Why Famous:A Jewish-born German, later naturalised as a US citizen, Einstein became the most influential physicist of the 20th century.
He developed his special theory of relativity in response to problems he saw with Newtonian mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 has been called the "the world's most famous equation".
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 and later warned President Roosevelt of the dangers of bombs being developed, later protesting against their use as weapons.
1903-01-06 Theoretical Physicist Albert Einstein (23) weds Mileva Maric
1919-02-14 Theoretical Physicist Albert Einstein (39) divorces Mileva Maric after 16 years of marriage
1919-06-02 Theoretical Physicist Albert Einstein (40) weds his cousin Elsa Lowenthal (43)
Historical Events
1905-03-17 Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his Quantum Theory of Light, one of the foundations of modern physics
1905-07-01 Albert Einstein introduces his theory of special relativity
1905-09-27 The physics journal Annalen der Physik publishes Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
1908-11-14 Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light
1919-05-29 Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that when light passes a large body, gravity will bend the rays confirmed by Arthur Eddington's expedition to photograph a solar eclipse on the island of Principe, West Africa
1921-04-02 Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his new "Theory of Relativity"
1923-07-29 Albert Einstein speaks on pacifism in Berlin
1930-11-11 Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention of the Einstein refrigerator
1932-12-05 German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa to enter America
1933-10-17 Albert Einstein arrives in US as a refugee from Nazi Germany
1939-10-11 Albert Einstein informs FDR of the possibilities of an atomic bomb
1950-02-12 Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb
1953-03-30 Albert Einstein announces revised unified field theory
1955-07-09 The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London on the need to avoid nuclear war
1995-06-05 The Bose-Einstein condensate is first created
2017-10-24 Albert Einstein's "Theory of Happiness", written as a note for a bellboy instead of a tip in Tokyo in 1922 sells for $1.56 million
2018-07-26 Observation of a black hole by The Very Large Telescope in Chile proves Albert Einstein's prediction of "gravitational redshift", published in "Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics"
2018-12-05 Letter by Albert Einstein from 1954 on concept of religion sells for $2.9 million at Christie's in New York
Quotes by Albert Einstein
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from that of their social environment."
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Andrei Sakharov
Blaise Pascal
Gordon Gould
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Johannes van der Waals
Robert Watson-Watt