Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc², derived from special relativity, has been called the world's most famous equation. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. Born in the Kingdom of Württemberg, he moved to Switzerland in 1895.
Biography
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. While working as a clerk at the Swiss patent office in Bern, he published four papers in 1905 on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity and the equivalence of mass and energy.
His general theory of relativity (1915) described gravity as the curvature of space-time; its confirmation during the 1919 solar eclipse made him world famous. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for explaining the photoelectric effect, a foundation of quantum theory.
Being Jewish and a pacifist, he left Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and settled at Princeton. In 1939 he signed a letter warning President Roosevelt that Germany might build an atomic bomb, which helped start the Manhattan Project. He later campaigned for nuclear disarmament and died in 1955.
Affiliations
Education
- Jan 1, 1896 – Jan 1, 1900 ETH Zurich
- University of Zurich
