An Examination of the Life and Works of Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born on March 14th 1879, in Ulm Germany. Einstein spent much of his youth in Munich where his family owned and ran a small manufactured electric machinery company. Although Albert Einstein is thought to be one of the most brilliant influential thinkers of all time, he was born with birth deformities that left his skull in an angular shape. In addition, this same ingenious intellect did not speak until he was three years old. When he did began to speak he was using long and meaningful sentences. While very young Einstein demonstrated curiosity about nature and the ability to comprehend difficult mathematical concepts, and by the young age of twelve he had taught himself and later mastered Euclidean geometry. Einstein disliked school and when his familys business went bankrupt he decided to withdraw from school and traveled with his parents to Milan. Einstein in fact enrolled in a secondary school in Arrau, Switzerland, and entered the Swill National Polytechnic in Zurich. Again, Einstein was not in favor of the teaching methods and would often skip classes in order to study physics on his own or to play his violin.

Although his professors did not think highly of him, Einstein graduated from school in 1900 by studying the notes of a classmate. For the next two years Einstein resorted to substitute teaching and tutoring because his superiors did not recommend him for a university position. In 1902, he was secured a position as an examiner in the Swiss patent office in Mern. During this time he had fallen in love with Mileva Maric who he later married in 1903, and became a father to two sons. His marriage ended quite quickly but it did not stop him from studying his physics. In 1905, Einstein received his doctorate degree from the University of Zurich specializing in theoretical dissertation on the dimensions of molecules. During this time he also published three theoretical paper about the central importance of the development of twentieth century physics. In his three publications he made predictions about the motion of particles that are randomly distributed in fluids. In 1905, Einstein published his third paper that later became known as his special theory of relativity. He stated that no particular object in the universe is suitable as a complete frame of reference that is at rest with respect to space; therefor, he dismissed the problem of absolute motion by denying that it exists and that al motion is relative.

Einsteins hypothesis was based on the nonexistence of absolute rest in the universe. He believed two objects moving relative to each other at a constant speed or velocity would experience the same phenomena of nature. In 1907, Einstein began working on expanding and generalizing his theory of relativity to all systems. He used the principle of equivalence that explains the gravitational fields are equal to the acceleration of the frame of reference. He began developing his general theory of relativity in 1915, where he explained the variation of the orbital motion of the planets and the differences in the laws of relativity and gravity. By 1919, Albert Einstein became worldly renowned as he began to receive honors and rewards for his accomplishments. For example, in 1921 he received the Noble Prize award in physics from different world scientific groups. The two social movements that resulted in his full support were pacifism and Zionism. During World War | he was involved in publicly announcing Germanys involvement in the war. Following the war, he continued to offer support to the pacifist and Zionist principles and as a result he was made a target of vicious attacks my anti-Semitic and right wing associations in Germany. During this time he scientific theories and beliefs were publicly ridiculed and disapproved of.

Einstein left Germany when Hitler came to power. It was then when he gained a position at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton, New Jersey. In 1939, Einstein worked together with other physicists by writing a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, acknowledging the possibilities of making an atomic bomb and the likelihood that the German government would launch efforts in the same field. As a result to Einsteins letter, the U.S made urgent efforts in creating the atomic bomb; however, Einstein had no role in working on the bomb, nor did he know of its making. After the war, Einstein was active in the cause of international disarmament and world government. He continued to support Zionism and declined an offer to become the president of Israel. After his death on April 18th 1955, his efforts in social issue have often been looked as unrealistic. All his life he spent many endless days focusing on social and political causes, but science was always his first priority because he thought, the discovery of the nature of the universe would have lasting meaning. Although his death left many questions and revelations unanswered, his legacy influenced others to follow his footsteps and discover the secrets of many aspects of the universe.