A Truly Beautiful Mind

• Introduction to Albert Einstein

  • Born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany.
  • Early childhood indicators:
    • Normal child, not a prodigy.
    • Spoke very slowly up to age two and a half.
    • Played mostly by himself; called "Brother Boring" by playmates.
    • Fascinated by mechanical toys.
  • School days in Munich:
    • Rebellious against strict discipline and regimented schooling.
    • Headmaster predicted he would never make a success at anything.
    • Left the school permanently at age 15 due to suffocation.

• Education in Switzerland

  • Moved to Zurich, a city more liberal than Munich.
  • Loved mathematics and physics.
  • Met Mileva Maric:
    • A Serbian student at the university.
    • Intelligent and shared his interest in science.
    • Later became his wife; had two sons, but the marriage faltered.

• Scientific Career & Breakthroughs

  • Graduated in 1900 at age 21.
  • Initially struggled to find an academic job.
  • Worked as a technical expert in the Patent Office in Bern (1902).
  • Secretly developed his revolutionary scientific ideas ("Bureau of theoretical physics").
  • The Annus Mirabilis Papers (1905):
    • Special Theory of Relativity.
    • Mass-energy equivalence equation: $E = mc^2$.
  • Appointed as professor in Prague (1911) and Zurich (1912).
  • Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect.
  • Celebrated globally as a visionary and genius.

• Personal Life & Humanitarian Views

  • Outbreak of the Second World War (1939):
    • Escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated to the United States (Princeton).
    • Fearing Nazi Germany could build an atomic bomb, wrote a warning letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945):
    • Deeply shaken by the immense destruction.
    • Wrote a public missive to the United Nations.
    • Proposed the formation of a world government.
    • Spent his later years campaigning for peace and democracy and against the arms build-up.

• Einstein as a World Citizen

  • Remembered not just as a brilliant scientist, but as a global icon.
  • Lived a simple life, passionate about music (played the violin) and science.
  • Epitomized the combination of supreme scientific intellect and deep humanitarianism.