The Life Of Albert Einstein :: Biography Biographies

The Life Of Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was one of the greatest geniuses of all time. In 1886 he began his school career in Munich. He studied mathematics, in particular calculus, beginning around 1891. In 1894 Einstein’s family moved to Milan but Albert stayed behind in Munich. In 1895 Albert failed an examination that would have allowed him to study for a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule in Zurich. After some time he graduated in 1900 as a teacher, teaching mathematics at the Technical High School in Winterthur. Einstein finally landed another temporary job at the patent office in Bern. His title was technical expert third class. He worked in this patent office from 1902 to 1909 holding a temporary post when he was first appointed. By 1904 the position was made permanent and in 1906 he was promoted to technical expert second class. Einstein earned a doctorate from the University of Zurich in 1905 for a thesis on a new determination of molecular dimensions. Einstein wrote three papers in 1905. In the first one he examined the phenomenon discovered by Max Planck, which was, according to which electromagnetic energy seemed to be emitted from radiating object in discrete quantities. The energy of these quanta was directly proportional to the frequency of the radiation. This contradicted the normal electromagnetic theory based on Maxwell’s equations and the laws of thermodynamics, which assured that electromagnetic energy was made up of waves that could contain any small amount of energy. Einstein used Planck’s quantum hypothesis to describe the electromagnetic radiation of light. Einstein’s second paper proposed what is now called the special theory of relativity. He based his new theory on a reinterpretation of the classical principle of relativity, specifically the laws of physics had to have the same form in any frame of reference. Later in 1905 Einstein showed how mass and energy were equal. The third paper in 1905 concerned statistical mechanics. After 1905 Einstein made important contributions to quantum theory, but he wanted to extend the special theory of relativity to phenomena involving acceleration. The key appeared in 1907 with the principle of equivalence, in which gravitational acceleration was held to be indistinguishable from acceleration caused by mechanical forces. From then on, gravitational mass was identical with inertial mass. 1909 recognized Einstein as a leading scientific thinker and in the same year he resigned from the patent office. He was appointed a full professor at the Karl Ferdinand University in Prague in 1911.