Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein
Born: March 14, 1879
            Ulm, Württemberg, Germany

             Died: April 18, 1955 (aged 76)

         Princeton, New Jersey, U.S

BIOGRAPHY

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879.

As a child, Einstein revealed an extraordinary curiosity for understanding the mysteries of science. A typical child Einstein took music lessons, playing both the violin and piano a passion that followed him into adulthood. Moving first to Italy and then to Switzerland, the young prodigy graduated from high-school in 1896.

In 1905, while working as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, Einstein had what came to be known as his “Annus Mirabilis” — or “miracle year”. It was during this time that the young physicist obtained his Doctorate degree and published four of his most influential research papers, including the Special Theory of Relativity. In that, the now world famous equation "e = mc2" unlocked mysteries of the Universe theretofore unknown.

Ten years later, in 1915, Einstein completed his General Theory of Relativity and in 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics

It also launched him to international superstardom and his name became a household word synonymous with genius all over the world.

Einstein emigrated to the United States in the autumn of 1933 and took up residence in Princeton, New Jersey and a professorship at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study.

Today, the practical applications of Einstein’s theories include the development of the television, remote control devices, automatic door openers, lasers, and DVD-players. Recognized as TIME magazine’s “Person of the Century” in 1999, Einstein’s intellect, coupled his strong passion for social justice and dedication to pacifism, left the world with infinite knowledge and pioneering moral leadership

Albert Einstein Biography (Video)

E=mc2

In Einstein's first paper about energy and mass, E=mc2 doesn't actually appear anywhere—he originally wrote the formula as m=L/c2. What happened? Einstein was using "L" (for Lagrangian, a general form of energy) instead of "E" for energy. Later, he replaced "L" with "E," rearranged the variables, and the famous form of the equation emerged.

The implications of E=mc2 are profound. For centuries, scientists had considered energy and mass to be completely distinct and unrelated to each other. Einstein showed that in fact, energy and mass are different forms of the same thing. Einstein himself was surprised by the finding, calling it "amusing and enticing" and wondered "whether the Lord is laughing at it and has played a trick on me.“

The Power of a Penny

Einstein's equation shows that mass and energy are equivalent—so long as you multiply by the "conversion factor" of c2 (the speed of light multiplied by itself). This factor is huge: 90 billion kilometers2 per second2. So if you multiply a small amount of mass—say, the mass of a penny—by c2, you'll get a tremendous amount of energy.

If a penny could be converted entirely to energy, it would provide enough energy to power the New York City metropolitan area for at least two years.

Reality check

Converting a penny entirely to energy would require temperatures and pressures much greater than those found inside the Sun. So unfortunately, small coins are not a practical source of energy.

E=mc something?

Einstein's equation uses just three letters and one number. What do these symbols mean?

E = Energy
m = Mass
c = Speed of light
from the Latin term celeritas, which means "speed"
2 = Squared

when you "square" something, you multiply it by itself

Albert Einstein explains his Famous Formula E = mc2 

Proof of E=mc²

General Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein contributed an alternate theory of gravity in the early 1900s. It was part of his famous General Theory of Relativity, and it offered a very different explanation from Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. Einstein didn't believe gravity was a force at all; he said it was a distortion in the shape of space-time, otherwise known as "the fourth dimension".

no external forces at work, an object will always travel in the straightest possible line. Accordingly, without an external force, two objects travelling along parallel paths will always remain parallel. They will never meet.

But the fact is, they do meet. Particles that start off on parallel paths sometimes end up colliding. Newton's theory says this can occur because of gravity, a force attracting those objects to one another or to a single, third object. Einstein also says this occurs due to gravity -- but in his theory, gravity is not a force. It's a curve in space-time.

According to Einstein, those objects are still travelling along the straightest possible line, but due to a distortion in space-time, the straightest possible line is now along a spherical path. So two objects that were moving along a flat plane are now moving along a spherical plane. And two straight paths along that sphere end in a single point.

Still more-recent theories of gravity express the phenomenon in terms of particles and waves. One view states that particles called gravitons cause objects to be attracted to one another. Gravitons have never actually been observed, though. And neither have gravitational waves, sometimes called gravitational radiation, which supposedly are generated when an object is accelerated by an external force.

Gravitons or no gravitons, we know that what goes up must come down. Perhaps someday, we'll know exactly why. But until then, we can be satisfied just knowing that planet Earth won't go hurdling into the sun anytime soon. Gravity is keeping it safely in orbit.

General relativity & Gravity