The Life of Albert Einstein

1. The Life of Albert Einstein Liz Hofreiter ETE 100 03 August 29, 2005

2. Birth and Childhood • Albert was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. • Parents Hermann and Pauline were non observant Jews whose family business consisted of the manufacturing of electrical parts. The house where Einstein was born.

3. Early Schooling • Albert received good grades but found his schooling restricting as it depended on memorization and obedience. His real studies were done at home while reading science and math textbooks. • He left his school in Munich at age 15, to join his parents who had moved to Italy. Einstein’s class in Munich in 1889. Einstein is in the front row, second from the right.

4. "It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom." - Einstein • Albert graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1900 as a secondary math and physics teacher. • He obtained his Ph.D. from University of Zurich. He later became professor at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft in Berlin.

5. Scientific Works The 1905 papers: Three seminal papers researched and written by Einstein. • The first concerning electromagnetic energy • The second proposing the special theory of relativity • The third concerning statistical mechanics

6. Scientific Works E=mc² • This equation expresses the deep connection between energy and mass. • E represents energy, m represents mass, and c² is a very large number, the square of the speed of light. Click to hear Einstein explain his formula

7. Fame • When British eclipse expeditions in 1919 confirmed his predictions about the general theory of relativity, Einstein was bombarded by the popular press. • Einstein became the world's symbol of pure genius, and of the new physics. • Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921. "I have become rather like King Midas, except thateverything turns not into gold but into a circus." - Einstein

8. WWII and Einstein’s Concerns • With the rise of fascism in Germany, Einstein moved, in 1933 to the United States, abandoning his pacifistic views he held during WWI. • Einstein wrote a letter to FDR in 1939 that urged the U.S. to develop an atomic bomb before Germany did. This letter contributed to Roosevelt’s decision to fund the Manhattan Project.

9. In May 1946, Einstein became chairman of the new Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, which strove for international control of nuclear energy. In 1952 Einstein was offered the position of President of Israel, but turned down the opportunity. His interest in public affairs, however, continued. Einstein continued until his death in 1955 as an avid political activist. The Nuclear Age

10. "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” Einstein died in the spring of 1955 from heart failure, six years after his wife. However, his accomplishments in the field of physics are still remembered and taught today.