Albert Einstein is a German-born, Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist best known for his mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc 2, and his development of the theory of relativity, which is along with the theory of quantum physics. , the two pillars of modern physics. Read on to learn about the revered scholar’s early life, relationship history, and religious beliefs.
the biography
Albert Einstein was born to non-observant Ashkenazi Jewish parents; Pauline Koch and Hermann Einstein on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, in the kingdom of Württemberg, what is now modern Germany. His father was a salesman and engineer who later co-founded an electrical equipment manufacturing company.
Einstein received her early education at a Catholic primary school in Munich before transferring to the Luitpold Gymnasium (renamed Albert Einstein Gymnasium), also in Munich. As a child, Einstein showed an exceptional understanding of mathematics and physics, which put him years ahead of his peers. For this reason, at the age of 16, he passed the entrance exams to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich without having completed his secondary education. Despite outstanding marks in math and physics, he failed the general part of the exam, which meant he had to go back and finish high school.
A year later, he successfully entered the Zurich Polytechnic, graduating in 1900, before taking up various teaching positions across Europe at the University of Bern, Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, the ‘Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, among others. In 1933, Albert Einstein successfully emigrated to the United States during the rise to power of the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. He held a teaching position at the Institute for Advanced Study before becoming an American citizen in 1940. He continued to work until his death on April 17, 1955, in Princeton Hospital, after refusing surgery surgery to correct the complications he had developed from internal bleeding..
The religion of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein notably described the belief in the existence of an anthropomorphic God, such as the God of the Abrahamic religions, who is concerned with the fates and day-to-day deeds/activities of human beings, as “naïve”. Also, he disregarded the concept of heaven and hell where a creator would give eternal rewards and punishments to his creations.
This led many people to concludethat the famous physicist was an atheist. However, Einstein clarified this assumption by stating that he would be better defined as an agnostic rather than an atheist because there is a lack of “intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”
Family – wife and children
Albert Einstein married twice; first to the Serbian mathematician, Mileva Maric from 1903 to 1919, then to her first cousin, Elsa Einstein from 1919 until her death in 1936.
The legendary theoretical physicist met Maric during his time at the Zurich Polytechnic, where she was the only woman among six students who were accepted into the mathematics and physics section of the teaching diploma course in 1896. As the the story goes, Maric and Albert Einstein were best friends before they later began a romantic relationship that led to an interruption in her academic career when she became pregnant with his child in 1901. In January 1902, in Novi Sad, in Serbia, where her parents resided, Maric gave birth to a daughter whose name would be Lieserl or Hansel. It’s unclear exactly what happened to the little girl, as some reports suggest she died around a year later after suffering from scarlet fever,
After the traumatic ordeal, Einstein and Maric exchanged vows in Bern, Switzerland, in 1903, where he had chosen to settle by finding work at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property. The couple welcomed their second child, son Hans Albert, a year later in 1904. In 1910, a second son named Eduard was born in Zurich where the family had moved due to Einstein’s new job at the University of Zürich.
In 1912, Einstein began a romantic relationship with his cousin, Elsa, which prompted him and his wife to separate in 1914 when she discovered him. The couple lived separately for five years before divorcing in 1919, which allowed him to marry Elsa. The couple were married until 1936, when she died of heart and kidney disease.
Height and other facts
Albert Einstein was said to have been 5 feet 7.5 inches or 172 cm tall, which was listed in his declaration of intent form to become a US citizen.
During his lifetime, Einstein published over 450 scientific and non-scientific papers. His work earned him numerous awards and accolades, including the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.