Albert Einstein, 20th Century Genius

Albert Einstein, 20th Century Genius

Introduction

Albert Einstein's famous E = mc^2 alone makes him worthy of a special place in human history, since that equation fundamentally changed the way many people think of the universe we live in. Distance and time seem to be absolutes, not capable of change. According to the textbook The Cosmic Perspective, "With extremely precise measurements, the distance you measure between home and work will be different from the distance measured by a friend in a car, and you and your friend will also disagree about the time it takes you to walk to work." (Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, Voit, 2002, p. 384) Einstein was able to verify that this, indeed, was true by applying his theory of relativity, and general theory of relativity.

Einstein's Formative Years

Realizing that Albert Einstein is among the most intelligent people in recent history, one would have a difficult time believing he had trouble passing many courses in school.

English: receiving from Judge his certificate of A...

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English: Albert Einstein, official 1921 Nobel Priz...

This, in fact, was true in regards to particular subjects. Granted, he was a mathematical genius, which made it easy for him to excel in those subjects. Humanities, and the arts was another story; Einstein did not fare so well with these subjects. In fact, a prestigious engineering school (ETH) he was attempting to enter made it a point that prospective students be well-rounded, which temporarily kept him out.

Albert Einstein finally did get into ETH, and graduated in 1900 as a teacher of mathematics and physics. While attending ETH, he made friends with fellow classmate Marcel Grossman. Einstein attempted to gain a post at ETH, to no avail. O'Connor & Robertson stated that "Einstein tried to obtain a post, writing to Hurwitz who held out some hope of a position but nothing came of it. Three of Einstein's fellow students,