle, then the particle actually has values of position or momentum.
This principle distilled the essence of Einstein’s objection to quantum mechanics. As a physical principle, it has since been shown to be incompatible with experiments. Possibly, Albert Einstein’s most famous writing was a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939. In his letter, he warned of the possibility of Germany building an atomic bomb and urged the President to do nuclear research and complete the bomb before the Germans did. Albert wrote the letter as a result of a request from a friend, Leo Szilard. Szilard had become alarmed after the discovery of uranium fission. Szilard also asked Einstein to warn the Belgian Queen Mother. At the time of this request in 1939, most American physicists doubted that atomic energy or atomic bombs were a possibility. Although not a well-known fact, there was two letters written and signed by Einstein to send to President Roosevelt . There was a short version and a long version. Einstein preferred the long version and so that was the one that was finally delivered to the President. The letter did not have much impact and World War II began on September 1, 1939.
The theory of general relativity has two fundamental laws – the Einstein equations which describe how space curves, and the geodesic equation which describes how particles move.
Since the equations of general relativity are non-linear, a lump of energy made out of pure gravitational fields, like a black hole, would move on a trajectory which is determined by the Einstein equations themselves, not by a new law. So Einstein proposed that the path of a singular solution, like a black hole, would be determined to be a geodesic from general relativity itself.

Albert Einstein

This was established by Einstein, Infeld and Hoffmann for pointlike objects without angular momentum, and by Roy Kerr for spinning objects.

Politics and Religious Views
Throughout the November Revolution in Germany Einstein signed an appeal for the foundation of a nationwide liberal and democratic party, hich was published in the Berliner Tageblatt on 16 November 1918, and became a member of the German Democratic Party. He participated in the 1927 congress of the League against Imperialism in Brussels. After World War II, as enmity between the former allies became a serious issue, Einstein wrote, “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!” In a 1949 Monthly Review article entitled “Why Socialism?” Albert Einstein described a chaotic capitalist society, a source of evil to be overcome, as the “predatory phase of human development” (Einstein 1949). With Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell, Einstein lobbied to stop nuclear testing and future bombs. Days before his death, Einstein signed the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which led to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Einstein was a member of several civil rights groups, including the Princeton chapter of the NAACP. When the aged W. E. B. Du Bois was accused of being a Communist spy, Einstein volunteered as a character witness, and the case was dismissed shortly afterward. Einstein’s friendship with activist Paul Robeson, with whom he served as co-chair of the American Crusade to End Lynching, lasted twenty years.

Albert Einstein with Sister Maja

The question of scientific determinism gave rise to questions about Einstein’s position on theological determinism, and whether or not he believed in God, or in a god. In 1929, Einstein told Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein “I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”

Albert Einstein- Awards and Honors
In 1922, Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”. It was long reported that Einstein gave the Nobel prize money directly to his first wife, Mileva Marić, in compliance with their 1919 divorce settlement. However, personal correspondence made public in 2006 shows that he invested much of it in the United States, and saw much of it wiped out in the Great Depression. Einstein traveled to New York City in the United States for the first time on 2 April, 1921. When asked where he got his scientific ideas, Einstein explained that he believed scientific work best proceeds from an examination of physical reality and a search for underlying axioms, with consistent explanations that apply in all instances and avoid contradicting each other. He also recommended theories with visualizable results (Einstein 1954). In 1999, Albert Einstein was named Person of the Century by Time magazine, a Gallup poll recorded him as the fourth most admired person of the 20th century in the U.S. and according to The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Einstein is “the greatest scientist of the twentieth century and one of the supreme intellects of all time.” Albert Einstein has been recognized many times over for his achievements. The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics named 2005 the “World Year of Physics” in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Annus Mirabilis Papers.
The chemical element 99, einsteinium, was named for him in August 1955, four months after Einstein’s death. 2001 Einstein is an inner main belt asteroid discovered on March 5, 1973.
The Albert Einstein Award (sometimes called the Albert Einstein Medal because it is accompanied with a gold medal) is an award in theoretical physics, that was established to recognize high achievement in the natural sciences. It was endowed by the Lewis and Rosa Strauss Memorial Fund in honor of Albert Einstein’s 70th birthday. It was first awarded in 1951 and included a prize money of $ 15,000, which was later reduced to $ 5,000. The Albert Einstein Peace Prize is an award that is given yearly by the Chicago, Illinois-based Albert Einstein Peace Prize Foundation. Winners of the prize receive $50,000. In 1990, his name was added to the Walhalla temple.

Albert Einstein Death
Albert Einstein’s gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life. On April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey this great Scientist was died.

Albert Einstein’s Quotes
• “A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be”
• “A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem”
• “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”
• “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy”

Albert Einstein at Beach

• “A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?”
• “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree”
• “All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual”
• “All these primary impulses, not easily described in words, are the springs of man’s actions”
• “An empty stomach is not a good political adviser”
• “Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools”
• “Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction”
• “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction”
• “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves”
• “Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking”
• “Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either”
• “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”
• “As far as I’m concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue”
• “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality”
• “Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish”
• “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen”

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