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Albert Einstein. March 14, 1879. Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. 1884. Einstein saw a wonder when he was four or five years old: a magnetic compass. The needle's northward swing, guided by an invisible force, impressed him.
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March 14, 1879 • Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany
1884 • Einstein saw a wonder when he was four or five years old: a magnetic compass. • The needle's northward swing, guided by an invisible force, impressed him. • The compass convinced him that there had to be "something behind things, something deeply hidden."
Albert as a Student • Einstein knew, from then on, that he wanted to teach math and Science at a University someday. • The problem was, he wasn’t a very good test-taker and could not get a job at a University because of it. • Rumor has it that he had even failed a Math test, but some people question that because of the way grades were assigned back then.
1905 • Albert Einstein develops his Special Theory of Relativity. • He did this while working as a Patent Clerk in Germany. • He wasn’t really even a scientist at the time.
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity • Relative to who is watching, space and time are transformed near the speed of light: distances appear to stretch; and clocks tick more slowly. • clock
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity • Einstein’s theory meant that Newton’s Laws needed to be modified. • gravity • Space and time are not absolute - and the universe we live in is not actually the one Newton "discovered.“ • spacetime
Einstein Continued his Genius in 1905 • Einstein uses the idea that light exists as tiny packets, or particles, that we now call photons. • His work anchors the most shocking idea in twentieth century science: we live in a universe built out of tiny bits of energy and matter.
Einstein Continued his Genius in 1905 • Next, in April and May, Einstein publishes two papers. • In one he invents a new method of counting and determining the size of the atoms or molecules in a given space. • In the other he explains the phenomenon of Brownian motion. • The net result is a proof that atoms actually exist - still an issue at that time.
Einstein Continued his Genius in 1905 • And then, in June, Einstein completes special relativity - which adds a twist to the story: special relativity sees light as particles and a continuous field of waves.
Einstein Continued his Genius in 1905 • And of course, Einstein isn't finished. Later in 1905 comes the most famous relationship in physics: e=mc2. • The energy content of a body is equal to the mass of the body times the speed of light squared. • At first, even Einstein does not understand the full implications of his formula.
1907 • In 1907, Einstein begins to apply the laws of gravity to his Special Theory of Relativity. • In 1911, he finally gets a job as a Professor of Physics at the German University.
1910-1913 • In 1910, Einstein addressed a basic question: "Why is the sky blue?" He approached the problem by looking at the effect of the scattering of light by individual molecules in the atmosphere. • In 1913, Einstein begins work on his new Theory of Gravity.
1915 • Einstein completes his General Theory of Relativity. • Einstein challenged the way the world thought about gravity – and Sir Isaac Newton himself - by describing gravity as the warping of space-time, not a force acting at a distance.
1919 • A solar eclipse proves Einstein right, and he becomes an overnight celebrity. • An experiment had confirmed that light rays from the sun were deflected by the gravity of the sun in just the amount Einstein had predicted in his theory of gravity, General Relativity.
1921 • Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect"
1928 • Einstein begins pursuing his idea of a unifying theory that ties everything in the universe together.
1933 • Einstein and his wife, Elsa, escape Nazi Germany and set sail for the United States.
1939 • World War II begins. • Einstein writes a now famous letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging nuclear research and warning him of Germany’s building of an atomic bomb.
Einstein’s Contribution • Between 1905 to 1925, Einstein changed the world’s understanding of nature on every scale, from the smallest organism to the whole universe. • Now, a century after he began to make his mark, we are still exploring Einstein's universe. • The problems he could not solve remain the ones that define the cutting edge, the most tantalizing and compelling.
Einstein’s Contribution • Einstein continued to his dying days, trying to figure out a single central theory that explained everything in the universe. • An extension of his work has become known as String Theory, which says that everything in the universe is made up of tiny strings of energy.
April 18, 1955 • Albert Einstein dies of Heart Failure. • This is a picture of his last blackboard.
Famous Einstein Quotes • "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." • "If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
