A biographical essay on
Dr. Albert Einstein
Jonathan Romley
Jewish physicist Albert Einstein, has been called the most brilliant
person since Newton. Among his many theories and discoveries, the one
that made him famous was; the "Theory of Relativity", which
contained the famous equation; "E=mc2". He won the Nobel Prize
for Physics in the Autumn of 1922, and immigrated from Berlin to the USA
in 1935.
Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm Germany. He lived there with
his parents, Herman and Pauline. After a year in Ulm, due to the failure
of his father's electrical and engineering workshop; the Einsteins moved
to Munich (the capitol of Bavaria), where after a year in residence there,
Einstein's mother had Maya, Einstein's sister. Despite the fact the he
was Jewish, from age five until age ten, Einstein attended a Catholic
School near his home. But, at age 10, Einstein was transferred to the
"Luitpold Gymnasium", where Latin, Greek, History, and Geography
were pounded into childrens' heads. The family moved from Munich in 1894
They took Maja but left Albert in a boardinghouse under the care of a
distant relative. His parents wanted him to finish school, get his diploma
so he could go to a University, and then become an electrical engineer.
But Einstein had other Ideas, 6 months later he followed his family across
the Alps.
Einstein's father wanted him to attend a university but he could not because
he did not have a diploma from the Gymnasium. But there was a solution
to this problem over the Alps, in Zurich. There was The Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology which did not require a diploma to attend. The
one thing it did require was the applicant to pass an entrance exam. But
then yet another problem arose- most scholars were 18 when they entered
the institute, and Einstein was only 16. Einstein took the risk, and in
the autumn he was dispatched over the Alps. Einstein took the exam, but
did not pass. The principal of the school was impressed with his abilities,
so he was admitted to the cantontal school at Aarau, with the hope that
a year's study there, would enable him to pass the exam. Einstein enjoyed
this school, and it is said that it was here that Einstein began to "open
up". Towards the end of his stay at Aarau, Einstein had an explosion
which was caused by the "antagonism of all things German" that
had been building up inside him since he was a child; he refused to be
German and announced that he was going to cut off "all formal connection
with the Jewish faith". Once the deletion of his German citizenship
was finalized, Einstein decided to study for a teacher's degree.
He retook the entrance exam at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
in the summer of 1896. After passing the test he went back to Italy to
visit his parents, and set out in October to begin school at the Institute
in Switzerland. He successfully began school that year and received his
diploma in 1900, and one year after that, Einstein finished his first
scientific paper, and he was granted Swiss citizenship.
In Berne, on January 6, 1903; Einstein married Mileva Maric. The two witnesses
at the small, quiet wedding, were Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht.
After the wedding, there was a meal to celebrate at a local restaurant.
But no honeymoon. After the meal, the newlyweds returned to their new
home. It was a small flat, about 100 yards away from Berne's famous clock
tower. Upon returning home, a small incident occurred, that was to occur
many times throughout Einstein's life; he had forgotten his key. A year
later, in 1904, they had a child, Hans Albert. In that same year, he received
a job at the Swiss Patent Office.
In 1905, three of Einstein's 4 famous papers; Uber einen die Erzeugung
und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt,
Uber de von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Warme geforderte Bewegung
von in ruhenden Flussigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen and Zur Elektrodynamik
bewegter Korper. Or in English "about a 'heuristical' perspective
about the creation and modulation of light, about the movement of in still
liquids mixed objects supported by the molecularkinetical theory of heat
and about the electrodynamics of moving objects"
In the autumn of 1922 Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics, for
his work on the photoelectric effect. He did not receive the prize for
his "theory of relativity" because it was thought that at the
time it did not meet the criteria of something that a Nobel Prize is awarded
for. So when the prize was awarded to him, they said it was awarded to
him for his work on the photoelectric effect, if his theory of relativity
is proven false, and if his theory of relativity was proven correct, the
prize was for that.
In 1933, Einstein went to Belgium, on an invitation from Locker-Lampson
to visit him again before he was to leave for Princeton for his winter
trip. But in August, The Brown Book of Hitler Terror, a book published
by the "World Committee for the Victims of German Fascism".
Had given Einstein's name as head of the committee. Finding that he had
been listed as one of the book's authors, Einstein, then issued a statement
saying that it "is not true. I did not write a word of it..."
This was true. But despite this statement, in September, a German newspaper,
had a headline underlined in red that stated "Fehme" (German
Nationalist Organization) was offering £1,000 for the man who would
kill Einstein. After this, Einstein, surrounded by female bodyguards,
rushed back to Locker-Lampson's. Einstein stated that he wanted to become
a "Naturalized Englishman" as soon as possible. He also mentioned
that he would stay in England for a month, and then he would travel to
America to finish his "lecture tour". But Einstein never returned
to Europe... He stayed in the United States, and became a citizen on October
1, 1940.
On April 11, 1955, Einstein signed the Russel-Einstein Declaration. Which
was a statement signed by 6 other highly reputable scientists besides
Einstein and Russel. It was a statement that emphasized "the general
proposition that war and science can no longer co-exist." The day
after signing the Declaration, Einstein was in pain, but he refused to
let the doctor come examine him. But despite this, Einstein's nurse, Miss
Dukas called Einstein's step daughter, Margot. She was ill and in the
hospital at the time. Miss Dukas told Margot that Einstein was in pain
and that his personal d
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