Albert Einstein

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Albert Einstein was born in the city of Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks after he was born, the family moved to Munich where Albert later began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland. In 1896, he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post. Eventually, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.

During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work. "Early in 1908 he finally produced his Habilitationsschrift and on February 28 a letter was drawn up informing young Doctor Einstein that his application had been accepted and that he had been granted the venia docendi" (Pais 184).

In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and immigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton. He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.

After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government Movement. Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, died on November 9, 1952. Thereupon the Israeli government decided to offer the...