Who was Albert Einstein?

Albert Einstein was a scientist, a theoretical physicist to be exact. He was famous for many discoveries, such as the discoveries of time, light and gravity. He studied maths as well as physics.

He was claimed to be a genius by many, could play the violin and world peace was very important to him. He also had a sister, Maria, but he would call her Maja.

He was born on the 14^th of March in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He grew up in many places, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Albert enjoyed hiking, sailing and biking. But he could not drive, many would think such a genius would be able to, as he though it was too complicated.

Einstein means ‘one stone’ in German, but it also means genius in many languages today. He had many incredible accomplishments and contributions to physics.

What type of scientist was he?

Albert Einstein was a scientist, but he was a theoretical physicist. He had studied maths and physics; he had many theories and was the founder of relativistic cosmology. He also had many explanations and predictions.

What was his early life like?

What seemed to worry Albert’s parents was that Albert didn’t talk until he was 3. Albert had chosen not to speak, not until he could talk in full sentences.

Albert had a very good sense of humour, but a very bad temper. He hated school because he thought it was too strict. He had religious training at home, because he was Jewish.

His family moved to Italy and Albert dropped out of school soon after. He wanted to attend the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland.

The entrance exam Albert had to take consisted of maths, physics, biology, French and chemistry. Maths and physics was really easy for Albert, but he didn’t care about the other subjects, and he failed the exam.

Albert had to study for another year before making it into the Institute. He started a course to teach maths and physics at the age of 17, in 1896. He eventually became bored by this school as well, so he skipped lectures and talked back to his professors.

Luckily he had two friends who shared their notes with him, and in the end graduated from the Institute. He wanted to teach at the Institute but was refused because he was always being rude to teachers.

Albert was forced to teach wherever he could, whether the job involved maths and physics, or not. He liked teaching, but he wanted to continue studying physics.

When was his birth and death?

Albert Einstein was born on the 14^th of March in 1879, in Ulm, Germany. He was the son of Hermann Einstein, an engineer and salesman, and Pauline Einstein. They were a Jewish family.

The time of Albert’s death was on the 18^th of April in 1955. He was 76 when he died in the Princeton Hospital, in USA. He died from internal bleeding from a rupture. Without the permission of Albert’s family, the pathologist Thomas Stoltz Harvey removed Albert’s brain for preservation.

What was the theory of relativity?

Albert had written about the theory of relativity. Relativity is when, relative to you, objects move at a constant speed. Also time, mass and distance can change depending on how fast you are moving.

His theory explained electromagnetic and gravitational acceleration. He made predictions of how a ray of light from a star, passing the Sun, would appear bent to the Sun’s mass.

What were the 1905 Papers?

In 1905, Albert’s idea’s came pouring out. He published four papers, all in one year, in Germany.

One of his papers’ was about the existence of atoms and molecules. This was called ‘On the motion required by the Molecule Kinetic Theory of Heat of Small Particles suspended in a Stationary Liquid.’

Another one of his papers’ was about the light waves. Physicists already knew light was a form of energy made of quanta ( tiny particles ), but Albert had a new idea and argued that light travelled as both a particle and a wave. This was called ‘On a Heuristic View-point Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light.’

The third of Albert’s papers’ was named ‘Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?’ This was about the matter and energy equivalence.

The one that was considered Albert’s most famous was called ‘On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.’ This was about how time, distance and mass can change, depending on how fast you are moving. Time and space were thought about differently.

Who was the first person he married?

Albert had met Mileva Marić at the Institute and at a patent office in Switzerland. She was a Serbian mathematician, but was very knowledgeable in physics as well. Albert had considered Mileva an equal to him because they both shared a large knowledge of maths and physics.

Albert had fallen in love with Mileva, and both had a daughter, Lierserl, in 1902. But they put Lierserl up for adoption because they weren’t married. In 1903, Mileva and Albert got married. They had a son, Hans Albert, in 1904, but they called him Albertli.

In 1910 they had their second son, Eduard, they called him Tete or Tetel. Albert and Mileva’s life was unhappy. They didn’t agree that Mileva should be working at home, while Albert worked on maths and physics.

Problems between them led to their divorce in 1919.