Albert Einstein facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Albert Einstein
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Einstein in 1947
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| Born | 14 March 1879 |
| Died | 18 April 1955 (aged 76) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Resting place | Ashes scattered at an undisclosed location |
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| Family | Einstein |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
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| Doctoral advisor | Alfred Kleiner |
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Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born scientist who is famous for creating the theory of relativity. He was a theoretical physicist, which means he used math to understand the laws of nature. Einstein also made key discoveries in quantum mechanics, another important area of physics.
His formula for mass–energy equivalence, E = mc², is known as "the world's most famous equation." It explains that energy (E) and mass (m) are two forms of the same thing. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for explaining the photoelectric effect, which showed that light can act like a particle.
Einstein was born in Germany but moved to Switzerland as a teenager. He later worked in a patent office, where he had time to think about physics. In 1905, a year often called his "miracle year," he published four papers that changed science forever.
When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Einstein was visiting the United States. As a Jewish person, he knew it was not safe to return. He stayed in the U.S. and became an American citizen in 1940. He warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the danger of Germany building an atomic bomb, which led to the U.S. starting its own research.
Einstein is considered one of the most intelligent and influential scientists in history. His work completely changed our understanding of space, time, gravity, and the universe.
Contents
Life and Career
Childhood and Education
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Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. His parents were Hermann and Pauline Einstein, who were non-religious Ashkenazi Jews. When he was a young boy and sick in bed, his father showed him a compass. Einstein was fascinated by the invisible force that made the needle move. He later said, "Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."
He did not enjoy the strict rules at his school in Munich. He felt that the focus on memorizing facts hurt creativity. When his family moved to Italy, Einstein, then 15, stayed behind to finish school. He soon left the school and joined his family.
From a young age, Einstein was brilliant at math and physics. By age 12, he was teaching himself advanced subjects like algebra and calculus. He even came up with his own proof for the Pythagorean theorem. A family friend said that Einstein's "mathematical genius was so high I could not follow."
At 16, he failed the general part of the entrance exam for a top polytechnic school in Zurich, Switzerland. However, his scores in math and physics were excellent. He finished his high school education in Aarau, Switzerland, and graduated in 1896.
Patent Office and Early Work
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After graduating from college, Einstein struggled to find a teaching job. In 1902, he got a job as an examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. His job was to review inventions that people wanted to protect with a patent. This work gave him a steady income and free time to think about physics.
In 1905, Einstein had what is called his annus mirabilis (miracle year). He published four amazing scientific papers in the journal Annalen der Physik. These papers covered:
- The photoelectric effect, which suggested that light is made of tiny packets of energy called quanta (later named photons). This was a key step in developing quantum theory.
- Brownian motion, which explained the random movement of particles in a liquid. This provided strong evidence that atoms and molecules exist.
- The special theory of relativity, which changed our ideas about space and time. It stated that the speed of light is constant for all observers.
- Mass–energy equivalence, which introduced the famous equation E = mc². It showed that mass can be converted into a huge amount of energy.
These papers laid the foundation for modern physics and made him a rising star in the scientific world.
Academic Career and Fame
After his 1905 papers, universities began to notice Einstein. He left the patent office in 1908 and became a professor. He taught at universities in Bern, Zurich, and Prague before moving to Berlin in 1914. There, he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
In 1915, he completed his general theory of relativity. This theory described gravity not as a force, but as a curve in space and time caused by mass and energy. One of his predictions was that gravity could bend light.
In 1919, a team of scientists led by Sir Arthur Eddington tested this idea during a solar eclipse. They measured the light from distant stars as it passed by the Sun. They found that the light did bend, just as Einstein had predicted.
When the results were announced, Einstein became world-famous overnight. Newspapers around the globe wrote headlines like "Revolution in Science." He was no longer just a respected scientist; he was a celebrity.
Marriages and Children
While studying in Zurich, Einstein met Mileva Marić, a fellow physics student from Serbia. They married in 1903 and had two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard. They also had a daughter named Lieserl before they were married, but what happened to her is unknown.
Einstein and Marić divorced in 1919. As part of their agreement, Einstein promised to give her the money if he ever won a Nobel Prize, which he did two years later.
In 1919, Einstein married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. She was with him during his rise to fame and when he moved to the United States. Elsa died in 1936.
Einstein's younger son, Eduard, had serious mental health problems and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent much of his adult life in a hospital in Switzerland.
Moving to the United States
In the early 1930s, Einstein was a visiting professor in the United States. During this time, the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany. The Nazis hated Jewish people and passed laws that removed them from jobs, including university positions.
As a famous Jewish scientist, Einstein was a target. The Nazis burned his books and put a price on his head. In 1933, while in Belgium, Einstein realized he could not safely return to Germany. He gave up his German citizenship.
He accepted a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He would work there for the rest of his life. In 1940, he became a U.S. citizen. Einstein was grateful for the freedom he found in America. He said it was a place where people could think and say what they pleased.
World War II and the Atomic Bomb
In 1939, other scientists who had fled Europe warned Einstein that Nazi Germany might be trying to build an atomic bomb. They worried what would happen if Hitler had such a powerful weapon.
Although Einstein was a pacifist (someone who is against war), he felt he had to act. He and another scientist, Leó Szilárd, wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter warned of the danger and recommended that the U.S. start its own nuclear research.
This letter was a key reason for the start of the Manhattan Project, the secret U.S. program that developed the atomic bomb. Einstein himself did not work on the project.
Later in life, Einstein expressed regret about the letter. He said, "I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt." He explained that he only did it because he feared the Germans would build the bomb first.
Final Years and Death
Einstein spent his later years in Princeton, continuing his search for a "unified field theory" that would connect all the forces of nature. He also spoke out for civil rights and peace. He called racism in America its "worst disease" and was a member of the NAACP.
On April 17, 1955, Einstein suffered a burst blood vessel. He was taken to the hospital but refused surgery, saying, "I want to go when I want... I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly." He died the next morning at the age of 76.
His brain was removed during the autopsy for scientific study, in the hope that it might reveal the secret of his genius. His ashes were scattered in a secret location, according to his wishes.
Scientific Discoveries
Theory of Relativity
Einstein's most famous work is his theory of relativity, which is split into two parts.
Special Relativity
In 1905, Einstein introduced his special theory of relativity. It is based on two main ideas:
- The laws of physics are the same for everyone who is not accelerating.
- The speed of light in a vacuum is always the same, no matter how fast the person measuring it is moving.
These ideas led to strange but true conclusions. For example, a moving clock ticks slower than a stationary one (time dilation). Also, an object gets shorter in its direction of motion as it moves faster (length contraction). Special relativity also led to his famous equation, E = mc².
General Relativity
Einstein published his general theory of relativity in 1915. It is a theory of gravity. Instead of gravity being a force pulling objects together, Einstein showed that it is a result of how mass and energy warp or curve spacetime.
Think of spacetime as a trampoline. If you place a heavy bowling ball in the center, it creates a dip. If you then roll a marble nearby, it will curve and fall toward the bowling ball. According to Einstein, this is how gravity works. Planets orbit the Sun because they are following the curve in spacetime created by the Sun's massive size.
This theory also predicted the existence of black holes and gravitational waves (ripples in spacetime), which have both been confirmed by scientists.
Quantum Theory
Einstein was one of the founders of quantum theory. His 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect proposed that light is made of particles called photons. This idea helped explain how light can knock electrons out of a metal.
However, Einstein was never comfortable with some parts of quantum mechanics. He disliked the idea that the universe is based on randomness and probability. He famously said, "God does not play dice." He had many debates with another famous physicist, Niels Bohr, about the meaning of quantum mechanics.
Legacy
Albert Einstein is one of the most celebrated scientists in history. His theories of relativity changed our view of the universe. His work on quantum theory helped start a new field of physics.
His name has become a synonym for "genius." In 1999, Time magazine named him "Person of the Century." The chemical element einsteinium was named in his honor.
Beyond his science, Einstein is remembered as a great thinker who cared about humanity. He used his fame to speak out for peace, freedom, and social justice. His ideas continue to inspire scientists and people all over the world.
Albert Einstein quotes
- "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
- "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
- "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
- “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
- “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
- “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
- “I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”
- “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence."
Interesting facts about Albert Einstein
- Albert dropped out of school at age 15, after he had mastered differential and integral calculus.
- He renounced his German citizenship at age 16.
- He played the violin and owned one that he named Lina.
- Albert never learned to swim but liked to sail. He owned a boat named Tinef, which is Yiddish for “worthless.”
- Albert married Mileva Marić, the only female student in his physics class.
- He promised his Nobel Prize money to Mileva if she would grant him a divorce.
- Albert’s second wife was his first cousin.
- Albert’s son, Eduard, was institutionalized for most of his adult life after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
- Albert had a habit of not wearing socks.
- The make-up supervisor responsible for Yoda designed his eyes and wrinkles based on Einstein’s features.
- He smoked a pipe.
- The FBI spied on him for 22 years.
- Albert Einstein’s brain was taken for study after his death.
Images for kids
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Einstein in 1893, age 14
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Einstein's high school diploma grades from 1896. A score of 6 was the highest possible grade.
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The cover of Einstein's 1905 PhD dissertation.
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Einstein with colleagues at the ETH in Zurich, 1913
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Einstein with other scientists in Berlin, 1920
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Einstein's official portrait after receiving the 1921 Nobel Prize.
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Einstein at a meeting of the League of Nations in 1922.
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Einstein writing on a blackboard in Pasadena, California, 1931.
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Einstein with actor Charlie Chaplin at a movie premiere in 1931.
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Portrait of Einstein taken in 1935 at Princeton.
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Einstein playing the violin in 1927. He was a passionate musician.
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See also
In Spanish: Albert Einstein para niños
