Albert Einstein - Biography

Thinking. We all do it, but for some it can be taken

to a different level; maybe even to a different place.

Especially when your job is made for outside-the-box thinking;

you may need some creativity to place a theory or two. Well,

one man did just that not to be compared to anyone but to

be known for it for many reasons. Albert Einstein will go down

in history as the greatest thinker in science history.

"It all started on March 14, 1879 when his parents,

Hermann and Paulina Kech Einstein, gave birth to a son they

named Albert Einstein (World Book 146). He was born in

Ulm, Wurttemburg, Germany but one year later his family

moved to Munich where his father and uncle ran a small

electrochemical factory. He showed no early signs of genius.

His real education began at home because of his dislike of

formal instructions. The first thing he was introduced to was

algebra and the theorem of Pythagoras. He found much

pleasure in solving algebraic and geometrical problems. When

he was 16, he was drawn to theoretical physics and

attempted to pass the entrance exams to get accepted by

Swiss Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland. He passed on his

second attempt (Encyclopedia Americana 1). "He graduated in

1900 and soon afterwards he married Mileva Martisch, who

was a fellow student at Zurich. They also had two sons

(Encyclopedia Americana 1)."

"The year of 1905 was called Einstein's annus mirabilis

(miracle year). During this time he published four outstanding

scientific papers:

An explanation of the photoelectric effect indicating that

light energy came in chunks or quanta. This changed

thinking on the nature of light.

A discussion of Brownian motion demonstrating the

existence of molecules.

The nature of space and time.

The dynamics of individual moving bodies

(Einstein's Science#top 1)."

"The last two formed the basis of Einstein's Special Theory

of Relativity and led to the famous equation, E=mc2. This

equation illustrates that matter and energy are

interchangeable, and that a small amount of mass is made up

of a large amount of energy (Einstein's Science#top 1)."

In 1914, he rose to be the most pretigious and highest paying

theorectical physicists in the world (World Book 146).

Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in

1921. This was for his services to theorectical physics and

for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect

(Einstein's Science#top 1). In between the years of 1916 and

1925, he made contributions to the study of light including

the idea of stimulated emission of radiation. This concept

led