Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955 German-American physicist
The physicist whose relativity remade our understanding of space and time.
- Religion
- A secular Jew who rejected a personal God and spoke of Spinoza's God, the lawful harmony of nature, sometimes calling himself agnostic.
- Affiliations
- Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. No secret society.
Einstein's theories of special and general relativity redefined space, time, gravity, and the cosmos, replacing Newton's framework. His work on the photoelectric effect helped found quantum physics and won him the Nobel Prize. His equation relating mass and energy became the most famous in science.
Connections
- influenced James Clerk Maxwell — Einstein said his work stood on Maxwell's field theory.
- rival of Niels Bohr — Their debates on quantum reality are legendary.
- rival of Niels Bohr — They debated the meaning of quantum mechanics for decades.
In the timeline
- 1905 Einstein publishes special relativity mentioned
- 1933 Founding of the International Rescue Committee mentioned
- 1933 The International Relief Association is founded at Einstein's suggestion mentioned
- 1946 Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists is founded mentioned