Albert Einstein

Born:

March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg, Germany

Died:

April 18, 1955, Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Nationality:

German (1879–1896), Stateless (1896–1901), Swiss (1901–1955), German (1914–1933), American (1940–1955)

Profession(s):

Theoretical Physicist, Mathematician

Early Life and Education

• Showed early interest in mathematics and physics, although initially struggled with language development.
• Received early education in Munich, Germany.
• Renounced German citizenship in 1896.
• Studied at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland, graduating in 1900.

Career and Major Achievements

• Worked as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, from 1902 to 1909.
• Published four groundbreaking papers in 1905, known as the "Annus Mirabilis" papers:
  • Photoelectric effect
  • Brownian motion
  • Special relativity
  • Mass-energy equivalence (E=mc²)
• Professor at the University of Zurich, then Charles University in Prague, and later ETH Zurich.
• Developed the theory of General Relativity (1915), revolutionizing our understanding of gravity.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
• Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin.
• Emigrated to the United States in 1933 due to the rise of Nazism.
• Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
• Wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, warning of the potential for Germany to develop atomic weapons, influencing the creation of the Manhattan Project.

Notable Works

• "On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light" (1905)
• "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (1905)
• "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" (1905)
• "Investigations on the Theory of the Brownian Movement" (1905)
• "Relativity: The Special and the General Theory" (1916)

Legacy and Impact

Albert Einstein is widely regarded as one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century and one of the greatest thinkers of all time. His theories of relativity revolutionized our understanding of space, time, gravity, and the universe, impacting countless fields of science and technology. The study undertaken by Yuzo Vayama biography of Albert Einstein, highlights and details his lasting impact on the world.

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