Einstein's birthplace. Biography and discoveries of Albert Einstein

A. Einstein provided him with worldwide fame during his lifetime. Sixty years after his death, the world still admires the depth of theories and the boldness of the scientist's assumptions.

However, more and more often you can hear the question of what is the name of Einstein? Perhaps this is due to the fact that his name has never been heard, remaining only the letter "A" with a dot, or people are misled by a large number of famous people with such a surname. Let's see who Einstein is, what his name was, what contribution he made to the development modern science and what funny situations happened with his participation.

Brief biography of the scientist

The future physicist was born in Germany in 1879 to a Jewish family. Herman - that's the name of Albert Einstein's father, and the mother's name is Paulina. As you may have guessed, the parents named the baby Albert. Interestingly, as a child, Einstein could not be called a child prodigy. He studied poorly (perhaps because he was bored), communicated with peers reluctantly, but disproportionately big head prompted others to think about the ugliness of the boy.

The lag in the study of gymnasium tricks led to the fact that the teachers considered Albert stupid, and classmates allowed themselves to laugh at him. Probably, later they were very surprised by his achievements and the fact that the whole world knew the name of Einstein.

Despite the fact that the young man did not even manage to graduate from the gymnasium, and from the first attempt to enter the technical school in Zurich, he still showed perseverance and was enrolled in a group of students. True, the program seemed uninteresting to him, and instead of studying, Albert preferred to sit in a cafe and read magazines with the latest scientific articles.

First job and interest in science

After graduating with grief in half from a technical school, and having received a diploma, Albert became an expert in the patent office. The work was quite easy for him, since Einstein was able to evaluate the technical characteristics in just minutes. He devoted his free time to the development of his own theories, thanks to which, after a few years, the entire scientific community learned the name of Einstein and got acquainted with his theories.

Recognition in the world of science

After receiving his doctorate (philosophy of sciences) in 1905, Albert takes up active scientific work. His publications on the theory of the photoelectric effect and the private one caused an explosive and ambiguous reaction. Heated discussions, criticism and even anti-Semitism harassment are all part of Einstein's biography. By the way, it was because of his origin that Albert had to go to America.

Thanks to his revolutionary and ingenious developments, the scientist quickly took a high position in the American scientific world and was able to devote as much time as he wanted to such a science he loved.

Nobel Prize Award

The scientist received this most prestigious award for the fact that he was able to theoretically explain the nature of the photoelectric effect. He put forward an explanation for the existence of photons.

Thanks to the work of Einstein, quantum theory received a powerful impetus to development. So significant that even today many people are well acquainted with his work, they know the name of Einstein.

As you know, the Nobel Prize is an impressive sum of money. When Albert received it, he gave all the money to his ex-wife. This was their agreement, since during the divorce, Einstein was not able to pay her the alimony due to her.

Einstein's acquaintance with Marilyn Monroe

The huge popularity of the scientist and film star in the mid-50s of the last century led to the spread of gossip about their romance. Marilyn and her work were familiar to almost everyone, and many knew what to call Einstein (although they could not accurately describe the essence of his achievements). In addition, it is known that these celebrities had sympathy and mutual respect for each other.

Einstein's attitude towards war

The scientist was a pacifist, a fighter for equality and an opponent of racism. Being himself a victim of persecution, he always opposed the ideas of Nazism.

He repeatedly drew a comparison between the fate of blacks in America and Jews in Germany. His phrase is known that, in the end, we all remain human. No matter who he was or what Einstein was called, he was always a civil rights activist.

The scientist's statement is known that if only 2% of the country's young men do not perform compulsory military service, the government will not have the means to confront (prisons will not be able to accommodate such a number of people). The result was a massive youth movement opposed to the war. Those who shared these views pinned badges to their clothes on which “2%” was written.

A Few Facts About Einstein's Brain

Considering how famous the brilliant scientist was, it is not surprising that after his death they planned to thoroughly study his brain. Great plans were violated by the morgue worker who performed the autopsy. He fled with Albert's brain and refused to return it.

The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia received more than 40 images of the scientist's thinking organ.

Interesting stories about Albert Einstein

The physicist died in 1955. On the eve of his death, he refused to perform the operation, saying that the artificial extension of life does not make sense. Albert Einstein spoke his last words on German. But they did not reach our days due to the fact that the nurse who was present at the time did not know this language.

Of course, a hundred more such articles can be written about this outstanding figure, but the information presented may well help to form an opinion about his personality and merits. They are enough to answer questions from the series: "What was Einstein's name: Albert or Victor?".

Albert Einstein is a legendary physicist, a beacon of science in the 20th century. He owns the creation general relativity and special relativity, as well as a powerful contribution to the development of other areas of physics. It was general relativity that formed the basis of modern physics, uniting space with time and describing almost all visible cosmological phenomena, including admitting the possibility of the existence wormholes, black holes, fabrics of space-time, as well as other phenomena of the gravitational scale.

The childhood of a brilliant scientist

The future Nobel laureate was born on March 14, 1879 in the German town of Ulm. At first, nothing foreshadowed the child's great future: the boy began to speak late, and his speech was somewhat slow. Einstein's first scientific study took place when he was three years old. For his birthday, his parents gave him a compass, which later became his favorite toy. The boy was extremely surprised that the compass needle always pointed to the same point in the room, no matter how you twisted it.

Meanwhile, Einstein's parents worried about his speech problems. As the younger sister of the scientist Maya Winteler-Einstein said, every phrase that he was preparing to utter, even the simplest, the boy repeated to himself for a long time, moving his lips. The habit of speaking slowly later began to irritate Einstein's teachers as well. However, despite this, already after the first days of study at a Catholic elementary school, he was identified as a capable student and transferred to the second grade.

After the family moved to Munich, Einstein began to study at the gymnasium. However, here, instead of studying, he preferred to study his favorite sciences on his own, which gave its results: in the exact sciences, Einstein was far ahead of his peers. At the age of 16, he mastered differential and integral calculus. In the gymnasium (now the Albert Einstein Gymnasium), he was not among the first students (with the exception of mathematics and Latin). An ingrained system of rote learning by students (which, as he later said, damages the very spirit of learning and creative thinking), as well as the authoritarian attitude of teachers towards students, caused Albert Einstein's rejection, so he often entered into disputes with his teachers. At the same time, Einstein read a lot and played the violin beautifully. Later, when the scientist was asked what prompted him to create the theory of relativity, he referred to the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the philosophy of Ancient China.

Youth

Without graduating from high school, 16-year-old Albert went to enter the poly technical school, to Zurich, but "flunked" the entrance exams in languages, botany and zoology. At the same time, Einstein brilliantly passed mathematics and physics, after which he was invited immediately to the senior class of the cantonal school in Aarau, after which he became a student at the Zurich Polytechnic. The style and methods of teaching at the Polytechnic differed significantly from the ossified and authoritarian German school, so further education was easier for the young man. Here his teacher was a mathematician. German Minkowski. It is said that it is Minkowski who is credited with giving the theory of relativity a finished mathematical form.

Einstein managed to graduate from university with a high score and with negative characteristic teachers: in an educational institution, the future Nobel laureate was known as an avid truant. Einstein later said that he "just didn't have time to go to class."

For a long time the graduate could not find a job. “I was bullied by my professors, who did not like me because of my independence and closed my path to science,” said Einstein.

The beginning of scientific activity and the first work

In 1901, the Berlin Annals of Physics published his first paper. "Consequences of the theory of capillarity" devoted to the analysis of the forces of attraction between the atoms of liquids based on the theory of capillarity. A former classmate Marcel Grossman helped to overcome difficulties with employment, recommending Einstein for the position of an expert of the III class in the Federal Office for Patenting Inventions (Bern). Einstein worked at the Patent Office from July 1902 to October 1909, primarily as a peer reviewer of invention applications. In 1903 he became a permanent employee of the Bureau. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to dedicate free time research in the field theoretical physics.

Personal life

Even at the university, Einstein was known as a lover of the female, but over time he chose mileve maric whom he met in Zurich. Mileva was four years older than Einstein, but she studied on the same course with him. She studied physics, and her interest in the works of great scientists brought her closer to Einstein. Einstein felt the need for a comrade with whom he could share his thoughts about what he had read. Mileva was a passive listener, but Einstein was quite content with that. During that period, fate did not push him against a comrade equal to him in mental strength (in fully this did not happen later), nor with a girl whose charm did not need a common scientific platform.

Einstein's wife "shone in mathematics and physics": she was excellent at performing algebraic calculations and was well versed in analytical mechanics. Thanks to these qualities, Marich could take an active part in writing all the main works of her husband. Maric and Einstein's alliance was destroyed by the latter's fickleness. Albert Einstein was a huge success with women, and his wife was constantly tormented by jealousy. Later, their son Hans-Albert wrote: “Mother was a typical Slav with very strong and persistent negative emotions. She never forgave insults ... "

The second time the scientist married his cousin Elsa. Contemporaries considered her a narrow-minded woman, whose range of interests was limited to dresses, jewelry and sweets.

Successful 1905

The year 1905 entered the history of physics as the "Year of Miracles". This year, the Annals of Physics published three of Einstein's seminal papers that launched a new scientific revolution:

1. "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies"(The theory of relativity begins with this article).
2. "About one heuristic point of view concerning the origin and transformation of light"(one of the works that laid the foundation of quantum theory).
3. "On the motion of particles suspended in a fluid at rest, required by the molecular-kinetic theory of heat"(work devoted to Brownian motion and significantly advanced statistical physics).

It was these works that brought Einstein worldwide fame. On April 30, 1905, he sent to the University of Zurich the text of his doctoral dissertation on the topic "A new determination of the size of molecules." Although in the letters Einstein is already called "Mr. Professor", he is still four years old (until October 1909). And in 1906 he even became an expert of the II class.

In October 1908, Einstein was invited to read an elective course at the University of Bern, however, without any payment. In 1909 he attended a congress of naturalists in Salzburg, where the elite of German physics gathered, and met Planck for the first time; over 3 years of correspondence, they quickly became close friends.

After the convention, Einstein finally received a paid position as an extraordinary professor at the University of Zurich (December 1909), where he taught the geometry of his old friend Marcel Grossman. The pay was small, especially for a family with two children, and in 1911 Einstein accepted without hesitation an invitation to head the department of physics at the German University in Prague. During this period, Einstein continued to publish a series of papers on thermodynamics, relativity and quantum theory. In Prague, he activates research on the theory of gravitation, aiming to create a relativistic theory of gravity and fulfill the old dream of physicists - to exclude Newtonian long-range action from this area.

Active period of scientific work

In 1912, Einstein returned to Zurich, where he became a professor at his native Polytechnic and lectured there on physics. In 1913 he attended the Congress of Naturalists in Vienna, where he visited the 75-year-old Ernst Mach; Once Mach's criticism of Newtonian mechanics made a great impression on Einstein and ideologically prepared him for the innovations of the theory of relativity. In May 1914, an invitation came from the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, signed by the physicist P.P. Lazarev. However, the impressions of the pogroms and the "Beilis affair" were still fresh, and Einstein refused: "I find it disgusting to go unnecessarily to a country where my fellow tribesmen are so cruelly persecuted."

At the end of 1913, on the recommendation of Planck and Nernst, Einstein received an invitation to head the physical research institute being created in Berlin; he is also enrolled as a professor at the University of Berlin. In addition to being close to a friend Planck, this position had the advantage of not obliging him to be distracted by teaching. He accepted the invitation, and in the prewar year of 1914, the staunch pacifist Einstein arrived in Berlin. Citizenship of Switzerland, a neutral country, helped Einstein withstand militaristic pressure after the start of the war. He did not sign any “patriotic” appeals, on the contrary, in collaboration with the physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai, he compiled the anti-war “Appeal to the Europeans” as opposed to the chauvinist manifesto of the 93s, and in a letter to Romain Rolland wrote: “Will future generations thank our Europe, in which Three centuries of the most intense cultural work have only led to the fact that religious madness has been replaced by nationalistic madness? Even scientists different countries act as if their brains have been amputated.”

Main labor

Einstein completed his masterpiece, the general theory of relativity, in 1915 in Berlin. It presented a completely new concept of space and time. Among other phenomena, the work predicted the deflection of light rays in a gravitational field, which was later confirmed by British scientists.

But Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 not for his brilliant theory, but for explaining the photoelectric effect (knocking out electrons from certain substances under the influence of light). In just one night, the scientist became famous all over the world.

It is interesting! Einstein's correspondence, released three years ago, reveals that Einstein invested most of his Nobel Prize in the United States, losing nearly all of it in the Great Depression.

Despite his recognition, the scientist was constantly persecuted in Germany, not only because of his nationality, but also because of his anti-militarist views. “My pacifism is an instinctive feeling that possesses me because killing a person is disgusting. My attitude does not come from any speculative theory, but is based on the deepest antipathy to any kind of cruelty and hatred, ”the scientist wrote in support of his anti-war position. At the end of 1922, Einstein left Germany and went on a journey. And once in Palestine, he solemnly opens the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

More about the main scientific award (1922)

In fact, Einstein's first marriage broke up in 1914, in 1919, already in the legal divorce proceedings, the following written promise by Einstein appeared: “I promise you that when I receive the Nobel Prize, I will give you all the money. You have to agree to a divorce, otherwise you won't get anything at all." The couple were sure that Albert would become Nobel laureate for the theory of relativity. He really received the Nobel Prize in 1922, although with a completely different wording (for explaining the laws of the photoelectric effect). Since Einstein was away, on December 10, 1922, Rudolf Nadolny, the German ambassador to Sweden, accepted the prize on his behalf. He had previously asked for confirmation as to whether Einstein was a German or Swiss citizen; The Prussian Academy of Sciences has officially certified that Einstein is a German subject, although his Swiss citizenship is also recognized as valid. On his return to Berlin, Einstein received the insignia accompanying the award personally from the Swedish ambassador. Naturally, Einstein devoted the traditional Nobel speech (in July 1923) to the theory of relativity. By the way, Einstein kept his word: he gave all 32 thousand dollars (the sum of the bonus) to his ex-wife.

1923–1933 in the life of Einstein

In 1923, completing his journey, Einstein spoke in Jerusalem, where it was planned soon (1925) to open the Hebrew University.

As a person of great and universal authority, Einstein was constantly attracted during these years to various kinds of political actions, where he advocated social justice, internationalism and cooperation between countries (see below). In 1923, Einstein participated in the organization of the Society for Cultural Relations "Friends of the New Russia". He repeatedly called for the disarmament and unification of Europe, for the abolition of compulsory military service. Until about 1926, Einstein worked in very many areas of physics, from cosmological models before the study of the causes of river meanders. Further, with rare exceptions, he focuses his efforts on quantum problems and the Unified Field Theory.

In 1928, Einstein saw off Lorentz on his last journey, with whom he became very friendly in his last years. It was Lorentz who nominated Einstein for the Nobel Prize in 1920 and supported it the following year. In 1929, the world celebrated Einstein's 50th birthday with a bang. The hero of the day did not take part in the celebrations and hid in his villa near Potsdam, where he grew roses with enthusiasm. Here he received friends - scientists, Tagore, Emmanuel Lasker, Charlie Chaplin and others. In 1931, Einstein again visited the United States. In Pasadena, he was very warmly received by Michelson, who had four months to live. Returning to Berlin in the summer, Einstein, in a speech before the Physical Society, paid tribute to the memory of the remarkable experimenter who laid the foundation stone of the theory of relativity.

Years in exile

Albert Einstein did not hesitate to accept the offer to move to Berlin. But the opportunity to communicate with the largest German scientists, among whom was Planck, attracted him. The political and moral atmosphere in Germany became more and more oppressive, anti-Semitism reared its head, and when the Nazis seized power, Einstein left Germany forever in 1933. Subsequently, in protest against fascism, he renounced German citizenship and left the Prussian and Bavarian Academies of Sciences.

During the Berlin period, in addition to the general theory of relativity, Einstein developed the statistics of integer-spin particles, introduced the concept of stimulated emission, which plays an important role in laser physics, predicted (together with de Haas) the phenomenon of the appearance of a rotational momentum of bodies during their magnetization, etc. However, being one of the creators of quantum theory, Einstein did not accept the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, believing that the fundamental physical theory cannot be statistical in nature. He often repeated that "God does not play dice with the universe".

After moving to the United States, Albert Einstein took up a position as professor of physics at the new Institute for Basic Research in Princeton, New Jersey. He continued to deal with issues of cosmology, and also intensively searched for ways to build unified theory a field that would unify gravity, electromagnetism (and possibly the rest). And although he failed to implement this program, this did not shake Einstein's reputation as one of the greatest natural scientists of all time.

Atomic bomb

In the minds of many people, Einstein's name is associated with the atomic problem. Indeed, realizing what a tragedy for mankind the creation of an atomic bomb in Nazi Germany could be, in 1939 he sent a letter to the President of the United States, which served as an impetus for work in this direction in America. But already at the end of the war, his desperate attempts to keep politicians and generals from criminal and insane actions were in vain. This was the biggest tragedy of his life. On August 2, 1939, Einstein, who at that time lived in New York, wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt to prevent the Third Reich from obtaining atomic weapons. In the letter, he urged the American president to work on his own atomic weapons.

On the advice of physicists, Roosevelt organized the Uranium Advisory Committee, but showed little interest in the problem of developing nuclear weapons. He believed that the probability of its creation was low. The situation changed two years later, when the physicists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Pierls found out that a nuclear bomb could actually be made and that it was large enough to be transported by a bomber. During the war, Einstein advised the US Navy and contributed to the solution of various technical problems.

Postwar years

At this time, Einstein became one of the founders Pugwash Movement of Scientists for Peace. Although his first conference was held after the death of Einstein (1957), the initiative to create such a movement was expressed in the widely known Russell-Einstein Manifesto (written jointly with Bertrand Russell), which also warned of the dangers of creating and using the hydrogen bomb. As part of this movement, Einstein, who was its chairman, together with Albert Schweitzer, Bertrand Russell, Frederic Joliot-Curie and other world-famous scientists, fought against the arms race, the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.

In September 1947, in an open letter to the delegations of the UN member states, he proposed to reorganize the UN General Assembly, turning it into a continuously working world parliament with broader powers than the Security Council, which (according to Einstein) was paralyzed in its actions due to the right veto. To which, in November 1947, prominent Soviet scientists (S. I. Vavilov, A. F. Ioffe, N. N. Semyonov, A. N. Frumkin) in an open letter expressed disagreement with the position of A. Einstein (1947).

Last years of life. Death

Death overtook a genius at Princeton Hospital (USA) in 1955. The autopsy was performed by a pathologist named Thomas Harvey. He removed Einstein's brain for study, but instead of giving it to science, he took it personally. Risking his reputation and his job, Thomas placed the brain of the greatest genius in a jar of formaldehyde and took it to his home. He was convinced that such an action was a scientific duty for him. Moreover, Thomas Harvey sent pieces of Einstein's brain for research to leading neuroscientists for 40 years. The descendants of Thomas Harvey tried to return to Einstein's daughter what was left of her father's brain, but she refused such a "gift". From then until today, the remains of the brain, ironically, are in Princeton, from where it was stolen.

The scientists who examined Einstein's brain proved that the gray matter was different from the norm. Scientific studies have shown that the areas of Einstein's brain responsible for speech and language are reduced, while the areas responsible for processing numerical and spatial information are enlarged. Other studies have noted an increase in the number of neuroglial cells (cells nervous system, which make up half the volume of the central nervous system. The neurons of the central nervous system are surrounded by glial cells).

Einstein was a heavy smoker

Einstein loved his violin and pipe more than anything. As a heavy smoker, he once said that he considered smoking necessary for calmness and "objective judgment" in people. When his doctor prescribed him to kick the habit, Einstein put his pipe in his mouth and lit up. Sometimes he also picked up cigarette butts in the streets to light his pipe.

Einstein received a lifetime membership to the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club. Once he fell overboard during a boat trip, but managed to save the treasured pipe from the water. Apart from the many manuscripts and letters, the pipe remains one of the few personal possessions of Einstein that we have.

Einstein often withdrew into himself

In order to be independent of conventional wisdom, Einstein often withdrew into solitude. It was a childhood habit. He even started talking at the age of 7 because he did not want to communicate. He built cozy worlds and contrasted them with reality. The world of the family, the world of like-minded people, the world of the patent office where he worked, the temple of science. "If wastewater life is being licked by the steps of your temple, close the door and laugh... Do not give in to anger, remain holy in the temple as before.” He followed this advice.

Impact on culture

Albert Einstein has become the subject of a number of fictional novels, films and theatrical productions. In particular, he acts as actor in Nicholas Rog's film "Insignificance", Fred Shepisi's comedy "IQ", Philip Martin's film "Einstein and Eddington" (2008), in Soviet / Russian films "Target Selection", "Wolf Messing", a comic play by Steve Martin , Jean-Claude Carrier's novels "Please, Monsieur Einstein" and Alan Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams", Archibald MacLeish's poem "Einstein". The humorous component of the personality of the great physicist appears in Ed Metzger's production of Albert Einstein: The Practical Bohemian. "Professor Einstein", who creates the chronosphere and prevents Hitler from coming to power, is one of the key characters in the alternate universe he created in the Command & Conquer series of computer real-time strategy games. The scientist in the movie "Cain XVIII" is clearly made up like Einstein.

Appearance of Albert Einstein adulthood usually appearing in a simple sweater with tousled hair, is taken as the basis for depictions of "mad scientists" and "absent-minded professors" in popular culture. In addition, it actively exploits the motive of forgetfulness and impracticality of the great physicist, transferred to the collective image of his colleagues. Time magazine even called Einstein "a cartoonist's dream come true." Albert Einstein's photographs are widely known. The most famous was taken on the 72nd birthday of a physicist (1951).

Photographer Arthur Sass asked Einstein to smile for the camera, to which he stuck out his tongue. This image has become an icon of modern popular culture, presenting a portrait of both a genius and a cheerful living person. On June 21, 2009, at an auction in American New Hampshire, one of the nine original photographs printed in 1951 was sold for 74 thousand dollars. A. Einstein presented this photograph to his friend, journalist Howard Smith, and signed on it that "joking grimace addressed to all mankind".

Einstein's popularity in the modern world is so great that there are controversial issues in the widespread use of the scientist's name and appearance in advertising and trademarks. Because Einstein bequeathed some of his property, including the use of his images, to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the "Albert Einstein" brand was registered as a trademark.

Sources

http://to-name.ru/biography/albert-ejnshtejn.htm http://www.aif.ru/dontknows/file/kakim_byl_albert_eynshteyn_15_faktov_iz_zhizni_velikogo_geniya

Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. His father sold electrical equipment, his mother ran a household. Later, the family moved to Munich, where young Albert entered a Catholic school. Einstein continued his education at the ETH Zurich, after which he was promised a career as a school teacher of mathematics and physics.

For a long time, the future famous physicist could not find a position as a teacher, so he became a technical assistant at the Swiss Patent Office. Dealing with patents, the scientist could trace the connection between the achievements of modern science and technical innovations, which greatly expanded his scientific horizons. In his spare time, Einstein dealt with issues directly related to physics.

In 1905, he managed to publish several important papers that were devoted to Brownian motion, quantum theory and the theory of relativity. The great physicist was the first to introduce a formula into science that reflected the relationship between mass and energy. This relation formed the basis of the principle of conservation of energy, which was established in relativism. All modern nuclear energy is based on Einstein's formula.

Einstein and his theory of relativity

Einstein formulated the foundations of the famous theory of relativity by 1917. His concept substantiated the principle of relativity and transferred it to systems that are capable of moving with acceleration along curvilinear trajectories. General relativity has become an expression of the connection between the space-time continuum and the distribution of mass. Einstein built his concept on the theory of gravity proposed by Newton.

The theory of relativity was a truly revolutionary concept for its time. Her recognition was helped by the facts observed by scientists, confirming Einstein's calculations. Glory on a global scale came to the scientist after the solar eclipse that took place in 1919, observations of which showed the validity of the conclusions of this brilliant theoretical physicist.

For his work in theoretical physics, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1922. Later, he seriously dealt with the issues of quantum physics, its statistical component. In the last years of his life, the physicist worked on the creation of a unified field theory, in which he intended to combine the provisions of the theory of electromagnetic and gravitational interactions. But Einstein did not have time to complete this work.

Every person in the world knows the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein, as well as his famous equation E=mc 2 . But how many people know what this formula means? It is surprising that, being a scientist whose fame has eclipsed even such geniuses as Newton and Pasteur, he remains a mysterious figure for many. Biography of Albert Einstein - the topic of the article.

The hero of today's story is one of the greatest people throughout the history of mankind. His biography is bright and rich. Numerous books have been written about Albert Einstein. It is impossible to describe his entire life in one article. Albert Einstein, whose brief biography in dates is presented below, showed himself as an extraordinary person even in childhood. Here are some interesting facts from early period his life.

son of a manufacturer

The biography of Albert Einstein began in 1879. The future scientist was born in the German town of Ulm. He had nothing more to do with this place. A year after the birth of their son, Hermann and Paulina Einstein moved to Munich. Here, Father Albert had an electrochemical plant. The future of the young son of Herman was sealed. He was to become an engineer and take over the family business.

Albert Einstein, whose biography did not justify the hopes of his father-manufacturer, began to speak very late. For his age, he even lagged behind in development.

Albert Einstein, whose brief biography is set out in physics textbooks, was a real genius. But in the eyes of teachers, he was a mediocre child. The story of the future scientist, who did not show any abilities at school, is known, perhaps, to everyone. Indeed, according to researchers, the biography of Albert Einstein includes such facts.

First discovery

When did Albert Einstein make his first discovery? Biography in the official version says that this happened in 1905. The hero of this article believed that this event belongs to a much earlier period.

In 1885, when the boy was only six years old, he contracted an illness that bedridden him for several months. It was during this period that an event occurred that influenced his entire future life.

Hermann Einstein was much distressed by his son's illness. To entertain the boy, he gave him a compass. Albert was fascinated by this device, and especially by the fact that the long needle invariably pointed in one direction. Regardless of which way the compass was turned.

Albert Einstein, a world-famous physicist, would later say that this moment was unforgettable. After all, it was then, at the age of six, that he realized that in environment there is something that attracts bodies and makes them rotate. The joy of the first discovery remained for the rest of the life that Einstein spent in search of the secret laws that underlie the universe.

Weird teenager

How did Albert Einstein spend his childhood and adolescence? This person has an interesting biography. She can serve as an example to those who strive for their goal. Albert was by no means a child prodigy. Moreover, the teachers doubted his mental abilities. However, he made his discoveries not due to purposefulness. But because he could not imagine life without physics.

Albert adored science from childhood. He spent all his free time reading encyclopedias and physics textbooks. Einstein was a rather unusual teenager. He studied at the Munich school, where there was a strict military discipline. In those days, this was the norm for all educational institutions in Germany. However, Albert did not like this state of affairs at all. Most of all, he excelled in mathematics and physics and sometimes asked questions that went beyond the scope of the school curriculum.

What is remarkable about the early years of such a significant figure in world science as Albert Einstein? short biography and interesting facts say that he had an extraordinary knowledge of the exact sciences already in childhood. He was especially interested in the topic of electromagnetism.

As for other subjects, such as French language and literature, here he showed no ability. Once at a Greek lesson, the teacher could not stand it and said to the future scientist: “Einstein, you will never achieve anything!” This overwhelmed Albert's patience. He left school and went to his parents, who by that time had moved to Milan. The biography of Albert Einstein contains many difficult periods. After all, geniuses are often underestimated by contemporaries.

Discoveries of the late 19th century

In order to understand the role of Einstein in science, it is worth saying a few words about the time in which he began his journey. At the end of the 19th century, discoveries in the field of light physics contradicted the theories of scientists. The controversy arose at the intersection of two different disciplines. One of them was engaged in the study of matter. The other is radiation emitted by heated bodies.

When a metal rod is heated, the following happens: it radiates energy and light that is not yet visible to the naked eye. This is the so-called infrared light. As the temperature of the metal gets higher, red light can be seen. At first it is burgundy, and then it becomes brighter and brighter. Then it changes color to yellow and so on, going beyond the limits of the spectrum recorded by the naked eye.

At that time, physicists could not yet compose an equation that would describe such a simple phenomenon as a change in the color of light emitted by bodies heated to high temperatures. thought to find mathematical formula which would explain this phenomenon is impossible. And so physicists called it "the riddle of a completely black body." Who was able to solve this riddle?

In Milan

At that time, Albert Einstein (the photo above was taken during his stay in Zurich) was not concerned about such issues. He spent time in the Italian countryside enjoying the fruits of his newfound freedom. Reunited with his family, Einstein announced his firm intention to become a professor and finally quit his studies in Germany.

The parents were stunned. But the bad news didn't end there. The plant owned by Hermann Einstein was close to bankruptcy. The father hoped that his son would someday continue his work. Hermann and Pauline Einstein were both dismayed when they learned that Albert, in order to avoid military service, plans to get rid of his German citizenship. From now on, the future scientist was worried about completely different problems. He completely immersed himself in mysterious world physics. And nothing else could bring him down from this path.

Einstein's uncle was a scientist and helped him study physics. When Albert was only sixteen years old, he wrote a letter to a relative in which he asked a question about the propagation of light. Einstein asked the following: “What would happen if I could ride a beam of light? Could an observer moving at the speed of light see light from his position?

Studying in Zurich

Einstein never graduated from high school. He obviously was not adapted to the standard German educational system. But this did not mean at all that he gave up his dream of becoming a scientist. Albert applied for admission to the Polytechnic in Zurich. This did not require a high school diploma.

The original application was not accepted because Einstein was still very young. But in admission committee decided that the boy is quite gifted. Therefore, they recommended that he try again in a year. Einstein followed the advice. During the year he was preparing to enter the Polytechnic. The second attempt was successful for him.

Acquaintance with Mileva

Albert Einstein entered the Polytechnic. There were ninety-six students in this institution. Of these, only five people dreamed of real science. One of them was Albert Einstein. The photo below belongs to Mileva Marić, the only student on the course. She was extremely educated, but had serious health problems. A romantic relationship developed between Einstein and Marić. The parents of the future scientist did not approve of them.

First of all, they considered the girl too smart. Einstein's parents imagined a woman who would be a good housewife as their son's wife. Albert, on the other hand, was satisfied with Mileva that he could talk with her on topics related to science. In addition, they wrote passionate letters to each other, serving as proof that the young people were in love.

Start of research activity

At the Polytechnic intellectual development Einstein was in full force. He read with great zeal the works of the great physicists and was familiar with the reports of all the experiments being carried out. Einstein's true interests lay in the field of research. He wanted to advance human knowledge to a new level. Albert felt that existing theories did not answer the important questions he was asking. This prompted him to work independently in the study of electromagnetism, the branch of physics that he adored most.

At some point, Einstein began to skip classes at the polytechnic. He wanted to find evidence of the existence of the ether, in the space of which the earth could supposedly move. At that time, many attempts had already been made to resolve this issue. But none of the experiments looked convincing enough. Albert also wanted to take part in the research. And, using the instruments from the local laboratory, he undertook several experiments.

Negative characteristic

It is worth saying that already during this period, Einstein knew much more in the field of physics than his teachers. Subsequently, one of the professors, whose pride was hurt, wrote a very negative characterization.

After four years of study at the Polytechnic, Einstein received his degree. Mileva failed her exams. Albert Einstein tried in vain to get a position at the university. By virtue of poor performance it was almost impossible. As well as to continue research activities without taking a university position.

1901 proved to be the most unfortunate year of Einstein's life. All attempts to find work were unsuccessful. He had to leave Mileva in Zurich and go to his relatives in Milan. Albert was about to announce his upcoming wedding to his parents. As expected, Paulina and Herman were against it. They believed that Mileva was not suitable for the role of Einstein's wife. Besides, she was not Jewish. Einstein had to give up thoughts of marriage.

First article

Despite all the failures, Einstein still hoped to start research activities. He wrote his first article "Consequences from the Phenomena of Capillarity". It was published in the journal "Annals of Physics" - the most popular publication of that time.

Position in the Patent Office

Even after the publication of the article, its author remained unemployed. The situation changed only a few months later. In 1902, Albert Einstein was appointed third class examiner at the patent office in Bern. This work left a lot of time for scientific work.

Against his mother's wishes, in early 1903, Einstein nevertheless married Mileva. The wedding took place in a modest setting. Only witnesses were present.

Einstein rented an apartment. At this time, he talked a lot with his colleagues, among whom was the mathematician Marcel Grossman. And most importantly, Einstein read the works of great scientists, hoping that this will help him find answers to all his questions. Among the authors of scientific books, he singled out Ernst Mach, an Austrian physicist and philosopher.

Einstein's genius

Einstein had extraordinary mental abilities, endowing him with amazing abstract thinking skills. When he developed any theory, he carried out something like a thought experiment. His discoveries were ahead of the technical possibilities of the time in which he lived.

Theory of relativity

In 1905, in letters addressed to friends, Einstein several times mentioned some revolutionary discoveries, which would soon become known in the scientific world. Indeed, soon the article "Special Relativity" was published, within the framework of which the formula E \u003d mc 2 was compiled.

Contribution to science

Einstein owns over 300 scientific works. Among them are "Quantum theory of the photoelectric effect" and "Quantum theory of heat capacity". This scientist predicted "Quantum teleportation" and gravitational waves. In the post-war period, a movement was created in the United States, whose members opposed nuclear weapons. One of the organizers of this movement is Albert Einstein.

Brief biography and discoveries (table)

Event	Year
Moving to Italy	1894
Admission to the Polytechnic	1895
Obtaining Swiss citizenship	1901
Publication of the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" and the work on Brownian motion.	1905
Quantum theory of heat capacity	1907
Enrollment at the University of Berlin	1913
General theory of relativity	1915
Receiving the Nobel Prize	1922
Emigration	1933
Meeting with Roosevelt	1934
Death of Elsa's second wife	1936
Proposal for the reorganization of the UN State Assembly	1947
Drafting of a proclamation against nuclear war (left unfinished)	1955
Death	1955

“I completed my task on Earth” - the words from the last letter that Albert Einstein addressed to his friends. Biography, summary which is set forth in this article, belongs to a scientist and unusually wise and good man. He did not accept any form of personality cult, and therefore forbade lavish funerals. The great physicist passed away in 1955 at Princeton. Only close friends saw him off on his last journey.

Albert Einstein gave the world some of the most revolutionary scientific ideas of the 20th century, including famous theory 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, along with his brother, owned a small firm selling electrical equipment, but in 1894 the brothers decided to move their firm to the small Italian town of Pavia near Milan, hoping that things would go better 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 foretold that he would become a scientific genius. He did not speak until the age of 3, and during his studies he hated the strict school discipline. He only enjoyed 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 education educational institution Switzerland. Albert developed his own system of education and. instead of attending lectures, he independently studied the works of great physicists. Because of this, he was disliked by professors. 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 a school teacher. Finally, in 1902, he was admitted to the Berne Federal Office for Patenting Inventions as an examiner of the third class.

wonderful year

Einstein was not very interested in working in the patent office, but it gave him the opportunity to improve his financial situation and marry his ex.

Fellow student Mileva Marich. In addition, Albert had enough free time to engage in his own scientific developments. Nothing, however, foreshadowed what happened in 1905. Then Einstein submitted several articles to the leading German scientific journal Annals of Physics at once, each of which became a turning point in the history of science. One of them was devoted to the phenomenon, which was later called the photoelectric effect. In it, Einstein set out his own ideas about the phenomenon, when the impact bright light knocks electrons out of atoms, resulting in a small electric 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 supposed to cause a larger effect.

particles of light

The young Einstein solved the problem by going against the scientific notions developed throughout the 19th century. Light was thought to travel in the form of waves.

And Einstein realized that the photoelectric effect can be easily explained by considering light as 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, the German physicist Max Planck discovered that heat is not emitted in a uniform stream, but in portions, which he called quanta. But it was Einstein who realized that everything spreads in this way. electromagnetic radiation, 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 erratic movement of tiny particles, such as dust particles, in water, which can be seen under a microscope.

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

Special theory of relativity

In 1887, the famous experiment by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley showed that light always travels at the same speed, no matter 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 run, then you measure it relative to the ground under your feet, which seems to be 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 argued this way. Speed ​​is the distance traveled in a given amount 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 can hardly be overestimated. It overturned 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, it became especially clear when astronomy, which was adopted by radio telescopes, further pushed 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, from Newton's laws of motion, that for objects moving at or near the speed of light, time seems to expand - it stretches and goes slower - and distances shrink. And the objects themselves become heavier. Einstein called this fact relativity.

Miraculous Equation

Proposing the special theory of relativity. Einstein continued to think about the problem. He had already shown that as soon as the speed of an object approaches the speed of light, the mass of that object increases. In order to “gain” this additional mass without slowing down, additional energy would be required. Any other change would mean a change in the speed of light, which, according to Einstein's evidence, cannot happen.

In this way. Einstein realized that mass and energy are interchangeable. And he deduced a simple but famous equation that defines this relationship: E = ms2. It shows that E (energy) is equal to the product of mass (m) and the speed of light (c) squared. It was an outstanding idea, easily explaining, for example, how radiation works - simply by converting mass into energy. She demonstrated the possibility of a large number energy from a small amount of radioactive material. Increasing mass with the speed of light implied that there was enormous potential energy in the mass of the tiniest atom. This theory was used 40 years later when the first atomic bomb.
At first, Einstein's outstanding theories did not attract much attention from the scientific world, and he continued to work in the Patent Office. Gradually, however, his fame grew, and in 1909 Einstein was offered a position as 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 penetrating 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 curves up a bit. Based on the special theory of relativity. Einstein suggested that the beam is not actually bent, but only appears to be, because space and time are distorted by the force that pulls the elevator down.

With this assumption, Einstein built a great scientific theory. When Newton deduced the law of universal gravitation, 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 did 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 more mass, the more distortion. This means that the planets revolve around the sun, not because some mysterious force acts on them, 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 space travel is impossible at faster speeds than the speed of light. But science fiction writers suggest that spaceships of the future will be able to "break" the speed of light record by stretching time and space with imaginary "hyperspace" engines.

Einstein was right

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

Astronomers had to detect a slight shift in the true position of a distant star as it passed in front of it relative to our Sun's observer. Such a shift would show that the rays of light 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 solar eclipse- this is the only time when the stars can be seen near the Sun. The English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, who led these expeditions, was a staunch supporter of Einstein's theories that 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 is the third?”

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

Einstein himself was very surprised by such attention to his person, but it did not prevent 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 absolutely 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 stood at the origins of the beginning of quantum theory, which had the same scientific significance like the theory of relativity. It suggests that at the subatomic level one must operate in terms of portions or quanta of energy. She also proves that particles and waves are interchangeable: every particle can behave like a wave, and every wave can behave like a particle. Above all, 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 does not 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 was not only because, as it turned out. The universe obeyed not one set of laws, but two: one for the subatomic world, and the other for everything else. Albert Einstein rejected the very unstable nature of quantum theory in general.

Einstein's theories of relativity may have seemed extraordinary, but they always proceeded from the assumption that the universe behaves in a certain way. He simply could not accept the idea that the universe is governed by probability. "God does not play dice" - this famous phrase of Einstein is often quoted. In fact, he said this: “It seems difficult to look into the cards of God. But the fact that he plays dice and uses "telepathic" methods ... I do not believe for a minute. Einstein's attempts to refute quantum theory more and more seemed to scientists erroneous, but in fact they led to the main evidence that ... quantum effects are real.

In the 1920s Einstein became increasingly interested in political issues. 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 a strong supporter of the idea of ​​forming a world government capable of ending 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 general theory of 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. Then gravity acts as follows. Any slowly moving body that passes nearby (such as the Earth or another planet) rolls into the depression created by (A) and follows a path (B) inside it. Bodies moving faster will follow a more open path around A, while a beam of light (C) traveling at a great distance and moving much faster will bend quite a bit.