3. 1884
• Einstein saw a
wonder when he
was four or five
years old: a
magnetic compass.
• The needle's
northward swing,
guided by an
invisible force,
impressed him.
• The compass
convinced him that
there had to be
"something behind
things, something
deeply hidden."
4. Albert as a Student
• Einstein knew, from
then on, that he
wanted to teach math
and Science at a
University someday.
• The problem was, he
wasn’t a very good
test-taker and could
not get a job at a
University because of
it.
• Rumor has it that he
had even failed a Math
test, but some people
question that because
of the way grades
were assigned back
then.
5. 1905
• Albert Einstein
develops his
Special Theory of
Relativity.
• He did this while
working as a Patent
Clerk in Germany.
• He wasn’t really
even a scientist at
the time.
6. Einstein’s Special Theory of
Relativity
• Relative to who
is watching,
space and time
are transformed
near the speed of
light: distances
appear to
stretch; and
clocks tick more
slowly.
• clock
7. Einstein’s Special Theory of
Relativity
• Einstein’s theory
meant that
Newton’s Laws
needed to be
modified.
• gravity
• Space and time are
not absolute - and
the universe we live
in is not actually the
one Newton
"discovered.“
• spacetime
8. Einstein Continued his Genius
in 1905
• Einstein uses the idea
that light exists as
tiny packets, or
particles, that we now
call photons.
• His work anchors the
most shocking idea in
twentieth century
science: we live in a
universe built out of
tiny bits of energy
and matter.
9. Einstein Continued his Genius
in 1905
• Next, in April and May,
Einstein publishes two
papers.
• In one he invents a new
method of counting and
determining the size of
the atoms or molecules in
a given space.
• In the other he explains
the phenomenon of
Brownian motion.
• The net result is a proof
that atoms actually exist -
still an issue at that time.
10. Einstein Continued his Genius
in 1905
• And then, in June,
Einstein completes
special relativity -
which adds a twist
to the story: special
relativity sees light
as particles and a
continuous field of
waves.
11. Einstein Continued his Genius
in 1905
• And of course, Einstein
isn't finished. Later in
1905 comes the most
famous relationship in
physics: e=mc2
.
• The energy content of a
body is equal to the mass
of the body times the
speed of light squared.
• At first, even Einstein
does not understand the
full implications of his
formula. 2
mce =
12. 1907
• In 1907, Einstein
begins to apply the
laws of gravity to
his Special Theory
of Relativity.
• In 1911, he finally
gets a job as a
Professor of
Physics at the
German University.
13. 1910-1913
• In 1910, Einstein
addressed a basic
question: "Why is the
sky blue?" He
approached the
problem by looking at
the effect of the
scattering of light by
individual molecules in
the atmosphere.
• In 1913, Einstein
begins work on his
new Theory of Gravity.
14. 1915
• Einstein completes
his General Theory
of Relativity.
• Einstein challenged
the way the world
thought about
gravity – and Sir
Isaac Newton
himself - by
describing gravity
as the warping of
space-time, not a
force acting at a
distance.
16. 1919
• A solar eclipse proves
Einstein right, and he
becomes an overnight
celebrity.
• An experiment had
confirmed that light rays
from the sun were
deflected by the gravity
of the sun in just the
amount Einstein had
predicted in his theory
of gravity, General
Relativity.
17.
18. 1921
• Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel
Prize "for his services to Theoretical
Physics, and especially for his
discovery of the law of the photoelectric
effect"
20. 1933
• Einstein and his
wife, Elsa,
escape Nazi
Germany and set
sail for the
United States.
21. 1939
• World War II
begins.
• Einstein writes a
now famous letter
to President
Franklin D.
Roosevelt urging
nuclear research
and warning him of
Germany’s building
of an atomic bomb.
22. Einstein’s Contribution
• Between 1905 to 1925,
Einstein changed the world’s
understanding of nature on
every scale, from the smallest
organism to the whole
universe.
• Now, a century after he began
to make his mark, we are still
exploring Einstein's universe.
• The problems he could not
solve remain the ones that
define the cutting edge, the
most tantalizing and
compelling.
23. Einstein’s Contribution
• Einstein continued to his
dying days, trying to
figure out a single central
theory that explained
everything in the
universe.
• An extension of his work
has become known as
String Theory, which
says that everything in
the universe is made up
of tiny strings of energy.
24. April 18, 1955
• Albert
Einstein
dies of
Heart
Failure.
• This is a
picture of
his last
blackboard.
25. Famous Einstein Quotes
• "Anyone who has never made a
mistake has never tried
anything new."
• "If A equals success, then the
formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work.
Y is play. Z is keep your mouth
shut."
