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Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14 into a middle-class assimilated German-Jewish family; by the time of his death on April 18 in Princeton, New Jersey, he was recognized as being equal in accomplishment to Isaac Newton, but one significantly more publicly involved in human affairs.

Einstein showed precociousness in science and mathematics, with mixed accomplishment in other areas. He spent his early professional years in Switzerland working in the patent office. At age twenty-six—in the miracle year of 1905—he published several papers on special relativity, on the particle (photon) nature of light, resulting in the complementary idea that light was both a wave and a particle, and seminal papers in statistical physics. His general theory of relativity, first conceived in about 1907, achieved its final form in 1915. This theory was dramatically confirmed by its successful explanation of the hitherto mysterious precession of the perihelion of the planet Mercury, and with the observation during a solar eclipse of predicted bending of starlight by the Sun's gravitational field in 1919. It was especially this latter event that led to world fame.

Einstein's private life was not very dramatic; he was married twice and had two children. He emigrated to the United States at the time of Adolf Hitler's ascent in 1932, settling at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. He remained there for the rest of his life, continuing his physics research unabated, particularly his search for a unified field theory.

Einstein is best known for his theories of special and general relativity, although he also made enormous contributions to quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics, and cosmology. Through his contributions to the understanding of the nature of light and atomic structure, his revolutionary concepts of space and time, and his famous equation of E = Mc² (Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared) that shows the equivalence of mass and energy and led the way to the creation of controlled nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons, his impact on contemporary society and culture touches everyone.

Other less commonly appreciated impacts derive from early work on radiation theory, which led to the concept of stimulated light emission, the basis for the laser. In the 1990s his prediction, inspired by an earlier paper of Satyendra Nath Bose, of what is now known as Bose-Einstein Condensation, led to an entirely new field of physics that studies the macroscopic effects of quantum mechanics on extremely cold gaseous systems. The theory had been used earlier to help explain superconductivity and superfluidity.

Even this list of achievements does not adequately describe Einstein's involvement with the world of physics. Throughout his life he was in continual touch with numerous colleagues; he read voraciously and was fully involved with the developing conceptual framework of the new views of nature required by quantum physics and relativity. He was generous with his contemporaries, freely offering and taking suggestions from correspondents throughout the world, while eagerly conducting ongoing dialogues with the other great physicists then active, including Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and Erwin Schrödinger. Although he was one of the original formulators of quantum mechanics he was never satisfied that it represented a complete theory, because it assumed the statistical nature of microscopic events, while he firmly believed in the Newtonian idea of causality in nature. Accordingly he always felt that quantum mechanics was incomplete, awaiting a deeper explanation for the statistical nature of the wave function in terms of a more causal theory. Einstein's often quoted statement, "God does not play dice," reflects this view. His minority opinion has resulted in an enormous literature on the interpretation of quantum theory, continuing with non-diminishing intensity into the twenty-first century.

Einstein's vision of a unified field theory that would unite all the known forces of nature into a single theoretical structure drove his research efforts during the last thirty years of his life. Although this incomparable challenge led to only limited success in his own hands, this holy grail of modern physics continues to inspire future generations of theoretical physicists.

Einstein's overarching goal in physics was to formulate unifying principles for all phenomena in nature. This philosophy extended itself to other aspects of his life, including personal habits, and his deep involvement with issues such as world peace, human rights, and social justice. He was an implacable foe of militarism, even during his residence in Germany in World War I. He became the victim of intense anti-Semitism in Germany during the inter-war period, when his physics, especially relativity, was attacked as being Jewish physics. Although he espoused many liberal causes, he was never attracted to Communism and opposed Stalinist Soviet Russia as strongly as Nazi Germany. He was an unswerving advocate of international government and international control of armaments, including nuclear weapons. His advocacy of such positions often resulted in conflicts with authority, including the U.S. government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) dossier on him consists of 1,427 pages. Although a non-practicing Jew, he was a strong supporter of the state of Israel, and was even proposed, at the time of Chaim Weizmann's death in 1952, to be its next President (although he swiftly turned down the invitation).

Additionally Einstein's name is indelibly connected with the atomic bomb, not only because of his famous formula for energy-mass equivalence but also because of the letter he signed in 1939, written by his friend Leo Szillard, alerting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the possibility that Germany might be working on the development of such a weapon. In his later years he regretted this action. Indeed, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki he argued that "everything has changed, save our modes of thinking" and that "the bomb [presents] a problem not to physics but of ethics." In 1955, in response to development of the hydrogen bomb, he co-signed with Bertrand Russell a public manifesto calling on all scientists to become involved in helping to reverse the nuclear arms race.

It is important to remember, however, that Einstein's concern for the social implications of science and technology always remained central to his core of beliefs. In 1931, for instance, in a talk at the California Institute of Technology, he told students that "concern for man himself and his fate must always form the field interest of all technical endeavors."

The literature on Einstein—his life, science, and beliefs—is overwhelming. There are more than 4 million Internet sites containing his name. As one noteworthy example, see the American Institute of Physics History site. At the end of the twentieth century Time magazine called him the person of the century. He remains the personification of the scientist. Einstein's combination of pure brilliance, high ideals, personal integrity, as well as human weaknesses yield the picture of a human being at the highest level of achievement.

Atomic Bomb;; Energy;; Pugwash Conferences.

Brian, Denis. (1996). Einstein, A Life. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Readable and anecdotal.

Einstein, Albert. (1931). Address before the Student Body, the California Institute of Technology, February 16, 1931. Original manuscript held at Pasadena, CA: Caltech Institute Archives. Quoted in many speeches and sources.

Einstein, Albert. (1954). Ideas and Opinions, ed. Carl Seelig. New York: Bonanza Books.

Einstein, Albert. (1987). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, ed. P Havas et al. 8 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. English translation.

Pais, Abraham. (1982). Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert Einstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The definitive scientific biography, highly recommended.

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