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Albert Einstein’s Birthday - March 14, 1879

Albert Einstein is perhaps the most amazing scientific mind the world has ever seen. Few people (with the exception of Newton, Hawking, etc.) in the history of the world compare to his superior genius. Albert Einstein not only changed the scientific community forever, but changed every-day life as we know it.

March 14, 1879, Einstein was born to a middle-class German Jewish family. His parents were concerned that he scarcely talked until the age of three, but he was not so much a backward as a quiet child. At the age of twelve he was fascinated by a geometry book. At the age of fifteen, Einstein quit high school, disgusted by rote learning and martinet teachers, and followed his family to Italy where they had moved their failing electro-technical business. After half a year of wandering and loafing, he attended a congenial Swiss school. The next year he entered the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
After five years of working hard in the laboratory but skipping lectures, Einstein graduated with an unexceptional record. For two grim years he could find only odd jobs, but he finally got a post as a patent examiner.
In the next five years, Einstein wrote four fundamental papers. The first paper claimed that light must sometimes behave like a stream of particles with discrete energies, "quanta." The second paper offered an experimental test for the theory of heat and proof of the existence of atoms. The third paper addressed a central puzzle for physicists of the day – the connection between electromagnetic theory and ordinary motion – and solved it using the "principle of relativity." The fourth showed that mass and energy are two parts of the same thing, mass-energy
(E=mc2). "I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."

In 1909 Einstein became an assistant professor at the University of Zurich, his first full-time job, then moving on to the German University of Prague. He continued publishing important physics papers, and begun to meet fellow scientists. The next year he returned to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as Professor.
In 1914 Einstein moved to Berlin, taking a research post, freeing himself from teaching duties. When the WWI broke out, Einstein rejected Germany's aggressive war aims, supporting the formation of a pacifist group. After a decade of thought, with entire years spent in blind alleys, in 1915 Einstein completed his general theory of relativity. Overturning ancient notions of space and time, he reached a new understanding of gravity. Meanwhile he continued to sign petitions for peace. 1918 – As Germany collapsed, Einstein became more involved in politics and supported a new progressive party.
1919 – Einstein’s general theory of relativity received stunning confirmation from British astronomers: as Einstein had predicted, gravity bends starlight. In the popular eye he became the symbol of science and thought at its highest.
1921 – Visits the US for the first time.
In 1922 received the Nobel Prize in physics "for his services to theoretical physics and in particular for his discovery of the law of the photo-electric effect."
In 1929 he announced a unified field theory, but the mathematics could not be compared with experiments; his struggle toward a useful theory had only begun. Meanwhile he argued with his colleagues, challenging their belief that quantum theory can give a complete description of phenomena.
1933 – Unwilling to live in Germany under the new Nazi government, Einstein joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He turned away from strict pacifism, and warned world political leaders to prepare for German aggression. What was intended only as a visit became a permanent arrangement by 1935 when he applied and was granted permanent residency in the United States.
In 1939 Einstein signed a letter that informed President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the possibility of nuclear bombs, warning that the Germans might try to build them. The next year Einstein became an American citizen"How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of goodwill! In such a place even I would be an ardent patriot."The search for a true unified field theory for a more profound understanding of nature continued to fill Einstein's days. While corresponding about a new anti-war project and writing a speech for Israel, he was stricken and died on the 18th of April 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA

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Overview of Albert Einstein’s Life:

1879 (March 14) Born in Ulm, Germany, to Hermann Einstein (1847-1902) and Pauline Koch (1858-1920).
1880 Einsteins move to Munich.
1888 Enters Luitpold school in Munich.
1894 Family moves to Italy, Albert stays at Luitpold.
1895 Rejoins family in Pavia, then goes to cantonal school in Aarau, Switzerland.
1896 Renounces German citizenship.
Gets diploma from Aarau, enrolls at ETH (Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich.
1900 Gets diploma from ETH.
1901 Becomes Swiss citizen.
1902 Employed at patent office, Bern.
1903 Marries Mileva Maric (1875-1948). They have two sons, Hans Albert (1904-1973),
who became a successful hydraulic engineer, and Eduard (1910-1965), who fell prey to incurable
schizophrenia. A daughter (1902-?) was born before the marriage and apparently put up for adoption--her fate is unknown.
1905 Publishes in the the Annalen der Physik: -Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristishen Gesichtspunkt, on the quantum of light and the photo-electric effect. -Die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen, on Brownian motion of particles and atomic theory. -Elektrodynamic bewegter Körper, the special theory of relativity. -Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieeinhalt abhängig?, equivalence of mass and energy.
1907 Planckshe Theorie der Strahlung und die Theorie der spezifische Wärme, quantum theory for solids (specific heats). -Relativitätsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen, the principle of
general relativity--gravitation is equivalent to acceleration.
1909 Becomes associate professor at University of Zurich. Further work on quantum theory.
1911 Becomes full professor at Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague.
Predicts bending of starlight at eclipses (but gets the magnitude wrong).
1912 Becomes professor at the ETH in Zurich.
1914 Becomes professor at University of Berlin.
Separates from Mileva and sons.
Outbreak of First World War.
1915 Cosigns "Manifesto to Europeans" separating himself from German militarism.
1916 - Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, book laying out the general theory of relativity. Becomes president of the German Physical Society
-Quantentheorie der Strahlung, derives momentum carried by light quanta; a 1917 paper with the same title explains stimulated emission.
1917 Becomes director of Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute (which supports research in Germany). -Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, cosmology equations with the "cosmological term" and expanding universe.
1918 End of First World War; revolution in Germany.
1919 Divorced from Mileva. Marries his cousin Elsa Einstein Löwenthal (1876-1936). Her adult daughters by a previous marriage, Ilse (1897-1934) and Margot (1899-1986), had already legally taken the name Einstein. Bending of light near sun observed at eclipse.
1920 Public attacks on relativity theory and Einstein by anti-Semites.
1921 First visit to United States.
1922 Works on unified field theory.
Visits Far East. Awarded Nobel Prize in physics "for his services to theoretical physics and in particular for his discovery of the law of the photo-electric effect."
1924 Inauguration of Einstein Institute with "Einstein Tower" in Potsdam. Quantentheorie des einigatomigen idealen "Bose-Einstein" quantum theory of statistical fluctuations.
1927 Begins dialogue on quantum theory interpretation with Niels Bohr at the fifth Solvay Congress
1929 Einheitliche Feldtheorie, widely publicized attempt to unify gravitational and electromagnetic field theories.
1930 Extended visit to United States, chiefly at the California Institute of Technology.
1932 Appointed professor at Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, intending to divide time between there and Berlin.
1933 Nazis come to power in Germany; Einstein settles in United States.
1935 Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete? (with B. Podolsky and N. Rosen), continuing the debate over interpretation.
1936 Death of Elsa.
1939 Outbreak of Second World War; Einstein signs letter to President Roosevelt warning of possibility of atomic bombs.
1940 Becomes citizen of United States (retaining Swiss citizenship).
1945 Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; end of Second World War.
1946 Serves as chairman of Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.
1948 -Generalized theory of gravitation, an example of continuing attempts to find a more universal mathematical approach to field theory.
1952 Offered presidency of Israel, and declines.
1955 (April 18) Dies in Princeton.