Who is Albert Einstein. Scientist albert einstein

130 years ago Albert Einstein was born.

German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the city of Ullema (Württemberg, Germany) into the family of a small businessman. At the age of six, at the insistence of his mother, he began playing the violin. His passion for music remained throughout his life. At the age of 10 he entered a gymnasium in Munich. He preferred independent studies to school lessons.

In 1895, the Einstein family moved to Switzerland. Albert Einstein, without graduating from high school, went to Zurich to visit his family, where he tried to pass the exams at the Federal Higher Polytechnic School (Zurich Polytechnic), which enjoyed a high reputation. Having failed the exams in modern languages ​​and history, he entered the senior class of the cantonal school in Aarau. After graduating from school in 1896, Einstein became a student at the Zurich Polytechnic.

In 1900, Einstein graduated from the Polytechnic with a diploma in teaching mathematics and physics. After that, I did not have a permanent job for two years. For a short time he taught physics in Schaffhausen at a boarding house for foreigners entering higher educational institutions in Switzerland, gave private lessons, and then, on the recommendation of friends, received a position as a technical expert at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Einstein worked at the bureau from 1902 to 1907 and considered this time the happiest and most fruitful period in his life. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to devote his free time to research in the field of theoretical physics.

His first works were 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 Einstein became a Doctor of Science.

He created the theory of relativity, carried out research on statistical physics, radiation theory, Brownian motion, and wrote a number of scientific articles. At the same time, he discovered the law of the relationship between mass and energy. Einstein's work became widely known, and in 1909 he was elected professor at the University of Zurich.

In 1911-1912, Einstein was a professor at the German University in Prague. In 1912 he returned to Zurich, where he became a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic. The following year he was elected a member of the Prussian and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and in 1914 moved to Berlin, where until 1933 he was both director of the physics institute and professor at the University of Berlin. During this period of his life, Albert Einstein completed the general theory of relativity and also developed the quantum theory of radiation. Einstein also established the fundamental law of photochemistry. For his discovery of the laws of the photoelectric effect and for his work in theoretical physics, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the physicist left Germany forever, moving to the United States of America. Soon, in protest against the crimes of fascism, he renounced German citizenship and membership in the Prussian and Bavarian Academies of Sciences. After moving to the United States, Albert Einstein received a position as professor of physics at the newly created Institute for Basic Research in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1940, he received American citizenship. At Princeton, Einstein continued to work on the study of problems of cosmology and the creation of a unified field theory designed to unify the theory of gravity and electromagnetism.

In 1955, Einstein signed a letter, which was compiled by the English public figure Bertrand Russell, to the governments of those countries where the production of atomic weapons was actively developing (later the document was called the “Russell-Einstein Manifesto”). Einstein warned of the fatal consequences of the use of such weapons for all humanity.

In the last years of his life, Einstein worked on the creation of the Unified Field Theory.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Albert Einstein 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 an honorary doctor of many universities and a member of the world's leading academies of science.

Among the many honors bestowed upon Einstein was an offer to become President of Israel in 1952. He refused this offer.

Einstein's first wife was Mileva Maric, his classmate at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. They married in 1903. From this marriage Einstein had two sons, Hans Albert and Edward. His eldest son Hans-Albert became a recognized expert in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California. Einstein's youngest son Eduard fell ill with a severe form of schizophrenia and spent most of his life in various medical institutions. In 1919, the couple divorced. That same year, Einstein married his cousin Elsa, a widow with two children. Elsa Einstein died in 1936.

Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 in Princeton from an aortic aneurysm. In the presence of only those closest to him, his body was cremated near Trenton, New Jersey. At the request of Einstein himself, he was buried secretly from everyone.

Named in honor of Einstein are: the unit of energy used in photochemistry (Einstein), the chemical element einsteinium (No. 99 on the Periodic Table of the Elements), Asteroid 2001 Einstein, the Albert Einstein Prize, the Albert Einstein Peace Prize, the College of Medicine. Albert Einstein at Yeshiva University, Center for Medicine. Albert Einstein in Philadelphia, Albert Einstein House-Museum on Kramgasse in Bern.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Scientist Albert Einstein became famous for his scientific work, which allowed him to become one of the founders of theoretical physics. One of his most famous works is the general and special theories of relativity. This scientist and thinker has more than 600 works on a variety of topics.

Nobel Prize

In 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He received the prize for discovery of the photoelectric effect.

At the presentation, other works of the physicist were also discussed. In particular, the theory of relativity and gravity was supposed to be evaluated after their confirmation in the future.

Einstein's theory of relativity

It is curious that Einstein himself explained his theory of relativity with humor:

If you hold your hand over the fire for one minute, it will seem like an hour, but an hour spent with your beloved girl will seem like one minute.

That is, time flows differently in different circumstances. The physicist also spoke in a unique way about other scientific discoveries. For example, everyone can be sure that it is impossible to do something definite until there is an "ignoramus" who will do it only because he does not know about the opinion of the majority.

Albert Einstein said that he discovered his theory of relativity completely by accident. One day he noticed that a car moving relative to another car at the same speed and in the same direction remains motionless.

These 2 cars, moving relative to the Earth and other objects on it, are at rest relative to each other.

The famous formula E=mc 2

Einstein argued that if a body generates energy in video radiation, then the decrease in its mass is proportional to the amount of energy released by it.

This is how the well-known formula was born: the amount of energy is equal to the product of the mass of the body and the square of the speed of light (E=mc 2). The speed of light is 300 thousand kilometers per second.

Even an insignificantly small mass accelerated to the speed of light will emit enormous amounts of energy. The invention of the atomic bomb confirmed the correctness of this theory.

Brief biography

Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879 in the small German town of Ulm. He spent his childhood in Munich. Albert's father was an entrepreneur, his mother a housewife.

The future scientist was born weak, with a large head. His parents were afraid that he would not survive. However, he survived and grew, showing increased curiosity about everything. At the same time, he was very persistent.

Study period

Einstein was bored studying at the gymnasium. In his free time, he read popular science books. Astronomy aroused his greatest interest at that time.

After graduating from high school, Einstein went to Zurich and entered the polytechnic school. Upon completion he receives a diploma physics and mathematics teachers. Alas, 2 whole years of searching for a job did not yield any results.

During this period, Albert had a hard time, and due to constant hunger, he developed liver disease, which tormented him for the rest of his life. But even these difficulties did not discourage him from studying physics.

Career and first successes

IN 1902 In the same year, Albert gets a job at the Berne Patent Office as a technical expert with a small salary.

By 1905, Einstein already had 5 scientific papers. In 1909 he became professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich. In 1911 he became a professor at the German University in Prague, from 1914 to 1933 he was a professor at the University of Berlin and director of the Institute of Physics in Berlin.

He worked on his theory of relativity for 10 years and only completed it in 1916. In 1919 there was a solar eclipse. It was observed by scientists from the Royal Society of London. They also confirmed the probable correctness of Einstein's theory of relativity.

Emigration to the USA

IN 1933 The Nazis came to power in Germany. All scientific works and other works were burned. The Einstein family immigrated to the USA. Albert became a professor of physics at the Institute for Basic Research in Princeton. IN 1940 year he renounces German citizenship and officially becomes an American citizen.

In recent years, the scientist lived in Princeton, worked on a unified field theory, played the violin in moments of relaxation, and rode a boat on the lake.

Albert Einstein died April 18, 1955. After his death, his brain was studied for genius, but nothing exceptional was found.

He ranked third on the list of the 100 Great Jews of All Time, behind only Moses and Jesus. Many consider him an idol of the era, a man of the century, putting him on a par with such geniuses as Maxwell and Newton. But some accusers deprive him of his aura, calling him a well-publicized scientific plagiarist and fraudster, claiming that a number of provisions of his above-mentioned theory were previously expressed by other prominent representatives of the pantheon of science.

Childhood and youth

The firstborn was born with a large and deformed head. Parents had long feared that their son would lag behind in mental development. He grew up withdrawn, did not speak until he was seven, and only repeated the same phrases after other people. Later he spoke, but did not immediately pronounce the phrases out loud, but first reproduced them with his lips alone. Moreover, if his demands were refused, he would become terribly angry, twist his face in rage, and throw objects that came to hand. Once, during such a fit, he almost maimed his sister. So the family considered the boy mentally retarded. Modern scientists suggest that Asperger's syndrome could manifest itself in this way.

At the age of 6, Albert began to study music and throughout his adult life he was in love with the violin, but in his childhood he studied under pressure. He played Mozart and Beethoven to the piano accompaniment of his strict mother. A number of the scientist’s biographers believe that it was the tyrant Paulina who sowed a skeptical attitude towards the female sex in Einstein’s soul.

The future genius did poorly at school. Having entered the gymnasium at the age of 10, he behaved irreverently and impudently, preferring to educate himself rather than attend boring classes. He was especially depressed by the study of ancient Greek. Even in mathematics, he had a 2 for a long time, although his interest in mathematics awoke already in those years and began with his father presenting him with a compass. Albert was shocked that mysterious forces forced the arrow to maintain a constant direction.

Not the least role in the development of Albert’s personality was played by their family friend, student Max Talmud, and his uncle Jacob. They brought the bright boy interesting textbooks and offered to solve intriguing puzzles. In particular, the teenager began to read Euclid’s treatise “Elements.” In addition, acquaintance with Kant’s philosophical work “Critique of Pure Reason” forced him, who had been extremely religious since childhood, to think about the question of the existence of God and the nature of wars.

After another collapse of his father's business in 1894, the family moved to the Milan suburb of Pavia. A year later, Albert joined them without graduating from the Munich gymnasium. He hoped to enter the Zurich Polytechnic and become a teacher, but failed the entrance examination. As a result, he had the opportunity to spend a year at the Aarau school and only after receiving a certificate in 1896 did he become a student at a Zurich educational institution.

The path to science

The situation was saved by his former classmate and future famous scientist Marcel Grossman, who in 1902 helped Albert get a job at the Invention Patent Office in Bern. Due to his occupation, the talented young specialist had the opportunity to become acquainted with many interesting patent applications, which, according to a number of critics, allowed him over time to develop his own theoretical principles based on other people’s ideas. Soon he married a former classmate (for more details, see the “Personal Life” section) Mileva Maric.

In 1905, Einstein published a series of papers that became the foundation for the theories of relativity, quantum and Brownian motion. They had a huge public resonance, changing people's ideas about the world around them. In particular, he substantiated the amazing fact of the slower passage of time in moving coordinates. This meant that an astronaut traveling to a distant planet faster than the speed of light would return home younger than his peers on earth.

A year later, the scientist derived his famous formula E=mc2, received a doctorate at his native university and began teaching there in 1909. For this discovery in 1910, Einstein was nominated for the Nobel Prize for the first time, but did not win. Over the next ten years, committee members remained adamant and continued to reject his candidacy for the prestigious award. The main argument for their decision was the lack of experimental confirmation of the validity of the formula.

In 1911, the author of the revolutionary work moved to Prague, where he worked for a year at the oldest educational institution in Central Europe, continuing his scientific research. He then returned to Zurich, and in 1914 he went to Berlin. In addition to science, he was engaged in social activities, actively campaigned for civil rights and against wars.

During the solar eclipse of 1919, researchers found confirmation of a number of postulates of the controversial theory, and its author received worldwide recognition. In 1922, he finally became a Nobel laureate, although not for the theory that was the crown of his intellectual activity, but for another discovery - the photoelectric effect. He visited Japan, India, China, the USA, and a number of European countries, where he introduced the public to his beliefs and discoveries.

In the early 1930s, the pacifist professor began to be persecuted amid rising anti-Semitic sentiments. With Hitler's rise to power, he emigrated overseas, receiving a position at the Princeton Research Institute. In 1934, at the invitation of Franklin Roosevelt, he visited the White House, and in 1939 he signed an appeal from scientists to the American president on the need to create nuclear weapons to counter Nazi Germany, which he later regretted.

In 1952, Israel (after the death of head Chaim Weizmann) invited the brilliant physicist to take the post of president. He rejected such a flattering offer, citing a lack of experience in government activities.

Personal life of Albert Einstein

His first love was Marie, the daughter of Professor Jost Winteler, in whose house he lived while studying in Aarau. After Albert left for Zurich, their romance ended, but the girl suffered for a long time from their breakup, which worsened her mental state. She was subsequently admitted to a mental hospital, where she died.

The scientist’s second chosen one was a classmate, a brilliant mathematician and physicist, Mileva Maric. They got married in 1903 in Bern. The girl was outwardly unsightly and had a limp. Albert’s parents were perplexed why he chose an ugly woman as his wife, to which the physicist replied: “So what! You should have heard her vocals."

Documentary film dedicated to Albert Einstein

True, the genius’s passionate love for her very soon cooled down. He presented her with a list of humiliating conditions for living together, which actually turned his beloved into a housekeeper and scientific secretary. Moreover, he convinced his wife to give their one-year-old daughter Lieserl, who was born in 1902 and distracted the man from scientific activities, to another family, where the baby soon died from scarlet fever and improper care.

In 1904, the couple had a son, Hans Albert, and in 1910, Eduard, who later became ill with schizophrenia and was sent by his father forever to a psychiatric hospital. The eldest son grew up gloomy and unsociable; as he grew up, he refused to study theoretical physics, disliking his father for his attitude towards his mother and brother. The family broke up due to Albert's infidelity in 1914, he left for Berlin. As a divorce settlement, Albert gave Marich 32 thousand dollars - a prize for the discovery of the photoelectric effect.

After the divorce, the physicist married his cousin Elsa, who raised two daughters from a previous marriage - the youngest Margot and a girl of marriageable age named Ilse. At first, Einstein had tender feelings for the latter, but having received a refusal, he settled on her mother.

Unlike the first wife, the cousin was a narrow-minded woman and turned a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities. Albert adored the fairer sex, and many beauties, including Margot, were in love with him. The scientist was also passionate about sailing. He liked to go on a yacht alone. In music and literature he was a conservative - he loved the classics.

Death

On the eve of his death on April 18 from a ruptured aorta, he destroyed the manuscript of his latest research. What made him do this remains a mystery to this day.

After autopsying the scientist's body, pathologist Thomas Harvey made an interesting observation. In the left hemisphere of Einstein's brain, there was an abnormal number of glial cells that "feed" neurons. And, as you know, the left hemisphere is responsible for logic and “exact sciences”. Also, despite the genius’s advanced age, there were practically no degenerative changes in his brain that are typical of older people.

Albert Einstein's famous living descendants include his great-grandchildren Thomas, Paul, Edward and Mira Einstein. Thomas is a doctor who runs a clinic in Los Angeles. Paul plays the violin. Edward (whom everyone simply calls Ted) dropped out of high school and built a successful business - he owns a furniture store. Mira works in telemarketing and plays musical instruments in her spare time.

The name of this scientist is familiar to everyone. And if his achievements are an integral part of the school curriculum, then the biography of Albert Einstein remains outside its scope. This is the greatest of scientists. His work determined the development of modern physics. In addition, Albert Einstein was a very interesting person. A short biography will introduce you to the achievements, main milestones of his life's journey and some interesting facts about this scientist.

Childhood

The years of the life of a genius are 1879-1955. The biography of Albert Einstein begins on March 14, 1879. It was then that he was born in the city. His father was a poor Jewish merchant. He ran a small electrical goods workshop.

It is known that Albert did not speak until he was three years old, but showed extraordinary curiosity already in his early years. The future scientist was interested in knowing how the world works. In addition, from a young age he showed aptitude for mathematics and could understand abstract ideas. At the age of 12, Albert Einstein himself studied Euclidean geometry from books.

A biography for children, in our opinion, must certainly include one interesting fact about Albert. It is known that the famous scientist was not a child prodigy in childhood. Moreover, those around him doubted his usefulness. Einstein's mother suspected the presence of a congenital deformity in the child (the fact is that he had a large head). The future genius at school proved himself to be slow, lazy, and withdrawn. Everyone laughed at him. The teachers believed that he was practically incapable of anything. It will be very useful for schoolchildren to learn how difficult the childhood of such a great scientist as Albert Einstein was. A short biography for children should not just list facts, but also teach something. In this case - tolerance, self-confidence. If your child is desperate and thinks he is incapable of anything, just tell him about Einstein's childhood. He did not give up and maintained faith in his own strength, as evidenced by the further biography of Albert Einstein. The scientist has proven that he is capable of much.

Moving to Italy

The young scientist was repelled by boredom and regulation at the Munich school. In 1894, due to business failures, the family was forced to leave Germany. The Einsteins went to Italy, to Milan. Albert, who was 15 years old at the time, took advantage of the opportunity to leave school. He spent another year with his parents in Milan. However, it soon became clear that Albert had to make a decision in life. After graduating from high school in Switzerland (in Arrau), Albert Einstein's biography continues with his studies at the Zurich Polytechnic.

Study at the Zurich Polytechnic

He did not like the teaching methods at the polytechnic. The young man often missed lectures, devoting his free time to studying physics, as well as playing the violin, which was Einstein’s favorite instrument all his life. Albert managed to pass the exams in 1900 (he prepared using the notes of a fellow student). This is how Einstein received his degree. It is known that the professors had a very low opinion of the graduate and did not recommend him to pursue a scientific career.

Working in a patent office

After receiving his diploma, the future scientist began working as an expert in a patent office. Since the assessment of technical characteristics usually took the young specialist about 10 minutes, he had a lot of free time. Thanks to this, Albert Einstein began to develop his own theories. A short biography and his discoveries soon became known to many.

Three Important Works of Einstein

The year 1905 was significant in the development of physics. It was then that Einstein published important works that played an outstanding role in the history of this science in the 20th century. The first of the articles was devoted to The scientist made important predictions about the movement of particles suspended in liquid. This movement, he noted, occurs due to the collision of molecules. Later, the scientist’s predictions were confirmed experimentally.

Albert Einstein, whose brief biography and discoveries are just beginning, soon published a second work, this time devoted to the photoelectric effect. Albert expressed a hypothesis about the nature of light, which was nothing short of revolutionary. The scientist suggested that, under certain circumstances, light can be viewed as a stream of photons - particles whose energy is correlated with the frequency of the light wave. Almost all physicists immediately agreed with Einstein's idea. However, for the theory of photons to gain acceptance in quantum mechanics, it took 20 years of intense efforts by theorists and experimentalists. But Einstein's most revolutionary work was his third, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies." In it, Albert Einstein presented the ideas of WHAT (particular theory of relativity) with unusual clarity. The short biography of the scientist continues with a short story about this theory.

Partial relativity

It destroyed the concepts of time and space that had existed in science since the time of Newton. A. Poincare and G. A. Lorentz created a number of provisions of the new theory, but only Einstein was able to clearly formulate its postulates in physical language. This concerns, first of all, the presence of a limit on the speed of signal propagation. And today you can find statements that supposedly the theory of relativity was created even before Einstein. However, this is not true, since in THAT the formulas (many of which were actually derived by Poincaré and Lorentz) are not so important as the correct foundations from the point of view of physics. After all, these formulas follow from them. Only Albert Einstein was able to reveal the theory of relativity from the point of view of physical content.

Einstein's view on the structure of theories

General theory of relativity (GR)

Albert Einstein from 1907 to 1915 worked on a new theory of gravity, based on the principles of the theory of relativity. The path that led Albert to success was winding and difficult. The main idea of ​​GR, which he constructed, is the existence of an inextricable connection between the geometry of space-time and the gravitational field. Space-time in the presence of gravitating masses, according to Einstein, becomes non-Euclidean. It develops a curvature, which is greater the more intense the gravitational field in this region of space. Albert Einstein presented the final equations of general relativity in December 1915, during a meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. This theory is the pinnacle of Albert's creativity. It is, by all accounts, one of the most beautiful in physics.

The eclipse of 1919 and its role in the fate of Einstein

Understanding of general relativity, however, did not come immediately. This theory was of interest to few specialists for the first three years. Only a few scientists understood it. However, in 1919 the situation changed dramatically. Then, by direct observations, it was possible to verify one of the paradoxical predictions of this theory - that a ray of light from a distant star is bent by the gravitational field of the Sun. The test can only be carried out during a total solar eclipse. In 1919, the phenomenon could be observed in parts of the globe where the weather was good. Thanks to this, it became possible to accurately photograph the position of the stars at the time of the eclipse. The expedition, equipped by the English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, was able to obtain information that confirmed Einstein’s assumption. Albert literally became a global celebrity overnight. The fame that fell upon him was enormous. For a long time, the theory of relativity became a subject of debate. Newspapers from all over the world were filled with articles about her. Many popular books were published, where the authors explained its essence to ordinary people.

Recognition of scientific circles, disputes between Einstein and Bohr

Finally, recognition came in scientific circles. Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 (albeit for quantum theory, not general relativity). He was elected an honorary member of a number of academies. Albert's opinion has become one of the most authoritative in the whole world. Einstein traveled a lot around the world in his twenties. He has participated in international conferences around the world. The role of this scientist was especially important in the discussions that unfolded in the late 1920s on issues of quantum mechanics.

Einstein's debates and conversations with Bohr on these problems became famous. Einstein could not agree with the fact that in a number of cases he operates only with probabilities, and not with exact values ​​of quantities. He was not satisfied with the fundamental indeterminism of the various laws of the microworld. Einstein’s favorite expression was the phrase: “God does not play dice!” However, Albert was apparently wrong in his disputes with Bohr. As you can see, even geniuses make mistakes, including Albert Einstein. The biography and interesting facts about him are complemented by the tragedy that this scientist experienced due to the fact that everyone makes mistakes.

Tragedy in Einstein's life

Unfortunately, the creator of GTR was unproductive in the last 30 years of her life. This was due to the fact that the scientist set himself a task of enormous magnitude. Albert intended to create a unified theory of all possible interactions. Such a theory, as is now clear, is possible only within the framework of quantum mechanics. In pre-war times, in addition, very little was known about the existence of interactions other than gravitational and electromagnetic ones. Albert Einstein's titanic efforts therefore came to nothing. This was perhaps one of the biggest tragedies of his life.

The pursuit of beauty

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Albert Einstein's discoveries in science. Today, virtually every branch of modern physics is based on the fundamental concepts of relativity or quantum mechanics. Perhaps no less important is the confidence that Einstein instilled in scientists with his work. He showed that nature is knowable, showed the beauty of its laws. It was the desire for beauty that was the meaning of life for such a great scientist as Albert Einstein. His biography is already coming to an end. It’s a pity that one article cannot cover Albert’s entire legacy. But how he made his discoveries is definitely worth telling.

How Einstein created theories

Einstein had a peculiar way of thinking. The scientist singled out ideas that seemed disharmonious or inelegant to him. In doing so, he proceeded mainly from aesthetic criteria. The scientist then proclaimed a general principle that would restore harmony. And then he made predictions about how certain physical objects would behave. This approach produced stunning results. Albert Einstein trained the ability to see a problem from an unexpected angle, rise above it and find an unusual way out. Whenever Einstein got stuck, he played the violin and suddenly a solution popped into his head.

Moving to the USA, last years of life

In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany. They burned everything. Albert's family had to emigrate to the USA. Here Einstein worked at Princeton, at the Institute for Basic Research. In 1940, the scientist renounced his German citizenship and officially became a US citizen. He spent his last years at Princeton, working on his grandiose theory. He devoted his moments of rest to boating on the lake and playing the violin. Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955.

Albert's biography and discoveries are still studied by many scientists. Some of the research is quite interesting. In particular, Albert's brain was studied after death for genius, but nothing exceptional was found. This suggests that each of us can become like Albert Einstein. Biography, summary of works and interesting facts about the scientist - all this is inspiring, isn’t it?

Albert Einstein

The genius of the first half of the 20th century. A scientist who began to be recognized throughout the world. Interesting personality, interesting life. Today we will tell you about the life of Albert Einstein in facts.

Theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, public figure and humanist. Lived in Germany, Switzerland and the USA. Honorary doctor of about 20 leading universities in the world, member of many Academies of Sciences, including a foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Einstein was born into a Jewish family that was not rich. His father, Herman, worked at a featherbed and mattress stuffing company. Mother, Paulina (nee Koch) was the daughter of a corn merchant.

Albert had a younger sister, Maria.

The future scientist did not live even a year in his hometown, since the family went to live in Munich in 1880.

In Munich, where Hermann Einstein, together with his brother Jacob, founded a small company selling electrical equipment.

His mother taught little Albert to play the violin, and he gave up musical studies for the rest of his life.

Already in the USA in Princeton, in 1934 Albert Einstein gave a charity concert, where he performed Mozart’s works on the violin for the benefit of scientists and cultural figures who emigrated from Nazi Germany.

At the gymnasium (now the Albert Einstein Gymnasium in Munich) he was not among the first students.

Albert Einstein received his primary education at a local Catholic school. According to his own recollections, as a child he experienced a state of deep religiosity, which ended at the age of 12.

Through reading popular science books, he became convinced that much of what is stated in the Bible cannot be true, and the state is deliberately deceiving the younger generation.

In 1895, he entered the Aarau school in Switzerland and successfully completed it.

In Zurich in 1896, Einstein entered the Higher Technical School. After graduating in 1900, the future scientist received a diploma as a teacher of physics and mathematics.

During World War II, Einstein was a technical consultant to the US Navy. It is known for certain that Russian intelligence more than once sent its agents to him for secret information.

In 1894, the Einsteins moved from Munich to the Italian city of Pavia, near Milan, where the brothers Hermann and Jacob moved their company. Albert himself remained with relatives in Munich for some more time to complete all six classes of the gymnasium.

In the fall of 1895, Albert Einstein arrived in Switzerland to take the entrance exams to the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich.

After graduating from the Polytechnic, Einstein, in need of money, began looking for work in Zurich, but could not even get a job as an ordinary school teacher.

The famous photograph of Einstein sticking out his tongue was taken for annoying journalists who asked the great scientist to just smile for the camera.

After graduating from the Polytechnic, Einstein, in need of money, began looking for work in Zurich, but could not even get a job as an ordinary school teacher. This literally hungry period in the life of the great scientist affected his health: hunger became the cause of serious liver disease.

After Einstein's death, we managed to find his notebook, which was completely covered with calculations.

His former classmate, Marcel Grossman, helped Albert find a job. According to his recommendations, in 1902 Albert got a job as a third-class expert at the Berne Federal Office for Patenting Inventions. The scientist assessed applications for inventions until 1909.

In 1902, Einstein lost his father.

Einstein worked at the Patent Office from July 1902 to October 1909, primarily assessing patent applications. In 1903 he became a permanent employee of the Bureau. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to devote his free time to research in the field of theoretical physics.

Since 1905, all physicists in the world have recognized Einstein's name. The journal "Annals of Physics" published three of his articles at once, which marked the beginning of the scientific revolution. They were devoted to the theory of relativity, quantum theory, and statistical physics.

Einstein had to work as an electrician.

“Why exactly did I create the theory of relativity? When I ask myself this question, it seems to me that the reason is as follows. A normal adult does not think about the problem of space and time at all. In his opinion, he had already thought about this problem in childhood. I developed intellectually so slowly that space and time were occupied by my thoughts when I became an adult. Naturally, I could penetrate deeper into the problem than a child with normal inclinations.”

However, many scientists considered the “new physics” too revolutionary. She abolished the ether, absolute space and absolute time, revised Newtonian mechanics, which served as the basis of physics for 200 years and was invariably confirmed by observations.

Einstein could not pay alimony to his wife. He suggested that if she received the Nobel Prize, she should give all the money.

Among the closest friends of the great scientist was Charlie Chaplin.

Taking advantage of his incredible popularity, the scientist for some time charged one dollar for each autograph. He donated the proceeds to charity.

On January 6, 1903, Einstein married twenty-seven-year-old Mileva Maric. They had three children. The first, even before marriage, was born daughter Lieserl (1902), but biographers were unable to find out her fate.

Einstein spoke 2 languages.

Hans Albert, Einstein's eldest son, became a great expert in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California.

Einstein's favorite hobby was sailing. He didn't know how to swim on water.

In 1914, the family breaks up: Einstein leaves for Berlin, leaving his wife and children in Zurich. In 1919, an official divorce took place.

Most often, the genius did not put on socks because he did not like to wear them.

After his death in 1955, pathologist Thomas Harvey removed the scientist's brain and took photographs of it from different angles. Then, cutting the brain into many small pieces, he sent them to various laboratories for 40 years to be examined by the best neurologists in the world.

Edward, the youngest son of the great scientist, was ill with a severe form of schizophrenia and died in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.

In 1919, having received a divorce, Einstein married Elsa Löwenthal (nee Einstein), his cousin on his mother's side. He adopts her two children. In 1936, Elsa died of heart disease.

Einstein's last words remained a mystery. An American woman sat next to him, and he spoke his words in German.

In 1906, Einstein received his Doctor of Science degree. By this time, he was already gaining worldwide fame: physicists from all over the world wrote letters to him and came to meet him. Einstein meets Planck, with whom they had a long and strong friendship.

Albert Einstein was very fond of the “Maxims” of the outstanding French thinker and political figure François de La Rochefoucauld. He re-read them constantly.

In 1909, he was offered a position at the University of Zurich as an extraordinary professor. However, due to his small salary, Einstein soon agrees to a more lucrative offer. He was invited to head the department of physics at the German University of Prague.

The great genius was always mocked in elementary school.

During the First World War, the scientist openly expresses his pacifist views and continues his scientific discoveries. After 1917, liver disease worsened, stomach ulcers appeared and jaundice began. Without even getting out of bed, Einstein continued his scientific research.

On the eve of his death, Einstein was offered surgery, but he refused, saying that “artificial prolongation of life makes no sense.”

In 1920, Einstein's mother died after a serious illness.

In literature, the genius of physics preferred Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Bertolt Brecht.

In 1921, Einstein finally became a Nobel laureate.

In 1923, Einstein spoke in Jerusalem, where it was planned to open the Hebrew University soon (1925).

In 1827, Robert Brown observed under a microscope and subsequently described the chaotic movement of flower pollen floating in water. Einstein, based on molecular theory, developed a statistical and mathematical model of such movement.

Albert Einstein's last work was burned.

In 1924, a young Indian physicist, Shatyendranath Bose, wrote to Einstein in a brief letter asking for help in publishing a paper in which he put forward the assumption that formed the basis of modern quantum statistics. Bose proposed to consider light as a gas of photons. Einstein came to the conclusion that the same statistics could be used for atoms and molecules in general.

In 1925, Einstein published Bose's paper in a German translation, followed by his own paper in which he outlined a generalized Bose model applicable to systems of identical particles with integer spin called bosons. Based on this quantum statistics, now known as Bose-Einstein statistics, both physicists in the mid-1920s theoretically substantiated the existence of a fifth state of matter - the Bose-Einstein condensate.

In 1928, Einstein saw off Lorentz, with whom he became very friendly in his last years, on his last journey. It was Lorentz who nominated Einstein for the Nobel Prize in 1920 and supported it the following year.

My pacifism is an instinctive feeling that controls me because killing 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.

In 1929, the world noisily celebrated Einstein's 50th birthday. The hero of the day did not take part in the celebrations and hid in his villa near Potsdam, where he enthusiastically grew roses. Here he received friends - scientists, Rabindranath Tagore, Emmanuel Lasker, Charlie Chaplin and others.

In 1952, when the state of Israel was just beginning to form into a full-fledged power, the great scientist was offered the presidency. Of course, the physicist flatly refused such a high post, citing the fact that he was a scientist and did not have enough experience to govern the country.

In 1931, Einstein visited the USA again. In Pasadena he was very warmly received by Michelson, who had four months to live. Returning to Berlin in the summer, Einstein, in a speech to the Physical Society, paid tribute to the memory of the remarkable experimenter who laid the first stone of the foundation of the theory of relativity.

In 1955, Einstein's health deteriorated sharply. He wrote a will and told his friends: “I have fulfilled my task on Earth.” His last work was an unfinished appeal calling for the prevention of nuclear war.

Albert Einstein died on the night of April 18, 1955 in Princeton. The cause of death was a ruptured aortic aneurysm. According to his personal will, the funeral took place without wide publicity; only 12 people close and dear to him were present. The body was burned at the Ewing Cemetery Crematorium and the ashes were scattered to the wind.

In 1933, Einstein had to leave Germany, to which he was very attached, forever.

In the USA, Einstein instantly became one of the most famous and respected people in the country, gaining a reputation as the most brilliant scientist in history, as well as the personification of the image of the “absent-minded professor” and the intellectual capabilities of man in general.

Albert Einstein was a staunch democratic socialist, humanist, pacifist and anti-fascist. Einstein's authority, achieved thanks to his revolutionary discoveries in physics, allowed the scientist to actively influence socio-political transformations in the world.

Einstein's religious views have been the subject of long-standing controversy. Some claim that Einstein believed in the existence of God, others call him an atheist. Both of them used the words of the great scientist to confirm their point of view.

In 1921, Einstein received a telegram from New York rabbi Herbert Goldstein: “Do you believe in God period paid answer 50 words.” Einstein summed it up in 24 words: “I believe in Spinoza’s God, who manifests himself in the natural harmony of being, but not at all in the God who worries about the destinies and affairs of people.” He put it even more bluntly in an interview with the New York Times (November 1930): “I do not believe in a God who rewards and punishes, in a God whose goals are molded from our human goals. I do not believe in the immortality of the soul, although weak minds, obsessed with fear or absurd selfishness, find refuge in such a belief.”

Einstein was awarded honorary doctorates from numerous universities, including: Geneva, Zurich, Rostock, Madrid, Brussels, Buenos Aires, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Harvard, Princeton, New York (Albany) , Sorbonne.

In 2015, in Jerusalem, on the territory of the Hebrew University, a monument to Einstein was erected by Moscow sculptor Georgy Frangulyan.

Einstein's popularity in the modern world is so great that controversial issues arise in the widespread use of the scientist's name and appearance in advertising and trademarks. Because Einstein bequeathed some of his property, including the use of his images, to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the brand "Albert Einstein" was registered as a trademark.

Signing one of the photographs with his tongue hanging out, the genius said that his gesture was addressed to all of humanity. How can we do without metaphysics! By the way, contemporaries always emphasized the scientist’s subtle humor and ability to make witty jokes.

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Albert Einstein - the most interesting facts about the great genius updated: December 14, 2017 by: website