Albert Einstein

 

Biography – 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 Maric in 1903 and they had a daughter and two sons; their marriage was dissolved in 1919 and in the same year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936. He died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey. From Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967

Consideration for AncientMinds – How could we NOT add the great Albert Einstein to the site. His mind was one of the greatest outside of the box thinkers. Not only a hero, but Einstein changed the world with his theories of relativity. Very genius indeed. He came to this world and with his mind he changed it.

Ancient Uniqueness – I believe that his mind had access to ancient knowledge from those of the long past that gave him superior insight to how the world really worked. May we find many more people in this world like him.

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. — Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge. — Albert Einstein

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. — Albert Einstein

I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details. — Albert Einstein

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. — Albert Einstein

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. — Albert Einstein

The only real valuable thing is intuition. — Albert Einstein

A person starts to live when he can live outside himself. — Albert Einstein

I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice. — Albert Einstein

God is subtle but he is not malicious — Albert Einstein

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. — Albert Einstein

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. — Albert Einstein

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility. — Albert Einstein

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. — Albert Einstein

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton) — Albert Einstein

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. — Albert Einstein

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. — Albert Einstein

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. — Albert Einstein

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. — Albert Einstein

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. — Albert Einstein

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. — Albert Einstein

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. — Albert Einstein

Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity. — Albert Einstein

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. — Albert Einstein

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. — Albert Einstein

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. — Albert Einstein

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. — Albert Einstein

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. — Albert Einstein

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. — Albert Einstein

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. — Albert Einstein

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. — Albert Einstein

In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep. — Albert Einstein

God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically. — Albert Einstein

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. — Albert Einstein

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. — Albert Einstein

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. — Albert Einstein

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. — Albert Einstein