Birth in Ulm
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. His family moved to Munich shortly after, where his father founded an electrical company.
ETH Zurich
Einstein began studying physics and mathematics at ETH Zurich. He met his future wife Mileva Marić, the only woman in his physics class.
Patent Office
Einstein began work as a technical expert at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. This job left him enough time for his own scientific studies.
Miracle Year
Einstein published four groundbreaking papers: on light quanta, Brownian motion, special relativity, and his famous E=mc² formula. Physics was revolutionized.
General Relativity
After ten years of intensive work, Einstein completed the General Theory of Relativity, describing gravity as the curvature of spacetime.
Nobel Prize
Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics – not for relativity, but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect, which laid the foundation for quantum physics.
Escape from Nazis
After Hitler's rise to power, Einstein emigrated to the USA. He took a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and never returned to Germany.
Legacy
Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 in Princeton. He left behind a scientific legacy that forever changed our understanding of space, time, and the universe.