The name of this scientist is familiar to everyone. And if his achievements are an integral part of the school curriculum, then the biography of Albert Einstein remains beyond its framework. This is the greatest of scientists. His work determined the development of modern physics. In addition, a very interesting person was Albert Einstein. A short biography will introduce you to the achievements, the main milestones of the life path and some interesting facts about this scientist.
Childhood
The years of life of a genius - 1879-1955. The biography of Albert Einstein begins on March 14, 1879. It was then that he was born in the city of Ulm (Germany). His father was a poor Jewish merchant. He kept a small workshop of electrical goods.
It is known that until three years old Albert did not speak, but he showed extraordinary curiosity in the early years. The future scientist was interested to know how the world works. In addition, from a young age, he showed abilities in mathematics, could understand abstract ideas. At the age of 12, he himself, through books, studied Euclidean geometry by Albert Einstein.
A biography for children, we believe, must certainly include one curious fact about Alberta. It is known that the famous scientist in childhood was not a child prodigy. Moreover, others doubted its usefulness. Einstein's mother suspected the presence of congenital deformity in the child (the fact is that he had a large head). The future genius at school proved to be slow, lazy, withdrawn. Everyone laughed at him. Teachers believed that he was practically not capable of anything. It will be very useful for students to find out how difficult the childhood of such a great scientist as Albert Einstein was. A brief biography for children should not only be a list of facts, but also teach something. In this case - tolerance, self-confidence. If your child is desperate and considers himself incapable of anything, just tell him about Einstein’s childhood. He did not give up, retained faith in his own strength, as evidenced by the further biography of Albert Einstein. The scientist has proven that he is capable of much.
Relocation to Italy
The young scientist was repelled by boredom and regulation at the Munich school. In 1894, due to business failures, the family was forced to leave Germany. Einsteins went to Italy, to Milan. Albert, who was 15 at the time, took the opportunity to drop out of school. He spent another year with his parents in Milan. However, it soon became clear that Albert should decide on his life. After graduating from high school in Switzerland (in Arrau), the biography of Albert Einstein continues his studies at the Zurich Polytechnic.
Education at the Zurich Polytechnic
He did not like the teaching methods at the Polytechnic. The young man often missed lectures, devoting free time to studying physics, as well as playing the violin, which was Einstein's favorite instrument all his life. In 1900, Albert managed to pass exams (he prepared according to the notes of a fellow student). So Einstein got a degree. It is known that professors had a very low opinion of the graduate and did not recommend him a further scientific career.
Work in a patent office
After receiving the diploma, the future scientist began working in the patent office as an expert. Since the evaluation of technical characteristics usually took about 10 minutes for a young specialist, he had a lot of free time. Thanks to this, Albert Einstein began to develop his own theories. A brief biography and its discoveries soon became known to many.
Three important works of Einstein
1905 was a significant year in the development of physics. It was then that Einstein published important works that played an outstanding role in the history of this science in the 20th century. The first of the articles was devoted to the Brownian movement. The scientist made important predictions about the movement of particles suspended in a liquid. This movement, he noted, is due to a collision of molecules. Later, the scientist’s predictions were confirmed experimentally.
Albert Einstein, whose brief biography and discoveries are just beginning, soon published his second work, this time devoted to the photoelectric effect. Albert put forward a hypothesis about the nature of light, which was nothing short of revolutionary. The scientist suggested that under certain circumstances it is possible to consider light as a stream of photons - particles whose energy correlates with the frequency of the light wave. Almost all physicists immediately agreed with Einstein's idea. However, in order for the theory of photons to be recognized in quantum mechanics, it took 20 years of intense effort by theorists and experimenters. But the most revolutionary work of Einstein was the third, "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies." It extraordinarily clearly set forth the ideas of WHAT (private theory of relativity) Albert Einstein. A brief biography of the scientist continues with a short story about this theory.
Private Theory of Relativity
She destroyed the notions of time and space that existed in science since the time of Newton. A. Poincare and G.A. Lorentz created a number of provisions of the new theory, however, only Einstein was able to clearly formulate its postulates in physical language. This concerns, first of all, the principle of relativity, as well as the presence of a limit on the speed of signal propagation. And today one can come across statements that supposedly even before Einstein the theory of relativity was created. However, this is not true, since in WHAT formulas (many of which Poincare and Lorenz really derived) are important not so much as the correct foundations from the point of view of physics. After all, these formulas follow from them. Only Albert Einstein was able to reveal the theory of relativity in terms of physical content.
Einstein's view on the structure of theories
At first, the perception of Albert's work was mixed. Many representatives of the scientific community simply did not understand them. This situation has arisen due to the specific views of Albert Einstein on the structure of theories, as well as on the relationship between them and experiments. Einstein acknowledged that experience is the only source of knowledge. However, he was convinced that theories in science are creations of human intuition, therefore the foundations on which a good theory is based do not necessarily have to be logically connected with experiment and experience. According to Einstein, an ideal theory should be based on a minimum number of postulates and at the same time cover the largest number of phenomena. Due to the "stinginess" on the postulates, the work of Albert Einstein was hard to reach for colleagues. Nevertheless, a number of prominent physicists supported the discoveries of the young scientist. Particularly among them can be identified Max Planck. This scientist helped Albert move from Zurich, first to Prague, and then to Berlin, where he took the post of director of the local Institute of Physics Kaiser Wilhelm.
General Theory of Relativity (GR)
Albert Einstein from 1907 to 1915 worked on a new theory of gravity, based on the principles of the theory of relativity. Winding and difficult was the path that led Albert to success. The main idea of general relativity, built by him, is the existence of an inextricable connection between the geometry of space-time and the gravitational field. Space-time in the presence of gravitating masses, according to Einstein, becomes non-Euclidean. He appears curvature, which is the greater, the more intense the gravitational field in this area of space. Albert Einstein introduced the final equations of general relativity in December 1915, during a meeting in Berlin of the Academy of Sciences. This theory is the pinnacle of Albert's work. She is, by all accounts, one of the most beautiful in physics.
The eclipse of 1919 and its role in the fate of Einstein
Understanding of GR, however, did not come immediately. The first three years this theory was of interest to a few specialists. Only a few scientists understood it. However, in 1919 the situation changed dramatically. Then direct observations managed to verify one of the paradoxical predictions of this theory - that a ray of light from a distant star is curved by the gravitational field of the Sun. Verification is only possible with a total solar eclipse. In 1919, the phenomenon could be observed in those parts of the globe where there was good weather. Thanks to this, it became possible to accurately photograph the position of the stars at the time of the eclipse. The expedition, equipped by the English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, was able to obtain information confirming Einstein's assumption. Albert literally one day became a world-famous celebrity. The fame that fell upon him was immense. For a long time, the theory of relativity has become the subject of debate. Articles about it were full of newspapers from all over the world. Many popular books were published, where the authors explained to the inhabitants of its essence.
The recognition of the scientific community, the debate of Einstein with Bohr
Finally, recognition came in the scientific community. Einstein in 1921 received the Nobel Prize (although for the theory of quanta, and not for general relativity). He was elected an honorary member of a number of academies. Albert’s opinion has become one of the most respected in the whole world. In the twenties, Einstein traveled a lot around the world. He has participated in ongoing international conferences around the world. The role of this scientist was especially important in the discussions that unfolded in the late 1920s on quantum mechanics.
Einstein's debates and conversations with Bohr on these issues have become famous. Einstein could not agree with the fact that in some cases, quantum mechanics operates only with probabilities, and not with exact values of quantities. He was not satisfied with the fundamental non-determinism of various laws of the microworld. Einstein's favorite expression was the phrase: "God does not play dice!". However, Albert was apparently wrong in his disputes with Bohr. As you can see, geniuses are also mistaken, including Albert Einstein. Biography and interesting facts about him are supplemented by the tragedy that this scientist experienced because everyone tends to make mistakes.
Tragedy in the life of einstein
The scientific activity of the creator of general relativity in the last 30 years of his life, unfortunately, was unproductive. This was due to the fact that the scientist set himself a task of tremendous magnitude. Albert intended to create a unified theory of all kinds of interactions. Such a theory, as is now clear, is possible only within the framework of quantum mechanics. In the pre-war era, in addition, very little was known about the existence of other interactions besides gravitational and electromagnetic. The titanic efforts of Albert Einstein therefore ended in nothing. Perhaps this has become one of the greatest tragedies in his life.
The pursuit of beauty
It is difficult to overestimate the significance of Albert Einstein's discoveries in science. Today, almost every branch of modern physics is based on the fundamental concepts of the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics. Perhaps no less important is the confidence that Einstein instilled in scientists with his writings. He showed that nature is knowable, showed the beauty of its laws. It was the pursuit of beauty that was the meaning of the life of such a great scientist as Albert Einstein. His biography is already coming to an end. It is a pity that within the framework of one article it is impossible to cover the entire legacy of Albert. But about how he made his discoveries, it is certainly worth telling.
How Einstein created theories
Einstein had a peculiar way of thinking. The scientist singled out ideas that seemed to him disharmonious or inexhaustible. However, he proceeded mainly from aesthetic criteria. Then the scientist proclaimed a general principle that restores harmony. And then he made predictions about how certain physical objects would behave. Stunning results gave this approach. Albert Einstein trained the ability to see the problem from an unexpected angle, rise above it and find an unusual way out. When Einstein came to a standstill, he played the violin, and suddenly a decision surfaced in his head.
Moving to the USA, the last years of his life
In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany. They burned all the scientific work. Albert's family had to emigrate to the United States. Here Einstein worked at Princeton, at the Institute for Fundamental Research. In 1940, the scientist renounced German citizenship and officially became a US citizen. Last years he spent in Princeton, worked on his grandiose theory. He devoted minutes of rest to boat riding on the lake and playing the violin. April 18, 1955 Albert Einstein died.
Albert’s biography and discoveries are still being studied by many scientists. Some studies are very curious. In particular, Albert’s brain after death was studied for genius, but nothing exceptional was found. This suggests that each of us can become like Albert Einstein. Biography, a summary of the work and interesting facts about the scientist - all this is inspiring, is not it?