Biography of Einstein. Brief biography of Albert Einstein. Photos and interesting facts Brief message about Albert Einstein

Biography and episodes of life Albert Einstein. When born and died Albert Einstein, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Quotes from a theoretical physicist, Photo and video.

Years of life of Albert Einstein:

born March 14, 1879, died April 18, 1955

Epitaph

“You are the god of the most paradoxical theories!
I want to find something wonderful too...
Let there be death - let us believe a priori! -
The beginning of the highest form of being."
From a poem by Vadim Rozov in memory of Einstein

Biography

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous physicists of recent centuries. In his biography, Einstein made a number of great discoveries and revolutionized scientific thinking. His scientific path was not simple, just as Albert Einstein’s personal life was not simple, but he left behind a huge legacy that still gives food for thought to modern scientists.

He was born into a simple, poor Jewish family. As a child, Einstein did not like school, so he preferred to study at home, which gave rise to some gaps in his education (for example, he wrote with errors), as well as many myths that Einstein was a stupid student. Thus, when Einstein entered the Polytechnic in Zurich, he received excellent marks in mathematics, but failed exams in botany and French, so he had to study at school for some more time before enrolling again. Studying at the Polytechnic was easy for him, and there he met his future wife Mileva, to whom some biographers attributed Einstein’s merits. Their first child was born before marriage; what happened to the girl next is unknown. She may have died in infancy or been given away to foster care. However, Einstein could not be called a man suited for marriage. All his life he devoted himself entirely to science.

After graduating from university, Einstein got a job at a patent office in Bern, writing many scientific publications during his work - and in his free time, since he coped with his work responsibilities very quickly. In 1905, Einstein first put down on paper his thoughts on his future theory of relativity, which states that the laws of physics should have the same form in any frame of reference.

For many years, Einstein taught at European universities and worked on his scientific ideas. He stopped conducting regular classes at universities in 1914, and a year later he published the final version of the theory of relativity. But, contrary to popular belief, Einstein received the Nobel Prize not for it, but for the “photoelectric effect.” Einstein lived in Germany from 1914 to 1933, but with the rise of fascism in the country he was forced to immigrate to America, where he remained until his death - he worked at the Institute for Advanced Study, searching for a theory about a single equation from which the phenomena of gravity could be extracted and electromagnetism, but these studies were unsuccessful. He spent the last years of his life with his wife Elsa Löwenthal, his cousin, and the children from his wife’s first marriage, whom he adopted.

Einstein's death occurred on the night of April 18, 1955 in Princeton. The cause of Einstein's death was an aortic aneurysm. Before his death, Einstein forbade any pompous farewells to his body and asked that the time and place of his burial not be disclosed. Therefore, Albert Einstein's funeral took place without any publicity, only his close friends were present. Einstein's grave does not exist, as his body was burned in a crematorium and his ashes were scattered.

Life line

March 14, 1879 Date of birth of Albert Einstein.
1880 Moving to Munich.
1893 Moving to Switzerland.
1895 Studying at school in Aarau.
1896 Admission to the Zurich Polytechnic (now ETH Zurich).
1902 Entering the Federal Patent Office for Inventions in Bern, father's death.
January 6, 1903 Marriage to Mileva Maric, birth of daughter Lieserl, whose fate is unknown.
1904 Birth of Einstein's son, Hans Albert.
1905 First discoveries.
1906 Obtaining a Doctor of Science degree in physics.
1909 Obtaining a position as a professor at the University of Zurich.
1910 Birth of Eduard Einstein's son.
1911 Einstein headed the department of physics at the German University of Prague (now Charles University).
1914 Return to Germany.
February 1919 Divorce from Mileva Maric.
June 1919 Marriage to Else Löwenthal.
1921 Receiving the Nobel Prize.
1933 Moving to the USA.
December 20, 1936 Date of death of Einstein's wife, Elsa Löwenthal.
April 18, 1955 Date of death of Einstein.
April 19, 1955 Einstein's funeral.

Memorable places

1. Monument to Einstein in Ulm on the site of the house in which he was born.
2. Albert Einstein House Museum in Bern, in the house where the scientist lived in 1903-1905. and where his theory of relativity was born.
3. Einstein's house in 1909-1911. in Zurich.
4. Einstein's house in 1912-1914. in Zurich.
5. Einstein's house in 1918-1933. in Berlin.
6. Einstein's house in 1933-1955. in Princeton.
7. ETH Zurich (formerly Zurich Polytechnic), where Einstein studied.
8. University of Zurich, where Einstein taught in 1909-1911.
9. Charles University (formerly the German University), where Einstein taught.
10. Memorial plaque to Einstein in Prague, on the house in which he visited while teaching at the German University of Prague.
11. Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein worked after immigrating to the United States.
12. Monument to Albert Einstein in Washington, USA.
13. The crematorium of the Ewing Cemetery Cemetery, where Einstein's body was burned.

Episodes of life

Once, at a social reception, Einstein met Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Flirtingly, she said: “If we had a child, he would inherit my beauty and your intelligence. It would be fantastic". To which the scientist ironically remarked: “What if he turns out to be handsome, like me, and smart, like you?” Nevertheless, the scientist and the actress were bound by mutual sympathy and respect for a long time, which even gave rise to many rumors about their love affair.

Einstein was a fan of Chaplin and adored his films. One day he wrote a letter to his idol with the words: “Your film “Gold Rush” is understood by everyone in the world, and I am sure that you will become a great man! Einstein." To which the great actor and director replied: “I admire you even more. Nobody in the world understands your theory of relativity, but you still became a great man! Chaplin." Chaplin and Einstein became close friends; the scientist often hosted the actor at his home.

Einstein once said: “If two percent of the young people in a country refuse military service, the government will not be able to resist them, and there will simply not be enough space in prisons.” This spawned an entire anti-war movement among young Americans who wore badges on their chests that read “2%.”

Dying, Einstein spoke a few words in German, but the American nurse could not understand or remember them. Despite the fact that Einstein lived for many years in America, he claimed that he did not speak English well, and German remained his native language.

Covenant

“Caring for man and his fate should be the main goal in science. Never forget this among your drawings and equations.”

“Only life that is lived for people is valuable.”


Documentary about Albert Einstein

Condolences

“Humanity will always be indebted to Einstein for eliminating the limitations of our worldview that were associated with primitive ideas of absolute space and time.”
Niels Bohr, Danish theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner

“If Einstein had not existed, physics of the 20th century would have been different. This cannot be said about any other scientist... He occupied a position in public life that is unlikely to be occupied by another scientist in the future. No one, in fact, knows why, but he entered the public consciousness of the whole world, becoming a living symbol of science and the ruler of the thoughts of the twentieth century. Einstein was the most noble man we have ever met."
Charles Percy Snow, English writer, physicist

“There was always a kind of magical purity about him, at once childlike and infinitely stubborn.”
Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist

The legendary scientist who created the theory of relativity remains one of the most mysterious figures in the scientific world to this day. Despite dozens of published biographies and memoirs, the truth of many facts in Einstein's biography is as relative as his theory.

Researchers had to wait many years to shed light on the scientist’s life. In 2006, the archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem made public previously closed correspondence between the brilliant physicist and his wives, lovers and children.

From the letters it follows that Einstein had at least ten mistresses. He preferred playing the violin to boring university lectures, and considered his closest person to be his adopted daughter Margot, who donated almost 3,500 letters from her stepfather to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with the condition that the university would be able to publish the correspondence only 20 years after her death, Izvestia writes. .

However, even without the Don Juan list, the life of a brilliant scientist has always been of great interest both to people of science and to ordinary people.

From compass to integrals

The future Nobel laureate was born on March 14, 1879 in the German town of Ulm. At first, nothing foreshadowed a great future for the child: the boy began to speak late, and his speech was somewhat slow. Einstein's first scientific research took place when he was three years old. For his birthday, his parents gave him a compass, which later became his favorite toy. The boy was extremely surprised that the compass needle always pointed to the same point in the room, no matter how it was turned.

Meanwhile, Einstein's parents were concerned about his speech problems. As the scientist’s younger sister Maya Winteler-Einstein said, the boy repeated every phrase he was preparing to utter, even the simplest, to himself for a long time, moving his lips. The habit of speaking slowly later began to irritate Einstein’s teachers. However, despite this, after the first days of studying at a Catholic primary school, he was identified as a capable student and transferred to the second grade.

After his family moved to Munich, Einstein began studying at a gymnasium. However, here, instead of studying, he preferred to study his favorite sciences on his own, which yielded results: in the exact sciences, Einstein was far ahead of his peers. At the age of 16 he mastered differential and integral calculus. At the same time, Einstein read a lot and played the violin beautifully. Later, when the scientist was asked what prompted him to create the theory of relativity, he referred to the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the philosophy of Ancient China, writes the portal cde.osu.ru.

Failure

Without graduating from high school, 16-year-old Albert went to enter a polytechnic school in Zurich, but “failed” the entrance exams in languages, botany and zoology. At the same time, Einstein brilliantly passed mathematics and physics, after which he was immediately invited to the senior class of the cantonal school in Aarau, after which he became a student at the Zurich Polytechnic. Here his teacher was the mathematician Herman Minkowski. They say that it was Minkowski who was responsible for giving the theory of relativity a complete mathematical form.

Einstein managed to graduate from the university with a high score and with negative characteristics from the teachers: at the educational institution, the future Nobel laureate was known as an avid truant. Einstein later said that he “simply did not have time to go to class.”

For a long time the graduate could not find a job. “I was bullied by my professors, who did not like me because of my independence and closed my path to science,” Wikipedia quotes Einstein as saying.

The Great Don Juan

Even at the university, Einstein was known as a desperate woman lover, but over time he chose Mileva Maric, whom he met in Zurich. Mileva was four years older than Einstein, but studied in the same course as him.

“She studied physics, and she and Einstein were brought together by an interest in the works of great scientists. Einstein felt the need for a comrade with whom he could share his thoughts about what he had read. Mileva was a passive listener, but Einstein was quite satisfied with this. At that time, fate did not push him neither with a comrade equal to him in mental strength (this did not fully happen later), nor with a girl whose charm did not need a common scientific platform,” wrote the Soviet “Einstein scholar” Boris Grigorievich Kuznetsov.

Einstein's wife “shone in mathematics and physics”: she was excellent at performing algebraic calculations and had a good grasp of analytical mechanics. Thanks to these qualities, Marich could take an active part in writing all of her husband’s major works, writes freelook.ru.

The union of Maric and Einstein was destroyed by the latter's inconstancy. Albert Einstein enjoyed enormous success with women, and his wife was constantly tormented by jealousy. Later, their son Hans-Albert wrote: “The mother was a typical Slav with very strong and persistent negative emotions. She never forgave insults...” In 1919, the couple separated, having agreed in advance that Einstein would give the Nobel Prize to his ex-wife and two sons - Eduard and Hans.

For the second time, the scientist married his cousin Elsa. Contemporaries considered her a narrow-minded woman, whose range of interests was limited to clothes, jewelry and sweets.

According to letters published in 2006, Einstein had about ten affairs during his second marriage, including a relationship with his secretary and a socialite named Ethel Michanowski. The latter pursued him so aggressively that, according to Einstein, “she had absolutely no control over her actions.”

Unlike Maric, Elsa did not pay attention to her husband’s numerous infidelities. She helped the scientist in her own way: she maintained genuine order in everything that concerned the material aspects of his life.

"You just need to learn arithmetic"

Like any genius, Albert Einstein sometimes suffered from absent-mindedness. They say that one day, having boarded a Berlin tram, he became absorbed in reading out of habit. Then, without looking at the conductor, he took out from his pocket the money that had been calculated in advance for the ticket.

There’s not enough here,” said the conductor.

“It can’t be,” the scientist answered, without looking up from the book.

And I'm telling you - it's not enough.

Einstein shook his head again, saying, this can’t be. The conductor was indignant:

Then count, here - 15 pfennigs. So five more are missing.

Einstein rummaged in his pocket and actually found the right coin. He felt embarrassed, but the conductor, smiling, said: “Nothing, grandfather, you just need to learn arithmetic.”

One day, at the Berne patent office, Einstein was handed a large envelope. Seeing that an incomprehensible text was printed on it for a certain Tinstein, he threw the letter into the trash. Only later did it become clear that the envelope contained an invitation to Calvin's celebrations and a notice that Einstein had been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva.

This case is mentioned in the book by E. Dukas and B. Hofmann, “Albert Einstein as a Man,” which was based on excerpts from Einstein’s previously unpublished letters.

Bad investment

Einstein completed his masterpiece, the general theory of relativity, in 1915 in Berlin. It presented a completely new idea of ​​space and time. Among other phenomena, the work predicted the deflection of light rays in a gravitational field, which was subsequently confirmed by English scientists.

Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, but not for his ingenious theory, but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (the knocking out of electrons from certain substances under the influence of light). In just one night, the scientist became famous throughout the world. The scientist's correspondence, released three years ago, says that Einstein invested most of the Nobel Prize in the United States, losing almost everything due to the Great Depression.

Despite the recognition, in Germany the scientist was constantly persecuted, not only because of his nationality, but also because of his anti-militarist views. “My pacifism is an instinctive feeling that possesses me because the murder of a person is disgusting. My attitude does not come from any speculative theory, but is based on the deepest antipathy to any kind of cruelty and hatred,” the scientist wrote in support of his anti-war position .

At the end of 1922, Einstein left Germany and went on a trip. Once in Palestine, he inaugurated the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Elimination from the Manhattan Project

Meanwhile, in Germany the political situation became increasingly tense. During one of the lectures, reactionary students forced the scientist to interrupt his lecture at the University of Berlin and leave the audience. Soon a call for the murder of the scientist appeared in one of the newspapers. In 1933, Hitler came to power. In the same year, Albert Einstein made the final decision to leave Germany.

In March 1933, he announced his resignation from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and soon moved to the United States, where he began working at the Institute for Fundamental Physical Research in Princeton. After Hitler came to power, the scientist never visited Germany again.

In the United States, Einstein received American citizenship while remaining a Swiss citizen. In 1939, he signed a letter to President Roosevelt, which spoke of the threat of the Nazis creating nuclear weapons. In the letter, the scientists also indicated that in the interests of Roosevelt they were ready to begin research on the development of such weapons.

This letter is considered the founding of the Manhattan Project, the program that produced the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.

Einstein's participation in the Manhattan Project was limited to this letter. Also in 1939, he was removed from participation in secret government developments, having been convicted of connections with US communist groups.

Resignation of the presidency

In the last years of his life, Einstein assessed nuclear weapons from the point of view of a pacifist. He and several other leading scientists in the world addressed the governments of all countries with a warning about the dangers of using the hydrogen bomb.

In his declining years, the scientist had the chance to try his hand at politics. When Israeli President Chaim Weismann died in 1952, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion invited Einstein to the post of president of the country, writes xage.ru. To which the great physicist replied: “I am deeply touched by the proposal of the State of Israel, but with regret and regret I must reject it.”

The death of the great scientist is surrounded by mystery. Only a limited circle of people knew about Einstein's funeral. According to legend, the ashes of his works were buried with him, which he burned before his death. Einstein believed that they could harm humanity. Researchers believe that the secret that Einstein took with him could really change the world. We are not talking about a bomb - compared to the latest developments of the scientist, experts say, even it would seem like a child's toy.

Relativity theory of relativity

The greatest scientist died more than half a century ago, but experts still do not tire of arguing over his theory of relativity. Someone is trying to prove its inconsistency, there are even those who simply believe that “one cannot see a solution to such a serious problem in a dream.”

Domestic scientists also refuted Einstein’s theory. Thus, MSU professor Arkady Timiryazev wrote that “the so-called experimental confirmations of the theory of relativity - the bending of light rays near the Sun, the displacement of spectral lines in the gravitational field and the movements of the perihelion of Mercury - are not proof of the truth of the theory of relativity.”

Another Soviet scientist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Filippovich Zhuravlev believed that the general theory of relativity has a dubious ideological character, since a purely philosophical component comes into play here: “If you take the position of vulgar materialism, then you can claim that the world is curved. If you share positivism Poincaré, then we must admit that all this is just language. Then L. Brillouin is right and modern cosmology is myth-making. In any case, the noise around relativism is a political phenomenon, not a scientific one."

At the beginning of this year, candidate of biological sciences, author of a dissertation on the ecology of Caucasian turkeys (snowcocks), member of the public Medical-Technical Academy, Dzhabrail Baziev, announced that he had developed a new physical theory that refutes, in particular, Einstein’s theory of relativity.

At a press conference in Moscow on March 10, Baziev said that the speed of light is not a constant value (300 thousand kilometers per second), but depends on the wavelength and can reach, in particular, in the case of gamma radiation, 5 million kilometers per second. Baziev claims to have conducted an experiment in which he measured the speed of propagation of beams of light of the same wavelength (the same color in the visible range) and obtained different values ​​for blue, green and red rays. And in the theory of relativity, as is known, the speed of light is constant.

In turn, physicist Viktor Savrin calls Baziev’s theory, which supposedly refutes the theory of relativity, “nonsense”, and believes that he does not have sufficient qualifications and does not know what he is refuting.

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Albert completed his graduating class in Switzerland, where a standard six-point system was used. Einstein's certificate has survived to this day, and his grades indicate that he studied well. His average score was five.

Albert knew the exact sciences excellently, but languages ​​and drawing were bad for him. It is also known that he did not enter the ETH Zurich the first time. This is true, but only his grades in botany and French let him down. But he passed the mathematics exam so brilliantly that the director of this institute personally gave him recommendations for further admission.

2. Question everything

Einstein did not recognize authorities based on social status since school. Albert was a believer until he was 12 years old, but then he became interested in books and began to question both religion and any foundations of society. He hated blindly obeying rules and cramming subjects that were uninteresting to him.

He compared teachers to military men and hated the militaristic approach that reigned in everything at that time. Einstein did nothing wrong, but with his stubbornness and rebellious spirit he undermined the authority of his teachers. Until the end of his life, he remained a skeptic and questioned any theories and authorities that seemed unconvincing to him.

People cause me seasickness, not the sea. But I'm afraid science has not yet found a cure for this disease.

Albert Einstein

3. Read a lot

Einstein loved books since childhood. While still a schoolboy, he read Euclid's Elements and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. These works greatly influenced his perception of life.

At the university, Albert skipped uninteresting lectures and instead studied journals with scientific research. His interests were not limited to physics and mathematics: he was interested in psychology, read the classics and even esotericism.

Here are some of his favorite books: “Don Quixote” by Cervantes, “A Treatise on Human Nature” by Hume, “Isis Unveiled” by Blavatsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoevsky. Albert also loved the entertainment genre. For example, he adored the humorous stories of columnist Kovner and always looked forward to their publication in the newspaper.

4. Admit your mistakes

Einstein was not afraid: in them he saw steps on the path to truth. If he was wrong about the work of others, it was not difficult for him to apologize publicly. He once criticized an article about the expansion of the Universe by Russian mathematician Alexander Friedman. Einstein later realized he was wrong and wrote an article apologizing.

At the same time, Einstein’s model of the Universe underwent significant changes, which played an important role for science.

The scientist was absolutely right about this: if you want to know the truth, your personal ambitions need to be relegated to the background.

5. Believe in yourself

The scientist well understood how talented he was and had adequate self-esteem. He worked hard and was confident in his own success. When he divorced his first wife, he promised to pay her a certain amount of money after receiving a Nobel Prize in the future. Three years later, he actually received a Nobel Prize, although not in the area in which he had planned. He gave part of the amount (32 thousand dollars), as promised, to his ex-wife.

6. Help others

Albert Einstein was a famous philanthropist. Already famous, he sold his autographs and donated the proceeds to donations.

The scientist also played the violin well and periodically performed at concerts, including charity ones. The most famous is a charity concert in favor of emigrants from Nazi Germany. He played truly masterfully that time, and rumors about his performance circulated for a long time.

7. Enjoy life

Einstein loved to joke and ignored troubles. All the scientist’s relatives and colleagues noted his optimism and love of life. Most of Einstein's quotes shine with irony and a wonderful sense of humor. The most famous photograph of the scientist, the one where he sticks out his tongue, is also one of his spontaneous pranks. So he “smiled” at the camera of one of the famous photographers at a party.

When you are courting a beautiful girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a hot stove, a second seems like an hour. This is relativity.

Albert Einstein

8. Wish for world peace

Einstein actively opposed Nazism, war and any suppression of individual freedom. He once said that even if 2% of young people in the United States refused to serve in the army, the government would not be able to do anything about it, since the prisons would simply be overcrowded. These words contributed to the flourishing of the anti-war movement in America. Proponents of this idea wore badges with the inscription “2%” until the 70s.

And Einstein considered the biggest mistake of his life to be his involvement in the creation of a nuclear bomb: he regretted this until the end of his days.

9. Be modest

Einstein was modest both in everyday life and in society. The great scientist became one of the first harbingers in clothing. He did this, of course, not for the sake of fashion, but in the name of convenience. His wardrobe lacked unnecessary accessories such as ties, scarves and even socks. Yes, he didn't wear socks!

Anything unnecessary that interfered with his work was alien to him. The scientist did not need a special office. When asked where his laboratory was located, he showed a fountain pen with a smile.

Strive not to achieve success, but to ensure that your life has meaning.

Albert Einstein

10. Develop imagination

The great scientist greatly valued imagination and an unconventional approach to any problem. One day in Japan, he didn't have money to tip a courier, so Einstein wrote him a recipe for happiness instead. At that moment, Albert already knew that he would soon receive the Nobel Prize, and probably believed that the courier would later be able to sell this note.

This note was actually sold just a year ago, in 2017, by the courier's nephew for $1.56 million. Here's what it said:

A quiet and modest life will bring more happiness than the pursuit of success and the constant worry that accompanies it.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, Albert Einstein- the most prominent physicist of the 20th century, founder of the theory of relativity.

For discovering the law of the photoelectric effect to the world in 1921, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (the idea of ​​induced emission of atoms was later continued in the form of a laser).

He was the first to set forth the theory that gravity is nothing more than a distortion of space-time, which can explain many physical phenomena. Today's picture of the world largely rests on Einstein's laws. Einstein's personality has attracted enormous public attention since the publication of his special “theory of relativity” in 1905.

Biography

Physicist Albert Einstein of German, Swiss and American origin was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, a medieval town in the kingdom of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg in Germany), in the family of Hermann Einstein and Paulina Einstein, he grew up in Munich, there with his father and uncle there was a small electrochemical plant. He was a very quiet, absent-minded boy, with a penchant for mathematics, but could not tolerate the teaching methods at school, with its automatic cramming and rigid discipline.

In his early years spent at the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich, Albert himself began to study books on philosophy, mathematics and popular science literature. The idea of ​​space made the greatest impression on him. When his father's affairs were poor in 1895, the family moved to Milan. However, Einstein remained in Munich, leaving the gymnasium without receiving a certificate, so he also joined his family.

I don't know what weapons the Third World War will be fought with, but the Fourth will be fought with a bow and arrow!

At one time, Einstein was struck by the atmosphere of freedom and culture that he was able to find in Italy. Despite his in-depth knowledge in the field of mathematics and physics, acquired through self-education and development, and independent thinking far beyond his age, Einstein never chose a suitable profession for himself. His father wanted him to become an engineer and be able to feed his family.

But Albert tried to pass the entrance exams to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, which did not require a special high school certificate for admission.

He failed the exams, not having the necessary preparation, but the director of the school could not help but notice his talent and therefore sent him to Aarau, twenty miles west of Zurich, so that he could graduate from the gymnasium there. One year later, in the summer of 1896, Einstein successfully passed the entrance exams to the Federal Institute of Technology. In Aarau, Einstein flourished greatly, enjoying the close contacts with teachers and the liberal atmosphere that reigned in the gymnasium. He said goodbye to his past life with great desire.

Scientific life

In Zurich, Einstein began to study physics on his own, relying more on independent study of the material. At first he wanted to teach physics, but was unable to find a job and later became an expert at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern, where he served for about seven years. It was a very happy and productive time for him. His early work was devoted to the forces of interaction between molecules and applications of statistical thermodynamics. One of them - “A New Determination of the Size of Molecules” - was accepted as a doctoral dissertation by the University of Zurich, and in 1905 Albert Einstein was awarded the title of Doctor of Science.

Another paper proposed an explanation for the photoelectric effect - which is emitted by electrons on a metal surface when exposed to electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet range.

The third, beautiful work of Einstein, which was published in 1905– was called the special theory of relativity, which managed to completely change the entire understanding of physics.

After he published most of his scientific papers in 1905, Einstein received full academic recognition.

In 1914, Albert was invited to Germany to the position of professor at the University of Berlin and at the same time director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics (now the Max Planck Institute).

After hard work, Einstein succeeded in 1915 in establishing the general theory of relativity, which went far beyond the special theory in which motions should be uniform and relative velocities should be stable. The general theory of relativity covered all possible movements, including accelerated ones (that is, occurring at variable speeds).

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity was able to replace Newton's theory of the gravitational attraction of bodies in the space-time segment. According to this theory, bodies are not able to attract each other, they change and determine the bodies passing through it. Einstein's colleague, physicist J. A. Wheeler, noted that "space tells matter itself how it needs to move, and matter tells space how it needs to curve."

In 1922, Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize in Physics “for services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”

“Einstein’s law has become the basis of photochemistry, just as Faraday’s law has become the foundation of electrochemistry,” said Svante Arrhenius from the Royal Swedish Academy at the presentation of the new laureate.

Since he said in advance that he was speaking in Japan, Albert was unable to attend the award ceremony and gave his Nobel lecture one year after he was awarded the award.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, Einstein was outside Germany, never returning there. Einstein found himself a professor of physics at the new Institute for Basic Research, which was created in Princeton (New Jersey). In 1940, Einstein was awarded American citizenship. During the Second World War, Einstein revised his pacifist views; in 1939, under the guidance of some emigrant physicists, Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he wrote that an atomic bomb was most likely being developed in Germany . He pointed out the need for American government support for uranium fission research.

After the Second World War, which shocked the world with the use of a nuclear bomb against Japan, Einstein, shortly before his death, signed the Bertrand Russell Treaty indicating and warning the entire planet about the dangers of using a nuclear bomb.

The most famous of all scientists of the 20th century. and one of the greatest scientists of all times, Albert Einstein enriched the entire theory and practice of physics with his unique play of imagination. From childhood, he perceived the earth as a harmonious, knowable whole, “standing before us like a great and eternal riddle.” By his own admission, he believed in “Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all things.”

Among the many honors that were constantly offered to him, one of the most honorable was the offer to become President of Israel, which followed in 1952. Einstein refused. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, he was awarded many other awards, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1925) and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute (1935). Einstein was honorary doctor of many universities and a member of leading academies of sciences.

Of course, Albert Einstein is one of the greatest and smartest people in history, who gave our world many discoveries. An interesting fact is that when scientists studied his brain, it was discovered that those areas that are responsible for speech and language in anyone are reduced, and the areas responsible for computing abilities, on the contrary, are larger than those of the average person.

Other studies showed that he had significantly more neural cells and improved communication between them. This is what is responsible for human mental activity.

A successful person is always an amazing artist of his imagination. Imagination is much more important than knowledge, because knowledge is limited, but imagination is unlimited.

A. Einstein provided him with worldwide fame during his lifetime. Sixty years after his death, the world still admires the depth of his theories and the boldness of his assumptions.

However, one can increasingly hear the question of what is Einstein's name? Perhaps this is due to the fact that his name has never been heard, remaining only the letter “A” with a dot, or people are misled by a large number of famous people with such a surname. Let's figure out who Einstein was, what his name was, what contribution he made to the development of modern science, and what funny situations happened with his participation.

Brief biography of the scientist

The future physicist was born in Germany in 1879 into a Jewish family. Herman was the name of Albert Einstein's father, and his mother's name was Paulina. As you may have guessed, the parents named the baby Albert. It is interesting that in childhood Einstein could not be called a child prodigy. He studied poorly (maybe because he was bored), was reluctant to communicate with his peers, and his disproportionately large head led others to think about the boy’s ugliness.

The lag in learning the wisdom of the gymnasium led to the fact that the teachers considered Albert stupid, and his classmates allowed themselves to laugh at him. Probably, later they were very surprised by his achievements and the fact that the whole world learned Einstein’s name.

Despite the fact that the young man did not even manage to graduate from high school, and on his first attempt to enter a technical school in Zurich, he still showed persistence and was enrolled in a group of students. True, the program seemed uninteresting to him, and instead of studying, Albert preferred to sit in a cafe and read magazines with the latest scientific articles.

First job and interest in science

Having graduated from college with grief and received a diploma, Albert became an expert in the patent office. The work was quite easy for him, since Einstein was able to evaluate the technical characteristics in literally minutes. He devoted the free time to developing his own theories, thanks to which a few years later the entire scientific community learned Einstein’s name and became acquainted with his theories.

Recognition in the world of science

After receiving his doctorate (philosophy of science) in 1905, Albert began active scientific work. His publications on the theory of the photoelectric effect and the particular theory caused an explosive and controversial reaction. Heated discussions, criticism and even harassment based on anti-Semitism - all this is part of Einstein's biography. By the way, it was because of his origin that Albert had to go to America.

Thanks to his revolutionary and ingenious developments, the scientist quickly took a high position in the American scientific world and had the opportunity to devote as much time as he wanted to his beloved science.

Nobel Prize Award

The scientist received this prestigious prize because he was able to theoretically explain the nature of the photoelectric effect. He put forward an explanation for the existence of photons.

Thanks to Einstein's work, quantum theory received a powerful impetus for development. So significant that even today many people are very familiar with his works and know Einstein’s name.

As you know, the Nobel Prize is an impressive sum of money. When Albert received it, he gave all the money to his ex-wife. This was their agreement, since during the divorce Einstein was not able to pay her the alimony she was owed.

Einstein Meets Marilyn Monroe

The enormous popularity of the scientist and film star in the mid-50s of the last century led to the spread of gossip about their romance. Marilyn and her work were familiar to almost everyone, and many also knew what Einstein was called (although they could not accurately describe the essence of his achievements). In addition, it is known that these celebrities had sympathy and mutual respect for each other.

Einstein's attitude to war

The scientist was a pacifist, a fighter for equality and an opponent of racism. Being himself a victim of persecution, he always opposed the ideas of Nazism.

He repeatedly made a comparison between the fate of blacks in America and Jews in Germany. His famous phrase is that, ultimately, we all remain human. Regardless of who he was or what Einstein was called, he always remained a fighter for civil rights.

The scientist is known to have said that if only 2% of the country’s youth do not perform compulsory military service, the government will not have the means to resist (prisons will not be able to accommodate such a number of people). The result was a large-scale youth movement opposing the war. Those who shared these views pinned badges to their clothes that read “2%.”

Some facts about Einstein's brain

Considering how famous the brilliant scientist was, it is not surprising that after his death they planned to thoroughly study his brain. The grandiose plans were disrupted by the morgue worker who performed the autopsy. He disappeared with Albert's brain and refused to return it.

The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia received more than 40 photographs of the scientist’s thinking organ.

Interesting stories about Albert Einstein


The physicist died in 1955. On the eve of his death, he refused to undergo the operation, saying that artificially prolonging life did not make sense. Albert Einstein spoke his last words in German. But they have not survived to this day due to the fact that the nurse who was present did not know this language.

Of course, a hundred more similar articles could be written about this outstanding figure, but the information presented may well help form an opinion about his personality and merits. There are enough of them to answer questions from the series: “What was Einstein’s name: Albert or Victor?”