Albert Einstein detailed biography. Albert Einstein - the most interesting facts about the great genius. Stories from the life of Einstein

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. in the city of Ulm, in southern Germany, in a poor Jewish family. The parents entered into marriage three years before his birth, on August 8, 1876. Hermann Einstein, Albert's father, was at that time the co-founder of a small company that produced feather stuffing for mattresses and feather beds. Albert's mother, Pauline Einstein, née Koch, was born into the family of a wealthy corn merchant.

In the summer of 1880, the family settled in Munich, where Hermann Einstein and his brother Jacob founded a small company that traded electrical equipment. Einstein's younger sister Maria was born there in 1881.

The local Catholic school provided Albert Einstein with his primary education. At the age of 12, the child experienced a state of deep religiosity, but a little later his passion for popular science literature and personal growth made him forever a skeptic and a freethinker who did not recognize authorities. Albert Einstein's most vivid childhood memories were his first acquaintance with a compass, reading Euclid's Elements, and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. At the insistence of his mother, he began playing the violin at the age of six, a passion for which Einstein retained for the rest of his life. Much later, in 1934, he gave a charity concert in Princeton, USA, where Mozart sounded. This concert was held in favor of German emigrant scientists who were forced to leave Nazi Germany.

Albert at the age of three. 1882

Albert Einstein was not the best student in the gymnasium, the most good results he only showed in mathematics and Latin. The system of dull mechanical memorization of material by students adopted at that time, as well as the arrogant and authoritarian attitude towards students on the part of teachers, caused complete rejection in Albert; he believed that such relationships retarded personal development. This point of view often resulted in quarrels and conflicts with teachers. He believed that the technique of memorization caused devastating harm to the creative approach to learning and the very spirit of learning, so his protest resulted in problems and scandals with teachers.

In 1894, the Einstein family moved from Munich to Pavia, an Italian city near Milan, where the brothers Hermann and Jacob moved their company. However, Albert himself remained with his relatives in Munich for some more time in order to be able to complete the six classes of his gymnasium. But he never received his matriculation certificate and in 1895 moved to his family in Pavia.
In 1895, Albert Einstein came to Zurich, Switzerland, where he intended to pass the entrance exams for admission to the Polytechnic (Higher Technical School) and become a physics teacher. He passed the math exam with flying colors and failed miserably in botany and French. This circumstance did not give him the opportunity to enter the school, however, on the advice of the school director, he is trying to get into the graduating class at a school in Aarau, in order to finally receive a certificate and be able to repeat the attempt to enter the school next year.

Maxwell's theory occupied the young man's mind, and Albert Einstein devoted all his free time at the cantonal school of Aarau to studying it. Self-development bore fruit - the year 1896 brought him success in passing final exams at school. The exception remained the same exam in French.

Einstein's school essay (in French), in which he writes that, due to his penchant for abstract thinking, he dreams of becoming a mathematics or physics teacher

However, this circumstance did not become an obstacle to obtaining a certificate, and in October 1896, Albert Einstein entered the Polytechnic School at the Faculty of Pedagogy. Here he met Marcel Grossman, a future mathematician, and at that time just a classmate, as well as a medical student Mileva Maric, who would later become his wife. This year was even more significant because Einstein renounced his German citizenship. But in order to become a Swiss citizen, he had to pay 1,000 Swiss francs, which was impossible given the poor situation of the family at that time. This was done only five years later. That year, his father’s enterprise finally went bankrupt, his parents moved to Milan, where Albert’s father independently, without his brother, opened a company that sold electrical equipment.

The method of approach to education at the Polytechnic differed significantly from the ossified and authoritarian Prussian school, so further education was easier for the young man. Among his teachers was the wonderful geometer Hermann Minkowski, whose lectures Einstein often missed, but then sincerely regretted it, as well as the famous analyst Adolf Hurwitz.

Albert Einstein graduated from the Polytechnic in 1900 and received a diploma as a teacher of mathematics and physics. He passed the exams quite successfully, but not with flying colors. Many professionals highly appreciated the young man’s abilities, but none of them expressed a desire to help him continue his scientific career. Einstein later said about this that because of his free-thinking, he was bullied by professors who closed his path to science.

Einstein received his long-awaited citizenship in 1901, but until the spring of 1902 he could not find a permanent place of work. Financial problems forced him to starve; his daily regimen without a crumb of bread for several days in a row became the cause of his health problems in the future - liver disease made itself felt throughout the rest of his life.

Physics remained a subject that passionately interested him even in this difficult period of 1900 - 1902, he found time to study it despite the hardships that haunted him, and the article he wrote, “Consequences of the theory of capillarity,” was published in the Berlin “Annals of Physics” in 1901. This article was devoted to the analysis of the interaction of attractive forces between atoms of liquids, which was based on the theory of capillarity.

Einstein was helped out of his chronic lack of money by a former classmate, Marcel Grossman, who recommended him to the Federal Patent Office in Bern for the position of class III expert. In this position, Albert Einstein received a salary of 3,500 francs per year. For comparison: during his student years he lived on 100 francs a month.
Einstein worked at the Patent Office until October 1909, primarily engaged in expert evaluation of incoming applications for inventions. Since 1903, he became a full-time employee of the Bureau. Einstein continued to devote all his free time to study and research in the field of theoretical physics.

Due to his father's illness, Albert came to Italy in 1902, and a few days later his father died.
The following year, 1903, Einstein married twenty-seven-year-old Mileva Maric, whom he had known since studying at the Polytechnic. In their marriage they had three children.

The history of physics calls 1905 the “Year of Miracles.” This year, the leading physics journal in Germany published as many as three (!) articles by Einstein, which marked the beginning of a new scientific revolution. The first of them gave rise to the theory of relativity and was called “On the electrodynamics of moving bodies.” The second became the cornerstone of quantum theory and was published with the title “On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Origin and Transformation of Light.” The third work was devoted to the theory of Brownian motion and made a certain contribution to static physics: “On the motion of particles suspended in a fluid at rest, required by the molecular kinetic theory of heat.”

The discoveries of the 19th century concerning electromagnetic phenomena argued that the medium in which magnetic waves propagate is the ether. However, it later became clear that the properties of this medium are not consistent with the laws of classical physics. Numerous experiments and discoveries of that period: the experiences of Fizeau, Michelson, Lorentz-Fitzgerald, Maxwell and Larmore-Poincaré provided food for Einstein's searching mind, and his own conclusions based on these studies allowed him to take the first step towards his theory of relativity.

Albert Einstein with his first wife Mileva Maric. Wedding photograph, 1903

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were two incompatible theories of kinematics in science: classical, with Galilean transformations, and electromagnetic, with Lorentz transformations. Einstein suggested that the classical theory is a special case of the second theory for low speeds, and what was thought ethereal properties, in fact, is a manifestation of the properties of space and time. In this regard, he proposed two postulates: the universal principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed of light, from which the Lorentz transformation formulas, the relativity of simultaneity, a new formula for adding velocities, etc. were easily derived. In another of his articles, a well-known formula appeared that defines the relationship between mass and energy, E=mc2. A small number of scientists immediately accepted this theory, and it would later be called special relativity. Einstein and Max Planck developed relativistic dynamics and thermodynamics. Einstein's former teacher, Minkowski, presented in 1907 a mathematical model of the kinematics of the theory of relativity in the form of geometric calculations of a four-dimensional non-Euclidean world. He also developed the theory of invariance of this world.

But the new theory seemed too revolutionary to a considerable number of scientists, since it abolished the ether, absolute space and time, and revised Newtonian mechanics. Unusual consequences of the theory of relativity, such as the relativity of time for different reference systems, different values ​​of inertia and length for different speeds, the impossibility of moving faster than the speed of light were unacceptable for the conservative part of scientists.

Therefore, many representatives of the scientific community remained faithful to the principles of classical mechanics and the concept of the ether, among them were Lorentz, J.J. Thomson, Lenard, Lodge, Wien. But at the same time, some of them still did not unconditionally reject the results of the special theory of relativity, but tried to interpret them in the spirit of the Lorentzian theory, while considering the Einstein-Minkowski concept as a purely mathematical technique. The main and decisive argument in favor of the truth of the theory of relativity was the experiments to test it, and the experimental confirmation accumulated over time made it possible to base the postulates and laws of quantum field theory and the theory of accelerators on the SRT, which is still taken into account when designing satellite navigation systems.

Albert wrote his first work at the age of 16, published it at 22, and throughout his life he wrote more than 2,300 scientific papers.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a problem known as the “Ultraviolet Catastrophe” entered the history of science, which was consistent with Max Planck’s experiment on the absorption of light in indivisible portions, discretely. Based on this conclusion, Einstein proposed a generalization with far-reaching consequences and used it to explain the properties of the photoelectric effect. He suggested that not only the absorption process is discrete in nature, but also the electromagnetic radiation itself is discrete. A little later, these portions were called photons. Later, Millikan's experiments completely confirmed the theory of the Einstein effect. But at the time his point of view caused

misunderstanding and denial among most physicists, and even Planck had to be convinced of the reality of quantum particles. Over time, experimental data accumulated and convinced skeptics of the correctness of this theory, and the Compton effect put an end to the dispute.

In 1907, Einstein published the quantum theory of heat capacity, but at the same time the old theory at low temperatures diverged greatly from experiment. In 1912, the experiments of Debye, Born and Karman clarified Einstein's theory of heat capacity and the results of the experimental data satisfied everyone.

In modern culture, the formula E = mc2 is perhaps the most famous; in addition, this formula is the symbol of the theory of relativity.

Based on molecular theory, Einstein developed a statistical and mathematical model for Brownian motion, on the basis of which it was possible to determine with high accuracy the size of molecules and their number per unit volume. This topic appeared new job Einstein “On the Theory of Brownian Motion” and later the scientist repeatedly returned to it.

In 1917, Einstein, based on statistical considerations, assumed the existence of a new type of radiation that occurs under the influence of external electromagnetic field, which was called stimulated emission. He sets out his point of view on this issue in the article “Toward the Quantum Theory of Radiation.” In the early 50s of the twentieth century, a method was developed to amplify radio waves and light, which was based on the use of stimulated radiation. This development later formed the basis of the theory of lasers.

The scientist’s worldwide fame was brought to him by the works he wrote back in 1905, much later. And then, in 1905, he sent his doctoral dissertation to the University of Zurich, the topic of which was “A New Determination of the Size of Molecules” and for which he received a Doctor of Science degree in physics in 1906. But until October 1909, he continued to serve in the patent office, but already in the position of second class expert and with an additional salary. In 1908, Einstein was invited to give optional lectures at the University of Bern without any payment. After meeting Marc Planck at a naturalists' congress in Salzburg in 1909 and corresponding with him for three years, they became close friends and maintained a close relationship until the end of their lives. After the congress, Einstein received the position of extraordinary professor at the University of Zurich. The remuneration for the position was very small, given that Einstein already had two children in his family by that time. He continues to publish his papers on thermodynamics, relativity and quantum theory.

1911 brought Einstein the opportunity to meet Poincaré at the First Solvay Congress in Brussels, which was dedicated to the problems of quantum theory. Poincaré still continued to reject quantum theory, although he had great respect for Einstein. In 1912, Einstein became a professor at the Polytechnic in Zurich, where he lectured on physics. At the end of 1913, Einstein, on the recommendation of Nernst and Planck, received an invitation to head a physics research institute in Berlin. He is also enrolled as a professor at the University of Berlin. With the outbreak of the First World War, the convinced pacifist Einstein arrived in Berlin, leaving his family in Zurich. Officially, the divorce took place in 1919, but the family broke up much earlier. After the outbreak of the war, Swiss citizenship helped Einstein resist militaristic pressure, but he did not sign any “patriotic appeals.”

After the end of the war, the scientist continues to work in the previous areas of physics, and also begins research into relativistic cosmology and a unified field theory, which, according to his assumption, would unite electromagnetism, gravity and a new theory of the microworld. The year 1917 was marked by his first article on cosmology, entitled “Cosmological considerations for the general theory of relativity.” The next period of his life, until 1920, was spent in multiple illnesses, which, like a snowball, fell on Einstein.

Albert Einstein and his cousin Elsa Einstein (Löwenthal), who became his second legal wife in February 1919

But 1919 was the year of his second marriage - he married his cousin Else Löwenthal, and adopted her two children. In 1920, the scientist’s already seriously ill mother moved into their house and died in February of the same year.

In 1919, during a solar eclipse, an English expedition discovered the deflection of light predicted by scientists in the gravitational field of the Sun, and the scientist’s fame that year reached unprecedented heights.

In 1920, along with other members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, Einstein was sworn in as a civil servant and considered a German citizen. But he will retain Swiss citizenship for the rest of his life. Traveling extensively throughout European countries that year, he gave lectures to scientists, students and simply an inquisitive public. The visit to the USA in 1921 was marked by a special welcoming resolution of the US Congress. In 1922, he paid a visit to Tagore in India and also visited China. Einstein spent the winter of 1922 in Japan, and in 1923 he spoke in Jerusalem, where it was planned to open the Hebrew University in 1925.

Albert Einstein was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but the conservatism of the members of the Nobel Committee for a long time did not allow them to award the prize for such a revolutionary theory, and in the end a diplomatic approach was found to this issue: he was awarded the 1922 prize for the theory of the photoelectric effect. But Einstein dedicated his traditional speech at the Nobel ceremony to the theory of relativity.

In 1924, Indian physicist Shatyendranath Bose asked Einstein for help in publishing his paper, and in 1925 it was presented in a German translation. Later, Einstein developed Bose's conjecture in relation to systems of identical particles with integer spin. Both physicists substantiated the existence of a fifth state of matter, which was called the Bose-Einstein condensate.

As an authoritative and very famous person, Einstein was constantly involved in various political actions. He participated in the organization "Friends new Russia”, and also called for the disarmament and unification of Europe, and was always categorically against compulsory military service.
When in 1929 the whole world vigorously celebrated Einstein's fiftieth birthday, the hero of the occasion himself was hiding in his villa near Potsdam, where he enthusiastically grew roses.

In 1931, Einstein again arrived in the United States, where he met Michelson.
In addition to theoretical research, Einstein has several practical inventions, which include an original hearing aid, a silent refrigerator, a gyrocompass, etc.
Until about 1926, Einstein worked in many areas of physics, from cosmological models to research into the causes of river meanders, and then focused his efforts on quantum problems and the Unified Field Theory.

As the economic crisis emerged and worsened in Weimar Germany, political instability, as well as anti-Semitic sentiments, intensified. In this regard, Einstein left Germany and in 1933 he and his family traveled to the United States on a guest visa. Soon after moving, he renounces German citizenship and membership in the Prussian and Bavarian Academy of Sciences in protest against Nazism. After moving to the United States, Einstein received a professorship at the Institute for Advanced Study. His eldest son, Hans-Albert, would later become a professor at the University of California, and his youngest, Eduard, died in a psychiatric hospital after contracting a severe form of schizophrenia. Two of Einstein's cousins ​​died in concentration camps.

Mileva Maric (sitting) and Albert Einstein's sons: Eduard (right), Hans-Albert (left)

After arriving in the USA, he became one of the most famous people in the country, met with Franklin Roosevelt in 1934 and had a reputation as an approachable, modest, friendly person who did not suffer from star fever. In 1936, his wife Elsa dies of a heart attack and the scientist’s loneliness is brightened up by his sister Maya and stepdaughter Margot.

In 1940, Einstein was awarded a certificate of American citizenship.
During World War II, Einstein advised the US Navy and contributed to solving technical problems.

In the post-war years, Einstein became one of the founders of the Pugwash movement of scientists for peace and, together with Bertrand Russell, Frederic Joliot-Curie, Albert Schweitzer, led the development of this movement against the arms race and the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. These great personalities, in addition to their enormous contribution to science, made an invaluable contribution to the struggle for peace.

In 1955, Einstein's health deteriorated sharply. He, feeling his death approaching, writes a will and declares to his friends that he believes that he has fulfilled his mission on earth. His last work was an appeal to prevent nuclear war.

On April 16, 1955, Einstein's secretary heard the sound of a body falling. The scientist lay in the bathroom with a grimace of pain on his face. To the question “Is everything okay?”, he answered in his usual manner: “Everything is okay. I don't."

The hospital diagnosed a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Einstein refused the operation, saying that he did not believe in artificially prolonging life, and asked his arriving relatives to bring his latest notes on the unified field theory.

The greatest scientist of mankind died on the night of April 18, 1955 , aged 77 in Princeton, USA. He did not want people to worship his bones, so at his request the body was cremated and the ashes were scattered to the wind. Only 12 of her closest friends attended the funeral.

Einstein began playing the violin at the age of 6. And later he said that if he had not become a physicist, he would have become a musician.

The famous photograph was taken on the scientist’s 72nd birthday. He was tired of posing and in response to photographer Arthur Sasse’s request to smile, he stuck out his tongue at him.

10 interesting facts from the life of Albert Einstein:

• Einstein always supported the vegetarian movement and followed this diet himself in the last years of his life;
• There is a legend that talks about Einstein’s direct connection to the “Philadelphia Experiment”;
• Einstein said his only talent was curiosity;
• He learned to speak very late, so at the age of 7 he was still repeating phrases slowly and several times, and even by the age of 9 he was not speaking fluently enough;
• Milev's first wife Maric called him Johnny in personal correspondence and in life;
• Einstein was declared a communist by the Women's Patriotic Corporation;
• In 1968, Israel issued a 5 lira banknote featuring Einstein;
• A crater on the Moon and the asteroid 2001 Einstein are named after Einstein;
• The Albert Einstein brand was registered as a trademark in Israel;
• There is a well-known aphorism by Einstein, which he came up with in response to a journalist’s question about the difference between time and eternity: “If I had time to explain the difference between these concepts, an eternity would pass before you would understand it.”

Albert Einstein's complex brain

Pathologist Thomas Harvey preserved Einstein's brain (allegedly with the permission of his relatives) in formaldehyde, and ophthalmologist Henry Abrams preserved the scientist's eyes. Some of the brain sections were distributed to scientists, and the rest of the tissue, according to some accounts, was stored behind the refrigerator in a cardboard cider box. Studies showed that Einstein's brain volume was within normal limits, but the lateral gyrus, which separates the inferior parietal region from the rest of the brain, was missing. Perhaps this is why the parietal lobe of the brain was wider than usual, by about 15%. It is believed that it is responsible for spatial sensations and analytical thinking (the scientist himself said that he thinks more in images than in concepts). This anomaly can also explain the fact that Einstein allegedly could not speak at all until he was 3 years old.

Golden Albert Einstein Quotes:

Albert Einstein was a great physicist. He discovered many physical laws and was ahead of many scientists of his time. But people call him a genius not only for this. Professor Einstein was a philosopher who clearly understood the laws of success, and explained them as well as his equations. Here are ten quotes from a huge list of his wonderful sayings.

1. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, while imagination embraces the whole world, stimulating progress, giving rise to evolution; 2. The secret of creativity is the ability to hide the sources of your inspiration. The uniqueness of your work often depends on how well you can hide your sources. You may be inspired by other great people, but if you are in a position where the whole world is looking at you, your ideas need to look unique; 3. To become a perfect member of the flock of sheep, you must first be a sheep. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, you need to start doing business now. Wanting to start but being afraid of the consequences will get you nowhere. This is true in other areas of life: to win, you first need to play; 4. It is very important not to stop asking questions. Curiosity is not given to man by chance. Smart people always ask questions. Ask yourself and other people to find a solution. This will allow you to learn new things and analyze your own growth. 5. Everyone knows that this is impossible. But then comes an ignorant person who doesn’t know this - he makes a discovery; 6. Order is necessary for fools, but genius rules over chaos; 7. How much we know, and how little we understand; 8. The question that baffles me: am I crazy or is everything around me? 9. We won the war, but not the peace; 10. - Do you have a notebook to write down your brilliant thoughts?
- Brilliant thoughts come to mind so rarely that they are not difficult to remember...

Theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm (Germany). His father, Hermann Einstein, was the owner of a company that sold electrical equipment, and his mother, Paulina Einstein, was a housewife. In 1880, the Einstein family moved to Munich, where in 1885 Albert became a student of the Catholic primary school. In 1888 he entered the Luitpold Gymnasium.

In 1894, Einstein's parents moved to Italy, and Albert, without receiving his matriculation certificate, soon reunited with them. He continued his education in Switzerland, where from 1895 to 1896 he was a student at a school in Aarau. In 1896, Einstein entered the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich, after which he was to become a teacher of physics and mathematics. In 1901, he received a diploma, as well as Swiss citizenship (Einstein renounced German citizenship in 1896). For a long time, Einstein could not find a teaching position and eventually received a position as a technical assistant at the Swiss patent office.

In 1905, three of the most important scientific works of Albert Einstein were published, devoted to the special theory of relativity, quantum theory and Brownian motion. In the article “Does the inertia of a body depend on the energy content in it?” Einstein first introduced into physics the formula for the relationship between mass and energy, and in 1906 he wrote it down as the formula E = mc2. It underlies the relativistic principle of energy conservation, all nuclear energy.

In early 1906, Einstein received his PhD from the University of Zurich. However, until 1909 he remained an employee of the patent office, until he was appointed extraordinary professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich. In 1911, Einstein became a professor at the German University in Prague, and in 1914 he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and a professor at the University of Berlin. He also became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

In 1916, Einstein predicted the phenomenon of induced (stimulated) emission of atoms, which lies at the basis of quantum electronics. Einstein's theory of stimulated, ordered (coherent) radiation led to the discovery of lasers.

In 1917, Einstein completed the general theory of relativity, a concept that justifies the extension of the principle of relativity to systems moving with acceleration and curvilinearity relative to each other. For the first time in science, Einstein's theory substantiated the connection between the geometry of space-time and the distribution of mass in the Universe. The new theory was based on Newton's theory of gravity.

Although both the special and general theories of relativity were too revolutionary to gain immediate recognition, they soon received a number of confirmations. One of the first was the explanation of the precession of the orbit of Mercury, which could not be fully understood within the framework of Newtonian mechanics. During a total solar eclipse in 1919, astronomers were able to observe a star hidden behind the edge of the Sun. This indicated that light rays are bent under the influence of the gravitational field of the Sun. Einstein gained worldwide fame when reports of the 1919 solar eclipse spread throughout the world. In 1920, Einstein became a visiting professor at Leiden University, and in 1922 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the laws of the photoelectric effect and works on theoretical physics. In 1924-1925, Einstein made major contributions to the development of Bose quantum statistics, now called Bose-Einstein statistics.

In the 1920s and 1930s, anti-Semitism was gaining strength in Germany, and the theory of relativity was subjected to scientifically unfounded attacks. In an environment of slander and threats, scientific creativity was impossible, and Einstein left Germany.

In 1932, Einstein lectured at the California Institute of Technology, and in April 1933 he received a professorship at the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies (USA), where he worked until the end of his life.

For the last 20 years of his life, Einstein developed a “unified field theory,” trying to bring together the theories of gravitational and electromagnetic fields. Although Einstein did not solve the problem of the unity of physics, mainly due to the undeveloped concepts of elementary particles, subatomic structures and reactions at that time, the methodology of the formation of the “unified field theory” clearly showed its significance in the creation of modern concepts of the unification of physics.

Einstein paid much attention to the problems of ethics, humanism and pacifism. He developed the concept of the scientist's ethics, his responsibility to humanity for the fate of his discovery. Einstein's ethical and humanistic ideals were realized in his social activities. In 1914, Einstein opposed the German “patriots” and, during the First World War, signed the anti-war manifesto of German pacifist professors. In 1919, Einstein signed the pacifist manifesto of Romain Rolland and, in order to prevent wars, put forward the idea of ​​​​creating a world government.

When Einstein received information about the German uranium project during World War II, he, despite his pacifist beliefs, together with Leo Szilard, sent a letter to US President Franklin Roosevelt describing the possible consequences of the Nazis' creation of an atomic bomb. The letter had a significant impact on the US government's decision to speed up the development of atomic weapons.

After the collapse of Nazi Germany, Einstein, along with other scientists, appealed to the US President not to use the atomic bomb in the war with Japan.

This appeal did not prevent the tragedy of Hiroshima, and Einstein intensified his pacifist activities and became the spiritual leader of campaigns for peace, disarmament, a ban on atomic weapons, and an end to the Cold War.

Shortly before his death, he signed the appeal of the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, addressed to the governments of all countries, warning them about the danger of using the hydrogen bomb and calling for a ban on nuclear weapons. Einstein advocated the free exchange of ideas and the responsible use of science for the benefit of humanity.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, he was awarded many other awards, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1925), the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain, 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. The scientist refused this offer.

In 1999, Time magazine named Einstein its Person of the Century.

Einstein's first wife was Mileva Maric, his classmate at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. They married in 1903, despite the fierce opposition of his parents. From this marriage, Einstein had two sons: Hans-Albert (1904-1973) and Eduard (1910-1965). In 1919, the couple divorced. That same year, Einstein married his cousin Elsa, a widow with two children. Elsa Einstein died in 1936.

In his leisure hours, Einstein loved to play music. He began studying the violin when he was six years old and continued to play throughout his life, sometimes in ensembles with other physicists such as Max Planck, who was a superb pianist. Einstein was also fond of sailing.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Albert Einstein gave the world the most revolutionary scientific ideas of the 20th century, including the famous theory of relativity. Einstein is an internationally recognized genius of science.

Albert Einstein was born in the city of Ulm in southern Germany on March 14, 1879. A year after his birth, the Einstein family moved to Munich. Einstein's father, together with his brother, owned a small company selling electrical equipment, but in 1894 the brothers decided to move their company to the small Italian town of Pavia near Milan, hoping that things would improve there. Albert's father and mother moved to Italy, but he himself continued to study for some time in one of the Munich gymnasiums, remaining in the care of relatives.

Nothing in Albert Einstein's childhood predicted that he would become a scientific genius. He did not speak until he was 3 years old, and while studying he hated strict school discipline. The only thing that gave him pleasure was playing the violin. In 1895, Albert moved to Italy to live with his father and mother.

Einstein completed his education in the Swiss city of Zurich. In 1896 he entered the Higher Technical School - the most prestigious higher educational institution Switzerland. Albert developed his own training system and... Instead of attending lectures, he independently studied the works of great physicists. Because of this, the professors disliked him. In 1900, Einstein received a diploma as a teacher of physics and mathematics, but for a long time he could not find a permanent job - at least as a school teacher. Finally, in 1902, he was accepted into the Berne Federal Office for Patenting Inventions as a third-class expert.

Wonderful year

Working in the patent office did not excite Einstein too much, but it gave him the opportunity to improve his financial situation and marry his ex.

Fellow student Mileva Maric. In addition, Albert had enough free time to engage in his own scientific developments. Nothing, however, foreshadowed what happened in 1905. Then Einstein presented to the leading German scientific journal“Annals of Physics” contains several articles at once, each of which became a turning point in the history of science. One of them was devoted to a phenomenon that later became known as the photoelectric effect. In it, Einstein outlined his own ideas about the phenomenon when exposure to bright light knocks electrons out of atoms, resulting in the production of a small electrical charge. Then it remained a mystery why this effect depends only on the color of the light exposure, and not on its intensity. This seemed surprising, since larger waves were expected to have a greater effect.

Particles of light

Young Einstein solved the problem by going against the scientific understanding developed throughout the 19th century. It was believed that light travels in the form of waves.

And Einstein realized that the photoelectric effect can be easily explained if we consider light in the form of particles, since particles of the same size always cause the same effect. The particles of light were later called photons, and they are indeed tiny particles of energy. In 1900, German physicist Max Planck discovered that heat is not emitted in a uniform flow, but comes in portions, which he called quanta. But it was Einstein who realized that all electromagnetic radiation travels in this way, and that portions of energy are particles, like electrons and photons. In other words, portions of energy and tiny particles are one and the same.

The second paper, written by Einstein in 1905, was devoted to measuring the size of molecules. The third explained in detail Brownian motion - the random movement in water of tiny particles, such as dust grains, that can be seen under a microscope.

Einstein proposed that the movement of dust grains was caused by collisions with moving atoms, and presented mathematical calculations confirming this. This became an important proof of the reality of atoms and molecules, which was then still disputed by some scientists. But Albert Einstein's main work in 1905 was the special theory of relativity.

Special theory of relativity

In 1887, a famous experiment by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley showed that light always travels at the same speed, regardless of how it is measured. This disappointed scientists because it destroyed one of the theories about light waves.
But Einstein had his own opinion on this matter.

Usually speed is measured in relation to something. For example, if you need to determine the speed at which you are running, then you measure it relative to the ground under your feet, which seems stationary, but rotates with the Earth. But light travels at the same speed regardless of anything else. And there is only one speed.

Albert Einstein reasoned this way. Speed ​​is the distance traveled in a certain period of time. If the speed of light is constant, then time and distance must change. This meant that time and distance are relative concepts and may not be constant. This is called Einstein's special theory of relativity.

World of relativity

The significance of this statement by Einstein cannot be overestimated. It upended all previous ideas about space and time, distance and speed and forced scientists to look at them in a completely new way. How important this turned out to be became especially clear when astronomy, which was equipped with radio telescopes, further expanded scientists’ ideas about space.

True, Einstein’s special theory of relativity is practically inapplicable to the events of everyday life, but amazing things should happen to objects moving at the speed of light.

Einstein showed, based on Newton's laws of motion, that for objects moving at or near the speed of light, time appears to expand - it stretches out and moves more slowly, and distances shorten. And the objects themselves become heavier. Einstein called this fact relativity.

Miracle Equation

By putting forward the special theory of relativity. Einstein continued to ponder the problem. He has already shown that as soon as the speed of an object approaches the speed of light, the mass of that object increases. To “gain” this additional mass without reducing speed would require additional energy. Any other change would mean a change in the speed of light, which, according to the evidence presented by Einstein, cannot happen.

Thus. Einstein realized that mass and energy are interchangeable. And he derived a simple but now famous equation that defines these relationships: E = ms2. It shows that E (energy) is equal to mass (m) times the speed of light (c) squared. It was an outstanding idea, easily explaining, for example, how radiation works - simply by converting mass into energy. It proved the possibility of generating large amounts of energy from a small amount of radioactive material. Increasing mass by the speed of light implied that there was enormous potential energy contained in the mass of the tiniest atom. This theory was used 40 years later when the first atomic bomb was created.
At first, Einstein's outstanding theories did not attract special attention scientific world, and he continued to work in the Patent and Invention Office. Gradually, however, his fame grew, and in 1909 Einstein was offered the position of assistant professor at the Polytechnic University of Zurich. By that time he was already working on the general theory of relativity.

General theory

When developing the general theory of relativity, Einstein figuratively imagined a beam of light piercing a falling elevator. The beam reaches the far wall of the elevator a little higher than the front because the elevator descends as the beam crosses it, and the light beam bends upward a little. Based on the special theory of relativity. Einstein suggested that the beam does not actually bend, but only appears to do so because space and time are distorted by the force that pulls the elevator down.

Thanks to this assumption, Einstein built a great scientific theory. When Newton derived the law of gravity, he could only show a mathematical reality - that objects of a certain mass accelerate at a certain, predictable speed. But he didn't show how it works. Einstein managed to do this clearly. The scientist showed that gravity is just a distortion in space and time. Mass creates an effect known as gravity by distorting space and time around it.

And the greater the mass, the greater the distortion. This means that the planets revolve around the Sun not because they are affected by some mysterious force, but simply because space and time around the Sun are distorted, and the planets revolve around it like a ball inside a funnel.

Einstein's theories prove that travel in space is impossible at speeds greater than the speed of light. But science fiction writers suggest that future spaceships will be able to “break” the speed of light record by stretching time and space using imaginary “hyperspace” engines.

Einstein was right

When Einstein published his general theory of relativity in 1915, many did not really understand his evidence. There were those who considered them an absurd invention. Was there a way to prove Einstein's claims in practice? He himself proposed this way to prove his theory.

Astronomers were supposed to detect a slight shift in the true position of a distant star as it passed in front of it relative to the observer of our Sun. Such a shift would show that the light rays from the star were bent due to the distortion of space and time near the Sun. Therefore, in May 1919, special expeditions went to Guinea and Brazil to observe a solar eclipse - this is the only time when stars can be seen close to the Sun. The English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, who led these expeditions, was a staunch supporter of Einstein’s theories, which were so difficult to understand. One day, the scientist Ludwig Silverstein told him, “You must be one of the three people on Earth who understands general relativity,” referring to Einstein, himself, and Eddington. To which Eddington replied: “I wonder who the third is?”

During the eclipse, astronomers were actually able to take pictures of the star, which showed how it had apparently moved relative to the Sun - almost as Einstein had predicted. The results of the observations were published all over the world, and Einstein soon became the most famous of the scientists. Even his appearance was now famous - unruly tousled hair and downward mustache.

Einstein himself was very surprised by such attention to his person, but it did not stop him from continuing his work.

Einstein wanted to find a way to combine the nature of electromagnetism and gravity into one big theory that could explain how everything works, from stellar galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles. Until the end of his life, the scientist continued to work on such a “unified theory.”

Ironically, Einstein was at the forefront of quantum theory, which had the same scientific significance as the theory of relativity. It assumes that at the subatomic level one must operate in terms of portions or quanta of energy. It also proves that particles and waves are interchangeable: every particle can behave like a wave, and every wave can behave like a particle. In addition, quantum theory shows that researchers cannot determine exactly where a particle is, but only predict its possible location. Therefore, sooner or later the particle may end up in an unexpected place.

God doesn't play dice

And although it was thanks to Einstein’s ideas regarding the relationship between light and atoms that quantum theory developed, he himself did not accept it. It wasn't just because, as it turned out. The universe was not subject to one set of laws, but two: one for the subatomic world, and another for everything else. Albert Einstein rejected the very unstable nature of quantum theory as a whole.

Einstein's theories of relativity may seem extraordinary, but they were always based on the assumption that the universe behaves in a certain way. He simply could not accept the idea that the Universe was governed by probability. “God does not play dice” - this famous phrase of Einstein is often quoted. What he actually said was, “It seems difficult to look into God's cards. But the fact that he plays dice and uses “telepathic” methods... I don’t believe for a minute.” Einstein's attempts to refute quantum theory increasingly seemed erroneous to scientists, but in fact they led to the main evidence that... quantum effects are real.

In the 1920s Einstein began to show increasing interest in political problems. In 1933 he moved to the USA, where he began working at Princeton. There he met prominent thinkers such as the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud and the Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore. Einstein was horrified that his ideas were used in the development of nuclear weapons, and after World War II he became an ardent supporter of the idea of ​​​​forming a world government that could end conflicts between states. Albert Einstein died in April 1955 at the age of 76.

Albert Einstein. Biography and discoveries of Albert Einstein

To understand Einstein's theory of general relativity, imagine a rubber "sheet". A heavy object such as the Sun (A) makes a dent in it. This dent figuratively shows how gravity distorts space and time. Gravity then acts as follows. Any slow-moving body passing nearby (such as the Earth or another planet) rolls into the depression created by (A) and moves along a path (B) within it. Bodies moving faster will follow a more open path around A, while a ray of light (C) passing at a great distance and moving much faster will bend quite slightly.

“A person begins to live only when
when he manages to surpass himself"

Albert Einstein is a famous physicist, creator of the theory of relativity, author of numerous works on quantum physics, one of the creators of the modern stage of development of this science.

The future Nobel laureate was born on March 15, 1879 in the small German town of Ulm. The family came from an ancient Jewish family. Dad Herman was the owner of a company that stuffed mattresses and pillows with feathers. Einstein's mother was the daughter of a famous corn seller. In 1880, the family went to Munich, where Hermann and his brother Jacob created a small enterprise selling electrical equipment. After some time, the Einsteins' daughter Maria is born.

In Munich, Albert Einstein goes to a Catholic school. As the scientist recalled, at the age of 13 he stopped trusting the beliefs of religious fanatics. Having become familiar with science, he began to look at the world differently. Everything that was said in the Bible now did not seem plausible to him. All this formed in him a person who is skeptical of everything, especially of authorities. From his childhood, Albert Einstein's most vivid impressions were Euclid's book "Principia" and the compass. At his mother's request, little Albert became interested in playing the violin. The craving for music lingered in the scientist’s heart for a long time. In the future, while in the States, Albert Einstein gave a concert to all emigrants from Germany, performing Mozart's compositions on the violin.

While studying at the gymnasium, Einstein was not an excellent student (except in mathematics). He did not like the method of learning the material, as well as the attitude of teachers towards students. Therefore, he often argued with teachers.

In 1894 the family moved again. This time to Pavia, a small town near Milan. The Einstein brothers are moving their production here.

In the fall of 1895, the young genius comes to Switzerland to enter school. He dreamed of teaching physics. He passes the exam in mathematics very well, but the future scientist fails the tests in botany. Then the director suggested that the young guy take the exam in Aarau in order to re-enter a year later.

At the Arau school, Albert Einstein actively studied Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. In September 1897, he successfully passed the exams. Having a certificate in hand, he enters Zurich, where he soon meets the mathematician Grossman and Mileva Maric, who will later become his wife. After a certain time, Albert Einstein renounces German citizenship and accepts Swiss citizenship. However, for this it was necessary to pay 1000 francs. But there was no money, since the family was in a difficult financial situation. Albert Einstein's relatives move to Milan after going broke. There, Albert's father again creates a company selling electrical equipment, but without his brother.

Einstein liked the teaching style at the Polytechnic, because the teachers did not have an authoritarian attitude. The young scientist felt better. The learning process was also fascinating because the lectures were given by such geniuses as Adolf Hurwitz and Hermann Minkowski.

Science in the life of Einstein

In 1900, Albert completed his studies in Zurich and received a diploma. This gave him the right to teach physics and mathematics. Teachers assessed the young scientist’s knowledge on high level, but they didn’t want to provide help in their future career. The following year he receives Swiss citizenship, but still cannot find a job. There were part-time jobs in schools, but this was not enough to live on. Einstein starved for days, which caused liver problems. Despite all the difficulties, Albert Einstein tried to devote more time to science. In 1901, a Berlin magazine published a paper on the theory of capillarity, where Einstein analyzed the forces of attraction in liquid atoms.

Fellow student Grossman helps Einstein and gets him a job at the patent office. Albert Einstein worked here for 7 years, evaluating patent applications. In 1903 he worked at the Bureau on a permanent basis. The nature and style of work allowed the scientist to study problems related to physics in his free time.

In 1903, Einstein received a letter from Milan saying that his father was dying. Hermann Einstein died after his son arrived.

On January 7, 1903, the young scientist marries his girlfriend from the Polytechnic, Mileva Maric. Later, from his marriage with her, Albert has three children.

Einstein's discoveries

In 1905, Einstein's work on Brownian motion of particles was published. The work of the Englishman Brown already had an explanation. Einstein, having not encountered the scientist’s work before, gave his theory a certain completeness and the possibility of conducting experiments. In 1908, the experiments of the Frenchman Perrin confirmed Einstein's theory.

In 1905, another work by the scientist was published, dedicated to the formation and transformation of light. In 1900, Max Planck had already proven that the spectral content of radiation can be explained by imagining the radiation to be continuous. According to him, the light was emitted in portions. Einstein put forward the theory that light is absorbed in parts and consists of quanta. Such an assumption allowed the scientist to explain the reality of the “red limit” (the limiting frequency below which electrons are not knocked out of the body).

The scientist also applied quantum theory to other phenomena that the classics could not consider in detail.

In 1921 he was awarded the title of Nobel laureate.

Theory of relativity

Despite the many articles written, the scientist gained worldwide fame thanks to his theory of relativity, which he first voiced in 1905 in a newsletter. Even in his youth, the scientist thought about what would appear before an observer who would follow the light wave at the speed of light. He did not accept the concept of ether.

Albert Einstein suggested that for any object, no matter how it moves, the speed of light is the same. The scientist's theory is comparable to Lorentz's formulas for converting time. However, Lorentz's transformations were indirect and had no connection with time.

Professorial activity

At 28, Einstein was extremely popular. In 1909 he became a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic and later at a university in the Czech Republic. After some time, he nevertheless returned to Zurich, but after 2 years he accepted an offer to become director of the Department of Physics in Berlin. Einstein's citizenship was restored. Work on the theory of relativity lasted for many years, and with the participation of Comrade Grossman, sketches of a draft theory were published. The final version was formulated in 1915. This was the greatest achievement in physics in decades.

Einstein was able to answer the question of what mechanism promotes gravitational interaction between objects. The scientist suggested that the structure of space could act as such an object. Albert Einstein thought that any body contributes to the curvature of space, making it different, and another body in relation to this one moves in the same space and is influenced by the first body.

The theory of relativity gave impetus to the development of other theories, which were later confirmed.

American period of the scientist's life

In America, he became a professor at Princeton University, continuing to develop a field theory that would unify gravity and electromagnetism.

At Princeton, Professor Einstein was a real celebrity. But the people saw him as a good-natured, modest, and strange person. His passion for music has not faded. He often performed in the physics ensemble. The scientist was also fond of sailing, saying that it helps to think about the problems of the Universe.

He was one of the main ideologists of the formation of the State of Israel. In addition, Einstein was invited to the post of president of this country, but he refused.

The main tragedy of the scientist’s life was the idea of ​​the atomic bomb. Observing the growing power of the German state, he sent a letter to the American Congress in 1939, which prompted the development and creation of weapons of mass destruction. Albert Einstein later regretted this, but it was already too late.

In 1955, in Princeton, the great naturalist died of an aortic aneurysm. But for a long time many will remember his quotes, which became truly great. He said that we must not lose faith in humanity, since we ourselves are people. The biography of the scientist is undoubtedly very fascinating, but it is the quotes he wrote that help to delve deeper into his life and work, which serve as a preface in the “book about the life of a great man.”

Some wisdom from Albert Einstein

At the heart of every challenge lies opportunity.

Logic can take you from point A to point B, and imagination can take you anywhere...

Outstanding personalities are formed not through beautiful speeches, but through their own work and its results.

If you live as if nothing in this world is a miracle, then you will be able to do whatever you want and you will have no obstacles. If you live as if everything is a miracle, then you will be able to enjoy even the smallest manifestations of beauty in this world. If you live both ways at the same time, your life will be happy and productive.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the southern German city of Ulm, into a poor Jewish family.

One of the historical coincidences: if Newton was born in the year of Galileo’s death, as if taking over the scientific baton from him, then Einstein was born in the year of Maxwell’s death.

Einstein was a big slob and once said this about it: “When I was young, I learned that thumb always ends with a hole in the sock,” he once said. “So I stopped wearing socks.”

Despite all his achievements, the famous scientist was not a child prodigy as a child. Not at all, many doubted his usefulness, and a child with a big head caused his mother a lot of grief - she suspected the congenital deformity of her child.

Until the age of three, the future genius did not speak at all, which made his parents even more afraid that he was lagging behind in development. However, as soon as the boy spoke, his parents were amazed - three-year-old Einstein had vocabulary adult.

Having never received a certificate at the gymnasium (analogous to our school), Albert assured his parents that he himself could prepare to enter the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich, but Einstein failed.

Nevertheless, having entered the polytechnic school, student Einstein very often skipped lectures, reading magazines with the latest scientific theories in cafes.

Albert Einstein graduated from the Swiss Higher Technical School with a diploma in teaching mathematics and physics. He wanted to continue his scientific career, but did not find support among professors who highly appreciated his abilities. In 1901-1902, he literally starved because he could not find work even as a school teacher. As a result, Einstein was helped by a former classmate and friend, the gifted mathematician Marcel Grossman, who recommended him to the Inventions Patent Office.

Albert Einstein's first significant scientific achievements came in 1905, when three of his papers were published in a leading German physics journal. These were articles that laid the foundation for the theory of relativity, quantum theory and significantly advanced static physics. This year in the scientific world is usually called the “Year of Miracles.”

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.

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.

He participates in all scientific congresses and conferences in physics, and gives lectures at various universities. He was a professor at his native Polytechnic of Zurich, headed a new physics research institute in Berlin, and was a professor at the University of Berlin.

After receiving his diploma, Einstein got a job as an expert in a patent office. Due to the fact that assessing the technical characteristics of the young specialist most often took about 10 minutes, he spent a lot of time developing his theories.

In the 20s of the 20th century, a campaign against Einstein began in Berlin. Speeches and attacks by anti-Semitic scientists were carried out under the plausible pretext of criticizing the theory of relativity. The authorities responded with silence to the persecution of the scientist. After Hitler came to power in 1933, Einstein was forced to flee to America. The Nazis were furious that the scientist was beyond their reach. All his belongings and documents remaining in Germany were looted and destroyed, and his summer house was confiscated in favor of the state.

The words of Albert Einstein, “If 2% of the young people in the country refuse military service, then the government will not be able to resist them, and there simply won’t be enough space in prisons,” gave rise to a powerful anti-war movement among American youth, whose adherents wore badges with the inscription “2%” "

The archives of the Nobel Committee preserve about 60 nominations by Einstein in connection with the formulation of the theory of relativity; his candidacy was consistently nominated every year from 1910 to 1922 (except for 1911 and 1915). However, the prize was awarded only in 1922 - for the theory of the photoelectric effect, which seemed to members of the Nobel Committee to be a more indisputable contribution to science. As a result of this nomination, Einstein received the (previously deferred) prize for 1921 at the same time as Niels Bohr, who was awarded the 1922 prize.

Einstein strengthened his self-confidence with every, even small, victory that was presented to them as huge. And he demanded that his loved ones not doubt him either. He induced optimism, brought it upon himself. The physicist always kept his future brilliant image in his head. He believed unconditionally that he would receive the Nobel Prize. When he and his first wife were divorcing, the scientist promised to give her the entire Swedish award as compensation. And he received it only after a good ten years. But the wife did not doubt for a minute and agreed to the divorce.

Interestingly, other than swimming (“the sport that requires the least energy”), Einstein avoided any vigorous activity. He once said: “When I come home from work, I don’t want to do anything other than work with my mind.”

He needed to “pronounce” his theories to someone. He considered them “ripe” when he could explain in simple words at least the secretary. He also wrote poetry, which also trained the mind, and tried to speak in aphorisms.

Albert Einstein was one of those people who launched the famous Manhattan Project, whose brainchild was the atomic bomb.

When Einstein was asked where his laboratory was, he smiled and showed a fountain pen.

After the death of President Chaim Weismann in 1952, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion offered Einstein the position of president of the country. Einstein was incredibly moved by the offer, and wrote a letter in which he said: “I am deeply touched by the offer of the State of Israel, but with regret and regret I must reject it.”

Once in Germany, Einstein took part in a charity concert. A local journalist, delighted with his performance, asked a neighbor: “Who is playing this?” and received the answer: “What, you didn’t know? It’s Einstein himself!” - “Oh, yes, of course!” The next day, a note appeared in the newspaper about the performance of the great musician, the incomparable virtuoso violinist, Albert Einstein. The “great musician” was delighted, cut out the note and proudly showed it to his friends: “Do you think I’m a scientist? I'm a famous violinist, that's who I really am!”

Although he lived in the United States for many years and was fully bilingual, Einstein claimed that he could not write in English.

In 1932, the American Women's Patriotic Corporation demanded that Einstein not be allowed into the United States, as he was a known troublemaker and communist. The visa was nevertheless issued, and Einstein sadly wrote in the newspaper: “Never before have I received such an energetic refusal from the fair sex, and if I did, it was not from so many at once.”

The widely known photograph with his tongue hanging out was taken thanks to the importunity of journalists and photographers, when one of the latter once again asked Einstein to “smile for the camera.”

Einstein was a pipe lover. A lifelong member of the Montreal Pipe Smokers' Club, Einstein had this to say: “. A smoking pipe helps one to judge human affairs calmly and objectively.”

A question he was often asked: “How did he manage to create the theory of relativity?” Half jokingly, half seriously, he answered: “Why 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.”

Einstein hated science fiction. To avoid distorting pure science and giving people a false illusion of scientific understanding, he recommended total abstinence from any type of science fiction. “I never think about the future, it will come soon enough,” he said.

Albert Einstein was a staunch democratic socialist, humanist, pacifist and anti-fascist.

Albert Einstein was a staunch pacifist. He advocated social justice and cooperation between different countries, and called for the disarmament of countries. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Einstein received threats and insults. In 1933, the famous physicist had to leave his native Germany forever. In protest against the Nazi regime, he renounced not only his German citizenship, but also his membership in the German academies of sciences.

After moving to the United States, Einstein became one of the most respected people in the country, while remaining a modest, friendly, calm and affable person. He always tried to answer all the letters that even his children sent him. To everyone's surprise, Albert never acquired a TV or a car.

Einstein is often mentioned among vegetarians. Although he supported the movement for many years, he only began following a strict vegetarian diet in 1954, about a year before his death.

Einstein's biographers have scrupulously counted the number of errors in his scientific works. A book by physicist Hans Ohanian is devoted to their popular analysis, the abstract of which contains the following fragment: “... his powerful physical intuition allowed him to achieve his goals despite the mistakes he made along the way - and sometimes thanks to them. Einstein's uncanny ability to use his mistakes as stepping stones to his revolutionary theories was one of the hallmarks of his genius."

In the US capital, there is a monument to Einstein by Robert Burks.

Albert Einstein- a person who, after the last 100 years, still arouses the interest of both people of science and ordinary people.

Marilyn Monroe and Einstein were American icons in the 1950s. The first was a symbol of beauty, Einstein was the standard of genius. The following joke was very popular at that time:
“Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe met at a social event. “If we had a child,” the actress turned to the scientist, “he would inherit my beauty and your mind. That would be wonderful. “What if he turns out to be handsome like me and smart like you?” - Einstein chuckled.

There is a version about Einstein's infatuation with Marilyn Monroe, who allegedly reciprocated his feelings. In any case, the two celebrities were connected by mutual respect and sympathy.

Marie Curie became the only woman of Einstein's time to understand the theory of relativity.

“All marriages are dangerous,” he once told an interviewer. “Marriage is a failed attempt to make something lasting out of an incident.”

He said “I” and did not allow anyone to say “we”. The meaning of this pronoun simply did not reach the scientist. His close friend only once saw the imperturbable Einstein in rage when his wife uttered the forbidden “we”.

An American journalist, a certain Miss Thompson, interviewed Einstein: “What is the difference between time and eternity?” Einstein replied: “If I had time to explain the difference between these concepts, it would be an eternity before you would understand it.”

One lady friend asked Einstein to call her, but warned that her phone number was very difficult to remember: “24-361. Do you remember? Repeat!” Einstein was surprised: “Of course I remember!” Two dozen and 19 squared!”

One day, Einstein was walking along the corridor of Princeton, and a young and very untalented physicist met him. Having caught up with Einstein, he familiarly patted him on the shoulder and asked patronizingly:
- How are you, colleague?
- Colleague? - Einstein asked in surprise. - Are you also suffering from rheumatism?

One day Einstein was walking down the street, thoughtfully, and met his friend. He invited him to his home: “Come to me in the evening, Professor Stimson will be with me.” The friend was surprised: “But I am Stimson!” Einstein objected: “It doesn’t matter - come anyway.”

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.

Einstein's Major Achievements

Einstein discovered such important theories for physics as:

• theory of relativity;
• theory of light scattering;
• quantum theory of heat capacity;
• the law of the relationship between mass and energy;
• theory of stimulated emission;
• quantum theory of the photoelectric effect;
• statistical theory of Brownian motion;
• quantum statistics.

Important dates in Einstein's biography

• 1879 - birth
• 1880 - move to Munich
• 1893 - went to live in Switzerland
• 1895-1896 - training Aarau
• 1896-1900 - studies at the Polytechnic of Zurich
• 1902-1909 - work at the Federal Bureau of Patenting of Inventions
• 1902 - father's death
• 1903 - marriage to Mileva Maric
• 1905 - first discoveries
• 1906 - Doctor of Science degree in physics
• 1909 - Professor at the University of Zurich
• 1911 - Heads the Department of Physics at the German University of Prague
• 1914 - return to Germany
• 1919 - marriage to Else Löwenthal
• 1920 - mother's death
• 1921 - Nobel Prize
• 1926 - honorary member AN
• 1933 - went to live in the USA
• 1936 - death of wife Elsa
• 1955 - death

Interesting facts from the life of Einstein

• Einstein loved growing roses.
• Among the closest friends of the great scientist was Charlie Chaplin.
• Hans Albert, Einstein's eldest son, became a great expert in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California.
• Edward, youngest son a great scientist, was ill with a severe form of schizophrenia and died in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.
• One of Einstein's cousins ​​died in Auschwitz, another died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
• 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.
• 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.