ALBERT EINSTEIN

By: Avneet Randhawa

Avneet Randhawa
1

Biography
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. From the moment
Einstein was born, all that others saw in him were faults. Alberts mother often exclaimed that
Einsteins head w such too large and body was much too fat. To make matters worse, Einstein
did not begin speaking until he was four years old. The reason behind this was not that Einstein
was mentally slow, but because he was beyond brilliant for a child of his age. Albert began his
education at the age of six and by the age of ten he was studying Algebra and philosophy.
As Albert grew up, he made more and more independent decisions that at times
displeased his family. However, Albert was able to reassure his parents that he planned to apply
to an advanced technical institute. Soon enough, Albert began studying in the Zurich
Polytechnic, and remained there for four years. Though Einstein had a heavy interest in physics,
he decided to pursue teaching so that he could be ensured a steady income. After his graduation
in 1900 from a teachers training program, Einstein decided to live with his family in Milan for
some time until he could find employment. Einstein was not very popular amongst his colleagues
or his professor because of his prior decision to renounce his German citizenship and his reliance
on the notes of other students.
Yet Einstein still managed to attain temporary teaching positions that allowed him to get
a steady income. During this time he worked on the kinetic theory of gasses and published three
papers in a renowned newspaper. These early papers were an attempt to further broaden the
atomic perspective Newton ideas first gave to physical chemistry. Albert formed ideas on the
general molecular theory of heat and began to propose ideas on how heat flow could be
connected to the motion of atoms.
Avneet Randhawa
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In 1902, Einstein took a job as a technical expert at the Bern Patent Office. The greatest
advantage of this job was that he completed the necessary amount of work in a small amount of
time. Thus, he was able to dedicate the rest of his time to his scientific work. Soon, Einstein had
his best years of his career during 1903-1905. In 1905 he published three papers that
revolutionized the area of physics. These three were dedicated to Brownian motion, quantum
theory, and special relativity, respectively.
The paper on Brownian motion was entitled On the Movement, Demanded by
Molecular-Kinetic Theory, of Particles Suspended in Liquids at Rest, in the Annalen in 1905.
This paper summarized Einsteins ideas about the chaotic movement of particles suspended in
liquids. It was from the motion of the particles in the liquids that Einstein was able to predict the
hypothetical molecules of the particles themselves. This article gave Einstein his first glimpse of
fame, for it led other scientists to send him admiring letters which helped give his papers more
credibility.
In the second paper, Einstein made a breakthrough that forever changed the course of
physics. He entitled this paper Concerning a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and the
Transformation of Light. This paper spoke Einsteins ideas about lights expression and its form
as quanta. It was during this time period that Max Planck was forming his ideas on the energy of
light. However, though Planck was able to formulate an equation that represented the energy of
light, he did not have a solid ramification for the formula. It was Einstein, who gave the
reasoning behind Plancks equations and about the nature of light itself. It was also in this paper
that Einstein proposed the idea that light could only be emitted or absorbed in finite discrete
units.
Avneet Randhawa
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The previous ideas of light quantum trickled down to explain the photoelectric effect.
Einstein first introduced this photon idea in 1905. Though at first it did not gain much
recognition, Einstein proceeded to publish multiple more papers explaining this effect and
eventually it became a main topic of many of Einsteins papers.
The third paper Einstein published was called On the Electrodynamics of Moving
Bodies was a response to challenges in the area of physics during the time. Einstein used his
previous data on photos and light quanta to respond to these challenges. Eventually he developed
a relativity theory that described the effect of the relative velocity of a magnet on an electric
current. It was this theory that led to the famous equation E=mc^2.
In summary, the papers and education that Einstein received in the earlier part of his life
led to his fame and fortune later on, and soon caused him to win a Nobel Prize.
Analysis and Opinion
Previous to researching Einstein, I already had an interest in his life, education, and
contributions to modern scientists. Personally, I find the lives of a scientist very influential to
who the scientist becomes and his consequential brilliance. The general ability of a person to be
able to grasp concepts easily and develop new ideas that show a new perspective is in itself very
interesting, but I find that the childhood and education of that talented person is the true source
of potential a person can have. Based on these opinions, I chose to research Albert Einstein,
specifically early Einstein because I wished to know what his life was like before his brilliance
was actually acknowledged. Specifically, I wanted to learn about his developing interest in the
sciences, and how he progressed in his studies starting from when he first entered school.
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Out of the given scientists, Albert Einstein seemed the most interesting to learn about
because I knew that he had his quirks. For example, Einstein had a deep religious phase when he
was at the mere age of eleven, and prior to that, at the age of four, he was assumed to be stupid
since he didnt speak very much. It was the difficulties that Einstein endured as a child that
attracted me most to his life. Besides this, I am very familiar with Einsteins equation E=mc^2,
but I had a vague idea of the true meaning of the equation and of the rest of the breakthroughs
Einstein made in the earlier portion of his life.
After researching Einstein, I am very pleased to have done so because I resulted in
learning about all that I desired to know. Additionally, I learned about Einsteins incredibly rare
progression in mathematics when he was at a very young age. Einsteins independent personality
amazed me because at times, it was this independent personality that hurt his career. Moreover, I
found it very interesting that Einstein pursued a teaching career at first because he felt it was
more pragmatic, but still continued his research in sciences. Overall, Einstein was an interesting
man whose intelligence has changed the course of modern science.







Avneet Randhawa
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Sources
"Albert Einstein - Biographical." Albert Einstein - Biographical. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2014.

"Albert Einstein." Albert Einstein. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.

" Albert Einstein in Brief." Albert Einstein in Brief. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.

"Einstein Biography." Einstein Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.

Howard, Jacqueline. "10 Surprising Facts About Albert Einstein." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 July 2014.