FIVE: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was born in Germany, on March 14th, 1879, and died on April 18th, 1955, in New Jersey. He was a theoretical theorist who developed general and special theories of relativity. Einstein also won a Nobel Prize for Physics in the year 1921 with the explanation behind the photoelectric effect.
Significant Events for Einstein
On March 14th, 1879, Albert Einstein was born to Hermann and Pauline Einstein in Ulm, Germany. Later on, while looking at a compass in 1884, Einstein found his lifelong calling to explore the mysteries of our universe. By the age of 10, he started a self-education program and began learning as much as he could about science. In 1885, Einstein attempted to skip high school by trying to get into the Swiss Polytechnic, failing only the arts portion of the entrance exam. His family sent him to Aarau to finish his high school education. After graduating high school at age 17 in 1886, Einstein enrolled in The Federal Polytechnic School (ETH) in Zurich. This is the place where he first fell in love with Mileva Maric. By 1900, he graduated from ETH. Just a year later, he became a citizen of Switzerland and Mileva had gotten pregnant. In 1902, their daughter was born and later put up for adoption by the couple, this year Einstein's father died as well. In January of 1903, Einstein married Mileva, later having their first son, Hans Albert. At age 26, Einstein published “Miracle Year”, where he first introduced the theory of E=mc^2. By 1907 he began applying the Laws of Gravity to his theory of relativity. A year later, he and his wife’s second son Eduard was born. Einstein and his family moved to Prague in 1911, because he had been given a full scholarship to a German university. That year he also attended an invite-only event at the Solvay Conference, being the youngest physicist there. He and his family moved once again just a year later in order for Einstein to take a professor job at ETH. Einstein began to work on his theory of gravity in 1913. The next year many things happened to Einstein, he became the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, while also being a professor at the University of Berlin, and his wife moved to Zurich after three months, beginning divorce proceedings. This is also the time at which WWI had begun. He completed his general theory of relativity in 1915. Two years later, Einstein suffered from exhaustion and had fallen very ill. Being nursed back to health by Elsa Lowenthal, whom he later married in 1919. That same year a solar eclipse provided proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity. For this and his many other accomplishments, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. When 1927 came along he started to develop the foundation of quantum mechanics with Niel Bohr. At age 53, he began to feel pressured by Nazi Germany, during the peak of his fame. So, he went to the United States with his second wife, Elsa. Unfortunately, three years later, Elsa died from a brief illness. In 1939, he wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt that is now famous, warning him of the possibility of Germany creating an atomic bomb, and urging the United States to rush into nuclear research. He obtained his United States citizenship in 1940 while also retaining his Swiss citizenship. 15 years later in 1955, Einstein died of heart failure.
Why Was Einstein Chosen?
1: We all know Einstein as the physicist he was, but did you know he was also a Humanitarian and Anti-War activist? Albert Einstein was not only a Jew during Hitler’s reign, he considered himself a citizen of the whole world. He spoke about world issues such as racism, pacifism, anti-Semitism, nuclear disarmament, and many more subjects. Using his fame to reach people.
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2: His “General Theory of Relativity”. Einstein's theory was proven to be correct on May 29th, 1919, during a solar eclipse. His theory predicted that the sun’s gravity acts like a lens and deflects light from distant stars, making them look like they’re in another location. This overturned Issac Newton's description of gravity and made Einstein extremely famous.
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3: E = mc2
Known as Einstein's most famous equation. This equation means that from the standpoint of physics, mass, and energy are interchangeable. Another way to explain it is that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.
E= energy
m= mass
c= the speed of light
Einstein published this equation while employed at a patent office in Bern along with three other papers in September 1905. Sadly, this equation enabled scientists to create bombs that could destroy cities at a time. Which later on led to the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the end of WW2.
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4: His imagination. If Einstein hadn’t had such a flowing imagination we probably wouldn’t be as progressed as we are today. There are many quotes revolving around Einstein talking of imagination, saying “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is the language of the soul. Pay attention to your imagination and you will discover all you need to be fulfilled.”. He even had something called a ‘thought experiment’, which he would do inside his head when he couldn’t do the experiment in reality. The most known thought experiment was whether or not a clock's time would continue to move normally if you were traveling at light speed.
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5: His Astronomical Legacy. Gravitational Waves: In 2016, an observatory known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected space-time ripples. Also known as gravitational waves. This was a century after Einstein had already predicted these waves. The ripples are considered a part of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Mercury’s Orbit: Since Mercury is so small when compared to the Sun, its orbit wasn’t really understood. Until general relativity showed that the curves in spacetime are affecting Mercury's motion and changing its orbit. Black Holes: Four years ago in 2019, a telescope produced the first images of a black hole. These photos only once again proved Einstein’s theory of relativity. Gravitational Lensing: Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon that occurs when a huge object (like a black hole or cluster of galaxies) bends light to go around it. An example of this would be Einstein's Cross, a quasar in the constellation called Pegasus.
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6: His scientific accomplishments and life’s work. Einstein spent almost his entire life working to find out all the mysteries of the universe. When he died, he was working on the Theory of Everything. If he had been successful, Einstein would have been able to have linked everything in the universe together for the world to harness. We already know about his theory of relativity so we’ll continue. Theory of Special Relativity: Einstein had already shown that physical laws are identical regardless of the observer, as long as they aren’t accelerating. But, the speed of light stays consistent if it's in a vacuum, no matter what speed the person watching is going. This led Einstein to connect space and time together. Photoelectric Effect: In 1905, Einstein said that light should be seen as a stream of photons rather than a singular wave. His work within this field helped scientists explain things that were previously unable to be solved. Einstein also participated in the Unified field theory, which would’ve merged electromagnetism and gravity together in a way. However, he was unsuccessful and scientists to this day are still working on this.