SCIENTIST

Albert Einstein

• Born March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg,
Germany and died April 18, 1955,
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S., German-born
physicist who developed the special and
general theories of relativity and won the
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for his
explanation of the photoelectric effect.
Einstein is generally considered the most
influential physicist of the 20th century.

14 years old 42 years old

3 years old 25 years old

Education

• Einstein was eventually able to gain admission into the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, specifically due to his
superb mathematics and physics scores on the entrance exam.

• He was still required to complete his pre-university education first,
and thus attended a high school in Aarau, Switzerland helmed by
Jost Winteler. Einstein lived with the schoolmaster's family and fell
in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie. Einstein later renounced
his German citizenship and became a Swiss citizen at the dawn of
the new century.

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich

First Scientific Papers

• In 1900, Einstein's paper "Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen"
("Conclusions from the Capillarity Phenomena") was published in the
journal Annalen der Physik. On 30 April 1905, Einstein completed his
thesis,with Alfred Kleiner, Professor of Experimental Physics, serving as pro-
forma advisor. As a result, Einstein was awarded a PhD by the University of
Zürich, with his dissertation A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions.

• Also in 1905, which has been called Einstein's annus mirabilis (amazing
year), he published four groundbreaking papers, on the photoelectric effect,
Brownian motion, special relativity, and the equivalence of mass and energy,
which were to bring him to the notice of the academic world, at the age of 26.

"Folgerungen aus den
Capillaritätserscheinungen"
("Conclusions from the Capillarity

Phenomena")

Inventions and Discoveries

As a physicist, Einstein had many discoveries, but he is perhaps best
known for his theory of relativity and the equation E=MC2, which
foreshadowed the development of atomic power and the atomic
bomb.

Theory of Relativity

• Einstein first proposed a special theory of relativity in 1905 in his
paper, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” taking physics
in an electrifying new direction. By November 1915, Einstein
completed the general theory of relativity. Einstein considered this
theory the culmination of his life research.

• He was convinced of the merits of general relativity because it
allowed for a more accurate prediction of planetary orbits around
the sun, which fell short in Isaac Newton’s theory, and for a more
expansive, nuanced explanation of how gravitational forces
worked.

• Einstein's assertions were affirmed via observations and
measurements by British astronomers Sir Frank Dyson and Sir
Arthur Eddington during the 1919 solar eclipse, and thus a global
science icon was born.

Einstein’s E=MC2

• (aeEcthMotqionenu)msvaeotetqeificruiottnpahne’tosdasiwto1uinbn9egto0rgEo.de5=yhsMptuteaigCdmpe2ete:ahrstmahottnoehtueeitnnhnsytepesrepmogeayfadrettootinceffelraelr/isggbehyoon,tdfeasmyrqdg(ayuiEstatr)cereoierlsvadceetori(qoCyuun2ltadsh)lh.abtTiotephhtpihesrreoampldoaessdesd
• taMFEhcaianeamxsdKetePeadmliiansqine,aucrw,aktWnhaItokniulisthnmhtegiutltmuoshtnebeIoevnfrcaosiartrsimittoPuMeuhtsyeaasxpfsiooctPrasslr)iaPtnfoihrocfyonktsmhsibcebas1elc9(efkt1ocoetr7ddueatruboeype1cicsti9orhk3cmenu3aioi.ntswgsaenndrdiatriseotcnhtsoerofof

Energy mass squared

E = mc 2

equals speed of light
(constant)

Influence of Albert Einstein on science

• Albert Einstein had a massive influence on contemporary physics.
His theory of relativity shifted contemporary understanding of
space completely. Along with his equation E = mc2, it also
foreshadowed the creation of the atomic bomb. Einstein’s
understanding of light as something which can function both as a
wave and as a stream of particles became the basis for what is
known today as quantum mechanics.

Albert Einstein’s Quotes

• “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”
• “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb

a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
• “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it

yourself.”
• “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you

everywhere.”
• “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

END