The Greatest Scientist of the 20th Century | Teen Ink

The Greatest Scientist of the 20th Century

December 6, 2011
By Environmentor BRONZE, Ashburn, Virginia
Environmentor BRONZE, Ashburn, Virginia
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If there's a will, there's a way"


Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. His father was Hermann Einstein, and his mother was Paul Einstein. The Einstein’s were non-observant Jews and also German. Albert attended a Catholic Elementary School from the age of five to eight. Six weeks later after his birth family moved to Munich, and he later started his schooling at Luitpold Gymnasium. At the gymnasium he received advanced primary and secondary school education, till he left Germany seven years later. Although he had speech problems, he was a top student in his school. As he grew, Einstein built mechanical objects, and showed a talent in mathematics.
In 1894 his dad’s business failed, and in search of business they moved from Italy, Milan, and then to Pavia. When the family moved, Einstein stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the gymnasium. Then in 1895 he moved to Pavia, and wrote his first scientific work “The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields”.

In 1902 Einstein and Mileva Maric had a daughter named Liserel. Einstein and Maric married in January 1903 and in May 1904 they had their first child Hans Albert Einstein. Their second son Eduard was born in Zurich, July 1910. Then in 1914, Einstein moved to Berlin while his wife remained in Zurich. Then on February 14, 1919 divorced Maric. Three months later he married Elsa Lowenthal, after having a relationship with her for seven years. She was his first cousin on her mother’s side. In 1935 they emigrated permanently to U.S. A year later Elsa was diagnosed with heart and kidney problems and died in December 1936.

During WWII Einstein wrote affidavits recommending United States visas for a large number of Jews. During this time there were campaigns in Germany calling his work unacceptable. He wrote a letter to President Roosevelt telling him that he and other scientists were trying to purify Uranium-235. This element could be used to create an atomic bomb. Then the United States put the Manhattan Project in action, to research and produce an atomic bomb. Albert Einstein was a great help in the Manhattan Project, and many things wouldn’t have been done without him.

Albert published a paper on capillary forces. In 1905 he produced his groundbreaking papers on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity, and the equivalence of matter and energy. He also produced papers on The Theory of Special Relativity, and ten years later he made his papers on The Theory of General Relativity. In 1921, Einstein as awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation on the photoelectric effect. He was offered to be the President of Israel in 1952. Albert Einstein is known as one of the greatest scientist even to this day.

The author's comments:
Albert Einstein is very inspirational to me and is my role model. He is what got me interested in physics and I admire his character and dedication to science.

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