Albert Einstein, the most popular physicist
in the 20th century, was born on March 14th
1879, in the city of Ulm, in the old German
Empire.
Albert (we are among friends), was raised
with his jewish family in Munich.
He was a quite shy boy and he didnt learn
to talk until he was 3 years old - nothing
like his little sister Maya, who was lively
and cheerful.
This had his parents very worried - they even
thought he had some kind of problem.
Albert didn’t like playing with kids his
same age, he’d rather be alone.
And this… didn´t contribute to his parents
not worrying about him.
His uncle Jacob, a very creative engineer
with great ideas, motivated his love for science,
sharing with him all kinds of book and letting
little Albert wander around his studio.
When he was only 15 years old, with no mentor
or guide, he started nothing less than the
study of calculus.
In 1894, the family business had to close
down and his family had to move to Pavia (Italy),
but without Albert, who still had to finish
his studies.
But this separation didnt last for long, as
Albert managed to get a medical certificate
that allowed him to leave school and so get
back with his family again.
Two years later, he rejected his German nationality
and he was considered stateless, so he could
get away with not doing the military service.
In 1896, he met Mileva Maric at the Zurich
Institute of Technology - she would become
his wife later on.
In January 1902, they had a daughter, in secret,
since Albert’s parents never approved of
his relationship with Maric.
Little we know about their first daughter
- people say she was given up for adoption
in Serbia, Maric’s native country.
In 1903, Albert and Mileva finally got married
and a year later, his son Hans Albert Einstein
was born.
He’d moved to California to become a hydraulic
engineer.
In 1905, while Albert was still an unknown
physician, he published his first Special
Theory of Relativity.
And as a deduction from this one, we have
the most popularly known physics equation,
E equals MC squared, the equation of mass-energy
equivalence.
That same year, he published some other works
that would set the basis of statistical physics
and quantum mechanics, not much as you can
see...!
In 1910, their third kid was born, Eduard
Einstein, and Albert moved to Berlin, leaving
his family in Switzerland.
Ah!
And meanwhile he was named a member of the
Prussian Academy of Sciences.
In 1915, he published his General Theory of
Relativity, which reformulated, completely,
the concept of gravity.
A couple of years after that, he’d confirm
his theories about light curvature (córvature).
This man never took a break!
On October 14th 1919, he divorced Mileva Maric.
And two months later, he married his cousin
Elsa Loewenthal… yes… you’ve heard right…
his first cousin!
1921 was the year his work was officially
recognised, and he was given the Nobel Prize
in Physics - but not thanks to his General
Theory of Relativity, considered very controversial
- it was thanks to his explanations about
the photoelectric effect and its contribution
to theoretical physics.
In 1932, when the nazis took power, Albert
moved to the US.
That same year, his son Eduard, who was studying
medicine, was diagnosed with schizophrenia
and was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital
in Berlin.
Albert tried, by all means, to take him with
him to PrinceTown in the US, but the authorities
prevented him from doing so.
Eduard died in 1965 at the psychiatric hospital.
In the US, Albert would then teach classes
at the Institute for Advanced Study ,and some
years later, he’d become a citizen of the
United States.
On April 18th 1955, Albert Einstein died in
Princetown.
During the autopsy, the forensic pathologist
Thomas Harvey, extracted his brain in secret
and kept it hidden for 20 years, for possible
future studies.
Nowadays, some of those studies have resulted
in curiosities - for example, Albert’s brain
has more glial hormones in the Math skills
area - or, part of his brain related to Maths
is bigger than usual, and his lateral sulcus,
a fissurethat goes all the way from the front
to the back, didnt make it all the way.
Albert is also the father of the atomic bomb,
tho he didnt participate in the program due
to his pacifist ideology.
He was, and still is, a very important character
- his contribution to physics is still one
of the most important ones.
Genius and Figure, Albert Einstein will never
stop fascinating us!
