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Einstein's Nobel Prize

"Why is it that nobody understands me and everybody likes me?" asked Albert Einstein. Widely thought of as the 20th century's best-known scientist, Einstein often challenged (doubted) what people thought to be true. In fact, many of his fellow physicists were confused by his beliefs. However, his theories (ideas) are so significant that our lives would be completely different without them. On November 9, 1921 he was awarded a Nobel Prize, just one of many honors he received for his brilliant work.

Early Life

Einstein was born in Ulm, Württenberg, Germany on March 14, 1879 to Hermann and Pauline Koch Einstein. He spent his childhood in Munich, where his family owned an electronics shop. He didn't talk until he was three years old, but even as a small child, he seemed especially curious about how things worked.

He disliked school, and when he was 15, he left Germany and moved to Milan, Italy. He lived there for one year, and then began secondary school in Arrau, Switerland. Then he studied at the Swiss National Polytechnic in Zürich.

Einstein was not a good student and some of his teachers disliked him. He often skipped school and borrowed notes from his classmates. However, he was very smart. He wrote his first scientific paper when he was only 16 years old. He preferred to study physics (matter and energy) on his own, and he spent a good deal of time playing the violin. He worked as a tutor and teacher. In 1902, he got a job at a Swiss patent office, where he wrote down information about new inventions.

In 1903 he married Mileva Maric, the only woman in his class at the Swiss National Polytechnic. They had two sons, Hans Albert and Edward, and in 1919 they divorced. That year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. She died in 1936.

Brilliant Discoveries

In 1905 Einstein received a doctorate degree from the University of Zürich. That year he wrote extremely important papers about physics—ideas that we still use today to understand how the world works.

He is best known for his special theory of relativity: the idea that space and time are not always exactly the same but instead change with perspective (point of view). Einstein explained it this way: "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity!"

His most popular equation, E=mc², describes energy, mass and the speed of light. It explains how physical material can be transformed into energy. This idea led to the splitting of the atom (the basic unit of matter), bombs, and nuclear weapons.

Nobel Prize

In 1905 Einstein also described the photoelectric effect, the release of charged particles from a metallic surface when it is exposed to light. Using the work of German scientist Max Planck, Einstein had a new idea to explain light. He looked at light as individual pieces—called photons—with their own energy. For more than 100 years, scientists thought light was made up of continuous waves, not little particles, so most of them did not agree with Einstein. But Einstein was right, and in 1921, his ideas earned him a Nobel Prize. His discovery also led to the invention of television and the photoelectric cell, the "eye" that automatically opens doors and turns on street lights.

International Fame

In 1909 Einstein began working as a professor at the University of Zürich. He moved to a university in Prague in 1911, and one year later he returned to the Swiss National Polytechnic. He became the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin in 1913.

His ideas grew in popularity, and in 1919 the London Times proclaimed him a genius. He became famous all over the world earning many awards and honors, although he remained modest. He was quiet, calm, and he refused to wear socks.

Political Beliefs

Einstein was a pacifist, meaning that he supported peace and opposed war and violence. During World War I, he was one of few German teachers who spoke out against the war. Because of this, many German people did not treat him well. He was also the victim of anti-Semitism (unfairness toward Jews). When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis gained power in Germany in the 1930s, Einstein fled to the U.S. for his safety. He took a job at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, N.J.

Einstein was worried that Germany planned to use an atomic bomb, and he felt responsible because his ideas had helped develop the technology. Einstein believed, at the time, that war against the Nazis was necessary. He and several other physicists wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, encouraging the U.S. to build an atomic bomb before Germany did. This letter may have helped push the President to develop the bomb. However, after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, Einstein said that countries should not have nuclear weapons.

Later Years and Legacy

Einstein spent his later years with his girlfriend, Johanna Fantova. He was often called a loner, but his life was filled with music, friends, bicycling and sailing. He died in Princeton on April 18, 1955, and his brain and internal organs were studied, as he had requested.

Einstein is known as the greatest scientist of all time—a genius. He sparked new ways to think about space, time, motion, and energy. His discoveries led to many inventions, including lasers, computer chips, nuclear power, and space exploration. Science fiction writers have him to thank for imaginative ideas like time travel, wormholes, time warps, black holes, and voyages to far-away galaxies. Along with Georges Lemaître and Edwin Hubble, he laid the groundwork for the big bang theory, the idea that the universe began with a huge explosion of mass and energy.

When he first set forth his ideas, most people did not understand them—not even scientists. He challenged traditional ways of thinking about things, and for this, he (and his silver hair) will always be remembered.

Writing Prompt

Why are Einstein's scientific ideas so significant? Write a paragraph or two about how they affect our lives today.