Albert einstein early life for kids: Biography: Albert Einstein — Early Life
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(1879–1955). Any list of the greatest thinkers in history will contain the name of the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein. His theories of relativity led to entirely new ways of thinking about time, space, matter, energy, and gravity. Einstein’s work led to such scientific advances as the control of atomic energy and to some of the investigations of space currently being made by astrophysicists.
Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879, of Jewish parents. He was a shy and curious child. He attended a rigorous Munich elementary school where he showed an interest in science and mathematics but did poorly in other areas of study. He finished high school and technical college in Switzerland. At age 22 he became a Swiss citizen. In 1903 he married Mileva Mareć. They had two sons but were later divorced. He married his widowed cousin Elsa in 1919.
In 1902 Einstein became an examiner in the Swiss patent office at Bern. In 1905, at age 26, he published five major research papers in an important German physics journal. He received a doctorate for the first paper. Publication of the next four papers forever changed humankind’s view of the universe. The first one provided a theory explaining Brownian motion, the zigzag motion of microscopic particles in suspension (see colloid). Einstein suggested that the movement was caused by the random motion of molecules of the suspension medium as they bounced against the suspended particles.
A second paper laid the foundation for the photon, or quantum, theory of light. In it he proposed that light is composed of separate packets of energy, called quanta or photons, that have some of the properties of particles and some of the properties of waves. The paper redefined the theory of light. It also explained the photoelectric effect, the emission of electrons from some solids when they are struck by light. Television and other inventions are practical applications of Einstein’s discoveries.
A third paper, which had its beginnings in an essay he wrote at age 16, contained the “special theory of relativity.” Einstein showed that time and motion are relative to the observer, if the speed of light is constant and natural laws are the same everywhere in the universe. This paper introduced an entirely new concept.
The fourth paper was a mathematical addition to the special theory of relativity. Here Einstein presented his famous formula, E = mc2, known as the energy-mass relation. What it says is that the energy (E) inherent in a mass (m) equals the mass multiplied by the velocity of light squared (c2). The formula shows that a small particle of matter is the equivalent of an enormous quantity of energy. These papers established Einstein’s status among the most respected physicists in Europe.
In 1916 Einstein published his general theory of relativity. In it he proposed that gravity is not a force, a previously accepted theory, but a curved field in the space-time continuum that is created by the presence of mass.
Doris Ulmann/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZC4-4940)
Between 1909 and 1914 Einstein taught theoretical physics in Switzerland and Germany. Worldwide fame came to him in 1919 when the Royal Society of London announced that predictions made in his general theory of relativity had been confirmed. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics two years later; however, the prize was for his work in theoretical physics, not relativity theories, which were still considered to be controversial.
U.S. National Park Service— Arizona Memory Project at Arizona State LibraryAl Aumuller—NYWT&S Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ppmsca-05649)
Einstein spoke out frequently against nationalism, the exalting of one nation above all others. He opposed war and violence and supported Zionism, the movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they denounced his ideas, seized his property, and burned his books. That year he moved to the United States. In 1940 he became a U.S. citizen.
Beginning in the 1920s Einstein tried to establish a mathematical relationship between electromagnetism and gravitation. He spent the rest of his life on this unsuccessful attempt to explain all of the properties of matter and energy in a single mathematical formula.
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In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Einstein learned that two German chemists had split the uranium atom. Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist who lived in the United States, proposed that a chain-reaction splitting of uranium atoms could release enormous quantities of energy. That same year Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him that this scientific knowledge could lead to Germany’s development of an atomic bomb. He suggested that the United States begin preparations for its own atomic bomb research. Einstein’s urging led to the creation of the Manhattan Project and the development of the first two atomic bombs in 1945. Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 18, 1955.
Albert Einstein: Overcame Early School Challenges, Won Nobel Prize
By Jen Breitegan
Albert Einstein is one of the most famous physicists of all time. He introduced the world to the general theory of relativity and the equation E=mc2, which changed science forever.
What many people don’t know is that Einstein was not the “perfect student” when he was young. His speech was delayed, and he was said to be forgetful and a daydreamer. He didn’t socialize well with other children and exhibited temper tantrums. He also didn’t excel in subjects that required rote memorization.
In fact, one teacher told Einstein that he “would never amount to anything.”
The truth was that Einstein had a very curious mind and a need to question everything. He also had a tendency to rebel against authority. This aligned differently with the strict curriculum of schools in his time. He thrived in creative learning environments where questions were welcomed. He was especially intrigued by how invisible forces affected the world.
Ultimately, his insatiable curiosity to understand how the world (and universe) worked propelled Einstein to greatness. He won a Nobel Prize for physics, and his theories were discussed around the globe.
Discover how Einstein overcame his challenges in school to change the world of physics!
Einstein’s Early Childhood
Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in the city of Ulm in southwestern Germany. His father, Hermann, worked as a featherbed salesman and ran an electrochemical factory. His mother tended the house and cared for him and his sister Maja.
Einstein reportedly didn’t speak until the age of two. As a child, he was prone to extreme temper tantrums and would throw things. He even threw a chair at a teacher once.
When Einstein showed a speech delay, his concerned parents consulted a doctor. It’s now thought that he may have been on the autism spectrum, which contributed to his difficulty communicating and connecting with other children. Later in life, Einstein said his thoughts and ideas came to him as images rather than words. This way of thinking may have contributed to his delayed speech, too.
The first spark of Einstein’s insatiable curiosity about the world around him occurred at age five. His father gave him a compass, and he was fascinated by the unseen magnetic forces that made the needle move. This fascination would persist for the rest of his life.
Einstein’s School Years
Einstein started school when he was six years old. His teachers noted that he got good grades but didn’t feel he was a particularly talented student. His dislike for the traditional school model and authority did not make him popular with his instructors.
About school, Einstein once wrote, “It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.»
Math and science were two subjects in which Einstein excelled. At the age of 11, he was reading college-level physics textbooks. He discovered a passion for geometry at age 12. At 14, Einstein mastered differential and integral calculus.
Einstein’s frustration with rigid school curriculums led him to drop out of school at 15. He decided to educate himself for the following year. When he was 16, he took a college entrance exam. He passed the math and science portions but failed language and history. He then enrolled in a secondary school that encouraged his creativity and free thinking.
Upon graduating in 1896, Einstein enrolled in the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich.
Once again, he showed brilliance in math and science but hated attending lectures. However, he made lasting friendships and enjoyed deep conversations about space and time with fellow students.
Early Career & Family Life
Einstein’s tendency to cut class caused him problems after he graduated in 1900. His behavior had angered some of his instructors. One instructor, in particular, made things difficult for his career. When Einstein applied for academic positions, he was turned down over and over.
Einstein had met and fallen in love with a woman named Mileva Maric. Mileva was a fellow student at Swiss Federal. Unfortunately, he could not marry her and support a family without a job.
He tried taking on low-paying tutoring jobs but kept getting fired.
In 1902, the father of a friend helped Einstein get a job in a Swiss patent office. Einstein and Mileva were married the following year. They would have two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard.
Einstein’s Miracle Year & Academic Career
Einstein never gave up on his scientific pursuits. He published four groundbreaking physics papers in 1905 (later called his “Miracle Year”).
These papers discussed the following concepts:
- An explanation of the photoelectric effect, where charged particles are released from an object when it absorbs electromagnetic radiation.
- Experimental proof that atoms exist.
- The theory of special relativity explains how speed affects mass, time, and space.
- The equation E=mc2 states that the energy (E) of an object is equal to its mass (m) multiplied by the speed of light squared (c2).
Interestingly, Einstein’s papers didn’t get a lot of attention at first. That changed when Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, confirmed Einstein’s ideas.
After that, Einstein was offered academic positions at prestigious universities, including the University of Berlin. There, he served as the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics from 1913 to 1933.
The General Theory of Relativity
Einstein presented what is considered his most famous work, the general theory of relativity, in 1915.
Einstein’s theory of relativity describes gravity as a curving of space (instead of an invisible force) around an object. As the mass of an object increases, so does the curve of space around it.
After World War I ended, two expeditions to test the theory proved it was correct. Einstein became famous around the world.
Nobel Prize & Launch of Cosmology
By 1921, Einstein was traveling around the world, speaking about his theories. While returning from Japan that year, he discovered he had won the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Surprisingly, he won for his theory on the photoelectric effect, not relativity. Einstein never bowed to convention. So, he spoke about relativity instead of the photoelectric effect during his prize acceptance speech.
Around the same time, Einstein launched a new form of science: cosmology. Cosmology studies the origin and development of the universe.
Einstein’s theories and calculations predicted that the universe was not static. Instead, it was dynamic and either contracting or expanding.
Einstein’s Legacy
Albert Einstein in 1947, via Wikimedia.org
For the rest of his life, Einstein continued trying to unlock the mysteries of the universe. He explored the possibilities of wormholes, time travel, black holes, and how the universe began.
Many of his ideas were way ahead of his time. In fact, scientists are still winning Nobel Prizes for experiments based on his work decades after his death in 1955.
Imagine where we’d be if Einstein had listened to his childhood critics and given up on his inquisitive nature.
EINSTEIN Albert — biography, news, photos, date of birth, press dossier. Personalii GlobalMSK.ru.
German physicist
Date of birth: March 14, 1879
Date of death: April 18, 1955
Age at death: 76 years
Place of birth: Ulm, Württemberg, German Empire
Height: 175
Weight: 85
Zodiac sign: Pisces
Occupation: Theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, Nobel physics 1921, social activist and humanist. Lived in Germany, Switzerland and the USA.
Profession: Scientist
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Contents
- 1. Biography
- 2. Childhood and youth
- 3. Starting a scientific career
- 4. Theory of Relativity
- 5. Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
- 6. Nobel Prize
- 7.
Personal life
- 8. Cause of death and memory
Biography
Biography
A well-known figure in the world of natural sciences, Albert Einstein (life: 1879-1955), is known even by the humanities, who do not like exact objects, because the name of this person has become a household name for people with incredible mental abilities.
Einstein — the founder of physics in its modern sense: a great scientist — the founder of the theory of relativity and the author of more than three hundred scientific papers. Albert is also known as a publicist and public figure, who is an honorary doctor of about twenty higher educational institutions in the world. This person attracts with ambiguity: the facts say that, despite the incredible quick wit, he was stupid in solving everyday issues, which makes him an interesting figure in the eyes of the public.
Childhood and youth
The biography of the great scientist begins with the small German city of Ulm, located on the Danube River — this is the place where Albert was born on March 14, 1879 in a poor family of Jewish origin.
The father of the genius physicist Herman was engaged in the production of filling mattresses with feather stuffing, but soon the Albert family moved to the city of Munich. Herman, along with Jakob, his brother, took over a small company selling electrical equipment, which at first developed successfully, but soon could not stand the competition of large firms.
As a child, Albert was considered a narrow-minded child, for example, he did not speak until the age of three. Parents were even afraid that their child would never learn to pronounce words, when at the age of 7 Albert barely moved his lips, trying to repeat the memorized phrases. Also, the mother of the scientist Paulina was afraid that the child had a congenital deformity: the boy had a large nape that strongly protruded forward, and Einstein’s grandmother constantly repeated that her grandson was fat.
Albert had little contact with his peers and liked solitude more, for example, he built houses of cards. From an early age, the great physicist showed a negative attitude towards war: he hated the noisy game of soldiers, because it personifies a bloody war. Einstein’s attitude to war did not change throughout his later life: he actively opposed bloodshed and nuclear weapons.
A vivid memory of a genius is a compass that Albert received from his father at the age of five. Then the boy was ill, and Herman showed him an object that interested the child: after all, it is surprising that the arrow of the device showed the same direction. This small object aroused incredible interest in the young Einstein.
Little Albert was often taught by his uncle Jacob, who from childhood instilled in his nephew a love for the exact mathematical sciences. Together they read textbooks on geometry and mathematics, and solving a problem on their own for a young genius has always been happiness. However, Einstein’s mother Paulina had a negative attitude towards such activities and believed that for a five-year-old child, love for the exact sciences would not turn out to be anything good. But it was clear that this man would make great discoveries in the future.
It is also known that Albert was interested in religion since childhood, he believed that it was impossible to start studying the universe without understanding God. The future scientist watched the clergy with trepidation and did not understand why the higher biblical mind did not stop the war. When the boy was 12 years old, his religious beliefs sunk into oblivion due to the study of scientific books. Einstein became a believer that the bible is a highly developed system for managing youth.
After leaving school, Albert enters the Munich Gymnasium. Teachers considered him mentally retarded due to the same speech impediment. Einstein studied only those subjects that were of interest to him, ignoring history, literature and the German language. He had special problems with the German language: the teacher told Albert in the eyes that he would not finish school.
Einstein hated going to an educational institution and believed that the teachers themselves did not know much, but they imagined themselves to be upstarts who were allowed to do everything. Because of such judgments, young Albert constantly got into arguments with them, so he developed a reputation as not only a backward, but also a poor student.
Not having graduated from high school, 16-year-old Albert moved with his family to sunny Italy, to Milan. In the hope of enrolling in the Federal Higher Technical School of Zurich, the future scientist leaves Italy for Sweden on foot. Einstein managed to show decent results in the exact sciences in the exam, but Albert completely failed in the humanities. But the rector of the technical school appreciated the outstanding abilities of the teenager and advised him to enter the Swiss Aarau school, which, by the way, was considered far from the best. And Einstein was not at all considered a genius in this school.
The best students of Aarau left for higher education in the German capital, but in Berlin the ability of graduates was underestimated. Albert learned the texts of the problems that the director’s favorites could not cope with, and solved them. After that, the satisfied future scientist came to Schneider’s office, showing the solved problems. Albert angered the head of the school, saying that he unfairly selects students for competitions.
After successfully completing his studies, Albert enters the school of his dreams — the school of Zurich. However, the young genius had a bad relationship with Professor Weber: the two physicists were constantly arguing and arguing.
Beginning of a scientific career
Due to disagreements with professors at the institute, Albert’s path to science was closed. He passed the exams well, but not perfectly, the professors refused the student a scientific career. Einstein worked with interest at the scientific department of the Polytechnic Institute, Weber said that his student was a smart fellow, but did not accept criticism.
At the age of 22, Albert received a teaching diploma in mathematics and physics. But the same quarrels with his teachers also kept Einstein from finding a job, spending two years agonizingly looking for a steady paycheck. Albert lived in poverty and could not even buy food. Friends of the scientist helped to get a job at the patent office, where he worked for a long time.
In 1904, Albert began collaborating with the Annals of Physics magazine, gaining authority in the publication, and in 1905 the scientist published his own scientific papers. But the revolution in the world of science was made by three articles of the great physicist:
On the electrodynamics of moving bodies, which became the basis of the theory of relativity;
Work that laid the foundation for quantum theory;
Scientific article that made a discovery in statistical physics about Brownian motion.
Relativity
Einstein’s theory of relativity fundamentally changed the scientific physical concepts that were previously based on Newtonian mechanics, which existed for about two hundred years. But the theory of relativity, deduced by Albert Einstein, could be fully understood only by a few, therefore, only the special theory of relativity, which is part of the general one, is taught in educational institutions. SRT speaks of the dependence of space and time on speed: the higher the speed of the body, the more distorted both the dimensions and time.
Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity
According to SRT, it is possible to travel through time by overcoming the speed of light, therefore, based on the impossibility of such travel, a restriction is introduced: the speed of any object cannot exceed the speed of light. For small speeds, space and time are not distorted, so the classical laws of mechanics apply here, and high speeds, for which the distortion is noticeable, are called relativistic. And this is only a small fraction of both the special and general theory of Einstein’s entire movement.
Nobel Prize
Albert Einstein was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize, but this award bypassed the scientist for about 12 years because of his new and not everyone understands views on exact science. However, the committee decided to compromise and nominate Albert for his work on the theory of the photoelectric effect, for which the scientist was awarded the prize. All due to the fact that this invention is not so revolutionary, unlike the General Relativity, for which Albert, in fact, was preparing a speech.
However, at the time when the scientist received a telegram from the nomination committee, the scientist was in Japan, so they decided to give him the award at 1922 for 1921. However, there are rumors that Albert knew long before the trip that he was being nominated. But the scientist decided not to stay in Stockholm at such a crucial moment.
Personal life
The life of the great scientist is full of interesting facts: Albert Einstein is a strange person. He was known to dislike wearing socks and also hated brushing his teeth. In addition, he had a poor memory for simple things, such as telephone numbers.
Albert married Mileva Maric at the age of 26. Despite the 11-year marriage, the spouses soon had disagreements about family life, according to rumors, due to the fact that Albert was still that womanizer and had about ten passions. However, he offered his wife a cohabitation contract, according to which she had to comply with certain conditions, for example, periodically wash things. But under the contract, Mileva and Albert did not provide for any love relationship: the former spouses even slept separately. From the first marriage, the genius had children: the youngest son died while in a psychiatric hospital, and the scientist did not have a relationship with the elder.
After his divorce from Mileva, the scientist married Elsa Leventhal, his cousin. However, he was also interested in Elsa’s daughter, who did not have mutual feelings for a man who was 18 years older than her.
Many who knew the scientist noted that he was an unusually kind person, ready to give a helping hand and admit mistakes.
Cause of death and memory
In the spring of 1955, during a walk between Einstein and his friend, a simple conversation began about life and death, during which the 76-year-old scientist said that death is also a relief.
On April 13, Albert’s condition deteriorated sharply: doctors diagnosed an aortic aneurysm, but the scientist refused to operate. Albert was in the hospital, where he suddenly fell ill. He whispered words in his native language, but the nurse could not understand them. The woman approached the patient’s bed, but Einstein had already died of a hemorrhage in the abdominal cavity on April 18, 1955. All his acquaintances spoke of him as a meek and very kind person. This was a bitter loss for the entire scientific world.
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A nerd or a loser: Albert Einstein’s biography
Contents
- Einstein’s childhood 9 0028
- Albert Einstein in his youth and adulthood
- Personal life of a genius
- Albert’s children Einstein
- Cause of death
- What Albert Einstein invented
- Interesting facts about the scientist
- Quotes and aphorisms of the inventor
likely mental abilities. The author of the theory of relativity, the founder of modern physics, was an extraordinary figure in life.
Einstein’s childhood
Albert Einstein was born in the small German city of Ulm on March 14, 1847 in a poor family of Hermann and Pauline Einstein. The parents of the future genius were Jews by nationality. His father was an entrepreneur, his mother was a housewife.
Hermann Einstein and Paulina Einstein
Shortly after the birth of Albert, the family moved to Munich, where the future scientist spent his childhood. Einstein’s mother considered him inferior: until the age of seven, he did not speak and was very slow. As the physicist himself later admitted, he began to speak so late because he did not want to communicate with anyone. And as an adult, he preferred loneliness to any company.
From childhood, Einstein hated war, he didn’t even play with soldiers, considering it bloodshed. He retained his anti-militarist attitude for the rest of his life. He was also interested in religion, but from the age of 12, due to the study of science, his religious beliefs have sunk into oblivion.
Love for exact sciences was instilled in little Albert by his uncle. They read math textbooks together, and the little genius easily solved complex problems. However, this hobby did not please the mother.
Einstein at the age of 14
Einstein hated the school model of study: cramming, barracks training methods, walking along the line, hitting his hands for the slightest missteps. He studied only those subjects that he liked, and ignored the rest. Einstein was often the target of ridicule due to growing anti-Semitic sentiment in Germany.
You can often hear that the future genius did not study well at school, did not get out of ones and twos, and mathematics was generally given to him extremely badly, that he was not a child prodigy, rather, mentally retarded. The scientist himself laughed that he had never been a mathematician, and this subject was given to him very easily: already at the age of 14 he knew how to calculate integrals and differentials (in those days, children only started counting at the age of 15).
The myth that Einstein was an inveterate loser takes its origins from the school system, according to which the future genius studied in primary and secondary schools. Then one and two were considered the highest marks, while six was equated with «failure».
When Einstein graduated from high school in 1896, a six was the highest grade. Obviously, someone later looked at the statement and was horrified, not considering the fact that the rating scale used to be different. So grades are not important.
Einstein’s Certificate (scores on a six-point scale)
Another myth that the great genius, having become a famous scientist, did not know mathematics, is based on the fact that Albert Einstein gave other mathematicians to check his work on the theory of relativity for errors. So it is quite natural to involve other people to check the formulas, because the eye is “blurred” and you may not notice the flaws yourself.
But what was really true was that the great physicist was not liked by teachers and teachers at the University: he was silent, reserved, but not averse to arguing. Einstein himself considered teachers to be upstarts who knew nothing.
Albert Einstein in his youth and adulthood
At the end of the 19th century, the Einstein family moved to Italy. Without graduating from the Munich gymnasium, Albert is going to enter the Zurich Polytechnic, but fails the entrance exams. And only after studying at the Aarau school did he manage to become a student at the Zurich Polytechnic.
Einstein graduated from the university brilliantly, but due to his quarrelsome nature, he was not allowed to continue his scientific activity. For a long time he could not find a job, until his friend helped him get a job in the Berne Patent Office in 1902. Work in the Bureau allowed Einstein to get acquainted with interesting patent applications, which subsequently influenced his own developments.
Einstein at the patent office
In 1905, Albert Einstein published the first works that became the foundation of his future Theory of Relativity. Then he derived his famous formula E \u003d mc 2 , for which he was first nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Subsequently, he was nominated many times, but the members of the committee were adamant due to the lack of experimental confirmation of the validity of this formula.
World recognition came to Einstein in 1919, when researchers found confirmation of the postulates of the controversial theory of relativity during a solar eclipse.
In 1922 he received the Nobel Prize, but for his other discovery — the photoelectric effect.
In the 30s of the last century, due to anti-Semitic sentiments in Europe, he was forced to move to the United States, where he lived until the end of his life.
Personal life of a genius
Einstein met his first wife Mileva Marich in 1896 while studying. Mileva was 21 years old, Albert was 17. Due to the age difference and unattractive appearance (Mileva had a limp), Einstein’s parents were against their marriage, and only on his deathbed did the physicist’s father agree to their marriage, although his mother never accepted daughter-in-law. Mileva became not only a faithful wife, but also an ally of Albert for many years.
Einstein and Mileva Marić
Einstein’s first marriage ended in 1914 due to his many infidelities and difficult nature. The scientist promised his ex-wife that he would pay her alimony as soon as he received the Nobel Prize. And so it happened: in 1922, he received the coveted prize and gave all 32 thousand dollars (a huge amount at that time) to his ex-wife.
Mileva was going through a difficult divorce, she was depressed for a long time. She died in 1948 at the age of 73. Feelings of guilt before his first wife weighed on Einstein until his death.
The second wife of the genius was his cousin Elsa Lowenthal. They were friendly since childhood and became close when in 1917 Einstein fell seriously ill. Elsa loved taking care of her famous brother. As soon as the first wife divorced, Albert and Elsa got married, Einstein adopted Elsa’s children and was on excellent terms with them. Elsa died in 1936 after a serious illness.
Einstein and Elsa Lowenthal
Einstein loved women and women loved him. However, despite a string of extramarital affairs, he was not such a bad father and husband as is commonly believed.
Children of Albert Einstein
The first son of Einstein and Mileva Marich, Hans Albert, born in 1904, became the sole successor of the family. He did not have a relationship with his father.
The second son, Eduard Einstein, born in 1910, suffered from a mental disorder since childhood, inherited from his mother’s sister. At the age of 20, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, after which he was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he spent most of his life, outliving his father by only ten years. Einstein wrote him rare, but very sincere letters, but Eduard could not read — they were read to him by doctors.
Cause of death
At the beginning of April 1955, during a walk with one of his friends and an argument about life and death, a scientist suggested that death is relief.
On April 13 he suddenly became ill. Doctors diagnosed an aortic aneurysm and he was taken to the hospital. There he was offered to perform an operation that could save his life, but the scientist refused.
On April 18, he died of a hemorrhage in the abdominal cavity. Before his death, the brilliant scientist uttered words that remained a mystery: he had an English-speaking nurse next to him, while Einstein spoke German.
What Albert Einstein invented
Einstein’s main invention is the theory of relativity, which radically changed the understanding of physics. The theory consists of two parts: Special and General Relativity.
The special theory, published in 1905, was ambiguously perceived by the scientific community. Before its invention, it was generally accepted that time always and everywhere passes at the same speed.
However, Einstein believed that time is not constant and changes depending on the speed of the object. The real constant, he says, is the speed of light.
Light flows at a constant speed, and time depends on the speed of the object. For those objects that move fast, time slows down.
The second part of the theory of relativity answered the question: how gravity works. In the 17th century, Newton, who had an apple on his head, determined that gravity exists, but he could not explain the origins of its influence.
Einstein claimed that since space and time are not constant, massive objects can bend them. For example, a bowling ball that lies in the middle of a trampoline is heavy, and therefore warps the fabric and all objects along the edges of the trampoline, pulling it to the center.
The same happens with the Earth: since it is a massive object, it bends the «fabric» of space and attracts matter, time and light.
The theory of relativity is not so easy to prove, but all the information collected over 100 years after its discovery confirms Einstein’s ideas. It was of tremendous importance for science and technology in the future, helped to study the structure of the Universe, black holes, and contributed to the development of particle accelerators.
Among other significant theories of the great scientist:
- Quantum theory of photoelectric effect and heat capacity;
- statistical theory of Brownian motion;
- theory of stimulated emission;
- theory of light scattering by thermodynamic fluctuations in a medium.
In addition to outstanding inventions in the field of physics, the scientist has a number of non-standard finds in his luggage. So, together with fellow physicist Leo Szilard, he invented an unusual refrigerator that does not use electricity. Food was cooled by absorption, due to the pressure between gases and liquids.
Einstein also invented a blouse with two parallel rows of buttons that suited both thin and overweight.
Interesting facts about the scientist
- During his life, the genius wrote more than 300 works in physics and one and a half hundred works in other fields.
- Shortly before his death, the scientist practically completed the scientific work, which he considered the most important in his life, but burned the manuscripts.
- Einstein was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize, but received it not for the theory of relativity, but for the theory of the photoelectric effect: the Nobel Committee hesitated for a long time whether to award the prize for such revolutionary ideas.
- The scientist did not like sports, preferring to train his brain rather than his muscles.
- Einstein loved to sail.
- The great physicist was not neat in everyday life and in clothes and did not even wear socks. “When I was young, I learned that the thumb always ends in a hole in the sock. So I stopped wearing socks,” he said.
- The scientist did not brush his teeth for a long time, believing that the bristles could drill through a diamond. He was taught cleanliness by his first wife, Mileva Marich.
- He learned to play the violin at the age of six, and has not parted with it ever since.
If some problem did not come to him, Einstein called for insight by playing the violin.
- Einstein had a special way of thinking. According to his aesthetic criteria, he singled out ideas that seemed inharmonious to him, on the basis of this he proclaimed the general principle of restoring harmony and made predictions. This technique really gave amazing results.
- The scientist’s favorite composer was Mozart.
- The most famous photo of Einstein — the one where he sticks out his tongue — appeared in spite of the pestering journalists when they asked him to smile.
- In his youth, Einstein worked as an electrician.
- At the age of 12, the scientist got acquainted with the views of Immanuel Kant, which changed his ideas about religion, since then he has become his favorite philosopher.
- Einstein asked for a dollar for an autograph. Then he donated the money to charity.
- The scientist loved pipe smoking and was even a lifelong member of the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club.
- The physicist hated science fiction because, according to him, it changes the way you see the world.
- For some unknown reason, Einstein went berserk when the pronoun «we» was used in his presence.
- Einstein was considered by the FBI to be a Soviet spy, he was followed and his phones tapped.
- The scientist agreed to the study of his brain after death, because. believed that only a real maniac, obsessed with one thought, could get such impressive results. Literally seven hours after the death of the great physicist, his brain was stolen by pathologist Thomas Harvey. For 40 years, he sent pieces of the brain for research to various neurologists. As a result, it turned out that the gray matter of the genius was above normal. The neuronal cells and areas responsible for information processing are enlarged, while the parts responsible for speech, on the contrary, are reduced.
- Einstein came up with an interesting logical riddle for assessing mental abilities.
It is believed that only 2% of people can solve it without a pen and paper. Try it yourself:
- There are five houses on the street.
- An Englishman lives in a red house.
- The Spaniard has a dog.
- They drink coffee in the green house.
- A Ukrainian is drinking tea.
- The green house is immediately to the right of the white house.
- Whoever smokes Old Gold breeds snails.
- Kool is smoked in the yellow house.
- They drink milk in the central house.
- The Norwegian lives in the first house.
- Chesterfield smoker’s neighbor keeps a fox.
- Kool is smoked in the house next to the one where the horse is kept.
- A person who smokes Lucky Strike drinks orange juice.
- Japanese smokes Parliament.
- The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
- Who drinks water? Who is holding the zebra?
Show answer
Norwegian lives in house number 1 (10). (10) and (15) say that house number 2 is blue. So what color is house number 1? It cannot be either green or white, because they should be close, based on the color of the house #2 and (6). Also house number 1 and not red, because. the Englishman lives in red. Accordingly, house number 1 is yellow.
It follows that Kool cigarettes are smoked in house no. 1 (8), and there is a horse in house no. 2 (12). Yellow House No. 1 Norwegian who smokes Kool does not drink tea (5), does not drink coffee (4), does not drink milk (9) and does not drink orange juice (13). It turns out that the Norwegian is the one who drinks water.
What kind of cigarettes are smoked in the blue house #2, where there is a horse?
«Kool» is smoked in house number 1 (8). “Old Gold” is smoked by the one who has snails in the house (7). If, for example, we assume that Lucky Strike is smoked in house number 2, then it turns out that orange juice is also preferred there (13). So who can live in house number 2? Not Norwegian (10), not English (2), not Spaniard (3), not Ukrainian (5) and not Japanese (14). But such a situation cannot be, which means that this is not a Lucky Strike.
If we assume that this is «Parliament», then it turns out that a Japanese person lives in house number 2 (14). But what does he drink? Not tea (5), not coffee (4), not milk (9) and not juice (13). There cannot be such an option either, which means that this is not a “Parliament”. The only conclusion remains: Chesterfield is smoked in house number 2.
Who lives in the blue house number 2, smokes Chesterfield and who has a horse? He cannot be Norwegian (10), English (2), Spanish (3) or Japanese (14). Accordingly, this is a Ukrainian who drinks tea (5).
Given that Chesterfields are smoked in house #2, it becomes clear from (11) that the fox is either in house #1 or house #3. But in what?
First, let’s say that the fox is in house number 3. Then what does a man who smokes Old Gold and breeds snails drink? Because water and tea are already excluded in the first two steps, and it cannot be juice (13) and milk (9), then what remains is coffee, which is drunk by the inhabitant of the green house (4). Therefore, if the fox is in house number 3, then a person who smokes Old Gold, breeds snails and drinks coffee lives in a green house. Who is he? This is not a Norwegian (10), not a Ukrainian (5), not an Englishman (2), not a Japanese (14) and not a Spaniard (3). This option cannot be, which means that the fox is in house number 1.
Based on all the previous considerations, it turns out that orange juice and coffee are drunk in the remaining houses No. 5 and No. 4. It doesn’t matter in what — what. Therefore, let’s just call them «juice house» and «coffee house».
Where does the person who smokes Old Gold and breeds snails live? Not in the juice house, because the one who smokes «Lucky Strike» lives there (13). Let’s say he lives in a house with coffee. It turns out that a person who smokes «Old Gold», breeds snails and drinks coffee, lives in a green house (4). And this, again, cannot be (we are guided by the reasoning from step No. 3). It turns out that the person who smokes «Old Gold» and breeds snails lives in house number 3.
From all this it follows that the person who smokes «Parliament» lives in a green house where people like coffee. And this is a Japanese (14). Further, it turns out that the Spaniard is a person who smokes «Lucky Strike», drinks orange juice and keeps a dog. Thinking in the same way, we get that the Englishman should live in house number 3, which should be red. Excluding everything else, we conclude that the Spaniard lives in a white house.
It is obvious that the zebra is in the house of the Japanese.
Quotes and aphorisms of the inventor
Einstein had a great sense of humor. He called his fountain pen his own laboratory. The most famous and truly brilliant aphorisms of the scientist:
- There are only two infinite things: the Universe and stupidity. Although I’m not sure about the universe.
- Only a fool needs order — genius rules over chaos.
- Theory is when everything is known, but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works, but no one knows why. We combine theory and practice: nothing works … and no one knows why!
- There are only two ways to live life. The first is that miracles do not exist. The second is like miracles all around.
- Education is what remains after everything learned at school is forgotten.
- I don’t know with what weapons the third world war will be fought, but the fourth will be fought with sticks and stones.
- It’s just crazy to do the same thing and expect different results.
- Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, while imagination covers the whole world.
- You will never solve a problem if you think like those who created it.
- Anyone who wants to see the results of his work immediately should become a shoemaker.
- Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must move.
- Everyone knows that this is impossible. But here comes an ignoramus who does not know this, it is he who makes the discovery.