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Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879 although he started primary school In Munich after his family moved there. He was a top student in mathematics but average in his other subjects. In 1896, when he was 17 he graduated from school and enrolled in the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology or in German Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) in Zurich, Switzerland, graduating in 1900 with a degree in physics. He then went on to acquire Swiss citizenship the next year and publish his first scientific paper on the capillary action of a straw.
In 1905 he had a breakthrough year, publishing four papers in the Annalen der Physik (the leading German physics journal at the time) including one on his theory of special relativity and the equation E=MC2. In 1921 he won the Nobel Prize for physics for his work on theoretical physics. Because of his Jewish ancestry, in 1933 when Hitler came to power, he renounced his German citizenship and settled in America where he spent the rest of his life. Einstein died at age 76 on the 18th of April 1955.
Discoveries and Inventions
Einstein made an incredible amount of discoveries and theories, but he is most known for his theory of general and special relativity, his theory of Brownian motion, his explanation on why the sky is blue and his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
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He collaborated with other scientists to invent some machines including one of the first self-adjusting camera, a zero toxic fume refrigerator and a sound recorder, just to name a few.
How His Discoveries have Changed Over Time
Although Einstein’s various theories have never been changed or improved, they have led to many different modern-day inventions, from nuclear bombs to paper towels to GPS. Others include burglar alarms, weather forecasting, digital camera and more.
Historical Setting
Albert Einstein lived from 1879 to 1955, in the last bit of the 19th century and through the first half of the 20th century. It was a time of political and technological change with geopolitical tensions high resulting in both world wars, also the invention of early modern day technology like incandescent light bulbs, radios and the start of widespread car use.
How Einstein has Improved our Lives
Without Einstein, we would be without some important modern-day inventions from solar panels, to supermarket scanners to laser eye surgery. For example Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect. This is explanation said that light behaved as a particle, not a wave (as previously thought) and if the frequency of particles was high enough it could give off electrons and create energy. This is how solar panels work and also led to the invention of things that are triggered by an interruption in a light beam like automatic doors and burglar alarms. Some of Einstein’s other theorems also led to other inventions.
