Albert Einstein
Key Facts
- Publie 4 articles révolutionnaires en 1905 (Annus Mirabilis) dont la relativité restreinte et E=mc²
- Formule la théorie de la relativité générale en 1915, confirmée lors de l'éclipse de 1919
- Reçoit le Prix Nobel de Physique en 1921 pour l'explication de l'effet photoélectrique
- Fuit l'Allemagne nazie en 1933 et rejoint l'Institute for Advanced Study de Princeton
- Cosigne en 1939 la lettre Einstein-Szilard alertant Roosevelt sur le risque de bombe atomique nazie
- Ses équations restent le fondement de la cosmologie moderne et du GPS
Biography
Albert Einstein, born on 14 March 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, is undoubtedly the most celebrated physicist in history. The son of a Jewish merchant from southern Germany, he grew up in Munich before following his family to Milan, then settling in Switzerland to continue his studies. His relationship with school was ambivalent: brilliant in mathematics and physics, he struggled with the rigid authority of German educational institutions. He obtained his diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich in 1900, but found it difficult to secure a university position due to a lack of strong recommendations.
It was as an examiner at the Bern Patent Office that Einstein, during his spare time, carried out the work that would revolutionise physics. In 1905 — his "Annus Mirabilis" — he published four landmark papers in the Annalen der Physik: an explanation of the photoelectric effect (which would earn him the Nobel Prize), the theory of Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and the famous equation E=mc², establishing the equivalence between mass and energy. These contributions profoundly transformed our understanding of light, time, space and matter.
In 1915, Einstein took another decisive step by publishing his general theory of relativity, which describes gravity as a curvature of space-time caused by the mass of bodies. This theory was spectacularly confirmed during the solar eclipse of 1919, when starlight was indeed shown to be deflected by the mass of the Sun. Einstein became a world celebrity overnight. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, not for relativity but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect, which formed the basis of quantum mechanics.
The rise of Nazism in Germany forced Einstein, who was Jewish, to flee his country in 1933. He found refuge in Princeton, USA, joining the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1939, he co-signed with Leo Szilard a letter addressed to President Roosevelt, warning him of the possibility that Nazi Germany might develop an atomic bomb. This step contributed to the launch of the Manhattan Project, although Einstein himself did not take part in military nuclear research. A committed pacifist, he regretted until the end of his life the destructive uses made of his discovery.
Albert Einstein died on 18 April 1955 in Princeton, leaving behind a body of work that continues to shape modern physics. His theories of relativity remain the reference framework for cosmology, particle physics and GPS technology. His name has become synonymous with genius, and his thinking — combining intuition, imagination and rigour — remains a model for scientists the world over.