Einstein, Albert
born March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg, Ger.
died April 18, 1955, Princeton, N.J., U.S.
German-Swiss-U.S. scientist.
Born to a Jewish family in Germany, he grew up in Munich, and his family moved to Switzerland in 1894. He became a junior examiner at the Swiss patent office in 1902 and began producing original theoretical work that laid many of the foundations for 20th-century physics. He received his doctorate from the University of Zürich in 1905, the same year he won international fame with the publication of three articles: one on Brownian motion, demonstrating the existence of molecules; one on the photoelectric effect, in which he demonstrated the particle nature of light; and one on his special theory of relativity, which included his formulation of the equivalence of mass and energy (E = mc2). He held several professorships before becoming director of Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in 1914. In 1915 he published his general theory of relativity, which was confirmed experimentally during a solar eclipse in 1919 with observations of the deviation of light passing near the Sun. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, his work on relativity still being controversial. He made important contributions to quantum field theory, and for decades he sought to discover the mathematical relationship between electromagnetism and gravitation, which he believed would be a first step towar
d discovering the common laws governing the behavior of everything in the universe, but such a unified field theory eluded him. His theories of relativity and gravitation represented a profound advance over Newtonian physics and revolutionized scientific and philosophical inquiry. He resigned his position at the Prussian Academy when Adolf Hitler came to power and moved to Princeton, N.J., where he joined the Institute for Advanced Study. Though a longtime pacifist, he was instrumental in persuading Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to initiate the Manhattan Project for the production of an atomic bomb, a technology his own theories greatly furthered, though he did not work on the project himself. The most eminent scientist in the world in the postwar years, he declined an offer to become the first prime minister of Israel and became a strong advocate for nuclear disarmament.
Einstein, Albert
(1879.3.14, Württemberg, Ulm, Germany ~ 1955.4.18, Princeton, New Jersey, USA)
German-American scientist. Born into a Jewish family, he grew up in Munich and moved to Switzerland in 1894. Little T attended a technical school in Zurich (graduated in 1900), during which time he became a German citizen; he was stateless for many years, in 1901 He was naturalized in Switzerland in 2006. In 1902, Einstein became a junior examiner at the Swiss Patent Office and began to conduct original theoretical work, which laid many theoretical foundations for 20th century physics. In 1905, he received a doctorate from the University of Zurich. In the same year, he published three papers in a row and won international reputation: one on Brownian motion, which was explained based on the energy of molecular motion; one on the photoelectric effect, which confirmed the particle nature of light; one on his The unique theory of relativity includes the equivalence of mass and energy of matter (E=mc2). He held several professorships and in 1913 became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin. He published the general theory of relativity in 1915 and obtained experimental confirmation by observing the deviation of light near the sun during a solar eclipse in 1919. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, and his work on the theory of relativity remains controversial. He has made important contributions to quantum field theory and has been working for decades to find the mathematical relationship between electromagnetism and gravity. He believes that this is the first step in finding the unique law that governs the behavior of objects in the universe, but Such a unified field theory has not yet been developed. His theories of relativity and gravity were far superior to old-fashioned Newtonian physics, and he revolutionized the discussion of science and philosophy.
When A. Hitler came to power, he resigned from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and moved to Princeton, New Jersey, USA, to work at the Institute for Advanced Study. Although he had long been a pacifist, he persuaded President F. Roosevelt in 1939 to launch the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb. Although he was not personally involved in the work, his theories greatly advanced the technology. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940, but retained his Swiss citizenship. As the most famous scientist in the postwar world, he refused to serve as Israel's first prime minister and became an influential figure advocating nuclear disarmament.