Albert Einstein
The German-born Physicist
Early Life
At the age of fifteen Albert quit high school disgusted by routine learning and disciplinarian teachers, and followed his family to Italy where they had moved their failing engineering business. After half a year of wandering, he attended a Swiss school.
College life and mathematical training
Accomplishments
In November, 1915, Einstein completed the general theory of relativity, which he considered his masterpiece. He was convinced that general relativity was correct because it accurately predicted the perihelion of Mercury's orbit around the sun, which fell short in Newton’s theory. In 1921, Albert Einstein received word that he had received the Nobel Prize for Physics. Because relativity was still considered controversial, Einstein received the award for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
In the summer of 1939, Einstein, along with another scientist, Leo Szilard, was persuaded to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to alert him of the possibility of a Nazi bomb. President Roosevelt could not risk the possibility that Germany might develop an atomic bomb first. The letter is believed to be the key factor that motivated the United States to investigate the development of nuclear weapons.
Einstein’s work gave us much more than television, remote controls, and digital cameras. His work paved the way for math and science today and helped mathematicians and scientists understand more about the world around them. Einstein was a true genius and one of the greatest mathematicians to ever live.
Later Years
- He joined civil rights organizations and spoke in favor of one world government.
- He supported the new nation of Israel but was a critic of the excessive violence.
- He served on the First Board of Governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem but turned down the post of Israeli President, which was largely ceremonial. He had no desire to be a politician.
On his 75th birthday, a parrot was given to him and he enjoyed telling it jokes. His health was failing by then, so he mostly kept to himself. He enjoyed sailing and music, and often pretended to be ill so he would not have to pose for photographs.
He was still working on his theories and a speech for the seventh anniversary of the State of Israel the day before going into the hospital. He died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm on April 18, 1955. His ashes were spread on the grounds of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.