Albert Einstein

(Eric, is my title short enough? Ha!)

Information collected and edited by Claire Wang

You've probably heard of Albert Einstein before. You may know that he was a famous
scientist. You may know that he looked a little funny (especially his hair), and spoke
with a heavy German accent. You may know that he discovered something called
"relativity" that is closely related to the complicated equation "e=mc2." But that’s not
all about this amazing character! Read on!

To start off, think carefully about science. When I say,” science," what pops into your
mind? Do you think about pictures of crazy-looking men in white lab coats talking in
weird accents? Do you get images of dark unlighted laboratories crammed with
bubbling colorful liquids, curved glassware, test tubes, beakers and strange machines?
Do you think about time traveling into the past or the future? Perhaps you've seen
these images on TV or in some movies, or read about them in books. These things are
certainly all part of the world of science, but they are simply the results of science.
Science is more of a quest. Scientists are questing to understand the natural world
around them. Scientists are not some crazy insane people who want to create robot-
slaves or clones to help them take over the world. They are not necessarily "nerds"
who speak with high nasally voices, and who are very awkward and knock things
over. Scientists are really really really smart people who desire to know why things in
the universe work.

This isn't what all scientists look like

Now, you may be thinking, "That's really nice, but this is supposed to be about Albert
Einstein, right?" Yes, you are absolutely correct. This article is about Albert Einstein. I
just wanted to clear your head free of all your old impressions about scientists before I
start talking about our friend here, Mr. Einstein. Mr. Einstein indeed looked like a
"mad scientist," but he was not mad at all. Well sure, he had long, white hair that he
rarely combed and spoke with a German accent, but he certainly wasn't mad!

Albert Einstein was always a thoughtful person. He always loved to wonder about
things. As a boy, he constantly wondered what made things work. Hermann, his
father, and his Uncle Jacob had a small business that installed electrical equipment. In
their shop, Albert would think about electricity and be astonished. Once when he was
ill, his dad gave him a plain compass. Albert was mystified when his father told him
that the needle of the compass would always point to the north. Albert's father
explained that there were magnetic forces that drew the needle to the north pole of the
Earth. This started him on the path of questing for scientific knowledge.

Albert was always a smart person. He was very shy and quiet as a young boy. He did
not like his school in Germany. German schools were very boring and strict when
Albert was a young boy. He was made to sit in stiff wooden desks and repeat
everything the teacher said. Albert would often day-dream in class because he was so
bored and did not care for the lectures and "sing-song drills" that German schools
used as tools for learning. He preferred to think creatively instead of repeating things
over and over again. Albert grew to enjoy books that weren't for school, simply
because he wanted to learn and didn't find satisfaction from what was being taught in
school. He wanted to learn more about interesting things like the magnetism that
made the needle in his compass always face north. He wanted to know about the
mysteries of the universe which eventually he would explain.
 Young Albert

Albert also learned knowledge outside of school from a college student who was
living with the Einstein family, whose name was Max Talmey. Max liked Albert
because Albert was intelligent and always curious. He would bring Albert many books
by great authors such as Emmanuel Kant. Talmey was made sure that he gave Einstein
books about mathematics and physics, including a book on geometry written by the
founder of geometry, Euclid.

All of this learning and reading was done because Albert wanted to. He spent a lot of
his time reading because he was curious about the nature of the universe. He wanted
to know something, so he went to find the answer instead of letting the idea slip away,
as most people do. He knew at a young age that life is not simply for wasting. He
knew that if a person desires something, they should seek it out.

Indeed, Albert had a hard time in his later schooling. He went to college and learned a
great deal, but not from his classes. All of Albert's physics classes were based on old
ideas and were generally very boring. He wanted to think about the ideas of physics
that were important to him, but his professors would not allow it. He didn't go to class
much as a result. He would spend his days in his room reading instead. Although I
would not recommend doing this, it did however work for Albert Einstein. His friend
who went to the lectures took very good notes, and would let Albert look at them.
Albert could then pass his classes and get his degree. He couldn't become a physics
professor however, because he hadn't impressed any of his professors. To become a
professor, you need to have the recommendation of a professor. He was very
disappointed , but got a job approving patents in a patent office. He was familiar
enough with electric gismos that he had seen in his father's shop that he could finish
the job with ease. He did his job so fast in fact, that he was able to think about physics
when he was done. He pursued physics despite the fact that he wasn't a professor. The
thinking he did on the job blossomed into essays that he had published in physics
journals. These articles were read by many scientists. It was in this way that he got a
job as a physics professor. He loved being a professor, and remained one for the rest
of his life. Despite his trouble getting his job as a professor, Albert stuck with what he
loved and his patience paid off.

Albert as a college student

It was puzzles like about the way things worked in the world that puzzled Albert and
held his attention throughout his lifetime. He was driven by a desire to unlock the
mysteries of the universe, and to discover the hidden order that he was convinced
existed in the universe. It was this desire that began him on the path to discovering
relativity.

Einstein’s actual Handwriting of the formula

Albert Einstein used the knowledge that he gained from school and factual books, and
he reorganized them. He used his imagination to connect things in his head, and to
imagine things that human beings couldn't see with the naked eye. Creativity and
imagination were very important to Albert Einstein. He thought about mass and
energy in a new way, and it allowed him to become the most famous scientist of this
century! His imagination helped him to think about things that don't actually exist, but
would prove his theory. Creativity and imagination are excellent tools for solving
problems, and Albert Einstein is an excellent example of this.
Albert Einstein was a great man, and he was very important to science. We should
learn that it is OK to think differently than other people. We also should understand
that science is not a field for people who are super-smart or awkward, because science
needs both creativity and imagination to make it work and to discover new things.
Albert Einstein knew all of these things, and tried to live by these goals.

When the 12-year-old Eduard asked his father why he was so famous he got this answer:

"When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a curved branch, it doesn’t notice that
the track it has covered is indeed curved. I was lucky enough to notice what the beetle
didn’t notice."

Quoted in Max Flückiger, Albert Einstein in Bern, Bern 1974

Information From: http://www.wesleyan.edu/synthesis/culture-cubed/haas/maintemp.htm