Albert Einstein - biography, information, personal life. Interesting facts about Albert Einstein


Name: Albert Einstein

Age: 76 years old

Place of Birth: Ulm, Germany

A place of death: Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Activity: Theoretical physicist

Family status: was married

Albert Einstein - biography

2005 marked one hundred years since the theory of relativity was published. Albert Einstein. The brilliant scientist has long become a mythological figure of the 20th century, the embodiment of an eccentric genius, for whom nothing existed except science. But the great physicist also had a stormy personal life, the details of which he carefully concealed.

Several “bombs” exploded almost simultaneously. In 1996, Einstein's papers, which had previously been kept in a shoebox by his son Hans Albert, were published. There were diaries, notes, letters from Einstein to his first wife Mileva and other women. These documents refuted the idea that the great scientist was almost an ascetic. It turned out that love interested him no less than science. This was confirmed by letters to Margarita Konenkova put up for auction in New York in 1998. Einstein's last love was the wife of the famous sculptor Konenkov and, most sensationally, a Soviet spy.

But let's return to the beginning of the biography, the life of the future scientist. Albert Einstein was born in the southern German town of Ulm on March 14, 1879. His Jewish ancestors had lived in these areas for three hundred years and had long adopted local customs and religion. Einstein's father was an unsuccessful businessman, his mother was a powerful and zealous housewife. Subsequently, the scientist never said who was the head of the family - father German or mother Polina.

He did not answer the question of which parent he owed his talents to. “My only talent is extreme curiosity,” said Einstein. So it was: from early childhood he was occupied with questions that seemed trivial to others. He strove to get to the bottom of everything and find out how all things work.

When his sister Maya was born, they explained to him that now he could play with her. “How does she figure it out?” - two-year-old Albert asked interestedly. He was not allowed to disassemble his sister, but she suffered a lot from her brother: he was subject to fits of rage. Once he almost hit her head with a child's spatula. “The thinker’s sister must have a strong skull,” Maya philosophically noted in her memoirs.

Until the age of seven, Einstein spoke poorly and reluctantly. At school, teachers and classmates considered him stupid. During recess, he did not run with his peers, but hid in a corner with a math book. From the age of seven, Albert was interested only in the exact sciences, in which he was the best in his class. In other subjects, his report card showed fat twos.

The teachers were especially angry that Albert mocked the warlike policies of Kaiser Wilhelm and did not understand the need for military training. The Greek teacher even told Einstein that he was undermining the foundations of the school, after which the young man decided to leave this educational institution.

He went to Zurich to enter the prestigious Higher Polytechnic School. But this required passing exams in history and French, and, of course, Einstein failed. Then he entered school in the neighboring town of Aarau and rented a room in the house of teacher Winteler.

The young man's first love was the teacher's daughter Marie Winteler, who was two years older than Albert. Young people walked in the park and wrote tender letters to each other. They were brought together by a common love of music: Marie was a pianist and often accompanied Albert when he played the violin. But the romance quickly ended: Einstein graduated from school and went to Zurich to study at the Polytechnic.

During his four years of study, Einstein developed his talents in disputes with fellow students who made up the so-called “Olympian circle.” After receiving his diploma, Albert spent several years trying to find a job. Only in 1902 did he get a job at the Zurich Patent Office. It was in this “secular monastery,” as Einstein called it, that he made his major discoveries.

Five small articles in the journal Annals of Physics, published in 1905, revolutionized world science. The famous formula E = ms\, which defined the relationship between mass and energy, laid the foundation for nuclear physics. Of particular importance was the special theory of relativity, according to which space and time were not constant quantities, as previously thought.

While studying at the Polytechnic of Zurich, Einstein met there a Serbian student, Mileva Maric, who was studying at the Faculty of Medicine. They married in 1903 and had three children.

The doctors gave the daughter a disappointing diagnosis: developmental delay. Soon the baby died.

A few years later, his wife gave Einstein two sons, but he did not feel affection for them either. One of the boys suffered from a mental disorder and spent most of his life in a specialized clinic. The doctors never saw the famous father among his visitors.

Albert and Mileva occasionally found time for walks around Zurich. They argued about physics and enjoyed coffee and cake with their last money - both had desperate sweet tooths. He called her his little witch, savage and little frog, she called him “Johnny”.

However, it cannot be said that the biography of their personal life was serene. Einstein became famous, beautiful women sought his company, but Mileva’s years did not add to her prettiness. The knowledge of this made her furiously jealous. She could grab the hair of some beauty right on the street that her Johnny was staring at. If it turned out that he was going to visit, where there would be beautiful ladies, then a scandal would begin and plates would fly to the floor.

In addition, Mileva turned out to be a bad housewife - the house was in disarray, the dishes were always unwashed, and scrambled eggs and sausage were served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The absent-minded Einstein ate whatever he could and as a result developed a stomach ulcer. In the end, he could not stand it and forced his wife to sign the agreement.

She undertook to serve him food three times a day, wash his clothes, and not enter his office without knocking. But even after that, almost nothing changed. Coming to Einstein, friends found him with a book on mathematics in one hand, with the other hand he was rocking a stroller with a screaming child, while not letting go of his pipe and being completely shrouded in smoke.

By that time, Einstein's illusions about marriage had long since dissipated. He wrote to his sister: “Marriage is an unsuccessful attempt to create something lasting from a short episode.” Quarrels with Mileva continued, the matter was aggravated by family drama - the youngest son Eduard suffered from a mental disorder. It turned out that among Mileva’s relatives there were schizophrenics.

Home life became hell - especially after their maid Fanny gave birth to a child, whose father Mileva believed was Albert. During quarrels, both spouses used their fists, then Mileva cried, Einstein calmed her down... As a result, he practically fled to Berlin, leaving his wife and children in Switzerland.

Their meetings became increasingly rare, and in 1919, Einstein, who had had another woman for a long time, persuaded his wife to divorce. As compensation, he promised to give her the Nobel Prize, having no doubt that he would soon receive it. Einstein kept his word - the prize awarded to him in 1922 went entirely to Mileva and her sons.

Since then, Mileva lived alone in Zurich, not communicating with her former acquaintances and falling deeper and deeper into melancholy. She died in 1948, after which her son Edward was admitted to a psychiatric clinic. Another son, Hans Albert, went to the USA, where he became a famous engineer and creator of underwater structures. He had a close relationship with his father, and Hans Albert kept Einstein's archive until his death.

The scientist's second and last wife was his cousin Elsa Leventhal. By the time they met, she was no longer young and was raising two daughters from her first husband. They met in Berlin, where Einstein arrived in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. Their relationship was rather strange - he tried to look after not only Elsa, but also her younger sister Paula, as well as her 17-year-old daughter Ilsa.

By that time, Elsa was the mistress of the famous Don Juan Doctor Nikolai, who, in turn, also courted young Ilsa in every possible way. She even admitted in a letter to Dr. Nikolai: “I know that Albert loves me as much as perhaps no man will love me, he even told me so himself yesterday.”

The romantic girl was going to marry Einstein, but in the end he preferred her mother. They got married immediately after their divorce from Mileva. Elsa was neither young nor beautiful, but she was an ideal housewife and secretary. Now Einstein could always count on three meals a day, clean linen and the peace necessary for scientific work.

He and his wife slept in separate bedrooms, and she had no right to enter his office at all. Not to mention the fact that Einstein forbade her to interfere in his personal life, which in those years remained very turbulent.

He also had longer-term hobbies - for example, the young and beautiful Betty Neumann, whom he officially settled in the house as a secretary (Elsa did not object). The widow of banker Toni Mendel took Einstein to the theater in her own limousine, and from there to her villa. He returned home only in the morning.

Then she was replaced by the famous pianist Margaret Lebach, who accompanied the scientist when he played the violin. At times, Elsa still rebelled and burst into tears, but Einstein knew how to convince his upset wife that he was truly attached only to her. Her daughters Ilse and Margot always took the side of “dear Albert” - after all, his money and fame provided them with fashionable outfits and eligible bachelors.

The same arguments affected Elsa, and the strange family life continued. In the large house there was room for Einstein's younger sister Maya and his permanent secretary Hélène Dukas, who, according to some allegations, was also his mistress.

In the early twenties, Nazism was gaining strength in Germany, and threats were made against “Jewish scientists.” Einstein was also included in this list. Fearing for his own life, the physicist remembered his Jewish roots and actively became involved in the movement for the creation of Israel (later he was even offered the post of president of this country).

In America, he was enthusiastically greeted by the Jewish community. In 1933, while in the States, Einstein learned about the Nazis coming to power. He immediately renounced his German citizenship and asked for political asylum in the United States. America accepted him, Einstein received a professorship at Princeton University.

The family left Germany with him. The move worsened Elsa's health, and she died in 1936. Albert reacted to her death philosophically - at that time he was more interested in the fight against fascism. He opposed the persecution of Jews in Germany, and together with other American scientists appealed to Roosevelt with a request for the speedy creation of nuclear weapons.

The famous physicist even made theoretical calculations for the first nuclear bomb. After the war, Einstein was the first to advocate disarmament - and came under FBI suspicion as a "Communist agent." Hoover's office did not know how close it was to the truth - an agent of Moscow settled in the scientist's house. Moreover, in his bed.

In 1935, the sculptor Konenkov, an emigrant from Russia, visited Princeton to sculpt a bust of the great physicist. His wife came with him - a charming, slender brunette who looked much younger than her age. Margarita turned forty, in the past she had affairs with Chaliapin and Rachmaninov. Einstein immediately liked her and began to visit his house often - first with her husband, and then alone.

To lull Konenkov's suspicions, the scientist helped Margarita obtain a medical certificate that she was sick and only the healing climate of Lake Saranac could help her. There, by a strange coincidence, Einstein had a summer house.

Konenkov still did not get rid of suspicions, but Margarita firmly said that “friends in Moscow” consider her friendship with the physicist useful. Moreover, it is necessary for returning to the homeland, which the sculptor so dreamed of. “Friends” worked at Lubyanka, and Margarita had already carried out their instructions more than once.

Konenkova settled next to the physicist for seven whole years. They invented their own “lover’s dictionary,” the things they shared were called “Almars,” and the apartment in Princeton was lovingly called the “nest.” There they spent almost every evening - he wrote sonnets for her, and she read aloud, combed his famous gray curls and talked about the wonderful country of Russia. Einstein always loved being on the water, and on weekends the couple went on boat trips.

Along the way, he shared with her news about the American nuclear program, which Margarita transmitted to Moscow. In August 1945, she arranged a meeting between Einstein and Soviet vice-consul (and, naturally, intelligence officer) Mikhailov, who received a detailed report on the first atomic bomb tests in New Mexico. Soon after this, the Konenkovs returned to the Soviet Union.

For some time, correspondence remained between the lovers. In his letters, Einstein complained about illnesses, complained that without her their “nest” was empty, and hoped that she had settled well in her “coarsened country.” Replies from her rarely came, and the scientist was indignant: “You don’t receive my letters, I don’t receive yours.

Despite what people say about my sharp scientific mind, I am completely unable to solve this problem.” The Soviet secret services did everything to prevent their communication - Margarita completed her task, and now she was to become an exemplary wife of a patriotic sculptor.

At the end of her life, no one would recognize the former beauty in the overweight elderly woman. Margarita Konenkova died in Moscow in 1980. Einstein knew nothing about her fate. He still lived in Princeton, arguing with opponents, playing the violin and sending telegrams to peace forums.

Einstein tried to live up to the ideal image in which the whole world now knew him. His friend in recent years was the Czech librarian Johanna Fantova. The scientist trusted her with his last thoughts about science, which had never managed to save humanity from hardships and wars.

His life is a strange combination of brilliant intellect and spiritual callousness. He did not make the women who were dear to him happy. The scientific mind was powerless to unravel the mysteries of human relationships. He was too busy with physics to look for the formula for ideal love.

Albert Einstein

The genius of the first half of the 20th century. A scientist who began to be recognized throughout the world. Interesting personality, interesting life. Today we will tell you about the life of Albert Einstein in facts.

Theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, public figure and humanist. Lived in Germany, Switzerland and the USA. Honorary doctor of about 20 leading universities in the world, member of many Academies of Sciences, including a foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Einstein was born into a Jewish family that was not rich. His father, Herman, worked at a featherbed and mattress stuffing company. Mother, Paulina (nee Koch) was the daughter of a corn merchant.

Albert had a younger sister, Maria.

The future scientist did not live even a year in his hometown, since the family went to live in Munich in 1880.

In Munich, where Hermann Einstein, together with his brother Jacob, founded a small company selling electrical equipment.

His mother taught little Albert to play the violin, and he gave up musical studies for the rest of his life.

Already in the USA in Princeton, in 1934 Albert Einstein gave a charity concert, where he performed Mozart’s works on the violin for the benefit of scientists and cultural figures who emigrated from Nazi Germany.

At the gymnasium (now the Albert Einstein Gymnasium in Munich) he was not among the first students.

Albert Einstein received his primary education at a local Catholic school. According to his own recollections, as a child he experienced a state of deep religiosity, which ended at the age of 12.

Through reading popular science books, he became convinced that much of what is stated in the Bible cannot be true, and the state is deliberately deceiving the younger generation.

In 1895, he entered the Aarau school in Switzerland and successfully completed it.

In Zurich in 1896, Einstein entered the Higher Technical School. After graduating in 1900, the future scientist received a diploma as a teacher of physics and mathematics.

During World War II, Einstein was a technical consultant to the US Navy. It is known for certain that Russian intelligence more than once sent its agents to him for secret information.

In 1894, the Einsteins moved from Munich to the Italian city of Pavia, near Milan, where the brothers Hermann and Jacob moved their company. Albert himself remained with relatives in Munich for some more time to complete all six classes of the gymnasium.

In the fall of 1895, Albert Einstein arrived in Switzerland to take the entrance exams to the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich.

After graduating from the Polytechnic, Einstein, in need of money, began looking for work in Zurich, but could not even get a job as an ordinary school teacher.

The famous photograph of Einstein sticking out his tongue was taken for annoying journalists who asked the great scientist to just smile for the camera.

After graduating from the Polytechnic, Einstein, in need of money, began looking for work in Zurich, but could not even get a job as an ordinary school teacher. This literally hungry period in the life of the great scientist affected his health: hunger became the cause of serious liver disease.

After Einstein's death, we managed to find his notebook, which was completely covered with calculations.

His former classmate, Marcel Grossman, helped Albert find a job. According to his recommendations, in 1902 Albert got a job as a third-class expert at the Berne Federal Office for Patenting Inventions. The scientist assessed applications for inventions until 1909.

In 1902, Einstein lost his father.

Einstein worked at the Patent Office from July 1902 to October 1909, primarily assessing patent applications. In 1903 he became a permanent employee of the Bureau. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to devote his free time to research in the field of theoretical physics.

Since 1905, all physicists in the world have recognized Einstein's name. The journal "Annals of Physics" published three of his articles at once, which marked the beginning of the scientific revolution. They were devoted to the theory of relativity, quantum theory, and statistical physics.

Einstein had to work as an electrician.

“Why exactly did I create the theory of relativity? When I ask myself this question, it seems to me that the reason is as follows. A normal adult does not think about the problem of space and time at all. In his opinion, he had already thought about this problem in childhood. I developed intellectually so slowly that space and time were occupied by my thoughts when I became an adult. Naturally, I could penetrate deeper into the problem than a child with normal inclinations.”

However, many scientists considered the “new physics” too revolutionary. She abolished the ether, absolute space and absolute time, revised Newtonian mechanics, which served as the basis of physics for 200 years and was invariably confirmed by observations.

Einstein could not pay alimony to his wife. He suggested that if she received the Nobel Prize, she should give all the money.

Among the closest friends of the great scientist was Charlie Chaplin.

Taking advantage of his incredible popularity, the scientist for some time charged one dollar for each autograph. He donated the proceeds to charity.

On January 6, 1903, Einstein married twenty-seven-year-old Mileva Maric. They had three children. The first, even before marriage, was born daughter Lieserl (1902), but biographers were unable to find out her fate.

Einstein spoke 2 languages.

Hans Albert, Einstein's eldest son, became a great expert in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California.

Einstein's favorite hobby was sailing. He didn't know how to swim on water.

In 1914, the family breaks up: Einstein leaves for Berlin, leaving his wife and children in Zurich. In 1919, an official divorce took place.

Most often, the genius did not put on socks because he did not like to wear them.

After his death in 1955, pathologist Thomas Harvey removed the scientist's brain and took photographs of it from different angles. Then, cutting the brain into many small pieces, he sent them to various laboratories for 40 years to be examined by the best neurologists in the world.

Edward, the youngest son of the great scientist, was ill with a severe form of schizophrenia and died in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.

In 1919, having received a divorce, Einstein married Elsa Löwenthal (nee Einstein), his cousin on his mother's side. He adopts her two children. In 1936, Elsa died of heart disease.

Einstein's last words remained a mystery. An American woman sat next to him, and he spoke his words in German.

In 1906, Einstein received his Doctor of Science degree. By this time, he was already gaining worldwide fame: physicists from all over the world wrote letters to him and came to meet him. Einstein meets Planck, with whom they had a long and strong friendship.

Albert Einstein was very fond of the “Maxims” of the outstanding French thinker and political figure François de La Rochefoucauld. He re-read them constantly.

In 1909, he was offered a position at the University of Zurich as an extraordinary professor. However, due to his small salary, Einstein soon agrees to a more lucrative offer. He was invited to head the department of physics at the German University of Prague.

The great genius was always mocked in elementary school.

During the First World War, the scientist openly expresses his pacifist views and continues his scientific discoveries. After 1917, liver disease worsened, stomach ulcers appeared and jaundice began. Without even getting out of bed, Einstein continued his scientific research.

On the eve of his death, Einstein was offered surgery, but he refused, saying that “artificial prolongation of life makes no sense.”

In 1920, Einstein's mother died after a serious illness.

In literature, the genius of physics preferred Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Bertolt Brecht.

In 1921, Einstein finally became a Nobel laureate.

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

In 1827, Robert Brown observed under a microscope and subsequently described the chaotic movement of flower pollen floating in water. Einstein, based on molecular theory, developed a statistical and mathematical model of such movement.

Albert Einstein's last work was burned.

In 1924, a young Indian physicist, Shatyendranath Bose, wrote to Einstein in a brief letter asking for help in publishing a paper in which he put forward the assumption that formed the basis of modern quantum statistics. Bose proposed to consider light as a gas of photons. Einstein came to the conclusion that the same statistics could be used for atoms and molecules in general.

In 1925, Einstein published Bose's paper in a German translation, followed by his own paper in which he outlined a generalized Bose model applicable to systems of identical particles with integer spin called bosons. Based on this quantum statistics, now known as Bose-Einstein statistics, both physicists in the mid-1920s theoretically substantiated the existence of a fifth state of matter - the Bose-Einstein condensate.

In 1928, Einstein saw off Lorentz, with whom he became very friendly in his last years, on his last journey. It was Lorentz who nominated Einstein for the Nobel Prize in 1920 and supported it the following year.

My pacifism is an instinctive feeling that controls 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.

In 1929, the world noisily celebrated Einstein's 50th birthday. The hero of the day did not take part in the celebrations and hid in his villa near Potsdam, where he enthusiastically grew roses. Here he received friends - scientists, Rabindranath Tagore, Emmanuel Lasker, Charlie Chaplin and others.

In 1952, when the state of Israel was just beginning to form into a full-fledged power, the great scientist was offered the presidency. Of course, the physicist flatly refused such a high post, citing the fact that he was a scientist and did not have enough experience to govern the country.

In 1931, Einstein visited the USA again. 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 to the Physical Society, paid tribute to the memory of the remarkable experimenter who laid the first stone of the foundation of the theory of relativity.

In 1955, Einstein's health deteriorated sharply. He wrote a will and told his friends: “I have fulfilled my task on Earth.” His last work was an unfinished appeal calling for the prevention of nuclear war.

Albert Einstein died on the night of April 18, 1955 in Princeton. The cause of death was a ruptured aortic aneurysm. According to his personal will, the funeral took place without wide publicity; only 12 people close and dear to him were present. The body was burned at the Ewing Cemetery Crematorium and the ashes were scattered to the wind.

In 1933, Einstein had to leave Germany, to which he was very attached, forever.

In the USA, Einstein instantly became one of the most famous and respected people in the country, gaining a reputation as the most brilliant scientist in history, as well as the personification of the image of the “absent-minded professor” and the intellectual capabilities of man in general.

Albert Einstein was a staunch democratic socialist, humanist, pacifist and anti-fascist. Einstein's authority, achieved thanks to his revolutionary discoveries in physics, allowed the scientist to actively influence socio-political transformations in the world.

Einstein's religious views have been the subject of long-standing controversy. Some claim that Einstein believed in the existence of God, others call him an atheist. Both of them used the words of the great scientist to confirm their point of view.

In 1921, Einstein received a telegram from New York rabbi Herbert Goldstein: “Do you believe in God period paid answer 50 words.” Einstein summed it up in 24 words: “I believe in Spinoza’s God, who manifests himself in the natural harmony of being, but not at all in the God who worries about the destinies and affairs of people.” He put it even more bluntly in an interview with the New York Times (November 1930): “I do not believe in a God who rewards and punishes, in a God whose goals are molded from our human goals. I do not believe in the immortality of the soul, although weak minds, obsessed with fear or absurd selfishness, find refuge in such a belief.”

Einstein was awarded honorary doctorates from numerous universities, including: Geneva, Zurich, Rostock, Madrid, Brussels, Buenos Aires, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Harvard, Princeton, New York (Albany) , Sorbonne.

In 2015, in Jerusalem, on the territory of the Hebrew University, a monument to Einstein was erected by Moscow sculptor Georgy Frangulyan.

Einstein's popularity in the modern world is so great that controversial issues arise 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 brand "Albert Einstein" was registered as a trademark.

Signing one of the photographs with his tongue hanging out, the genius said that his gesture was addressed to all of humanity. How can we do without metaphysics! By the way, contemporaries always emphasized the scientist’s subtle humor and ability to make witty jokes.

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Albert Einstein - the most interesting facts about the great genius updated: December 14, 2017 by: website

Albert Einstein. Born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany - died April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. Theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, public figure and humanist. Lived in Germany (1879-1893, 1914-1933), Switzerland (1893-1914) and the USA (1933-1955). Honorary doctor of about 20 leading universities in the world, member of many Academies of Sciences, including foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1926).

Special theory of relativity (1905). Within its framework is the law of the relationship between mass and energy: E=mc^2
General relativity (1907-1916)
Quantum theory of the photoelectric effect
Quantum theory of heat capacity
Quantum statistics of Bose - Einstein
Statistical theory of Brownian motion, which laid the foundations of the theory of fluctuations
Stimulated emission theory
Theory of light scattering by thermodynamic fluctuations in a medium.

He also predicted "quantum teleportation" and predicted and measured the Einstein-de Haas gyromagnetic effect.

Since 1933, he worked on problems of cosmology and unified field theory. He actively opposed war, against the use of nuclear weapons, for humanism, respect for human rights, and mutual understanding between peoples.

Einstein played a decisive role in popularizing and introducing new physical concepts and theories into scientific circulation. First of all, this relates to a revision of the understanding of the physical essence of space and time and to the construction of a new theory of gravity to replace the Newtonian one. Einstein also, together with Planck, laid the foundations of quantum theory. These concepts, repeatedly confirmed by experiments, form the foundation of modern physics.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the southern German city of Ulm, into a poor Jewish family.

Father, Hermann Einstein (1847-1902), was at that time a co-owner of a small enterprise producing feather stuffing for mattresses and featherbeds. Mother, Pauline Einstein (née Koch, 1858-1920), came from the family of wealthy corn merchant Julius Derzbacher (he changed his surname to Koch in 1842) and Yetta Bernheimer.

In the summer of 1880, the family moved to Munich, where Hermann Einstein, together with his brother Jacob, founded a small company selling electrical equipment. Albert's younger sister Maria (Maya, 1881-1951) was born in Munich.

Albert Einstein received his primary education at a local Catholic school. According to his own recollections, as a child he experienced a state of deep religiosity, which ended at the age of 12. Through reading popular science books, he became convinced that much of what is stated in the Bible cannot be true, and the state is deliberately deceiving the younger generation. All this made him a freethinker and forever gave rise to a skeptical attitude towards authorities.

Of his childhood experiences, Einstein later recalled as the most powerful: the compass, the Principia, and (around 1889) the Critique of Pure Reason. In addition, on his mother’s initiative, he began playing the violin at the age of six. Einstein's passion for music continued throughout his life. Already in the USA in Princeton, in 1934 Albert Einstein gave a charity concert, where he performed works on the violin in favor of scientists and cultural figures who emigrated from Nazi Germany.

At the gymnasium (now the Albert Einstein Gymnasium in Munich) he was not among the first students (with the exception of mathematics and Latin). Albert Einstein disliked Albert Einstein's ingrained system of rote learning (which he later said was detrimental to the very spirit of learning and creative thinking), as well as the authoritarian attitude of teachers toward students, and he often got into arguments with his teachers.

In 1894, the Einsteins moved from Munich to the Italian city of Pavia, near Milan, where the brothers Hermann and Jacob moved their company. Albert himself remained with relatives in Munich for some more time to complete all six classes of the gymnasium. Having never received his matriculation certificate, he joined his family in Pavia in 1895.

In the fall of 1895, Albert Einstein arrived in Switzerland to take the entrance exams to the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich and upon graduation to become a physics teacher. Having shown himself brilliantly in the mathematics exam, he at the same time failed the exams in botany and French, which did not allow him to enter the Zurich Polytechnic. However, the director of the school advised the young man to enter the graduating class of a school in Aarau (Switzerland) in order to receive a certificate and repeat admission.

At the cantonal school of Aarau, Albert Einstein devoted his free time to studying Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. In September 1896, he successfully passed all final exams at school, with the exception of the French language exam, and received a certificate, and in October 1896 he was admitted to the Polytechnic at the Faculty of Education. Here he became friends with a fellow student, mathematician Marcel Grossman (1878-1936), and also met a Serbian medical student, Mileva Maric (4 years older than him), who later became his wife.

This year Einstein renounced his German citizenship. To obtain Swiss citizenship, he was required to pay 1000 Swiss francs, but the poor financial situation of the family allowed him to do this only after 5 years. This year, his father’s enterprise finally went bankrupt; Einstein’s parents moved to Milan, where Herman Einstein, already without his brother, opened a company selling electrical equipment.

The teaching style and methodology at the Polytechnic differed significantly from the ossified and authoritarian German school, so further education was easier for the young man. He had first-class teachers, including the wonderful geometer Hermann Minkowski (Einstein often missed his lectures, which he later sincerely regretted) and the analyst Adolf Hurwitz.

In 1900, Einstein graduated from the Polytechnic with a diploma as a teacher of mathematics and physics. He passed the exams successfully, but not brilliantly. Many professors highly appreciated the abilities of the student Einstein, but no one wanted to help him continue his scientific career.

Although the following year, 1901, Einstein received Swiss citizenship, he could not find a permanent job until the spring of 1902 - even as a school teacher. Due to lack of income, he literally starved, not eating for several days in a row. This became the cause of liver disease, from which the scientist suffered for the rest of his life.

Despite the hardships that plagued him in 1900-1902, Einstein found time to further study physics.

In 1901, the Berlin Annals of Physics published his first article. "Consequences of the theory of capillarity" (Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen), dedicated to the analysis of the forces of attraction between atoms of liquids based on the theory of capillarity.

Former classmate Marcel Grossman helped overcome the difficulties, recommending Einstein for the position of third-class expert at the Federal Patent Office for Inventions (Bern) with a salary of 3,500 francs per year (during his student years he lived on 100 francs per month).

Einstein worked at the Patent Office from July 1902 to October 1909, primarily assessing patent applications. In 1903 he became a permanent employee of the Bureau. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to devote his free time to research in the field of theoretical physics.

In October 1902, Einstein received news from Italy that his father was ill. Hermann Einstein died a few days after his son's arrival.

On January 6, 1903, Einstein married twenty-seven-year-old Mileva Maric. They had three children.

Since 1904, Einstein collaborated with Germany's leading physics journal, the Annals of Physics, providing abstracts of new papers on thermodynamics for its abstract supplement. Probably, the authority this acquired in the editorial office contributed to his own publications in 1905. The year 1905 went down in the history of physics as. This year, the Annals of Physics published three outstanding papers by Einstein that marked the beginning of a new scientific revolution:

1. "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies"(German: Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper). The theory of relativity begins with this article.

2. “On one heuristic point of view concerning the origin and transformation of light”(German: Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichts betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt). One of the works that laid the foundation for quantum theory.

3. “On the motion of particles suspended in a fluid at rest, required by the molecular kinetic theory of heat”(German: Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen) - a work dedicated to Brownian motion and which significantly advanced statistical physics.

Einstein was often asked the question: How did you create the theory of relativity? Half jokingly, half seriously, he answered: “Why exactly did I create the theory of relativity? When I ask myself such a question, it seems to me that the reason is as follows. A normal adult does not think about the problem of space and time at all. In his opinion, he already thought about this problem in childhood. I I developed intellectually so slowly that space and time were occupied by my thoughts when I became an adult. Naturally, I could penetrate deeper into a problem than a child with normal inclinations.".

In 1907, Einstein published the quantum theory of heat capacity (the old theory at low temperatures was very inconsistent with experiment). Later (1912) Debye, Born and Karman refined Einstein's theory of heat capacity, and excellent agreement with experiment was achieved.

In 1827, Robert Brown observed under a microscope and subsequently described the chaotic movement of flower pollen floating in water. Einstein, based on molecular theory, developed a statistical and mathematical model of such movement. Based on his diffusion model, it was possible, among other things, to estimate with good accuracy the size of molecules and their number per unit volume. At the same time, Smoluchowski, whose article was published several months later than Einstein, came to similar conclusions.

His work on statistical mechanics, entitled "Redefining Molecular Sizing", Einstein submitted to the Polytechnic as a dissertation and in the same 1905 received the title of Doctor of Philosophy (equivalent to a candidate of natural sciences) in physics. The following year, Einstein developed his theory in a new article, “Toward the Theory of Brownian Motion,” and subsequently returned to this topic several times.

Soon (1908), Perrin's measurements completely confirmed the adequacy of Einstein's model, which became the first experimental proof of the molecular kinetic theory, which was subject to active attacks by positivists in those years.

Max Born wrote (1949): “I think that these studies of Einstein, more than all other works, convince physicists of the reality of atoms and molecules, of the validity of the theory of heat and the fundamental role of probability in the laws of nature.”. Einstein's work on statistical physics is cited even more often than his work on relativity. The formula he derived for the diffusion coefficient and its relationship with the dispersion of coordinates turned out to be applicable in the most general class of problems: Markov diffusion processes, electrodynamics, etc.

Later in the article "Towards a quantum theory of radiation"(1917) Einstein, based on statistical considerations, was the first to suggest the existence of a new type of radiation occurring under the influence of an external electromagnetic field (“induced radiation”). In the early 1950s, a method of amplifying light and radio waves based on the use of stimulated radiation was proposed, and in subsequent years it formed the basis of the theory of lasers.

The work of 1905 brought Einstein, although not immediately, worldwide fame. On April 30, 1905, he sent the text of his doctoral dissertation on the topic “A New Determination of the Size of Molecules” to the University of Zurich. The reviewers were Professors Kleiner and Burkhard.

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 and maintained this friendship until the end of their lives.

After the congress, Einstein finally received a paid position as extraordinary professor at the University of Zurich (December 1909), where his old friend Marcel Grossmann taught geometry. The pay was small, especially for a family with two children, and in 1911 Einstein without hesitation accepted 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 intensifies research on the theory of gravity, setting the goal of creating a relativistic theory of gravity and fulfilling the long-standing dream of physicists - to exclude Newtonian long-range action from this area.

In 1911, Einstein participated in the First Solvay Congress (Brussels), dedicated to quantum physics. There his only meeting took place with Poincaré, who continued to reject the theory of relativity, although he personally had great respect for Einstein.

At the end of 1913, on the recommendation of Planck and Nernst, Einstein received an invitation to head the physics research institute being created in Berlin; He is also enrolled as a professor at the University of Berlin. In addition to being close to his friend Planck, this position had the advantage that it did not oblige him to be distracted by teaching. He accepted the invitation, and in the pre-war year 1914, the convinced pacifist Einstein arrived in Berlin.

Mileva and her children remained in Zurich; their family broke up. In February 1919 they officially divorced.

Citizenship of Switzerland, a neutral country, helped Einstein withstand militaristic pressure after the outbreak of war. He did not sign any “patriotic” appeals; on the contrary, he, in collaboration with the physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai, composed an anti-war "Appeal to Europeans" in contrast to the chauvinist manifesto of the 1993s, and in a letter he wrote: “Will future generations thank our Europe, in which three centuries of the most intense cultural work only led to the fact that religious madness was replaced by nationalistic madness? Even scientists from different countries behave as if their brains were amputated.”.

In 1915, in a conversation with the Dutch physicist Vander de Haas, Einstein proposed a scheme and calculation of the experiment, which, after successful implementation, was called "Einstein-de Haas effect". The result of the experiment inspired Niels Bohr, who two years earlier had created a planetary model of the atom, since it confirmed that circular electron currents exist inside atoms, and electrons in their orbits do not emit. It was these provisions that Bohr based his model on.

In addition, it was discovered that the total magnetic moment was twice as large as expected; the reason for this became clear when spin, the electron's own angular momentum, was discovered.

After the end of the war, Einstein continued to work in the previous areas of physics, and also worked on new areas - relativistic cosmology and the “Unified Field Theory”, which, according to his plan, was supposed to combine gravity, electromagnetism and (preferably) the theory of the microworld. The first paper on cosmology, "Cosmological Considerations on the General Theory of Relativity", appeared in 1917.

After this, Einstein experienced a mysterious “invasion of diseases” - in addition to serious problems with the liver, a stomach ulcer was discovered, then jaundice and general weakness. He did not get out of bed for several months, but continued to work actively. Only in 1920 did the diseases recede.

In June 1919, Einstein married his maternal cousin Elsa Löwenthal (née Einstein) and adopted her two children. At the end of the year, his seriously ill mother Paulina moved in with them. She died in February 1920. Judging by the letters, Einstein took her death seriously.

Elsa Einstein

In the autumn of 1919, the English expedition of Arthur Eddington, at the moment of an eclipse, recorded the deflection of light predicted by Einstein in the gravitational field of the Sun. Moreover, the measured value corresponded not to Newton’s, but to Einstein’s law of gravity. The sensational news was reprinted in newspapers throughout Europe, although the essence of the new theory was most often presented in a shamelessly distorted form. Einstein's fame reached unprecedented heights.

In May 1920, Einstein, along with other members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, was sworn in as a civil servant and legally considered a German citizen. However, he retained Swiss citizenship until the end of his life.

Einstein was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. The first such nomination (for the theory of relativity) took place, on the initiative of Wilhelm Ostwald, already in 1910, but the Nobel Committee considered the experimental evidence of the theory of relativity insufficient. Einstein's nomination was repeated every year thereafter, except in 1911 and 1915. Among the recommenders over the years were such prominent physicists as Lorentz, Planck, Bohr, Wien, Chwolson, de Haas, Laue, Zeeman, Kamerlingh Onnes, Hadamard, Eddington, Sommerfeld and Arrhenius.

However, members of the Nobel Committee for a long time did not dare to award the prize to the author of such revolutionary theories. In the end, a diplomatic solution was found: the 1921 prize was awarded to Einstein (in November 1922) for the theory of the photoelectric effect, that is, for the most indisputable and experimentally tested work; however, the text of the decision contained a neutral addition: “... and for other work in the field of theoretical physics.”

On November 10, 1922, the Secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Christopher Aurivillius, wrote to Einstein: “As I have already informed you by telegram, the Royal Academy of Sciences, at its meeting yesterday, decided to award you the Prize in Physics for the past year, thereby recognizing your work in theoretical physics, in particular the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, without taking into account your work on the theory relativity and the theory of gravity, which will be evaluated after their confirmation in the future".

Since Einstein was away, the prize was accepted on his behalf on December 10, 1922 by Rudolf Nadolny, the German Ambassador to Sweden. Previously, he asked for confirmation whether Einstein was a citizen of Germany or Switzerland. The Prussian Academy of Sciences has officially certified that Einstein is a German subject, although his Swiss citizenship is also recognized as valid. Upon his return to Berlin, Einstein received the insignia accompanying the prize personally from the Swedish ambassador.

Naturally, Einstein dedicated his traditional Nobel speech (in July 1923) to the theory of relativity.

In 1929, the world noisily celebrated Einstein's 50th birthday. The hero of the day did not take part in the celebrations and hid in his villa near Potsdam, where he enthusiastically grew roses. Here he received friends - scientists, Emmanuel Lasker, Charlie Chaplin and others.

In addition to theoretical research, Einstein also owned several inventions, including:

very low voltage meter (together with Konrad Habicht)
a device that automatically determines exposure time when taking photographs
original hearing aid
silent refrigerator (shared with Szilard)
gyro-compass.

Until about 1926, Einstein worked in many areas of physics, from cosmological models to research into the causes of river meanders. Further, with rare exceptions, he focuses his efforts on quantum problems and the Unified Field Theory.

As the economic crisis in Weimar Germany grew, political instability intensified, contributing to the strengthening of radical nationalist and anti-Semitic sentiments. Insults and threats against Einstein became more frequent; one of the leaflets even offered a large reward (50,000 marks) for his head. After the Nazis came to power, all of Einstein’s works were either attributed to “Aryan” physicists or declared a distortion of true science.

In 1933, Einstein had to leave Germany, to which he was very attached, forever. He and his family traveled to the United States of America with guest visas. Soon, in protest against the crimes of Nazism, he renounced German citizenship and membership in the Prussian and Bavarian academies of sciences.

After moving to the United States, Albert Einstein received a position as professor of physics at the newly created Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, New Jersey).

The eldest son, Hans-Albert (1904-1973), soon followed him (1938) - he later became a recognized expert in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California (1947). Einstein's youngest son, Eduard (1910-1965), fell ill with a severe form of schizophrenia around 1930 and ended his days in a Zurich psychiatric hospital. Einstein's cousin, Lina, died in Auschwitz, another sister, Bertha Dreyfus, died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

In the USA, Einstein instantly became one of the most famous and respected people in the country, gaining a reputation as the most brilliant scientist in history, as well as the personification of the image of the “absent-minded professor” and the intellectual capabilities of man in general. In January of the following year, 1934, he was invited to the White House to President Franklin Roosevelt, had a cordial conversation with him and even spent the night there. Every day Einstein received hundreds of letters of various contents, which (even children’s ones) he tried to answer. Being a world-renowned natural scientist, he remained an approachable, modest, undemanding and affable person.

In December 1936, Elsa died of heart disease; three months earlier, Marcel Grossmann died in Zurich. Einstein's loneliness was brightened up by his sister Maya, stepdaughter Margot (Elsa's daughter from her first marriage), secretary Ellen Dukas, cat Tiger and white terrier Chico.

To the surprise of the Americans, Einstein never acquired a car or a television. Maya was partially paralyzed after a stroke in 1946, and every evening Einstein read books to his beloved sister.

In August 1939, Einstein signed a letter written on the initiative of the emigrant physicist from Hungary Leo Szilard addressed to the President of the United States. The letter alerted the President to the possibility that Nazi Germany was capable of creating an atomic bomb.

After months of deliberation, Roosevelt decided to take this threat seriously and started his own atomic weapons project. Einstein himself did not take part in this work. He later regretted the letter he signed, realizing that for the new US leader Harry Truman, nuclear energy served as a tool of intimidation. Subsequently, he criticized the development of nuclear weapons, their use in Japan and tests at Bikini Atoll (1954), and considered his involvement in accelerating work on the American nuclear program to be the greatest tragedy of his life. His aphorisms became widely known: “We won the war, but not the peace”; “If the third world war will be fought with atomic bombs, then the fourth will be fought with stones and sticks.”

During the war, Einstein advised the US Navy and contributed to solving various technical problems.

In the post-war years Einstein became one of the founders of the Pugwash Peace Scientists' Movement. Although its first conference was held after Einstein’s death (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 about the dangers of the creation and use of the hydrogen bomb.

As part of this movement, Einstein, who was its chairman, together with Frederic Joliot-Curie and other world-famous scientists, fought against the arms race and the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.

In September 1947, in an open letter to delegations of 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 veto rights. To which, in November 1947, the largest Soviet scientists (S.I. Vavilov, A.F. Ioffe, N.N. Semenov, A.A. Frumkin) expressed disagreement with A. Einstein’s position in an open letter.

Until the end of his life, Einstein continued to work on the study of cosmological problems, but he directed his main efforts to the creation of a unified field theory.

In 1955, Einstein's health deteriorated sharply. He wrote a will and told his friends: “I have fulfilled my task on Earth.” His last work was an unfinished appeal calling for the prevention of nuclear war.

Stepdaughter Margot recalled her last meeting with Einstein in the hospital: “He spoke with deep calm, even with a touch of humor about doctors, and waited for his death as an upcoming “natural phenomenon.” As fearless as he was during his life, so quiet and peaceful was he when he met death. Without any sentimentality and without regrets, he left this world".

Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 at 1 hour 25 minutes, at the age of 77 in Princeton from an aortic aneurysm.

Before his death, he uttered a few words in German, but the American nurse could not reproduce them later. Not accepting any form of personality cult, he prohibited lavish burial with loud ceremonies, for which he wished that the place and time of the burial not be disclosed. On April 19, 1955, the funeral of the great scientist took place without wide publicity, attended by only 12 of his closest friends.

His body was burned at Ewing Cemetery and his ashes were scattered to the wind.

Einstein was the greatest genius of modern times, whose achievements in the field of physics changed the way we look at the world and turned science on its head. Today everyone knows the name of this brilliant scientist; there are several facts from his life that you may not be familiar with.

He never failed math

It's a popular myth that Einstein failed his math exams as a child. However, this is not at all true. The brilliant scientist was a relatively average student, but mathematics was always easy for him, which is not surprising.

Einstein supported the creation of the nuclear bomb

Although the scientist's role in the Manhattan Project is often exaggerated, he did write a letter to the US President asking him to quickly begin work on a nuclear bomb. Einstein was a pacifist and, after the first tests, repeatedly spoke out against nuclear weapons, but he was confident that the United States should have created a bomb before Nazi Germany, otherwise the outcome of the war could have been completely different.

He was an excellent musician

If physics had not become his calling, Einstein would have been able to conquer the philharmonic halls. The scientist's mother was a pianist, so the love of music was in his blood. From the age of five he studied violin and was in love with the music of Mozart.

Einstein was offered the post of President of Israel

When the first president of the new state of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, died, Albert Einstein was offered to take his post, but the brilliant physicist refused. It is noteworthy that Weizmann himself was a talented chemist.

He married his cousin

After divorcing his first wife, physics and mathematics teacher Mileva Maric, Einstein married Elsa Leventhal. In fact, the relationship with his first wife was very tense; Mileva had to endure her husband’s despotic moods and his frequent affairs on the side.

He received the Nobel Prize, but not for the theory of relativity

In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his achievements in the field of physics. However, his greatest discovery - the theory of relativity - remained without Nobel recognition, although it was nominated. He received his well-deserved prize for the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect.

He loved to sail

Ever since university, this had been his favorite hobby, but the great genius himself admitted that he was a bad navigator. Einstein never learned to swim until the end of his days.

Einstein didn't like wearing socks

And usually he didn't even wear them. In one of his letters to Elsa, he boasted that he managed to never put on socks during his entire stay at Oxford.

He had an illegitimate daughter

Before her wedding to Einstein, Mileva gave birth to his daughter in 1902, which is why she was forced to interrupt her own scientific career. The girl was named Lieserl by mutual agreement, but her fate is unknown, because since 1903 she ceased to appear in correspondence.

Einstein's brain was stolen

After the scientist's death, the pathologist who performed the autopsy removed Einstein's brain without the family's permission. He subsequently received permission from the son of a brilliant physicist, but was fired from Princeton for refusing to return it. Only in 1998 did he return the scientist's brain.

Biography and episodes of life Albert Einstein. When born and died Albert Einstein, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Quotes from a theoretical physicist, Photo and video.

Years of life of Albert Einstein:

born March 14, 1879, died April 18, 1955

Epitaph

“You are the god of the most paradoxical theories!
I want to find something wonderful too...
Let there be death - let us believe a priori! -
The beginning of the highest form of being."
From a poem by Vadim Rozov in memory of Einstein

Biography

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous physicists of recent centuries. In his biography, Einstein made a number of great discoveries and revolutionized scientific thinking. His scientific path was not simple, just as Albert Einstein’s personal life was not simple, but he left behind a huge legacy that still gives food for thought to modern scientists.

He was born into a simple, poor Jewish family. As a child, Einstein did not like school, so he preferred to study at home, which gave rise to some gaps in his education (for example, he wrote with errors), as well as many myths that Einstein was a stupid student. Thus, when Einstein entered the Polytechnic in Zurich, he received excellent marks in mathematics, but failed exams in botany and French, so he had to study at school for some more time before enrolling again. Studying at the Polytechnic was easy for him, and there he met his future wife Mileva, to whom some biographers attributed Einstein’s merits. Their first child was born before marriage; what happened to the girl next is unknown. She may have died in infancy or been given away to foster care. However, Einstein could not be called a man suited for marriage. All his life he devoted himself entirely to science.

After graduating from university, Einstein got a job at a patent office in Bern, writing many scientific publications during his work - and in his free time, since he coped with his work responsibilities very quickly. In 1905, Einstein first put down on paper his thoughts on his future theory of relativity, which states that the laws of physics should have the same form in any frame of reference.

For many years, Einstein taught at European universities and worked on his scientific ideas. He stopped conducting regular classes at universities in 1914, and a year later he published the final version of the theory of relativity. But, contrary to popular belief, Einstein received the Nobel Prize not for it, but for the “photoelectric effect.” Einstein lived in Germany from 1914 to 1933, but with the rise of fascism in the country he was forced to immigrate to America, where he remained until his death - he worked at the Institute for Advanced Study, searching for a theory about a single equation from which the phenomena of gravity could be extracted and electromagnetism, but these studies were unsuccessful. He spent the last years of his life with his wife Elsa Löwenthal, his cousin, and the children from his wife’s first marriage, whom he adopted.

Einstein's death occurred on the night of April 18, 1955 in Princeton. The cause of Einstein's death was an aortic aneurysm. Before his death, Einstein forbade any pompous farewells to his body and asked that the time and place of his burial not be disclosed. Therefore, Albert Einstein's funeral took place without any publicity, only his close friends were present. Einstein's grave does not exist, as his body was burned in a crematorium and his ashes were scattered.

Life line

March 14, 1879 Date of birth of Albert Einstein.
1880 Moving to Munich.
1893 Moving to Switzerland.
1895 Studying at school in Aarau.
1896 Admission to the Zurich Polytechnic (now ETH Zurich).
1902 Entering the Federal Patent Office for Inventions in Bern, father's death.
January 6, 1903 Marriage to Mileva Maric, birth of daughter Lieserl, whose fate is unknown.
1904 Birth of Einstein's son, Hans Albert.
1905 First discoveries.
1906 Obtaining a Doctor of Science degree in physics.
1909 Obtaining a position as a professor at the University of Zurich.
1910 Birth of Eduard Einstein's son.
1911 Einstein headed the department of physics at the German University of Prague (now Charles University).
1914 Return to Germany.
February 1919 Divorce from Mileva Maric.
June 1919 Marriage to Else Löwenthal.
1921 Receiving the Nobel Prize.
1933 Moving to the USA.
December 20, 1936 Date of death of Einstein's wife, Elsa Löwenthal.
April 18, 1955 Date of death of Einstein.
April 19, 1955 Einstein's funeral.

Memorable places

1. Monument to Einstein in Ulm on the site of the house in which he was born.
2. Albert Einstein House Museum in Bern, in the house where the scientist lived in 1903-1905. and where his theory of relativity was born.
3. Einstein's house in 1909-1911. in Zurich.
4. Einstein's house in 1912-1914. in Zurich.
5. Einstein's house in 1918-1933. in Berlin.
6. Einstein's house in 1933-1955. in Princeton.
7. ETH Zurich (formerly Zurich Polytechnic), where Einstein studied.
8. University of Zurich, where Einstein taught in 1909-1911.
9. Charles University (formerly the German University), where Einstein taught.
10. Memorial plaque to Einstein in Prague, on the house where he visited while teaching at the German University in Prague.
11. Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein worked after immigrating to the United States.
12. Monument to Albert Einstein in Washington, USA.
13. The crematorium of the Ewing Cemetery Cemetery, where Einstein's body was burned.

Episodes of life

Once at a social reception, Einstein met Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Flirtingly, she said: “If we had a child, he would inherit my beauty and your intelligence. It would be fantastic". To which the scientist ironically remarked: “What if he turns out to be handsome, like me, and smart, like you?” Nevertheless, the scientist and the actress were bound by mutual sympathy and respect for a long time, which even gave rise to many rumors about their love affair.

Einstein was a fan of Chaplin and adored his films. One day he wrote a letter to his idol with the words: “Your film “Gold Rush” is understood by everyone in the world, and I am sure that you will become a great man! Einstein." To which the great actor and director replied: “I admire you even more. Nobody in the world understands your theory of relativity, but you still became a great man! Chaplin." Chaplin and Einstein became close friends; the scientist often hosted the actor at his home.

Einstein once said: “If two percent of the young people in a country refuse military service, the government will not be able to resist them, and there will simply not be enough space in prisons.” This spawned an entire anti-war movement among young Americans who wore badges on their chests that read “2%.”

Dying, Einstein spoke a few words in German, but the American nurse could not understand or remember them. Despite the fact that Einstein lived for many years in America, he claimed that he did not speak English well, and German remained his native language.

Covenant

“Caring for man and his fate should be the main goal in science. Never forget this among your drawings and equations.”

“Only life that is lived for people is valuable.”


Documentary about Albert Einstein

Condolences

“Humanity will always be indebted to Einstein for eliminating the limitations of our worldview that were associated with primitive ideas of absolute space and time.”
Niels Bohr, Danish theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner

“If Einstein had not existed, physics of the 20th century would have been different. This cannot be said about any other scientist... He occupied a position in public life that is unlikely to be occupied by another scientist in the future. No one, in fact, knows why, but he entered the public consciousness of the whole world, becoming a living symbol of science and the ruler of the thoughts of the twentieth century. Einstein was the most noble man we have ever met."
Charles Percy Snow, English writer, physicist

“There was always a kind of magical purity about him, at once childlike and infinitely stubborn.”
Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist

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