Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany to Hermann and Pauline Einstein. Albert spent most of his time in a small electric machinery shop that his family owned in Munich (Germany). At the age of three he showed an interest for mathematics. At the age of 10, Albert begins teaching himself math and science. He could learn more by himself than in school. At the age of 12 he taught himself Euclidean Geometry.

Albert hated school in Munich. When repeated business failure led the family to leave Germany for Milan, Italy, Albert, who was then 15 years old stayed in Munich for one term to finish the school year and then followed his family. He spent a year with his parents in Milan, and then it became clear that he would have to make his own way in the world. Albert wanted to skip high school by going to a technical university but failed the arts portion of the entrance exam to the Swiss Polytechnic University. His parents sent him to a secondary school in Arrau, Switzerland. When he finished it he entered the Swiss National Polytechnic in Zurich.

In 1898 he fell in love with his Polytechnic classmate Mileva Maric.

Albert would usually cut classes to study violin or physics. After Albert graduated in 1900 he worked as a tutor and substitute teacher. In 1901 Albert was granted Swiss citizenship. The same year Mileva became pregnant. She gave birth to a girl, whom they (Albert and Mileva) eventually put up for adoption. In 1902 Albert secured a position as an examiner in the Swiss patent office in Bern. In 1903 Albert and Mileva got married. And in 1904 Mileva gives birth to their first son, Hans Albert.

1905 was Einstein’s “Miracle Year”: the Special Theory was born.He submits his Paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", on June 30-th to the leading German physics journal. At the age 26, Albert formulates the equation E=mc². The basis for the Paper was written when he was only 16 years old. Albert also wrote two other papers this same year.

The second paper, on the photoelectric effect, contained a revolutionary hypothesis concerning the nature of light. Einstein not only proposed that under certain circumstances light can be considered as consisting of particles, but he also hypothesized that the energy carried by any light particle, called a photon, is proportional to the frequency of the radiation. The formula for this is E = hu, where E is the energy of the radiation, h is a universal constant known as Planck's constant, and u is the frequency of the radiation. This proposal - that the energy contained within a light beam is transferred in individual units, or quanta - contradicted a hundred-year-old tradition of considering light energy a manifestation of continuous processes. But sadly no one accepted Albert's proposal.

On the third paper h>e made significant predictions about the motion of particles that are randomly distributed in a fluid. These predictions were later confirmed by experiments.

By the age of 30 Einstein had completed the most significiant portion for the basis of his theories.

In 1906 Einstein became an examiner of the Swiss Patent Shop. Two years later he became a lecture at the university of Bern and quit the his job at the Patent Shop. During his work there he started applying laws of gravity to his Special Theory of Relativity. In 1910 Albert’s and Mileva’s second son, Eduard, was born.

The next year Einstein is given full professorship at the German University when he and his family move to Prague. Albert discovers that he is the youngest to attend the invitation-only Solvay Conference in Brussels, the first world physics conference.

In 1912, when Einsteins moved to Zurich, Albert was given a position as a professor of Theoretical Physics at the Swiss Polytechnic. He was allowed to do all the research that he wanted while at the University.

Two years later he became thee diirector and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin. Einstein’s moved to Berlin, but after 3 months Mileva and sons returned to Zurich. Einsteins got devorced. In August World War I began.

In 1915 Einstein completed his research on the General Theory of Relativity and published it next year. Suddenly Einstein collapsed and, near death, fell seriously ill. His cousin Elsa managed to nurse him back to health. Einstein’s first Paper on cosmology was published.

In 1919 Albert married his cousin Elsa. The same year, on May 29-th, the General Theory of Relativity is proved to be correct by a Solar eclipse.

Einstein got a Nobel Prize in Physics for the photoelectric effect in 1921.

In 1927 Einstein begins developing the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics with Bohr and the next year starts pursuing his idea about the Unified Field Theory.

While at the age 53, Einstein is at the height of his fame. However, he begins to feel the heat of Nazi Germany because he is identified as a Jew. Albert and Elsa sail to the United States. They find settlement in Princeton, New Jersey, where Albert gets a post at the Institute for Advanced Study. Soon Elsa died of a brief illness.

In 1939 Einstein collaborated with several other physicists in writing a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, pointing out the possibility of making an atomic bomb and the likelyhood that the German government was embarking on such a course. The letter, which bore only Einstein's signature, helped lend urgency to efforts in the U.S. to build the atomic bomb, but Einstein himself played no role in the work and knew nothing about it at the time.

Albert remarried Mileva. In 1949 she died. Albert begins to suffer from health problems attributed to a heart aneurysm.

In 1953 Albert announced his Unified Field Theory and renounced The Quantum Theory.

Due in part to failing health over the last couple of years and his refusal to have surgery on his weakened heart artery, Albert Einstein dies from a heart attack on April 18, 1955. At his request, his brain is donated to science and his body is cremated and the ashes spread over a nearby river.

Albert Einstein is known world wide and will always be known as one of the most important men ever to walk this planet.

Some pictures of Albert Einstein

Einstein’s FDR Letter

Some recent work by E.Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in a manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of this situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable - through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America - that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium,by which vast amount s of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomena would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable - though much less certain - that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, m ight very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.

The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.

In view of this situation you may think it desirable to have some permanent contact maintained between the administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust wi th this task a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an inofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:

a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium or for the United States;

b) to speed up the experimental work,which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University Laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contrib utions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment.

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such an early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secreta ry of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

• "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
• "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
• "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
• "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
• "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
• "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
• "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
• "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
• "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
• "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
• "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
• "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
• "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
• "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
• "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
• "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
• "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
• "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
• "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
• "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
• "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
• "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
• "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
• "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
• "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
• "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
• "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
• "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
• "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
• "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
• "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
• "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
• "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
• "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
• "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
• "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
• "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
• "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
• "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
• "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
• "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
• "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
• "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
• "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
• "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
• "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
• "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
• "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
• "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
• "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
• "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
• "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
• "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
• "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
• "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
• "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)