1879-1955

•Born 1879 in Germany to a middle class Jewish family.
•At the age of 15, Einstein quit high school.
•Later entered the Federal
Institute of Technology in
Zurich.
•Einstein graduated from
Zurich Polytechnic in 1900.

•While in school, he met and fell in love with Mileva
•1902 - They had a daughter
•1902 marries
Mileva
•They had two sons
•Hans Albert, becomes an engineer and professor
•Eduard, had schizophrenia
•They divorced in 1919

• At 26, Einstein wrote three fundamental physics papers
1. The Photoelectric Effect
2. Brownian Motion and
Atoms
3. Special Relativity, E= mc 2

"... The physical theory of Brownian motion ended the skepticism about the existence of atoms and molecules as actual physical entities."
•Realized Brownian
Motion was caused by movement of molecules
•His work helped prove the existence of the atom

• Speed of light is constant.
• Time and distance are able to change.

Special Relativity: E = m c 2
•The speed of light is constant
•A huge amount of energy can be produced from a small amount of mass

•In 1909, he became an assistant professor at the University of Zurich.
•In 1914 Einstein moved to Berlin and became a professor at the University of Berlin.

•1915- completed his General
Theory of Relativity
•From 1916-1925, Einstein worked on research that aided in the invention of the laser.
•1919 an eclipse helped prove his theory of general relativity which led to his worldwide fame

• In 1919, Einstein left his wife and children and married his distant cousin, Elsa.

•In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics for his work with the Photoelectric
Effect.

•1932 appointed professor at Institute of
Advanced Study at Princeton
•1933 Nazis come to power in Germany
•Einstein moves to Princeton, NJ

•1939 - Writes letter of Pres.
Roosevelt warning of possibility of
German atomic bomb
•1945 – bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki

•Fearing use of the atomic bomb again, he used his fame to speak out in support of worldwide peace

•For the last thirty years of his life,
Einstein worked on finding a unified field theory.
•On April 18, 1955 he died in Princeton, New
Jersey.

•Scientists are still working to find the unified field theory today.