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Birth
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. -
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Two wonders that affected his early years
Einstein would write that two “wonders” deeply affected his early years. The first was his encounter with a compass at age five. He was mystified that invisible forces could deflect the needle. This would lead to a lifelong fascination with invisible forces. The second wonder came at age 12 when he discovered a book of geometry, which he devoured, calling it his “sacred little geometry book.” -
Religion
Einstein became deeply religious at age 12, even composing several songs in praise of God and chanting religious songs on the way to school. This began to change, however, after he read science books that contradicted his religious beliefs. -
Education
Einstein was left by his parents at a boardinghouse in Munich and expected to finish his education. Alone, miserable, and repelled by the looming prospect of military duty when he turned 16, Einstein ran away six months later and landed on the doorstep of his surprised parents. His parents realized the enormous problems that he faced as a school dropout and draft dodger with no employable skills. His prospects did not look promising. -
Lowest point
Einstein reached perhaps the lowest point in his life. He could not marry Maric, his girlfriend. and he couldn't support her and their children without a job, and his father’s business went bankrupt. Desperate and unemployed, Einstein took lowly jobs tutoring children, but he was fired from even these jobs. -
Marriage
Einstein's father became seriously ill and just before he died, he gave Albert his blessing to marry Maric. Einstein experienced enormous sadness for a long time after his father's death because he thought he had died thinking his son was a failure. Einstein and Mileva Maric got married on January 6, 1903 and had two children: Hans Albert and Eduard. -
Einstein's miracle year
He published four papers in the Annalen der Physik, each of which would alter the course of modern physics: 1. On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. 2. Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content? 3. On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in Stationary Liquids Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat. 4. On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light. -
General Relativity And Teaching Career
At first Einstein’s 1905 papers were ignored by the physics community. This began to change after he received the attention of just one physicist, perhaps the most influential physicist of his generation, Max Planck, the founder of the quantum theory. Soon, owing to Planck’s laudatory comments and to experiments that gradually confirmed his theories, Einstein was invited to lecture at international meetings, such as the Solvay Conferences, and he rose rapidly in the academic world. -
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Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics
He was offered a series of positions at increasingly prestigious institutions, including the University of Zürich, the University of Prague, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and finally the University of Berlin, where he served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics from 1913 to 1933 (although the opening of the institute was delayed until 1917). -
Nobel
In 1921 Einstein began the first of several world tours, visiting the United States, England, Japan, and France. Everywhere he went, the crowds numbered in the thousands. En route from Japan, he received word that he had received the Nobel Prize for Physics, but for the photoelectric effect rather than for his relativity theories. During his acceptance speech, Einstein startled the audience by speaking about relativity instead of the photoelectric effect. -
1930s, difficult years for Einstein
His son Eduard was diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered a mental breakdown in 1930. Einstein’s close friend, physicist Paul Ehrenfest, who helped in the development of general relativity, committed suicide in 1933. And Einstein’s beloved wife, Elsa, died in 1936. To his horror, during the late 1930s, physicists began seriously to consider whether his equation E = mc2 might make an atomic bomb possible. In 1920 Einstein himself had considered but eventually dismissed the possibility. -
Death
Einstein was granted permanent residency in the United States in 1935 and became an American citizen in 1940. He died in Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
