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BIOGRAPHIES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE

A: ALBERT EINSTEIN

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After Daniel J. Kevles

Albert Einstein (1879-1955), was one of the greatest scientists
of the world. He is best known for his theory of relativity, which he
advanced when he was 26. He was one of the fathers of the nuclear
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age. His equation, E=mc became a foundation stone in the
development of nuclear energy.
Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Worttemberg,
Germany. After public school in Munich and Aarau, Switzerland,
Einstein studied mathematics and physics at the Swiss polytechnic
Institute in Zuric. He graduated in 1900. From 1902 to 1909 he
worked as an examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern and
devoted much time to scientific investigation. He became a Swiss
citizen in 1905.
In 1909 Einstein contributed three papers which were his
greatest contributions to science. Each of them became the basis of a
new branch of physics.
In 1909, he became professor of theoretical physics at the
University of Zurich in Switzerland. In 1911-1912, he occupied the
same position at the German University in Prague. In 1912, he
returned to a similar position at the Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich.
Einstein was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in
1913. When he accepted the professorship at the University of Berlin
in 1914, he once more assumed German citizenship. The same year,
he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute in Berlin.
In 1915, Einstein announced that he had developed a general
theory of relativity. The general theory was published in 1916.
In 1921, Einstein received the Nobel Prize in physics for his
paper on quanta.

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Друкується за виданням The World Book Encyclopedia. London: World
Book Inc., 1994. Vol.6, pp. 146-147. Abridged and adapted.

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