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by nobel.se
Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg,
Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich and
he began his schooling there at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved
to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in
1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be
trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he
gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to
find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the
Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.
During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced
much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in
Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the
following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director
of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University
of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until
1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated
to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at
Princeton*. He became
a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.
After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government
Movement, he was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he
declined, and he collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in establishing the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics
and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was
able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his
major achievements as mere stepping-stones for the next advance.
At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of
Newtonian mechanics and his special theory of relativity stemmed from an
attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanics with the laws of the
electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical
mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory: this
led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He
investigated the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density
and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theory of light.
In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct
interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a
theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general
theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems
of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics.
In the 1920's, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field
theories, although he continued to work on the probabilistic
interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in
America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the
quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable
work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic
cosmology.
After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the
basic concepts of physics, taking the opposite approach, geometrisation,
to the majority of physicists.
Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more
important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905),
Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory
of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement
(1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his
non-scientific works, About Zionism (1930), Why War?
(1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years
(1950) are perhaps the most important.
Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine
and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the
1920's he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East and he was awarded
Fellowships or Memberships of all the leading scientific academies
throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his
work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925,
and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.
Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual
solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life.
He married Mileva Maritsch in 1901 and they had two sons; their marriage
was dissolved and in 1917 he married his cousin, Elsa Einstein, who died
in 1936. He died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey.
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