Born: March 14, 1879 (Ulm, Germany)
Died: April 18, 1955 (Princeton, New Jersey)
As a child, Albert Einstein showed no signs of his intellectual capabilities and there was some feeling that he might prove retarded. As a student, he was only interested in mathematics and was eventually made to drop out of school. He attended college in Switzerland, concentrating on independent reading in theoretical physics.In 1901, he became a junior official at the patent office at Bern, Switzerland and began his work.
In 1905, he published five of his papers in the German Yearbook of Physics, involving three developments of major importance.In the same year, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Zürich.
One paper dealt with the photoelectric effect, whereby he maintained that a particular wavelength of light falling on a metal surface would force out electrons of fixed energy content and no other. For this contribution towards the establishment of the new quantum mechanics, he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
In his second paper, Einstein presented a mathematical analysis of Brownian motion.
His greatest achievement came in the theory of Special Relativity which overthrew the old Newtonian view of the universe. It established that the speed of light in vacuum is a universal constant and disproved the presence of ether. From there, he introduced the idea that all motion was relative to some frame of reference chosen and the laws of nature remained unchanged for all such frames of reference. Furthermore, Einstein also worked out a relationship between mass and energy in the form of the famous equation:
In 1915, Einstein extended the theory to a more general case of accelerated systems and worked out a new theory of gravitation which became known as the General Theory of Relativity.
In 1930 , he took up permanent residence in Princeton, New Jersey, and became an American citizen. He spent his last years on a vain search for the unified field theory which includes both gravitation and electromagnetism.
During World War 2, with his influence, he persuaded President Roosevelt to carry out the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was used on Japan and caused widespread devastation. After the war, Einstein fought for a world agreement to end the threat of nuclear warfare but was unsuccessful.
After his death in 1955, element number 99 was named einsteinium in his honour.