This German-born physicist is considered one of the world’s greatest thinkers in history. He shaped the way people think of time, space, matter, energy, and gravity. Additionally, he was a supporter of Zionism and peaceful living. Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany, and spent most of his youth living in Munich, where his family owned a small electric machinery shop.
He attended school in Munich, which he found unimaginative and dull. In addition, he taught himself Euclidean geometry at the age of 12. Later, his family was forced to move to Milan, Italy, where he decided to withdraw from school at the age of 15. Eventually, he realized that he had to finish secondary school, which he did in Arrau, Switzerland. However, he still often skipped class to study physics on his own, much like myself. At age 22, he became a Swiss citizen and in 1903 married a woman named Mileva Marec, with whom he had two sons. Nonetheless, he later divorced her to marry his cousin in 1919.
Which is unlike me. On the other hand, he published five major research papers at the age of 26. The first one earned him his doctorate in 1905. The paper was on Brownian motion, which is a zigzag motion of microscopic particles in suspension.
He suggested that the movement was the result of the random motion of molecules in the suspension medium as they rebound off suspended particles. The second paper laid the foundation for the photon, or quantum theory of light. It stated that light is composed of separate packets of energy called quanta or photons. The paper revolutionized the theory of light, also explaining the emission of electrons from solid objects when they are struck by light. Televisions are practical applications of Einstein’s discoveries.
The third paper, which he began as an essay at age 16, contained the special theory of relativity. He showed that time and motion are relative to the observer if the speed of light is constant and natural laws are the same everywhere in the universe. The fourth was a mathematical addition to the special theory of relativity. This is where he presents his famous E=mc², also known as the energy mass equivalence.
His fifth paper was his general theory of relativity, in which he proposed that gravity is not a force, as previously accepted, but rather a curved field in the space-time continuum created in the presence of mass. In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics for the confirmation of his general theory of relativity, although the other papers were still considered controversial. In 1933, he moved to the USA, where he became a citizen in 1940.
Einstein died in Princeton, NJ on April 18, 1955. The knowledge he passed still carries through tomorrow. Category: Biographies.
