What Exactly Do We Know about Albert Einstein?
How well do we know Albert Einstein? Certainly he is mostly known for his greatest achievements in Physics and for winning a Nobel Prize in Physics. But he did not win it for his famous Theory of Relativity, for which he is known worldwide, he won it thanks to his contribution to the Theoretical Physics, more specifically for his discoveries about the photoelectric effect. A part from that, did you know that he was playing violin and had a very hard time to remember names, dates and phone numbers? Well, probably you will realize that the greatest German Physicist and Philosopher is shrouded in the mystery and that what we actually know about him is not much. Let’s dig into his professional and private life more closely, to see what all we can find there!
A Genius But Also a Rebel
First of all, the twentieth century scientist is so popular worldwide for two particular reasons. First one is his discovery of his famous formula: energy is equal to mass multiplied for speed of light squared (E=mc2). The second reason relates to his education, as he is often cited as a proof that also lazy and poorly endowed students can still become genius. On the one hand, Albert is considered to be the father of relativity, who illustrated the nature of light and received Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work on the explanation of photoelectric effect from 1905, the pivotal year for his discoveries, because during only seven months he published six works. On the other hand, it seems that he wasn’t so good at school. He was not a bad student, but he was a rebel, who did not tolerate the strict school discipline. However, he finished his school education in Switzerland in 1896, by obtaining a Swiss Matura and afterwards moved on to study Physics. The legend that Einstein was a really bad pupil derives from the fact that the first German biographers found out a lot of marks 6 in his Matura certificate in numerous subjects. In Germany this mark is the worst one, while in Switzerland is the best one. But this little difference seemed to pass by unobserved, and so the legend of a bad student, who later became a genius, was born! Moreover, it was Einstein’s discovery that everything is relative, and so are seemingly school marks as well.
About His Life…
He was born in Ulm, on 14th March of 1879, in Germany, but during his life he obtained two more citizenships, a Suisse one and an American one. At the age of ten he started the Luitpold Gymnasium, where he deeply suffered the strict discipline of the school, but still he had good marks in Mathematics and Latin. At the age of 16, after failing the entrance examination for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH Zurich nowadays), he was sent to Arau in Switzerland where he continued his education. But, to his luck, just a year later in 1896, after concluding his high school education, he passed the entrance test and joined the sixth department of the today’s ETH Zurich: the school for subject teachers in the mathematical and scientific fields. There, he met his future wife, Mileva Marić, the only woman admitted to attend the Swiss Federal Polytechnic, with whom he later had children. Little did they know, that their marriage wouldn’t have lasted and that Einstein would have been married again, but with his first cousin! The future recognized genius concluded his studies in 1900, passing the final exams with 4,9/6 and came forth of only five promoted students! Who knew then what would have happened next and that his discoveries were just waiting for him to be discovered.
Interesting Facts About the Legendary Scientist
Let’s dive into some more juicy facts about him. Did you know that the famous scientist has never had a car? Moreover, that he did not learn to drive one at all! And what about his greatest discoveries? If you think that they were the result of some physics experiments in a laboratory, you will be mistaken! Believe it or not, they were only performed in his head, just that, mental experiments that he imagined proved him right. In addition to that, the young Einstein was dyslexic, namely he had great difficulty to read fluently, and because of that had a lot of problems at school. Mostly, he was listless and indolent and talked slowly. It is believed that he only learned to speak at the age of three. Another of his eccentricities is that he never wore socks, moreover he was also offered the presidency of the State of Israel, but he kindly declined it.
Is That All?
Summarizing, the greatest scientist was a mysterious man and there are still a lot of mysteries and secrets to be unravelled about him. Who knows what might come up next? Maybe, everything we know about him is just a part of whom he really was. Yet, we will have to accept that some things are never to be truly known… He left us his great discoveries and a legend about him to be wondered and to live on!
