Jewish German physicist (1879-1955). Born in Ulm, Germany to middle-class Jewish parents, Albert soon moved with his family to Munich, where his uncle Jacob taught him mathematics, and Max Talmey, a lunch guest, gave him books on geometry and science.

When his family moved to Italy in 1894, Albert stayed behind to finish high school, but he was dismissed after a doctor said he was going to have a nervous breakdown. He took the entrance exam for Swiss Polytechnic in Zurich, in an attempt to skip high school completely, and although he scored high in math, he still flunked. He finished high school in Aarau, Switzerland, and enrolled in Swiss Polytechnic, where he met with his future wife, Mileva Maric (the only woman in his class), and graduated with a less-than-outstanding record.

Albert and Mileva had a daughter out of wedlock and gave her up for adoption. After struggling to find a job, Albert finally got a position as a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Albert and Mileva finally married in 1903.

Einstein puzzled through physics problems in his spare time and, in 1905, he published papers on Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect, and special relativity. (He won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his photoelectric paper.) These papers allowed him to get jobs at various universities in Zurich, Prague, and Berlin. Unfortunately, by the time he got to Berlin, his marriage had fallen apart. Einstein was a sub-par husband and father, and Mileva returned to Zurich with the couple's two sons. The Einsteins divorced five years later. (Mileva requested -- and got -- rights to all of Albert's future Nobel Prize money)

Einstein completed his general theory of relativity in 1915, but fell seriously ill soon afterwards. His cousin Elsa nursed him back to health, and they married soon after his divorce was final. By now, Einstein was famous, and he traveled all over the world lecturing on physics and liberal causes.

As anti-Semitism rose in Germany, a radical group put a price on his head, and a group of scientists set out to try to disprove his theories. He finally fled Germany when Hitler and the Nazis came to power. He accepted a post at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He and an old friend named Leo Szilard wrote a letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, relating their fears that the Nazis were working on a nuclear fission device and encouraging him to pursue research on the atomic bomb. This, of course, got the Manhattan Project started, though Einstein didn't work on it -- never a particularly patriotic individual, it was believed that he would be a security risk.

Einstein spent his last years trying to put together a unified field theory and campaigning for world peace. He enjoyed boating, walking, and playing his violin, but he most enjoyed sitting by himself and thinking.

Research from GURPS Who's Who, compiled by Phil Masters, "Albert Einstein" by Jack Elmy, pp. 118-119.
March 14, 1879-1955

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -- Albert Einstein

Contrary to popular belief, Einstein did quite well in high school.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Albert Einstein

Einstein suggested the theory for A-bomb but he wasn't happy about it afterwards.

"I never thought others would take them more seriously than I did." -- Albert Einstein on his theories

All of Einstein's most important papers are stuff were done while he worked in the patent office. It wasn't until later that he got a job at a university.

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." -- Albert Einstein on relativity

Einstein created the theories of General Relativity and Special Relativity.

"God does not play dice" -- Albert Einstein on Quantum Mechanics

Einstein hated Quantum Mechanics with a passion. He greatly contributed to the theory through his many failed atempts to prove it wrong.

"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."

It's a matter of dispute among Everythingians on whether Einstein was religious.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

Einstein Was A Vegetarian.

Since "Albert Einstein - Quotes" has been deleted, I'll post these here:

  • "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."
  • "So long as they don't get violent, I want to let everyone say what they wish, for I myself have always said exactly what pleased me."
  • "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
  • "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
  • "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
  • "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
  • "Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty."
  • "It is best, it seems to me, to separate one's inner striving from one's trade as far as possible. It is not good when one's daily break is tied to God's special blessing."
  • "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."
  • "The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax."
  • "It may affront the military-minded person to suggest a regime that does not maintain any military secrets."
  • "We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality."
  • "It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure."
  • "The important thing is not to stop questioning."
  • "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
  • "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."
  • "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
  • "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible."
  • "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
  • "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
  • "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
  • "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
  • "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
  • "Everything should be as simple as possible--but not simpler."
  • "Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are not even capable of forming such opinions."
  • "Gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in love."
  • "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"
  • "He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."
  • "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
  • "I can assure you that no matter how complex your mathematical problems are, mine are greater."
  • "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
  • "If I were wrong, then one would have been enough!" -- Einstein on the book "100 Authors Against Einstein"


(See Einstein Wasn't Religious for more debate on Einstein's religiousness.)

"God doesn't play dice". Albert Einstein on quantum mechanics.

German physicist. Born March 14,1879 in Ulm, died April, 18 in Princeton.

1909-1913 professor in Zürich and Prague, 1914-1933 Director of the "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituts für Physik" (Emperor Wilhelm Institution for Physics, later called the Max-Plank-Gesellschaft) in Berlin and member of the "Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften" (Preussean Academy of Sciences).
Emigrated to the USA 1933 and became Professor in Princeton.

He discovered special relativity in 1905 and general relativity 1915, with which he explains gravity. The formula E=mc^2 was discovered in 1905.

Einstein got the Nobel Prize 1921.

It isn't very well known that Albert Einstein also became a strong supporter of the Zionist movement.

This support for the Jewish people, himself one, probably played a hand in his recommendation that the USA build a thermonuclear device to counter the possibility that Germany already might have had one.

The Israelis, whose country is believed to be the sacred land of the Jewish people offered Albert the presidency of Israel in 1952. He turned this down due to his admitted naivete at politics and his belief that his work in physics was much more important and would last much longer than any contribution he might be able to give as a president of a country he never set foot in.

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