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A short synopsis of Albert Einstein's life and early influences as well as his influence on society.

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Today marks a century since Einstein first presented the theory

The impact of the research into general relatively is still felt today

Without it we would not have GPS on our phones and in our cars

Our understanding of the Big Bang and black holes would also be different

On this day, 100 years ago, an unknown German patents clerk presented a scientific principle that would change the world forever.

A century later, Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity is still reshaping how the scientific community thinks as they search for a grand Theory of Everything.

The basis of general relativity describes how mass and space are related to each other and states that matter can bend and warp the fabric of space and time due to the effects of gravity.

But its implications goes way beyond the physics laboratory and without its discovery - coupled with the physicist's earlier theory of special relativity - the modern world, and the way we understand it, would be almost unrecognisable.

We use them everyday to find our way around cities, to track objects and even to time financial transactions.

UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT EINSTEIN

Einstein married his first cousin.

But GPS systems owe a debt of gratitude to Einstein and his thought experiments, without which they would not exist at all.

The highly precise clocks have oscillators that function not on springs or pendulums, but atoms.

The level of precision required for satellites is down to this atom clock, whose ticks must be known to an accuracy of 20 to 30 nanoseconds.

Because the satellites are constantly moving relative to the Earth, effects predicted by Einstein's theory must be taken into account.

In particular, the pull of gravity is stronger on Earth than in the satellite's orbit, meaning time is passing marginally faster in the latter than it is in the former.

The precision of atomic clocks makes the desired accuracy achievable and GPS technology corrects this discrepancy to make the location accurate.

The birth of the known universe has been a problem that has stumped scientists for centuries.

Scientists realised that if you went back far enough in time, the universe would get increasingly smaller, or shrink, until the moment when it appeared.

This became known as the Big Bang and suggests that since that moment, the universe has expanded.

Einstein's theory similar suggests that the universe, or the so-called space-time metric, is expanding.

And measurements using telescopes have subsequently shown that the universe does indeed appear to be expanding in this way, as distant galaxies are moving away from us.

Without Einstein, this fundamental piece of physics that underpins much of how we understand our universe today would have been far harder to unravel.

They are among the most mysterious objects in our universe - concentrated wells of gravity from which nothing, not even light can escape.

But without Einstein's general relativity equations, we could still be ignorant of the existence of black holes, as it was instrumental in their discovery.

Without this we would have never benefited from the wild imaginations of science fiction writers as they speculated what lies beyond a black hole.

THEORY OF GENERAL RELATIVITY: NEWTON VS EINSTEIN

Source: Imperial College London

The world would certainly never been able to enjoy Matthew McConaughey staying young while all around him aged by hundreds of years in the film Interstellar.

This is because according to Einstein's theory, gravity can cause time to dilate.

The closer you are to a mass producing gravity, the slower time passes. Einstein himself, however, was sceptical about the idea of black holes.

Star Trek obsessives will point out that while Star Wars is fantasy, Star Trek is more like hard-core sci-fi, meaning the laws of physics should - technically - be more accurate.

General Relativity provides a wealth of possibilities for the writers of the long-running Star Trek series.

Indeed the warp technology used by the Starship Enterprise is based upon Einstein's theories and works by warping space around the ship.

This bubble of folded space contracts in front of the ship and expands behind it faster than the speed of light, meaning that the ship itself is not, at any moment, traveling faster than the speed of light.

There is some artistic license, but in general there is nothing in our current understanding of physics that would make this impossible.

HIGH-SPEED SPACE TRAVEL

In August, this year astrophysicist Professor Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney announced that high-speed travel between galaxies - known as 'warp speed' - might actually be possible.

Once the reserve of science fiction fantasy, speed-space travel is actually part of Einstein's theory of relativity, according to Professor Lewis.

'If you look at the equation that Einstein gave us, it shows you can bend and warp space so you can travel at any speed you like in the universe,' he said in a talk at National Science Week in Sydney.

'It's theoretically possible, but can we ever build a warp drive? We have hints that the kind of materials that we would need exist in the universe but whether or not we could get them together, we still don't know.'

While the principle may be still be theoretical, Professor Lewis said there are signs that aspects of the universe might actually have the kind of property needed for time-warp travel.

Indeed, Einstein's Theory of General Relativity also helps to support the existence of wormholes - shortcuts through the fabric of space and time brought about by the distortions that intense sources of gravity can create.

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY AND NUCLEAR BOMBS

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How Einstein changed the world with his theory of general relativity

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Today marks a century since Einstein first presented the theory The impact of the research into general relatively is still felt today Without it we would not have GPS on our phones and in our cars Our understanding of the Big Bang and black holes would also be different On this day, 100 years ago, an unknown German patents clerk presented a scientific principle that would change the world forever.

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Albert Einstein Timeline of Important Dates

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Shmoop guide to Albert Einstein timeline. Key events and dates in a Albert Einstein timeline, compiled by PhDs and Masters from Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley

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Albert Einstein ( EYEN-styne;[4] German: [ˈalbɛɐt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] ⓘ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist,[5] widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, he also made important co…

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Early Life & Family

Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. Einstein grew up in a secular Jewish family. His father, Hermann Einstein, was a salesman and engineer who, with his brother, founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a Munich-based company that mass-produced electrical equipment.

Einstein's mother, the former Pauline Koch, ran the family household. Einstein had one sister, Maja, born two years after him.

Einstein attended elementary school at the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich. However, he felt alienated there and struggled with the institution's rigid pedagogical style.

He also had what were considered speech challenges, though he developed a passion for classical music and playing the violin, which would stay with him into his later years. Most significantly, Einstein's youth was marked by deep inquisitiveness and inquiry.

Towards the end of the 1880s, Max Talmud, a Polish medical student who sometimes dined with the Einstein family, became an informal tutor to young Einstein. Talmud had introduced his pupil to a children's science text that inspired Einstein to dream about the nature of light.

Thus, during his teens, Einstein penned what would be seen as his first major paper, "The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields."

Hermann Einstein relocated the family to Milan, Italy, in the mid-1890s after his business lost out on a major contract. Einstein was left at a relative's boarding house in Munich to complete his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium.

Faced with military duty when he turned of age, Einstein allegedly withdrew from classes, using a doctor's note to excuse himself and claim nervous exhaustion. With their son rejoining them in Italy, his parents understood Einstein's perspective but were concerned about his future prospects as a school dropout and draft dodger.

Education

Einstein was eventually able to gain admission into the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, specifically due to his superb mathematics and physics scores on the entrance exam.

He was still required to complete his pre-university education first, and thus attended a high school in Aarau, Switzerland helmed by Jost Winteler. Einstein lived with the schoolmaster's family and fell in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie. Einstein later renounced his German citizenship and became a Swiss citizen at the dawn of the new century.

Patent Clerk

After graduating, Einstein faced major challenges in terms of finding academic positions, having alienated some professors over not attending class more regularly in lieu of studying independently.

Einstein eventually found steady work in 1902 after receiving a referral for a clerk position in a Swiss patent office. While working at the patent office, Einstein had the time to further explore ideas that had taken hold during his studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and thus cemented his theorems on what would be known as the principle of relativity.

In 1905-seen by many as a "miracle year" for the theorist-Einstein had four papers published in the Annalen der Physik, one of the best-known physics journals of the era. Two focused on the photoelectric effect and Brownian motion. The two others, which outlined E=MC2 and the special theory of relativity, were defining for Einstein's career and the course of the study of physics.

Wife and Children

Einstein married Mileva Maric on Jan. 6, 1903. While attending school in Zurich, Einstein met Maric, a Serbian physics student. Einstein continued to grow closer to Maric, but his parents were strongly against the relationship due to her ethnic background.

Nonetheless, Einstein continued to see her, with the two developing a correspondence via letters in which he expressed many of his scientific ideas. Einstein's father passed away in 1902, and the couple married shortly thereafter.

That same year the couple had a daughter, Lieserl, who might have been later raised by Maric's relatives or given up for adoption. Her ultimate fate and whereabouts remain a mystery.

The couple had two sons, Hans Albert Einstein (who became a well-known hydraulic engineer) and Eduard "Tete" Einstein (who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young man).

The Einsteins' marriage would not be a happy one, with the two divorcing in 1919 and Maric having an emotional breakdown in connection to the split. Einstein, as part of a settlement, agreed to give Maric any funds he might receive from possibly winning the Nobel Prize in the future.

During his marriage to Maric, Einstein had also begun an affair some time earlier with a cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. The couple wed in 1919, the same year of Einstein's divorce.

He would continue to see other women throughout his second marriage, which ended with Löwenthal's death in 1936.

Nobel Prize for Physics

In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect, since his ideas on relativity were still considered questionable. He wasn't actually given the award until the following year due to a bureaucratic ruling, and during his acceptance speech, he still opted to speak about relativity.

In the development of his general theory, Einstein had held onto the belief that the universe was a fixed, static entity, aka a "cosmological constant," though his later theories directly contradicted this idea and asserted that the universe could be in a state of flux.

Astronomer Edwin Hubble deduced that we indeed inhabit an expanding universe, with the two scientists meeting at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles in 1931.

Inventions and Discoveries

As a physicist, Einstein had many discoveries, but he is perhaps best known for his theory of relativity and the equation E=MC2, which foreshadowed the development of atomic power and the atomic bomb.

Theory of Relativity

Einstein first proposed a special theory of relativity in 1905 in his paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," taking physics in an electrifying new direction. By November 1915, Einstein completed the general theory of relativity. Einstein considered this theory the culmination of his life research.

He was convinced of the merits of general relativity because it allowed for a more accurate prediction of planetary orbits around the sun, which fell short in Isaac Newton 's theory, and for a more expansive, nuanced explanation of how gravitational forces worked.

Einstein's assertions were affirmed via observations and measurements by British astronomers Sir Frank Dyson and Sir Arthur Eddington during the 1919 solar eclipse, and thus a global science icon was born.

Einstein's E=MC2

Einstein's 1905 paper on the matter/energy relationship proposed the equation E=MC2: the energy of a body (E) is equal to the mass (M) of that body times the speed of light squared (C2). This equation suggested that tiny particles of matter could be converted into huge amounts of energy, a discovery that heralded atomic power.

Famed quantum theorist Max Planck backed up the assertions of Einstein, who thus became a star of the lecture circuit and academia, taking on various positions before becoming director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (today is known as the Max Planck Institute for Physics) from 1917 to 1933.

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S ALBERT EINSTEIN FACT CARD

Travel Diaries

In 2018, readers were allowed a glimpse into some of the unfiltered private thoughts of Einstein as a young man with the publication of The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922-1923.

The young scientist started a sea journey to Japan in Marseilles, France, in autumn of 1922, accompanied by his second wife Elsa. They journeyed through the Suez Canal, then to Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Japan. The couple returned to Germany via Palestine and Spain in March 1923.

The Travel Diaries contained unflattering analyses of the people he came across, including the Chinese and Sri Lankans, a surprise coming from a man known for vehemently denouncing racism in his later years.

In an entry for November 1922, Einstein refers to residents of Hong Kong as "industrious, filthy, lethargic people ... Even the children are spiritless and look lethargic. It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races."

Becoming a U.S. Citizen

In 1933, Einstein took on a position at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. At the time the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, were gaining prominence with violent propaganda and vitriol in an impoverished post- World War I Germany.

The Nazi Party influenced other scientists to label Einstein's work "Jewish physics." Jewish citizens were barred from university work and other official jobs, and Einstein himself was targeted to be killed. Meanwhile, other European scientists also left regions threatened by Germany and immigrated to the U.S., with concern over Nazi strategies to create an atomic weapon.

After moving, Einstein never went back to his native land. It was at Princeton that Einstein would spend the rest of his life working on a unified field theory-an all-embracing paradigm meant to unify the varied laws of physics.

Not long after he began his career at Princeton, Einstein expressed an appreciation for American "meritocracy" and the opportunities people had for free thought, a stark contrast to his own experiences coming of age.

In 1935, Einstein was granted permanent residency in his adopted country and became an American citizen five years later. During World War II, he worked on Navy-based weapons systems and made big monetary donations to the military by auctioning off manuscripts worth millions.

Einstein and the Atomic Bomb

In 1939, Einstein and fellow physicist Leo Szilard wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to alert him of the possibility of a Nazi bomb and to galvanize the United States to create its own nuclear weapons.

The U.S. would eventually initiate the Manhattan Project, though Einstein would not take a direct part in its implementation due to his pacifist and socialist affiliations. Einstein was also the recipient of much scrutiny and major distrust from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

After learning of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, Einstein became a major player in efforts to curtail usage of the a-bomb. The following year he and Szilard founded the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, and in 1947, via an essay for The Atlantic Monthly, Einstein espoused working with the United Nations to maintain nuclear weapons as a deterrent to conflict.

Member of the NAACP

In the late 1940s, Einstein became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), seeing the parallels between the treatment of Jews in Germany and African Americans in the United States.

He corresponded with scholar/activist W.E.B. Du Bois as well as performing artist Paul Robeson and campaigned for civil rights, calling racism a "disease" in a 1946 Lincoln University speech.

Time Travel and Quantum Theory

After World War II, Einstein continued to work on his unified field theory and key aspects of his general theory of relativity, including time travel, wormholes, black holes, and the origins of the universe.

However, he felt isolated in his endeavors since the majority of his colleagues had begun focusing their attention on quantum theory. In the last decade of his life, Einstein, who had always seen himself as a loner, withdrew even further from any sort of spotlight, preferring to stay close to Princeton and immerse himself in processing ideas with colleagues.

Death

Einstein died on April 18, 1955, at age 76 at the University Medical Center at Princeton. The previous day, while working on a speech to honor Israel's seventh anniversary, Einstein suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

He was taken to the hospital for treatment but refused surgery, believing that he had lived his life and was content to accept his fate. "I want to go when I want," he stated at the time. "It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."

Einstein's Brain

During Einstein's autopsy, pathologist Thomas Stoltz Harvey removed his brain, reportedly without his family's consent, for preservation and future study by doctors of neuroscience.

However, during his life, Einstein participated in brain studies, and at least one biography claimed he hoped researchers would study his brain after he died. Einstein's brain is now located at the Princeton University Medical Center. In keeping with his wishes, the rest of his body was cremated and the ashes scattered in a secret location.

In 1999, Canadian scientists who were studying Einstein's brain found that his inferior parietal lobe, the area that processes spatial relationships, 3D-visualization and mathematical thought, was 15 percent wider than in people who possess normal intelligence. According to The New York Times, the researchers believe it may help explain why Einstein was so intelligent.

Legacy

Since Einstein's death, a veritable mountain of books have been written on the iconic thinker's life, including Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and Einstein: A Biography by Jürgen Neffe, both from 2007. Einstein's own words are presented in the collection The World As I See It.

In 2018, a team of scientists confirmed one aspect of Einstein's general theory of relativity, that the light from a star passing close to a black hole would be stretched to longer wavelengths by the overwhelming gravitational field.

Tracking star S2, their measurements indicated that the star's orbital velocity increased to over 25 million kph as it neared the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, its appearance shifting from blue to red as its wavelengths stretched to escape the pull of gravity.
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Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. Einstein grew up in a secular Jewish family. His father, Hermann Einstein, was a salesman and engineer who, with his brother, founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a Munich-based company that mass-produced electrical equipment.

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Albert Einstein, a man whose name is practically synonymous with genius, is one of history's greatest thinkers. As a physicist and mathematician, Einstein wasn't an inventor in the vein of Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell, but his theories of relativity led to new ways of looking at time, space, matter, energy and gravity. His work led to important advances such as the control of atomic energy, space exploration, and applications of light.

As a young boy born to Jewish parents in Germany, his teachers initially called him slow and lazy. However, by the time he left school at the age of 15, one teacher remarked there was nothing left to teach him [source: Golden].

Einstein studied at the Institute of Technology in Zurich and received his doctorate in 1905 at the age of 26. That same year, he published five groundbreaking scientific papers. The first paper earned him his doctorate, and the concepts presented in the next four papers helped change our understanding of the universe. The topics were:

Brownian movement, or the zigzag motion of microscopic particles in suspension. Einstein's findings helped to prove the existence of atoms and molecules.

The quantum theory of light. Einstein proposed that light is composed of separate packets of energy, called -- quanta or photons -- that have some properties of particles and some properties of waves. He also explained the photoelectric effect, which is the emission of electrons from some solids when they're struck by light. Television is a practical application of Einstein's theory of light.

The special theory of relativity. Einstein explained that time and motion are relative to their observers -- as long as the speed of light remains constant and natural laws are the same throughout the universe.

The link between mass and energy. The fourth paper expanded on this idea with the famous equation E = mc², relating mass and energy. This formula demonstrates that a small particle of matter contains an enormous amount of energy. This forms much of the basis for nuclear energy.

What happened after this extremely productive year? Find out on the next page.

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Albert Einstein, a man whose name is practically synonymous with genius, is one of history's greatest thinkers. As a physicist and mathematician, Einstein wasn't an inventor in the vein of Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell, but his theories of relativity led to new ways of looking at time, space, matter, energy and gravity.

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Albert Einstein contributed, perhaps more than any man in history, in the development of our world. His four Annus Mirabilis ('miracle year') papers, which were released in 1905, laid the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, mass, and energy. Here are 10 major accomplishments of the great scientist.

#1 Albert Einstein provided empirical evidence for the atomic theory

In 1827, Robert Brown observed pollen grains in water through a microscope and found that they moved through water but was not able to determine the mechanisms that caused this motion. In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper on this random motion of particles in a fluid, known as Brownian motion. Einstein explained in precise detail how the motion that Brown had observed was a result of the pollen being moved by individual water molecules. Though atoms and molecules had long been theorized by scientists, Einstein's explanation of Brownian motion served as definitive confirmation that atoms and molecules actually exist.

#2 He enabled the determination of Avogadro's number and therefore the size of molecules

During his explanation of Brownian motion, Einstein determined the size of atoms, and how many atoms there are in a mole. He enabled the experimental determination of Avogadro's number and therefore the size of molecules. Einstein's statistical discussion of atomic behavior gave experimentalists a way to count atoms by looking through an ordinary microscope.

#3 Einstein solved the riddle of the photoelectric effect

Photoelectric Effect is the emissions of electrons from a metal when light shines on it. Scientists were puzzled with this effect as it couldn't be explained with Maxwell's wave theory of light. In his revolutionary paper, released on June 9, 1905, Einstein challenged the wave theory of light and suggested that light could also be regarded as a collection of discrete energy packets (photons). Initially Einstein's particle theory of light was universally rejected by physicists until it was experimentally verified by Robert A. Millikan about a decade later. Einstein's discovery was pivotal in establishing the field of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics in turn explained many features of our universe and is used a great deal in modern technological inventions.

#4 He proposed the special theory of relativity

The inconsistencies of Newtonian mechanics with Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism led Einstein to write his legendary paper ' On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies' which was published on September 26, 1905. Einstein proposed major changes to mechanics while handling situations close to the speed of light. This later became known as Einstein's special theory of relativity. It was supported by confirmatory experimental evidence and soon gained widespread acceptance. As of today, special relativity is the most accurate model of motion at any speed.

#5 Einstein came up with the concept of rest energy through his famous equation

In relation to his theory of special relativity, Albert Einstein predicted the equivalence of mass (m) and energy (E) through his famous mass-energy equivalence formula , where c is the speed of light in vacuum. This was of paramount importance because it showed that a particle possesses an energy called the "rest energy", distinct from its classical kinetic and potential energies. It implied that gravity had the ability to bend light and could be used to calculate the amount of energy released or consumed during nuclear reactions.

#6 He proposed the general theory of relativity

In 1916 Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which generalizes special relativity and Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, or spacetime. General relativity helped to model the large-scale structure of the universe and its predictions have been confirmed in all observations and experiments to date. It has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics providing understanding of phenomena like black holes and gravitational lensing.

#7 He collaborated with Bose to predict the existence of Bose-Einstein condensate

In 1924, Einstein received a paper from Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose on a counting method that assumed that light could be understood as a gas of indistinguishable particles. Einstein submitted the German translation of the paper to a journal. In collaboration with Bose, Einstein extended the idea to atoms and this led to the prediction of the existence of phenomena which became known as Bose-Einstein condensate. It was not until 1995 that the first such condensate was produced experimentally.

#8 His debates with Niels Bohr brought quantum mechanics in focus

Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr were involved in a series of public debates about quantum mechanics. These debates are remembered as they are considered important to the philosophy of science. They not only represented one of the highest points of scientific research in the first half of the twentieth century but they also brought to focus an element of quantum theory, namely quantum non-locality, which is absolutely essential in our modern understanding of the physical world.

#9 Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921

In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". In 1925, he was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society, which is perhaps the oldest surviving scientific award in the world. Einstein received numerous other awards and honors including Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1926, Matteucci Medal in 1921, Max Planck Medal in 1929 and Franklin Medal in 1935. In 1999, Time magazine named Albert Einstein as the Person of the Century.

#10 His work had profound and far reaching implications

Albert Einstein's scientific theories accelerated the development of the world like never before and he gave scientists the tools to mold almost every observable aspect of life as we live today. From nuclear energy production to synchronization of GPS satellites to computers to many everyday consumer products; all can be traced or linked to Einstein's work. His impact is not just restricted to science it can be seen in other fields like philosophy, visual arts and literature. Philosophical movement logical positivism, art movement Cubism and numerous science fiction novels bear the imprint of Einstein. Albert Einstein changed the world perhaps more than anyone has ever done in its history.

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10 Major Accomplishments of Albert Einstein

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Albert Einstein contributed, perhaps more than any man in history, in the development of our world. His four Annus Mirabilis ('miracle year') papers, which were released in 1905, laid the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, mass, and energy. Here are 10 major accomplishments of the great scientist.

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Symmetry: How Einstein Changed the Way We See Everything - Video

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Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek details the broad influence Albert Einstein had on his career, as well as society as a whole.

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Einstein's work is often associated with the development of atomic energy and weaponry. Einstein demonstrated the existence of the atom. His formula, E = mc2 showed that masses of atoms contained enormous quantities of energy. But these discoveries were only tangentially connected with nuclear power or nuclear warfare.

The scientific and technological revolutions that sprang from Einstein's General and Special Theories of Relativity (1907-1915), his explanation of the Photoelectric Effect and his recognition of the principles of monochrome all had direct and lasting impacts on modern technology and innovations that have changed the way human beings live.

CD players, televisions, computers and global positioning satellite (GPS) are just a few of the modern conveniences whose development was made possible by Einstein's intellectual breakthroughs.

A child born to an immigrant Jewish family of modest means, Einstein used his platform as the leading scientist and intellectual of the 20th century to speak eloquently on the importance of education, human rights, nuclear disarmament and peace.
Learn more about Electricity

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How did Albert Einstein change the world?

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Einstein's work is often associated with the development of atomic energy and weaponry. Einstein demonstrated the existence of the atom. His formula, E = mc2 showed that masses of atoms contained enormous quantities of energy. But these discoveries were only tangentially connected with nuclear power or nuclear warfare.

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According to Richard Dawkins, the gifted exponent of evolution, Einstein was an atheist: "Einstein sometimes invoked the name of God, and he is not the only atheistic scientist to do so, inviting misunderstanding by supernaturalists eager to misunderstand and claim the illustrious thinker as their own."[1] Dawkins gives a definition of atheism as believing that there is "nothing beyond the natural, physical world, no supernatural creative intelligence lurking behind the observable universe."[2]

He explains that some scientists sound religious, but if you delve more deeply into their thinking, they are in fact atheists. He presents Einstein as a prime example, and describes Einstein's religion as pantheism, which he calls "sexed-up atheism".[3] According to Dawkins, "The one thing his theistic critics got right, was that Einstein was not one of them. He was repeatedly indignant at the suggestion he was a theist."[4] But has Dawkins totally misunderstood Einstein? Is there clear unequivocal evidence that Einstein did believe in God?

It is important to get some definitions straight at the outset, because Dawkins tells us that in his opinion "to deliberately confuse the two understandings of God is an act of intellectual high treason."[5] Strong words indeed. In the Oxford English Dictionary we find the following definitions: theism is the belief in a deity, or deities, as opposed to atheism; and the belief in one God, as opposed to polytheism or pantheism. It is important to note that, firstly, the definition of theism does not necessarily include the notion that God is personal. Secondly, atheism is defined as a disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God. Thirdly, pantheism is a belief or philosophical theory that God is not only immanent (indwelling and sustaining the universe) but also identical with the universe.

Dawkins explains that in dealing with Einstein's religious views he relied on Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion. Dawkins wrote: "The extracts that follow are taken from Max Jammer's book (which is also my main source of quotations from Einstein himself on religious matters)."[6] However a very different picture emerges when we study what Einstein actually said, again as recorded in Jammer's book. It seems Dawkins needs to be reminded of the 'Ten New Commandments' he lists in his own book. The seventh reads: "Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them."[7] The following quotations from Einstein are all in Jammer's book:

What gives the lie to Dawkins' claim that Einstein was an atheist is Einstein's repeated references to "a superior spirit", "a superior mind", "a spirit vastly superior to men", "a veneration for this force" etc. etc. This is not atheism. It is clear Einstein believed that there is something beyond the natural, physical world - a supernatural creative intelligence. Further confirmation that Einstein believed in a transcendent God comes from his conversations with his friends. David Ben-Gurion, the former Prime Minister of Israel, records Einstein saying "There must be something behind the energy."[17] And the distinguished physicist Max Born commented, "He did not think religious belief a sign of stupidity, not unbelief a sign of intelligence."[18] Therefore on Dawkins' own definition, Einstein is an atheist. On one point however Dawkins is correct: Einstein did not believe in a personal God, who answers prayers and interferes in the universe. But he did believe in an intelligent mind or spirit, which created the universe with its immutable laws.

According to Dawkins, "Einstein was repeatedly indignant at the suggestion he was a theist."[19] The evidence from Jammer's book is the exact opposite. What Einstein actually said is:

According to Jammer, "Einstein always protested against being regarded as an atheist."[23] What evidence then does Dawkins have that Einstein was indignant at being called a theist? Dawkins needs to explain this very peculiar discrepancy. Lastly Dawkins argues that science and religion are incompatible. Again Einstein takes the opposite point of view: "A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."[24]

Max Jammer was a personal friend of Einstein and Professor of Physics at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. His book is a comprehensive survey of Einstein's writing, conversations and speeches on God and religion. In his book, Jammer wrote, "Einstein was neither an atheist nor an agnostic"[25] and he added, "Einstein renounced atheism because he never considered his denial of a personal God as a denial of God. This subtle but decisive distinction has long been ignored."[26] His conclusion is that Einstein believed in God, albeit not a God who answers prayers. Eduard Büsching sent a copy of his book Es gibt keinen Gott (There is no God) to Einstein, who suggested a different title: Es gibt keinen persönlichen Gott (There is no personal God).[27] However in his letter to Büsching, Einstein commented, "A belief in a personal God is preferable to the lack of any transcendental outlook."[28] According to Jammer, "Not only was Einstein not an atheist, but his writings have turned many away from atheism, although he did not set out to convert anyone".[29] Einstein was very religious; he wrote, "Thus I came - despite the fact that I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents - to a deep religiosity."[30]

On Spinoza, Einstein said, "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."[31] Some - like Dawkins - think Spinoza equated God with the material universe (pantheism), but Spinoza himself made clear this is mistaken. Spinoza wrote, "The view of certain people that I identify God with nature is quite mistaken."[32] The French philosopher Martial Guéroult suggested the term panentheism, rather than pantheism, to describe Spinoza's view of the relation between God and the universe. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'panentheism' as the theory or belief that God encompasses and interpenetrates the universe, but at the same time is greater than, and independent of it. So panentheism is similar to pantheism, but crucially in addition believes that God exists as a mind or a spirit. The idea that God is both transcendent and immanent is also a major tenet of both Christianity and Judaism.

Richard Dawkins describes faith as evil: "I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion."[33] However some of Einstein's theories were not demonstrated scientifically until years after publication. Yet Einstein had faith in them. Nor were all Newton's theories established at the time. Newton, Darwin and Einstein all had faith in their theories, before they were shown to be true. We all have many intuitive beliefs that we are justified in holding, even if we cannot demonstrate their validity, such as belief in the past, belief in rationality and belief that we are not dreaming. It is impossible to live life without faith. Indeed Einstein - like many other scientists - believed that science is based on a faith in the rationality of the universe. In his own words, "Ultimately the belief in the existence of fundamental all-embracing laws rests on a sort of faith."[34] Therefore to describe faith as being as evil as smallpox is frankly absurd.

But isn't Einstein's understanding of an impersonal God totally removed from Christian, Jewish and Muslim thinking? Max Jammer refers in his book to the leading theologian Hans Küng, who pointed out that the Bible never refers to God as a person. Küng explains, "Of course in my youth I had a simple, naïve, anthropomorphic understanding of God. At the beginning of life that is normal. It is less normal for a grown man or woman to preserve his or her childlike understanding."[35] For Küng, "God is not a person as man is a person.... God transcends the concept of person."[36] Or as C.S. Lewis put it, God is not less than personal but is "beyond personality".[37] Küng explains that part of the problem here lies in the meaning of the word 'person' - derived from the Latin 'persona' - which has changed over time. It originally meant a mask used by an actor on the stage.[38] So one actor could play several parts, using different 'personae'. In this way Jesus may be seen above all as the 'persona' of God entering the human stage. This original meaning of the word has been almost completely lost.

To sum up: Einstein was - like Newton before him - deeply religious and a firm believer in a transcendent God. However Einstein rejected anthropomorphic and personal understandings of the word 'God'. His beliefs may be seen as a form of Deism: "the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being as the source of finite existence, with rejection of revelation and the supernatural doctrines of Christianity" ( The Oxford English Dictionary). If any intellectual high treason has been committed, it has been committed by Dawkins himself, who has failed to deal carefully with what Einstein actually said, thereby confusing two very different understandings of God. He should have paid more attention to Max Jammer's book, and to the conclusions Jammer reached after studying all the evidence. There is another conclusion to be drawn from this: Dawkins has pointed out the attempt in America to rebrand atheists as 'brights', implying atheists are clever and theists stupid. If Einstein was clearly a theist, like Newton, this is arrant nonsense. This should help to stop the bullying of Christian children, who are told they are stupid to believe in God. One girl personally known to the author was bullied so much for being a Christian that she had to move schools. So, after all of Dawkins' rhetorical bluster and verbal swagger, we are left with fallacious reasoning and factual errors - a case of 'argument weak, shout louder'.

References

[1] Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (London Transworld 2006), p.34. Dawkins, p.35. Dawkins, p.40. Dawkins, p.39. Dawkins, p.41. Dawkins, p.37. Dawkins, p.299. H.G. Kessler, The Diary of a Cosmopolitan (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971), p.322, quoted in Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1999), p.40. A. Einstein to P. Wright 24 January 1936, Einstein Archive reel 52-337; Jammer, p.93. Quoted in H. Dukas and B. Hoffman, Albert Einstein - The Human Side (USA Princeton University Press 1981); Jammer, p.144. Z. Rosenkranz, Albert through the Looking Glass (Jewish National Library Jerusalem, 1998), pp.xi, 80; Jammer, p.151. Einstein in conversation with W. Hermann in Hermann's book Einstein and the Poet (USA Branden Press, 1983), p.132; Jammer, p.123. E. Salaman, A Talk with Einstein The Listener 54 (1955):370-371; Jammer, p.123. E. Strauss, Assistant bei Albert Einstein in C. Seelig, Helle Zeit-Dunkle Zeit (Europa Verlag, Zurich, 1956), p.72; Jammer, p.124. Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions (New York: Random House 1954), p.255; Jammer, p.132. Albert Einstein, The Quotable Einstein, ed. Alice Calaprice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), pp.195-6. Jammer, p.96. Jammer, p.96. Jammer, p.39. G.S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (Macaulay, New York 1936) p.186; Jammer, p.48. Einstein to an unidentified addressee dated 7 th August 1941. Einstein archive reel 54-927; Jammer p.97. Einstein in a conversation with Hubertus zu Löwenstein, in Löwenstein's book Towards the Further Shore (London Victor Gollancz 1968), p.156; Jammer, p.97. Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), p.150. Albert Einstein, Science and Religion, printed in A. Einstein Ideas and Opinions (Crown, New York 1954,) pp.44-49 quote on p.46; Jammer p.31. Jammer, p.96. Jammer, p.150.
[27] Jammer, p.50. A. Einstein letter to Büsching; Jammer, p.149. Jammer, p.151. Jammer, p.19. In 1929, Einstein was asked by Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein whether he believed in God. Einstein responded by telegram. Jammer, p.49. B. Spinoza, Correspondence of Benedict de Spinoza, Wilder Publications (March 26, 2009), letter 73. Richard Dawkins, ' Is Science a Religion?', The Humanist (January/February 1997, American Humanist Association). Einstein to P. Wright, 24 January 1936. Einstein archive reel 52-337; Jammer, p.93. Hans Küng, What I Believe (London Continuum 2010), p.102. Hans Küng, Does God Exist? (London SCM 1984), pp.631-633. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London Fontana 1955), p.136. Hans Küng, Does God Exist?, pp.631-633.

© 2011 John Marsh
This article is published on bethinking.org by the kind permission of the author.
A slightly revised version of this article forms part of 'Chapter 7: Liberal Delusions: Religion is Untrue and Harmful' in the author's book The Liberal Delusion (Arena Books, 2012).

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According to Richard Dawkins, the gifted exponent of evolution, Einstein was an atheist: "Einstein sometimes invoked the name of God, and he is not the only atheistic scientist to do so, inviting misunderstanding by supernaturalists eager to misunderstand and claim the illustrious thinker as their own."

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Albert Einstein: A Revolutionary Influence of the 20th Century, Who's Work Impacted the Final Outcome of WWII and Forever Changed Modern Warfare (Fall 2012) - Historpedia

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The Historpedia highlights research interests of students enrolled in PsTL 1251, Global History and Culture, at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Students write short encyclopedia-like entries on history topics of high interest to them. They identify a major history force that influences the person, event, or group described in their paper.

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Important leadership qualitys and impact on scientific belifes

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Important leadership qualitys and impact on scientific belifes

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A lifelong pacifist, Einstein sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 urging him to develop atomic weapons before the Nazis, who were actively working on one. This led to the Manhattan Project, the top-secret American plan that produced the first nuclear weapon.