Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists of all time. Best known as a physicist for developing his famous theory of relativity, Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. Einstein attended public school in Munich and in Aarau, Switzerland. He then studied mathematics and physics at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, graduating in 1900. From 1902 until 1909 he worked as an examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. During this time Einstein made three of his greatest contributions to scientific knowledge. In 1905, Einstein contributed three separate papers to Annalen der Physik (Annals of Physics), a German scientific periodical. Each of the three became the basis for a new branch of physics. One, for example, suggested that light could be thought of as a stream of tiny particles. This idea would become an important part of the quantum theory. Another concerned Brownian motion, an irregular motion of microscopic particles suspended in liquid of gas, which confirmed the atomic theory of matter. Later, in 1915, Einstein announced that he had developed a general theory of relativity based on his special theory. Einstein was a brilliant physicist. He used mathematical properties to explain things that happen throughout the universe. Through his mathematical genius, Einstein forever changed how humans live their lives and understand the universe. After living such a brilliant life, Einstein died on April 18, 1955 in America.