ALBERT EINSTEIN

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Albert Einstein, a well-known German physicist and mathematician, was born in Germany on March 14, 1879. His unusual ability to mathematics and physics began to show itself at a technical school in Zurich. At the age of 21, after four years of university study, Albert Einstein got a job as a clerk in an office. But already in 1905 he made revolutionary discoveries in science. He published three papers in the field of physics and mathematics. In the first he explained the photoelectric effect by means of Planck's quantum theory. The second paper developed a mathematical theory of Brownian motion. He presented his third paper on "Special Theory of Relativity" to a physical journal. Einstein expressed his theory in the equation E = mc2, roughly that energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light.

All over the world scientists read the work with great surprise. Few physicists understood its importance at that time. Everybody wanted to know as much as possible about the author. In which institute did he teach? In what laboratory did he do his research?

Einstein's fame among scientists grew slowly but surely. For a few years he lived in Prague where he worked as a professor. When he came to Prague, he often told his students: "I shall always try to help you. If you have a problem, come to me with it, we shall solve it together".

He liked questions and answered them at once, for there were no simple or foolish questions for him. He spoke much with his students about scientific problems and his new ideas. His advice to students was, "Don't take easy problems".

In 1921 Einstein got the Nobel Prize in physics not for the theory of relativity but for a logical explanation of the photoelectric effect.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia Einstein became a true friend of the young Socialist Republic. He established scientific contacts with his colleagues in Soviet Russia.

In 1922 he became a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his outstanding contributions to physics and mathematics.

On March 14, 1979 by UNESCO decision all people throughout the world celebrated the birth centenary of the great 20th century scientist.