Who is Albert Einstein: biography of a scientist. Einstein's love was harder than relativity

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous scientists of the twentieth century. It laid the foundation for a new branch of physics, and E=mc 2 Einstein's mass-energy equivalence is one of the most famous formulas in the world. In 1921 he received Nobel Prize in physics for contributions to theoretical physics and the evolution of quantum theory.

Einstein is also well known as an original free thinker, speaking on a range of humanities and global problems. Contributed to theoretical development nuclear physics and supported F. D. Roosevelt in launching the Manhattan Project, but later Einstein opposed the use of nuclear weapons.

Einstein, born to a Jewish family in Germany, moved to Switzerland as a young man and then moved to the United States after Hitler came to power. Einstein was truly global man and one of the undisputed geniuses of the twentieth century. And now let's talk about everything in order.

Einstein's father, Hermann, was born in 1847 in the Swabian village of Buchau. Hermann, a Jew by nationality, had a penchant for mathematics, studied at a school near Stuttgart. He could not enter the university due to the fact that most of the universities were closed to Jews and later began to engage in trade. Later, Herman and his parents moved to the more prosperous city of Ulm, which prophetically had the motto “Ulmenses sunt mathematici”, which means “the people of Ulm are mathematicians”. At the age of 29, Hermann married Pauline Koch, who was eleven years his junior.

Polina's father, Julius Kokh, built a large fortune selling grain. Polina inherited practicality, wit, a good sense of humor and could infect anyone with laughter (she will successfully pass these traits on to her son).

Herman and Polina were happy couple. Their first child was born at 11:30 am on Friday, March 14, 1879, in Ulm, a city which at that time had joined, along with the rest of Swabia, the German Reich. Initially, Polina and Hermann planned to name the boy Abraham, after his paternal grandfather. But then they came to the conclusion that this name would sound too Hebrew and they decided to keep the initial letter A and named the boy Albert Einstein.

It is worth paying attention to an interesting fact that will forever be imprinted in the memory of Einstein and significantly influenced him in the future. When little Albert was 4 or 5 years old he fell ill and
father, so that the boy would not be bored, brought him a compass. As Einstein would later say, he was so excited about those mysterious forces that made the magnetic needle behave as if it was influenced by hidden unknown fields. This sense of wonder and inquisitiveness of mind remained in him and motivated him throughout his life. As he said: “I still remember, or at least I believe I can remember, that that moment made a deep and lasting impression on me!”

Around the same age, his mother instilled in Einstein a love of the violin. At first he did not like rigid discipline, but after he became more familiar with the works of Mozart, the music began to seem both magical and emotional for the boy: “I believe that love is a better teacher than a sense of duty,” he said, “at least at least for me." Since then, according to the statements of close friends, when the scientist was faced with difficult tasks, Einstein was distracted by music and she helped him focus and overcome difficulties. During the game, improvising, he thought about the problems, and suddenly “he suddenly broke off in the middle of the game and excitedly went to work, as if inspiration had come to him,” as relatives said.

When Albert was 6 years old and had to choose a school, his parents didn't worry that there was no Jewish school nearby. And he went to a large Catholic school next door, in Petershul. As the only Jew among seventy students in his class, Einstein did well in school, taking a standard course in the Catholic religion.

When Albert was 9 years old, he transferred to a secondary school near the center of Munich, the Leopold Gymnasium, which was known as an enlightened institute that intensively studied mathematics and science, as well as Latin and Greek.

In order to be admitted to the Federal Institute of Technology (later renamed ETH) in Zurich, Einstein passed the entrance exams in October 1895. However, some of his results were insufficient and, on the advice of the rector, he went to the "Kantonsschule" in the city of Aarau to improve his knowledge.

In early October 1896, Einstein received his school leaving certificate and shortly thereafter entered the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as a teacher of mathematics and physics. Einstein, was good-natured and graduated in July 1900. He then worked as an assistant at the Polytechnic Institute in Shula and other universities.

Between May 1901 and January 1902 he studied at Winterthur and Schaffhausen. He soon moved to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. In order to earn a living, he gave private lessons in mathematics and physics.

Albert Einstein personal life

Einstein was married twice, first to his former student Mileva Marich and then to his cousin Elsa. His marriages were not very successful. In the letters, Einstein expressed the oppression he experienced in his first marriage, describing Mileva as a domineering and jealous woman. In one of the letters, he even admitted that he wanted his youngest son, Edward, who had schizophrenia, to never be born. As for his second wife Elsa, he called their relationship a union of convenience.

Biographers, studying such letters, considered Einstein a cold and cruel husband and father, but in 2006 about 1,400 previously unknown letters of the scientist were published and biographers changed their view of his relationship with his wives and family in a positive direction.

In more recent letters, we can find that Einstein had compassion and sympathy for his first wife and children, he even gave them part of his money from winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921.

As for the second marriage, Einstein apparently openly discussed his affairs with Elsa and also kept her informed of his travels and thoughts.
According to Elsa, she stayed with Einstein despite his shortcomings, explaining her views in a letter: “Such a genius must be impeccable in every respect. But nature does not behave like that, if it gives extravagance, then it manifests itself in everything.”

But this does not mean that Einstein considered himself an exemplary family man, in one of his letters the scientist admitted that: “I admire my father for the fact that he stayed with one woman throughout his life. In this case, I failed twice.”

In general, for all his immortal genius, Einstein was an ordinary person in his personal life.

Einstein interesting facts from life:

• WITH early age Albert Einstein hated nationalism of any kind and preferred to be a "citizen of the world". When he was 16 he renounced his German citizenship and became a Swiss citizen in 1901;
• Mileva Marić was the only female student in the Einstein section at the Zurich Polytechnic Institute. She was passionate about mathematics and science and was a good physicist, but she abandoned her ambitions by marrying Einstein and becoming a mother.
• In 1933, the FBI began to maintain a dossier on Albert Einstein. The case grew to 1427 pages of various documents devoted to Einstein's collaboration with pacifist and socialist organizations. J. Edgar Hoover even recommended that Einstein be expelled from America using the Alien Exclusion Act, but the decision was overturned by the US State Department.
• Einstein had a daughter whom, in all likelihood, he never saw in person. The existence of Lieserly (that was the name of Einstein's daughter) was not widely known until 1987, when a collection of Einstein's letters was published.
• Albert's second son, Edward, whom they affectionately called "Tet", was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Albert never saw his son after he immigrated to the US in 1933. Edward died at the age of 55 in a psychiatric clinic.
• Fritz Haber was a German chemist who helped Einstein move to Berlin and became one of his close friends. During World War I, Haber developed the deadly chlorine gas, which was heavier than air and could run down trenches and burn the throats and lungs of soldiers. Haber is sometimes called the "father of chemical warfare".
• Einstein, studying the electromagnetic theories of James Maxwell, discovered that the speed of light was constant, a fact not known to Maxwell. Einstein's discovery was in direct violation of Newton's laws of motion and led Einstein to develop the principle of relativity.
• 1905 is known as Einstein's Miracle Year. This year he presented his doctoral dissertation and 4 of his papers were published in one of the most famous scientific journals. The titles of the published papers were: Equivalence of matter and energy, special relativity, Brownian motion, and the photoelectric effect. These papers ultimately changed the very essence of modern physics.

One of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. The main scientific discovery of the scientist is the theory of relativity. The private theory of relativity was formulated by him in 1905, and the general one ten years later. One could write a whole book about the scientific discoveries of the scientist, but unfortunately, we do not have such an opportunity.

Einstein received worldwide recognition during his lifetime. Albert won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The honorary award went to the scientist for the theoretical explanation of the photoelectric effect. In his theory, he explained the existence of photons, the so-called light quanta. The theory had great practical value, and had a great influence on the development of quantum theory. The theories of a scientist are extremely difficult to understand and perceive, but their fundamental nature can only be compared with discoveries. Einstein's uniqueness lies in the fact that the authorship of his discoveries is indisputable. We know that scientists often made many discoveries together, often without knowing it themselves. So, for example, it was with Cheyne and Flory, who jointly discovered penicillin, so it was with Niepce and many others. But it was not so with Einstein.

Biography of Einstein very interesting and complete fun facts. Albert was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. He graduated from high school in neighboring Switzerland, and soon received Swiss citizenship. In 1905, at the University of Zurich, a young man received a doctorate in philosophical sciences. At this time, his scientific activity is actively unfolding. He publishes a number of works: the theory of Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect and the special theory of relativity. These reports will soon become calling card Albert, the world recognizes in its contemporary a genius, a brilliant and promising scientist. The theories of the scientist will stir up the scientific community, serious controversy will flare up around his theories. Not one scientist in the world has not been subjected to such discussion and such criticism. In 1913, Albert became a professor at the University of Berlin and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, as well as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

New positions allowed him to engage in science at any time in any quantity. It is unlikely that the German government ever regretted their favor to the scientist. In a few years, he will be awarded the Nobel Prize, raising the prestige of German science to the sky. In 1933, Einstein moved to the USA, to the state of New Jersey, to the city of Princeton. In seven years he will receive citizenship. The great scientist died in 1955. Einstein was always interested in politics, he was aware of everyone. He was a staunch pacifist, an opponent of political tyranny, and at the same time was a supporter of Zionism. They say that in matters of clothing he was always an individualist, contemporaries noted his excellent sense of humor, natural modesty and remarkable talents. Albert played the violin very well.

Albert Einstein was born 130 years ago.

The German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the city of Ulema (Württemberg, Germany) in the family of a small businessman. From the age of six, at the insistence of his mother, he began to play the violin. His passion for music continued throughout his life. At the age of 10 he entered the gymnasium in the city of Munich. school lessons preferred self-study.

In 1895 the Einstein family moved to Switzerland. Albert Einstein, without graduating from the gymnasium, went to Zurich to his family, where he tried to pass the exams at the Federal Higher Polytechnic School (Zurich Polytechnic), which enjoyed a high reputation. Failing in exams modern languages and history, entered the senior class of the cantonal school in Aarau. After leaving school, in 1896, Einstein became a student at the Zurich Polytechnic.

In 1900, Einstein graduated from the Polytechnic with a degree in teaching mathematics and physics. After that, he did not have a permanent job for two years. Not for a long time he taught physics in Schaffhausen in a boarding house for foreigners entering higher educational establishments Switzerland, gave private lessons, and then, on the recommendation of friends, got a job as a technical examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Einstein worked in the bureau from 1902 to 1907 and considered this time the happiest and most fruitful period in his life. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to dedicate free time research in the field of theoretical physics.

His first work was on the forces of interaction between molecules and applications of statistical thermodynamics. One of them - "A new definition of the size of molecules" was accepted as a doctoral dissertation by the University of Zurich, and in 1905 Einstein became a doctor of science.

He created the theory of relativity, carried out research on statistical physics, radiation theory, Brownian motion, wrote a series scientific articles. At the same time, he discovered the law of the relationship between mass and energy. Einstein's work was widely known, and in 1909 he was elected a professor at the University of Zurich.

In 1911-1912, Einstein was a professor at the German University in Prague. In 1912 he returned to Zurich, where he became a professor at the Zurich Polytechnic. The following year he was elected a member of the Prussian and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and in 1914 moved to Berlin, where until 1933 he was both director of the Physics Institute and professor at the University of Berlin. During this period of his life, Albert Einstein completed the general theory of relativity, and also developed the quantum theory of radiation. Einstein also established the basic law of photochemistry. For the discovery of the laws of the photoelectric effect and for his work in the field of theoretical physics, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the physicist left Germany forever, leaving for the United States of America. Soon, in protest against the crimes of fascism, he renounced German citizenship and membership in the Prussian and Bavarian Academies of Sciences. After moving to the US, Albert Einstein was appointed professor of physics at the newly established Institute for Basic Research in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1940 he received American citizenship. At Princeton, Einstein continued to work on the study of problems of cosmology and the creation of a unified field theory, designed to combine the theory of gravity and electromagnetism.

In 1955, Einstein signed a letter written by the English public figure Bertrand Russell, to the governments of those countries where the production of atomic weapons was actively developing (later the document was called the "Russell-Einstein Manifesto"). Einstein warned of the fatal consequences of the use of such weapons for all mankind.

IN last years Einstein worked on the creation of the Unified Field Theory.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Albert Einstein was awarded many other awards, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1925) and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute (1935). Einstein was an honorary doctor of many universities and a member of the world's leading academies of science.

Among the many honors given to Einstein was an offer to become the President of Israel, which followed in 1952. He refused this offer.

Einstein's first wife was Mileva Marich, his classmate at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. They married in 1903. From this marriage, Einstein had two sons, Hans Albert and Edward. His eldest son Hans-Albert became a recognized hydraulics specialist and professor at the University of California. Einstein's youngest son Eduard fell ill with a severe form of schizophrenia and spent most of his life in various medical institutions. The couple divorced in 1919. That same year, Einstein married his cousin Elsa, a widow with two children. Elsa Einstein died in 1936.

Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton from an aortic aneurysm. In the presence of only those closest to him, his body was cremated near Trenton, New Jersey. At the request of Einstein himself, he was buried in secret from everyone.

In honor of Einstein are named: a unit of energy used in photochemistry (einstein), chemical element einsteinium (No. 99 in the Periodic Table of the Elements), Asteroid 2001 Einstein, Albert Einstein Prize, Albert Einstein Peace Prize, College of Medicine. Albert Einstein at Yeshiva University, Medical Center. Albert Einstein in Philadelphia, Albert Einstein House Museum at Kramgasse in Bern.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Albert Einstein (German: Albert Einstein,; March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg, Germany - April 18, 1955, Princeton, New Jersey, USA) - theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 , public figure-humanist. Lived in Germany (1879-1893, 1914-1933), Switzerland (1893-1914) and the USA (1933-1955). Honorary doctor of about 20 leading universities in the world, a member of many Academies of Sciences, including a foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1926).
Albert Einstein 1920

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the South German city of Ulm, into a poor Jewish family. His parents married three years before their son was born, on August 8, 1876. Her father, Hermann Einstein (1847-1902), was at that time a co-owner of a small enterprise for the production of feather stuffing for mattresses and featherbeds.
Hermann Einstein

Mother, Paulina Einstein (nee Koch, 1858-1920), came from the family of a wealthy corn merchant Julius Derzbacher (changed his surname to Koch in 1842) and Jetta Bernheimer.
Paulina Einstein

In the summer of 1880, the family moved to Munich, where Hermann Einstein, together with his brother Jakob, founded a small company selling electrical equipment.
Albert Einstein at the age of three. 1882

Albert's younger sister Maria (Maya, 1881-1951) was born in Munich.
Albert Einstein with his sister

Albert Einstein received his primary education at a local Catholic school. For about 12 years he experienced a state of deep religiosity, but soon reading popular science books made him a freethinker and forever gave rise to a skeptical attitude towards authorities. Of childhood impressions, Einstein later recalled as the most powerful: the compass, Euclid's Elements, and (circa 1889) Critique pure mind» Immanuel Kant. In addition, at the initiative of his mother, he began playing the violin at the age of six. Einstein's passion for music continued throughout his life. Already in the United States in Princeton, in 1934, Albert Einstein gave a charity concert, where he played the works of Mozart on the violin in favor of scientists and cultural figures who emigrated from Nazi Germany.
Albert Einstein is 14 years old.1893

In the gymnasium, he was not among the first students (the exception was mathematics and Latin). Albert Einstein's entrenched system of rote learning (which he believed to be harmful to the very spirit of learning and creative thinking), as well as the authoritarian attitude of teachers towards students, caused Albert Einstein's rejection, so he often entered into disputes with his teachers.
In 1894 the Einsteins moved from Munich to italian city Pavia, near Milan, where the brothers Herman and Jacob moved their firm. Albert himself stayed with relatives in Munich for some time to complete all six classes of the gymnasium. Never having received his Abitur, in 1895 he joined his family in Pavia.
In the autumn of 1895, Albert Einstein arrived in Switzerland to take the entrance exams to the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich and become a teacher of physics. Having brilliantly shown himself in the exam in mathematics, he at the same time failed the exams in botany and French, which prevented him from entering the Zurich Polytechnic. However, the director of the school advised young man enter the final class of the school in Aarau (Switzerland) in order to receive a certificate and repeat the admission.
At the cantonal school of Aarau, Albert Einstein devoted his free time to studying Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. In September 1896, he successfully passed all the final exams at school, with the exception of the French language exam, and received a certificate
Abitur given to Albert Einstein in 1896, at the age of 17, after studying at the cantonal high school in Aarau, Switzerland.

In October 1896 he was admitted to the Polytechnical Faculty of Education. Here he became friends with a classmate, mathematician Marcel Grossman (1878-1936), and also met a Serbian student of the Faculty of Medicine Mileva Marich (4 years older than him), who later became his wife. In the same year, Einstein renounced German citizenship. To obtain Swiss citizenship, it was required to pay 1,000 Swiss francs, but the family's poor financial situation allowed him to do this only after 5 years. The father's enterprise completely went bankrupt this year, Einstein's parents moved to Milan, where Hermann Einstein, already without a brother, opened an electrical equipment trading company.
The style and methodology of teaching at the Polytechnic differed significantly from the ossified and authoritarian Prussian school, so further education was easier for the young man. He had first-class teachers, including the remarkable geometer Hermann Minkowski (Einstein often missed his lectures, which he later sincerely regretted) and the analyst Adolf Hurwitz.
Einstein graduated from the Polytechnic in 1900 with a degree in mathematics and physics. He passed the exams successfully, but not brilliantly. Many professors highly appreciated the abilities of the student Einstein, but no one wanted to help him continue his scientific career. Einstein himself later recalled: I was bullied by my professors, who did not like me because of my independence and closed my path to science.
Although the following year, 1901, Einstein received Swiss citizenship, but until the spring of 1902 he could not find a permanent job - even as a school teacher. Due to the lack of earnings, he literally starved, not taking food for several days in a row. This caused liver disease, from which the scientist suffered until the end of his life. Despite the hardships that haunted him in 1900-1902, Einstein found time to further study physics.
Albert Einstein with friends. 1903

In 1901, the Berlin Annals of Physics published his first article, "Consequences of the Theory of Capillarity" (Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen), devoted to the analysis of the forces of attraction between the atoms of liquids based on the theory of capillarity. A former classmate Marcel Grossman helped to overcome difficulties, recommending Einstein for the position of an expert of the III class in the Federal Office for Patenting Inventions (Bern) with a salary of 3,500 francs a year (during his student years he lived on 100 francs a month).
Einstein worked at the Patent Office from July 1902 to October 1909, mainly doing peer review of invention applications. In 1903 he became a permanent employee of the Bureau. The nature of the work allowed Einstein to devote his free time to research in the field of theoretical physics.
Albert Einstein is 25 years old. 1904

In October 1902, Einstein received news from Italy that his father was ill; Hermann Einstein died a few days after his son's arrival.
On January 6, 1903, Einstein married twenty-seven-year-old Mileva Marich. They had three children.
Mileva Marić

The year 1905 entered the history of physics as the "Year of Miracles" (lat. Annus Mirabilis). This year, the Annals of Physics, Germany's leading physics journal, published three of Einstein's seminal papers that ushered in a new scientific revolution.
Many prominent physicists remained true to classical mechanics and the concept of aether, among them Lorentz, J. J. Thomson, Lenard, Lodge, Nernst, Win. At the same time, some of them (for example, Lorentz himself) did not reject the results of the special theory of relativity, but interpreted them in the spirit of Lorentz's theory, preferring to look at the space-time concept of Einstein-Minkowski as a purely mathematical technique.
In 1907, Einstein published the quantum theory of heat capacity (the old theory at low temperatures diverged greatly from experiment. At the same time, Smoluchowski came to similar conclusions, whose article was published a few months later than Einstein. His work on statistical mechanics, entitled "A new definition of dimensions molecules", Einstein submitted to the Polytechnic as a dissertation and in the same 1905 received the title of Doctor of Philosophy (the equivalent of a candidate of natural sciences) in physics. The following year, Einstein developed his theory in a new article "On the theory of Brownian motion". Soon (1908) Perrin's measurements fully confirmed the adequacy of Einstein's model, which was the first experimental proof of the molecular-kinetic theory, which was under active attack from the positivists in those years.
The work of 1905 brought Einstein, although not immediately, worldwide fame. On April 30, 1905, he sent to the University of Zurich the text of his doctoral dissertation on the topic "A new determination of the size of molecules." On January 15, 1906, he received his Ph.D. in physics. He writes and meets with the world's most famous physicists, while Planck in Berlin incorporates the theory of relativity into his training course. In the letters he is called "Mr. Professor", but for another four years (until October 1909), Einstein continues to serve in the Patent Office; in 1906 he was promoted (he became an expert of the II class) and his salary was increased. In October 1908, Einstein was invited to read an elective course at the University of Bern, however, without any payment. In 1909 he attended a congress of naturalists in Salzburg, where the elite of German physics gathered, and met Planck for the first time; over 3 years of correspondence, they quickly became close friends and maintained this friendship until the end of their lives. After the congress, Einstein finally received a paid position as an extraordinary professor at the University of Zurich (December 1909), where his old friend Marcel Grossmann taught geometry. The pay was small, especially for a family with two children, and in 1911 Einstein accepted without hesitation an invitation to head the department of physics at the German University in Prague. During this period, Einstein continued to publish a series of papers on thermodynamics, relativity and quantum theory. In Prague, he activates research on the theory of gravitation, aiming to create a relativistic theory of gravity and to fulfill the old dream of physicists - to exclude Newtonian long-range action from this area.
In 1911, Einstein participated in the First Solvay Congress (Brussels), dedicated to quantum physics. There he had his only meeting with Poincaré, who continued to reject the theory of relativity, although he personally treated Einstein with great respect.
Photos of the participants of the first Solvay Congress in 1911 Brussels, Belgium.
The Solvay Congresses, a series of congresses that began at the visionary initiative of Ernest Solvay and continued under the direction of the International Institute of Physics he founded, provided a unique opportunity for physicists to discuss the fundamental problems that were at the center of their attention at various periods.
Seated (left to right): Walter Nernst, Marcel Brillouin, Ernest Solvay, Hendrik Lorenz, Emil Warburg, Wilhelm Wien, Jean Baptiste Perrin, Marie Curie, Henri Poincaré.
Standing (left to right): Robert Goldschmidt, Max Planck, Heinrich Rubens, Arnold Sommerfeld, Frederick Lindmann, Maurice de Broglie, Martin Knudsen, Friedrich Hasenorl, Georg Hostlet, Eduard Herzen, James Jeans, Ernest Rutherford, Heike Kamerling-Onnes, Albert Einstein , Paul Langevin.

A year later, Einstein returned to Zurich, where he became a professor at his native Polytechnic and lectured there on physics. In 1913 he attended the Congress of Naturalists in Vienna, where he visited the 75-year-old Ernst Mach; Once Mach's criticism of Newtonian mechanics made a great impression on Einstein and ideologically prepared him for the innovations of the theory of relativity.
Second Solvay Congress (1913)
Seated (left to right): Walter Nernst, Ernest Rutherford, Wilhelm Wien, Joseph John Thomson, Emil Warburg, Hendrik Lorenz, Marcel Brillouin, William Barlow, Heike Kamerling-Onnes, Robert Williams Wood, Louis Georg Gouy, Pierre Weiss.
Standing (left to right): Friedrich Hasenorl, Jules Emile Verschafelt, James Hopwood Jeans, William Henry Bragg, Max von Laue, Heinrich Rubens, Marie Curie, Robert Goldschmidt, Arnold Sommerfeld, Eduard Herzen, Albert Einstein, Frederick Lindmann, Maurice de Broglie, William Pope, Edward Gruneisen, Martin Knudsen, Georg Hostlet, Paul Langevin.

At the end of 1913, on the recommendation of Planck and Nernst, Einstein received an invitation to head the physical research institute being created in Berlin; he is also enrolled as a professor at the University of Berlin. In addition to being close to a friend Planck, this position had the advantage of not obliging him to be distracted by teaching. He accepted the invitation, and in the pre-war year of 1914, a staunch pacifist Einstein arrived in Berlin. Mileva stayed with her children in Zurich, their family broke up. In February 1919 they officially divorced.
Albert Einstein with Fritz Haber, 1914

In 1915, in a conversation with the Dutch physicist Wander de Haas, Einstein proposed a scheme and calculation of the experiment, which, after successful implementation, was called the "Einstein-de Haas effect". The result of the experiment inspired Niels Bohr, who created the planetary model of the atom two years earlier, because he confirmed that circular electron currents exist inside atoms, and electrons do not radiate in their orbits. It is these assumptions that Bohr made the basis of his model. In addition, it was found that the total magnetic moment is twice as large as expected; the reason for this was clarified when the spin was opened - own moment momentum of an electron.
In June 1919, Einstein married his maternal cousin Else Löwenthal (née Einstein, 1876-1936) and adopted her two children. At the end of the year, his seriously ill mother Paulina moved in with them; she died in February 1920. Judging by the letters, Einstein was very upset by her death.

Albert and Elsa Einstein meet reporters

After the end of the war, Einstein continued to work in the old areas of physics, and also engaged in new areas - relativistic cosmology and the "Unified Field Theory", which, according to his plan, was to combine gravity, electromagnetism and (preferably) the theory of the microcosm. The first paper on cosmology, "Cosmological considerations for general theory relativity”, appeared in 1917. After that, Einstein experienced a mysterious "invasion of diseases" - except serious problems with the liver, a stomach ulcer was discovered, then jaundice and general weakness. For several months he did not get out of bed, but continued to work actively. Only in 1920, the disease receded.
Photograph of Albert Einstein in his office at the University of Berlin in 1920.

Einstein in the home of Leiden University physics professor Paul Ehrenfest in 1920.

Einstein visiting Amsterdam with experimental physicist Peter Zeman (left) and with his friend Paul Ehrenfest. (circa 1920)

In May 1920, Einstein, along with other members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, was sworn in as a civil servant and was legally considered a German citizen. However, he retained Swiss citizenship until the end of his life. In the 1920s, receiving invitations from everywhere, he traveled extensively in Europe (on a Swiss passport),
Albert Einstein in Barcelona, ​​1923

lectured for scientists, students and for the inquisitive public.
Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921

Einstein speaking in Gothenburg, Sweden.1923

He also visited the United States, where a special welcoming resolution of the Congress (1921) was adopted in honor of the eminent guest.
Albert Einstein and observatory staff near the 40-inch refractor of the Yerkes Observatory. 1921

Tour of Marconi Station in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Famous scientists are present in the photo, including Tesla, 1921

At the end of 1922 he visited India, where he had a long association with Tagore, and China. Einstein met winter in Japan.
Visit of Albert Einstein to Tohoku University. From left to right: Kotaro Honda, Albert Einstein, Keichi Aichi, Shirouta Kusakabe. 1922

In 1923 he spoke in Jerusalem, where it was planned soon (1925) to open the Hebrew University.
Einstein was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but the members of the Nobel Committee for a long time did not dare to award the prize to the author of such revolutionary theories. In the end, a diplomatic solution was found: the prize for 1921 was awarded to Einstein (at the very end of 1922) for the theory of the photoelectric effect, that is, for the most indisputable and well-tested work in the experiment; however, the text of the decision contained a neutral addition: "... and for other work in the field of theoretical physics."
On November 10, 1922, Christopher Aurvillius, secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, wrote to Einstein:
Albert Einstein in Berlin. 1922

As I already informed you by telegram, the Royal Academy of Sciences at its yesterday's meeting decided to award you the prize in physics for the past (1921) year, thereby acknowledging your work in theoretical physics, in particular the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, without taking into account your work on the theory of relativity and the theory of gravity, which will be evaluated after their confirmation in the future.
Naturally, traditional Nobel speech(1923) Einstein devoted to the theory of relativity.
Albert Einstein. Official photograph of the 1921 Nobel Prize winner in physics.

In 1924, the young Indian physicist Shatyendranath Bose, in a short letter, asked Einstein to help him publish an article in which he put forward the assumption that formed the basis of modern quantum statistics. Bose proposed to consider light as a gas of photons. Einstein concluded that the same statistics could be used for atoms and molecules in general. In 1925, Einstein published an article by Bose in German translation, and then his own article, in which he outlined a generalized Bose model applicable to systems of identical particles with integer spin, called bosons. Based on this quantum statistics, now known as the Bose-Einstein statistics, both physicists back in the mid-1920s theoretically substantiated the existence of the fifth state of aggregation of matter - the Bose-Einstein condensate.
Portrait of Albert Einstein. 1925

In 1927, at the Fifth Solvay Congress, Einstein strongly opposed the "Copenhagen interpretation" of Max Born and Niels Bohr, which treats the mathematical model of quantum mechanics as essentially probabilistic. Einstein stated that the supporters of this interpretation “make virtue out of need”, and the probabilistic nature only indicates that our knowledge of the physical essence of microprocesses is incomplete. He sarcastically remarked: "God does not play dice" (German: Der Herrgott würfelt nicht), to which Niels Bohr objected: "Einstein, don't tell God what to do." Einstein accepted the "Copenhagen interpretation" only as a temporary, incomplete version, which, as physics progresses, should be replaced by a complete theory of the microworld. He himself made attempts to create a deterministic non-linear theory, the approximate consequence of which would be quantum mechanics.
Solvay Congress of 1927 on quantum mechanics.
1st row (left to right): Irving Langmuir, Max Planck, Marie Curie, Henrik Lorentz, Albert Einstein, Paul Langevin, Charles Guy, Charles Wilson, Owen Richardson.
2nd row (left to right): Peter Debye, Martin Knudsen, William Bragg, Hendrik Kramers, Paul Dirac, Arthur Compton, Louis de Broglie, Max Born, Niels Bohr.
Standing (left to right): Auguste Picard, Emile Hanrio, Paul Ehrenfest, Eduard Herzen, Theophile de Donder, Erwin Schrödinger, Jules Emile Verschafelt, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Ralph Fowler, Leon Brillouin.

In 1928, Einstein spent last way Lorenz, with whom he became very friendly in his last years. It was Lorentz who nominated Einstein for the Nobel Prize in 1920 and endorsed it the following year.
Albert Einstein and Hendrik Anton Lorenz in Leiden in 1921.

In 1929, the world celebrated Einstein's 50th birthday with a bang. The hero of the day did not take part in the celebrations and hid in his villa near Potsdam, where he grew roses with enthusiasm. Here he received friends - scientists, Tagore, Emmanuel Lasker, Charlie Chaplin and others.
Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore

Albert Einstein received an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne University in Paris in November 1929.

Albert Einstein plays the violin during a charity concert at the New Synagogue in Berlin, January 29, 1930.

Portrait of Albert Einstein taken by the clairvoyant Madame Sylvia in Berlin in 1930. For a long time it hung in the visitors' room in her office

Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein at the 1930 Solvay Congress in Brussels

Einstein opens the radio show. Berlin, August 1930

Einstein on a radio show Berlin, August 1930

In 1931, Einstein again visited the United States.
Einstein's departure to America. December 1930

Albert Einstein in 1931 was struck by the enthusiasm of journalists in the United States who wanted him to explain his theory of relativity to them. Einstein said it would take at least three days

In Pasadena, he was very warmly received by Michelson, who had four months to live.
Albert Einstein, Albert Abraham Michelson, Robert Andrews Milliken.1931

Returning to Berlin in the summer, Einstein, in a speech before the Physical Society, paid tribute to the memory of the remarkable experimenter who laid the foundation stone of the theory of relativity.
Until about 1926, Einstein worked in very many areas of physics, from cosmological models to the study of the causes of meanders in rivers. Further, with rare exceptions, he focuses his efforts on quantum problems and the Unified Field Theory.
Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. December 1925

As the economic crisis grew in Weimar Germany, political instability intensified, contributing to the strengthening of radical nationalist and anti-Semitic sentiments. Insults and threats against Einstein became more frequent, one of the leaflets even offered a large reward (50,000 marks) on his head. After the Nazis came to power, all the works of Einstein were either attributed to "Aryan" physicists, or declared a distortion of true science. Lenard, who led the German Physics group, proclaimed: “The most important example dangerous influence Jewish circles for the study of nature are represented by Einstein with his theories and mathematical chatter, made up of old information and arbitrary additions ... We must understand that it is unworthy of a German to be a spiritual follower of a Jew. An uncompromising racial purge unfolded in all scientific circles in Germany.
In 1933, Einstein had to leave Germany, to which he was very attached, forever.
Albert Einstein and his wife after their exile in Belgium, where they lived in the Villa Savoyarde in Haan. 1933

Villa Savoyarde in Haan (Belgium), where Einstein briefly lived after being expelled from Germany. 1933

Einstein gives an interview to journalists at Villa Savoyarde in Belgium. 1933

Albert Einstein with his wife in 1933 at a villa in Savoyarde.

Together with his family, he left for the United States of America with visitor visas.
Albert Einstein in Santa Barbara, 1933

Soon, in protest against the crimes of Nazism, he renounced German citizenship and membership in the Prussian and Bavarian academies of sciences.
After moving to the US, Albert Einstein was appointed professor of physics at the newly established Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The eldest son, Hans-Albert (1904-1973), soon followed him (1938); he subsequently became a recognized specialist in hydraulics and a professor at the University of California (1947). Einstein's youngest son, Eduard (1910-1965), fell ill with a severe form of schizophrenia around 1930 and ended up in a Zurich psychiatric hospital. Cousin Einstein, Lina, died in Auschwitz, another sister, Bertha Dreyfus, died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp
Albert Einstein with his daughter and son. November 1930

In the United States, Einstein instantly became one of the most famous and respected people in the country, gaining a reputation as the most brilliant scientist in history, as well as the personification of the image of the “absent-minded professor” and the intellectual capabilities of man in general. The following January, 1934, he was invited to The White house to President Franklin Roosevelt, had a cordial conversation with him and even spent the night there. Every day, Einstein received hundreds of letters of various content, to which (even children's ones) he tried to answer. Being a naturalist with a worldwide reputation, he remained an accessible, modest, undemanding and affable person.
Portrait of Albert Einstein. 1934

In December 1936, Elsa died of heart disease; Marcel Grossmann had died three months earlier in Zurich. Einstein's loneliness was brightened up by sister Maya,
Sister Maya

Margo's stepdaughter (Elsa's daughter from her first marriage), Ellen Dukas's secretary, and Tiger the cat. To the surprise of the Americans, Einstein never got a car and a TV. Maya was partially paralyzed after a stroke in 1946, and every evening Einstein read books to his beloved sister.
In August 1939, Einstein signed a letter written at the initiative of Leo Szilard, an immigrant physicist from Hungary, addressed to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The letter drew the President's attention to the possibility that Nazi Germany would acquire an atomic bomb.
Albert Einstein receives a certificate of American citizenship from Judge Philip Foreman. October 1, 1940

After several months of deliberation, Roosevelt decided to take this threat seriously and opened his own project to create an atomic weapon. Einstein himself did not take part in these works. Later, he regretted the letter he signed, realizing that for the new US leader Harry Truman, nuclear energy serves as a tool of intimidation. Subsequently, he criticized the development of nuclear weapons, their use in Japan and testing at Bikini Atoll (1954), and considered his involvement in accelerating work on the American nuclear program greatest tragedy own life. Widely known were his aphorisms: "We won the war, but not the peace"; "If the third world war will be fought with atomic bombs, then the fourth - with stones and sticks."
70th anniversary celebration. 1949

In the postwar years, Einstein became one of the founders of the Pugwash Peace Movement. Although his first conference was held after the death of Einstein (1957), the initiative to create such a movement was expressed in the widely known Russell-Einstein Manifesto (written jointly with Bertrand Russell), which also warned of the danger of creating and using a hydrogen bomb. As part of this movement, Einstein, who was its chairman, together with Albert Schweitzer, Bertrand Russell, Frederic Joliot-Curie and other world-famous scientists, fought against the arms race, the creation of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Einstein also called for the creation of a world government in order to prevent a new war, for which he received sharp criticism in the Soviet press (1947)
Niels Bohr, James Frank, Albert Einstein, October 3, 1954

Until the end of his life, Einstein continued to work on the study of the problems of cosmology, but he directed his main efforts to the creation of a unified field theory.
In 1955, Einstein's health deteriorated rapidly. He wrote a will and told his friends: "I have fulfilled my task on earth." His last work was an unfinished appeal calling for the prevention of nuclear war.
His stepdaughter Margot recalled last meeting with Einstein in the hospital: He spoke with deep calm, about doctors even with a touch of humor, and waited for his death, as an upcoming "phenomenon of nature." How fearless he was in life, so quiet and peaceful he met death. Without any sentimentality and without regrets, he left this world.
Albert Einstein in the last years of his life (probably 1950)

The scientist who turned mankind's ideas about the Universe upside down, Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 at 1:25 a.m., at the age of 77 in Princeton, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Before his death, he spoke a few words in German, but the American nurse was unable to reproduce them later.
On April 19, 1955, the funeral of the great scientist took place without wide publicity, at which only 12 of his closest friends were present. His body was burned in the Ewing Cemetery crematorium and the ashes scattered to the wind.
Newspaper headlines with obituaries. 1955

Einstein had a passion for music, especially 18th-century compositions. IN different years among his preferred composers were Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Haydn and Schubert, and in recent years, Brahms. He played the violin well, with which he never parted.
Albert Einstein plays the violin. 1921

Violin Concerto by Albert Einstein. 1941

He served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York with Julian Huxley, Thomas Mann, and John Dewey.
Thomas Mann with Albert Einstein at Princeton, 1938

He strongly condemned the "Oppenheimer case", who in 1953 was accused of "communist sympathies" and removed from secret work.
Physicist Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein talk at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. 1940s

Alarmed by the rapid growth of anti-Semitism in Germany, Einstein supported the Zionist movement's call for a Jewish national home in Palestine and delivered a number of articles and speeches on the subject. The idea of ​​opening the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1925) received especially active assistance from him.
The leaders of the World Zionist Organization, upon their arrival in New York, met with Albert Einstein. In the photo Mossinson, Einstein, Chaim Weizmann, Dr. Ussyshkin. 1921

He explained his position:
Until recently, I lived in Switzerland, and while I was there, I did not realize my Jewishness ...
When I arrived in Germany, I first learned that I was a Jew, and it was more non-Jews than Jews who helped me make this discovery ... Then I realized that only a common cause, which would be dear to all Jews in the world, could lead to the revival of the people ... If If we did not have to live among intolerant, soulless and cruel people, I would be the first to reject nationalism in favor of universal humanity.
Dr. Albert Einstein and Meyer Weisgal arrived at the Anglo-American Committee on Palestine. 1946

Albert Einstein testifies on behalf of the UN about the illegal restriction of Jewish immigration to Palestine.

In 1947, Einstein welcomed the establishment of the State of Israel, hoping for a binational Arab-Jewish solution to the Palestine problem. He wrote to Paul Ehrenfest in 1921: "Zionism is truly a new Jewish ideal and can restore the joy of existence to the Jewish people." Already after the Holocaust, he remarked: “Zionism did not protect German Jewry from destruction. But for those who survived, Zionism gave internal forces endure disaster with dignity, without losing healthy self-respect. In 1952, Einstein even received an offer to become the second president of Israel, which the scientist politely refused, citing a lack of experience. similar work. Einstein bequeathed all his letters and manuscripts (and even the copyright for the commercial use of his image and name) to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Albert Einstein with Ben Gurion, 1951

In addition
Albert Einstein on the steamship Portland, December 1931

Albert Einstein arriving at Newark Airport in April 1939.

Albert Einstein lectures at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.1940s

Albert Einstein 1947

The world-famous scientist Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in southern Germany. His mother came from a noble family, but his father devoted his whole life to working in a factory where they stuffed mattresses. An interesting fact from his childhood is that he could not speak until the age of 4, but despite this, he was very curious and intelligent already at that time. Since childhood, he was very good at mathematics, he liked to solve the most difficult tasks and successfully coped with them.

At the age of 12, it was not difficult for him to study geometry and other sciences. It is worth noting that until some time parents believed that their child was not quite full-fledged and was distinguished by dementia. This opinion was formed as a result of the fact that Albert Einstein had a large head, which called into question his abilities. In addition, at school he was very slow compared to other students, and the teachers really thought that Einstein was good for nothing.

The future scientist played the violin remarkably and once gave a concert in the capital of Germany, and the proceeds went to support famous German figures who emigrated during the Nazi era.

In 1896 he entered the gymnasium, and, oddly enough, was not the best student. Studying was difficult for him, but he studied Latin and mathematics with pleasure. He did not manage to graduate from the gymnasium, as his family was forced to move to Pavia, where the Einsteins were from.

He dreamed of entering the Institute of Zurich, but could not pass the French exam and went to the Aarauki school. There he is fond of physics, studies various theories and successfully receives a certificate.

After 5 years, he moved to Switzerland with his wife and received citizenship there. After some time, he gets a job as a teacher at a local university, where he brilliantly lectures to students. At this time, Einstein writes several scientific works published in popular science journals. The fame of the young scientist spreads throughout Europe.

Einstein died in 1955 and was buried in America.

7th grade for children

Biography of Einstein Albert about the main thing

Albert Einstein was born in the spring of 1879 in Germany. His parents were Jews. My father owned a factory that made stuffing for featherbeds. Then the boy's father began to sell electrical equipment, and the whole family moved to Munich. There, Albert had a sister.

The child went to a Catholic school. Until the age of 12, the boy was very religious. He read a lot scientific books, and thoughts came to him that what is told in the Bible could not actually happen. Albert believed that the German authorities deliberately misled the people. The boy was still playing the violin. He loved music. When the scientist grew up, he even gave a charity concert.

Then the boy was sent to the gymnasium. There, his favorite subjects were mathematics and Latin. The boy often argued with his teachers, he did not like their education system.

The family moved to Italy in 1894, but the boy remained in Germany as he needed to finish high school.

The young man went to Switzerland in 1895 to attend a school. Of the three exams, he passed only mathematics, so he was not accepted. Albert entered the last grade of the school. The following year, the young man entered the school. He made friends among classmates. He also met a girl from the Faculty of Medicine, who later became the wife of a physicist.

The student's father is bankrupt. Parents moved to Milan. The style of teaching at the school was not the same as at school. This pleased the young physicist. Albert had very good teachers.

The young man graduated from the Polytechnic in 1900. The teachers highly appreciated Albert's knowledge and abilities, but did not want to help him in his scientific activities.

The scientist could not find himself permanent job during several years. He lived in poverty and starved. Sometimes he didn't even eat for several days. Because of this, Albert's liver got sick. The young man, even in such difficult times, continued to study physics.

As a result, Albert's friend got him a job at the Bureau. The scientist served there for seven years.

Albert's father died in 1902. Three months later, the physicist got married. The couple had three children.

Albert worked for a physics magazine. In 1905 he published three articles, they were brilliant. Then Albert began to study the properties of the ether. He created a formula that showed the relationship between mass and energy. For next years scientist created many theories.

Albert became very ill, he did not get out of bed, not only his liver, but also his stomach ached, and then jaundice began. Despite this, he continued to work.

The physicist married a second time in 1919. His wife had two girls, the scientist adopted them. In the same year, Albert's mother died. This period was very difficult in the life of a physicist. In the autumn of that year, Eddington's expedition proved the physicist's prediction. The scientist became famous all over the world.

In 1922, the physicist received the Nobel Prize. Albert traveled a lot.

The scientist had a negative attitude towards Nazism. He left Germany, went to the USA. He criticized the use of nuclear weapons.

The great and talented physicist died in the spring of 1955.

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