Albert Einstein was the most famous scientist of his age and
one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He was born to Jewish parents in Ulm
on March 14, 1879. He spent his youth in Munich, where his father owned a small
shop that manufactured electric machinery.
Einstein did not talk
until the age of three. Added to this, due to the unsatisfactory nature of the
business, his father had to change his place of residence several times and
this made the early education of Einstein very irregular.
Further, Einstein hated
the dull regimentation and unimaginative spirit of classroom education. He
finished his secondary school in Arran Switzerland and entered the Swiss National Polytechnic in Zurich. He could not enjoy the methods of education
there.
He often cut classes and used the time to study mathematics
and physics on his own and to play the violin. By studying the notes of a
classmate he passed his examinations and graduated in 1900. None of his
professors thought highly of him. As he was a Jew he could not get a job easily.
Einstein worked as a tutor for two years and in 1902 he
secured a position as an examiner in the Swiss patent office. In 1905 he
received his doctorate from the University of Zurich.
Einstein’s theories were so complex and obscure that many of
his colleagues could not comprehend him, let alone support him. However, he
had some important supporters like Max Planck, the German physicist. His fame
spread worldwide.
He got many honours and awards, including the Nobel Prize for
physics in 1922. His visit to any part of the world became a national event;
photographers and reporters followed him everywhere.
In 1932-1933, when Hitler came to power, Einstein was
lecturing at the California Institute of Technology. He never returned to Germany.
He became a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton,
which he occupied till his death.
During World War II, he wrote a letter to President Franklin
D. Roosevelt about the possibility of Germany making an atomic bomb. This letter
lent a sense of urgency to the USA to make the atomic bomb. But Einstein neither
played any role in the work nor knew anything about the USA's efforts at that
time.
After the World War II, Einstein was active in the cause of
international disarmament. He preached for ‘one world’ and a ‘world government’.
Thus giving much of himself to political and social causes, he is rightly
called by many as a ‘world citizen’. He exhorted the intellectuals of the world
to make any sacrifice for preserving peace in the world. He died in Princeton
on April 18, 1955.
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