Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a famous scientist,
writer and professor. He was born in Ulm,
Germany, on March 24,1879. As a
child, Einstein wasn't like the other boys: he
hated school but loved math.
He was shy, and talked very slowly. He didn't
participate in sports but
instead played with mechanical toys, put together
jigsaw puzzles, built
towers and studied nature. At school and home he would ask
many questions and
because of that everybody thought he was dumb. Once when he
was sick in bed,
his father Herman, bought him a compass; and Albert asked
"Why does the
needle point to the north?" His father didn't know the
answer. Herman was
calm, friendly and had a black mustache. Einstein also had a
brother, Jakob.
Studied electrical machinery firm financed by the Kocks.
Pauline,
Einstein's mother was a cultured women and an excellent pianist.
Pauline
encouraged Einstein to study the violin along with his scientific
ambitions.
There was a strong physical resemblance between Einstein and his
younger
sister Maja, and the two had a close relationship throughout their
lives.
Maja, also a pianist, married Paul Winteler Einstein childhood
friend,
Paul Winteler, in 1910 and later moved to the United States. When
Einstein was
older, he invented electric eye. He also was asked to be the
president of
Israel, but he refused. When Einstein was a teen-ager he was
very interested in
science. When he wanted to relax he would play the violin
which he started
playing at the age of six. The kocks, his mother's family,
and the Einstein had
lived in Southern Germany for more than a century,
selling cloth, farming, and
clerking in banks. During their free hours they
enjoyed boating on the Danube
and walking in the woods. Both families were
Jewish . In 1880, when Albert was
one year old, his father's business failed
and the family moved to Munich, the
capital of Bavaria A heavily catholic
city, it featured art galleries, breweries
and a university. Einstein's
father Herman. managed an electrical machinery firm
which was financed partly
by the Kock family. Einstein's mother Pauline, was a
cultured woman and
excellent pianist. She was 11 years younger than her husband.
Pauline not
only motivated her son to encouraged his scientific ambitions.
When
Einstein was fifteen, his father's business failed again, and the
family
relocated in Italy, Milan. Einstein stayed behind to complete his
education, but
soon was asked to live school. He eventually joined his family
in Italy. His
parents continued to support his scientific interests, however
enabling him to
study at the " Swiss Federal Polytechnic School," or
"Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology," in Zurich. At the institute,
Einstein met
a petite, dark-haired Mileva Maric, who excelled in mathematics.
Albert and
Mileva were married on January 6, 1903. Although the couple
had two sons, Mileva
was dissatisfied with her life. She wanted either a
career in her husband's
work. After many years of disagreement, the couple
divorced in 1919, and Mileva
became a university teacher of mathematics.
Einstein kept in touch with her and
his sons, and in the early 20s, he gave
Mileva his entire forty-five thousand
dollars Nobel Prize. Han's Albert,
Einsteins older son, developed a good
relationship with his father. He became
a good engineer, and when Einstein moved
to United States in 1933, Hans
Albert visited him often, ultimately setting here
with his own family.
Einstein younger son Eduard, began reading Shakespeare at
the age of five. He
got his father permission to concentrated on music and
literature but did not
achieve success. Eduard later accused his father of
ruining his life a
nervous breakdown. Although Einstein rushed to Switzerland
when Eduard became
ill, neither he nor the psychiatrists were able to help.
Eduard lived
with his mother until her death, when he was placed in a mental
institution.
Einstein also proved that matter and energy are really different
forms of the
same thing, which is the Special Theory of Relativity. Einstein's
General
Theory of Relativity showed that gravity, too, is relative. Gravity is
the
force that attracts two bodies of matter toward one another. This
theory
explained that a person gaining speed would feel *a force exactly like
the pull
of gravity. In a spaceship without windows, that person would not be
able to
tell if the ship had started too move faster, or if it were being
pulled by
gravity from planet of star. In 1929. Einstein had doubts about
whether an
atomic bomb could really be made. ON August 6, 1945, the United
states dropped
an atomic bomb on Japan. Since this Einstein had believed the
conflict could be
settled without restorting to such a terrible weapon. "Oh
weh!" he
gasped. It was cry of sorrow that went beyond words. On August 9,
the United
states drop a second bomb on Japan, ending war. A new historical
atomic age, had
been born, and no one knew better than Einstein the threat it
posed to human
survival. For the rest of his life, he worked to make sure the
bomb would never
be used again. He served in committees to inform the public
about atomic energy
and the growing danger of weapons development. In 1905
Einstein proposed his
Special Theory of Relativity. According to this
theory, people view time and
space differently, depending on their positions
relative, or in relation, to one
another. For example, To a person standing
at the exact midpoint between two
lamps, those lamps might appear to flash at
the same time. But a person passing
by very quickly in a train would see one
lamp flash before the other. This
happens because the light from one lamp
would reach that person before the light
from other lamp. Time, then would be
different for the two people. Einstein had
many opportunities to speak out
about causes in which he believed. One of those
causes was Zionism, the
movement to create the Jewish nation of Israel. Another
was world peace. Many
times he urged the nations of the world to get rid of
their weapons. Einstein
is remembered as a great scientist who worked hard to
make the world a better
place for all people.