Bowen Leonard

5/3/11

Per. 3/4

Albert Einstein

“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be,” said Albert Einstein, one of the most intelligent men to ever live. (www.brainyquote.com/) Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire and discovered the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. He ended up marrying twice, with his first wife Mileva Maric in 1903 and divorced in 1919, after having their firstborn son, Hans Albert Einstein in 1904. Then in 1910, they had their second son Eduard Einstein. Although Einstein was born in Germany, he still had a huge impact on the United States with his incredible education and famous theories, even before and after he became an American citizen.

Albert and his family moved from Germany when he was only one year old, to Munich. The Einsteins were non-observant Jews, but when Albert was five, he attended a Catholic elementary school for three years. When he turned eight, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium where he would receive an advanced primary and secondary education. He moved from Germany to Italy, first to Milan then to Pavia seven years later. His father showed him a pocket compass, which fascinated him; he realized that something must have been making the needle move. As Einstein grew, he began to show talent in mathematics after building “doodads” and trinkets for himself. In 1889, Max Talmud introduced the ten-year old Einstein to key texts in science, mathematics and philosophy. The Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and then, a few months later, to Pavia. In the spring of 1985, Einstein wrote his first scientific work, “The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields.” He took an entrance exam to a polytechnician school in Zurich but failed. “Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal,” said Karl Grandin of the Center for History of Science. (www.nobelprize.org/ In 1900, Einstein was awarded the Zurich Polytechnic teaching diploma. In 1901, Einstein had a paper on the capillary forces of a straw published in the prestigious Annalen der Physik. On April 30, 1905, he completed his thesis, with Alfred Kleiner, Professor of Experimental Physics. Einstein was awarded a PhD by the University of Zurich. His dissertation was entitled, "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions." After he immigrated to the US Adolf Hitler rose to power, and he was going to several American Universities before residing in Belgium for some months. After he was aware that the Germans were working in the field of uranium. He was finally a known professor and told Kennedy that they needed to start working in the field of uranium. Their responsibility was to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb, and to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon." (www.wikipedia.org) Said Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner, assistant scientists of Einstein.

So Einstein had two ideas, brilliant ideas, that made him popular. The first was the atomic bomb and the other is the special theory of relativity. “I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed” (www.brainyquote.com) said Albert after he told Kennedy about the bomb. Germans were working with uranium so he thought it would be smart if we study in that field of science, he was wrong. The second thing is the special theory of relativity. Which is what most people know as the formula E=MC squared. “If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew,” said Einstein. When he says this he is saying how if he's wrong then he is not a real physicist, and he will be a disgrace. (thinkexist.com) This quote really shows how devoted he is in proving his theory, and that his theory is correct.

He explored the relation of mass to energy and addressed the problem of atomic energy. This discovery provided the basis for the development of the atomic bomb. In 1939, he wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and told him Germany was also working on nuclear fission which would lead to the development of a German bomb.Einstein once said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Einstein was brilliant, in order to have religion there has to be scientific beliefs and without religion science cannot be proven. (gardenofpraise.com) His affect then is just as significant as it is now. Without his theory we would've never found the speed of light or how to convert mass to energy. “All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field” (www.quotesl.com) said Einstein after the US finally finished constructing the bomb. Why he said this is because if we do make the bomb, sure we might have peace but there will also be major problems politically. With his first production on the atomic bomb we have had many new ways to improve warfare in our modern age. Many improvements were made on the bomb, we are now mass producing bombs all over the U.S.

Einsteins life was filled with many accomplishments. He was one of the smartest, most intellectual men that ever lived. All of his discoveries made the U.S. what it is today, and he made a breakthrough for physicists and scientists everywhere. He was an amazingly gifted scientist, without his outstanding mind then we could have been destroyed by the Germans, so he realistically saved the United States of America.