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Birth& Family: The world Famous, greatest scientist of the 20th century and the pioneer of the theory of relativity, Albert Hermann Einstein was born on March 14, 1879at Ulm in southern part of Germany in a middle class Jewish family. With in a year of his birth the family migrated to Munich. His father set up an electro-chemical plant and engineering works here. It was then that uncle Jacob stimulated a fascination for mathematics and uncle Caesar Koch stimulated a consuming curiosity about science in Einstein.

Child Hood: Though he led an ordinary life, the child Albert in child hood, was unlike other children. He learnt to speak much later than the average period it takes for a normal child to speak. This worried his parent. He would rather lie down and day dream than play with other children of his age. He disliked physical strain. He even did not like playing any game. But due to his mothers interest in music, he had an ear for good music. He also learned to play violin at the age of 6, which remained through out his life.

Education: Albert’s parents were religious, not fanatics. They admitted him to a nearby catholic school. At 10, he went to secondary school known as Gymnasium where students were given pre-university training. They also taught some Jewish scripture. Thus he received knowledge of both Jewish and catholic faiths in his schools and knew the vices and virtues of both the faiths as well. However he did not like the education system and the compulsory physical training class.

When Albert was 15years old, his father faced financial problems and shifted their family to Milan, Italy. But Albert stayed back in Munich and continued his studies in Gymnasium and completed his diploma. After completion he shifted to Italy and joined in Mathematical physics in Swiss Federal Polytechnic School, Zürich, in Switzerland. Due to his passion in Mathematics he impressed his teachers & principal, & participated in different discussions. Einstein was a brilliant student. He carried the best of opinions and recommendations from his teachers and professors, but failed to get a teaching job. This was a big disappointment for him and joined in Swiss Patent Office at Bernie & in leisure time he continued his study of mathematical physics through self education & research.

His Achievements: During his tenure at the Berne patent office, he proposed the world famous “Theory of Relativity” in 1905. The theory later helped to build a nuclear bomb. At that time Newton & his laws of motions were very famous to the scientific world. These laws gave answers to many questions in Physics. Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized physics, according to physics, it was an accepted fact that matter can neither be produced nor destroyed. Einstein discovered that matter can be converted in to energy and vice versa. His findings summed up in an equation E=mc2, where E=energy, m=mass of the matter and c= speed of the light where c= 3*10. (Power of 8) m/s. This is the most famous equation in physics. This equation made it clear that a little quantity of matter is capable of producing massive energy if it is processed in a particular way. Einstein used Planck’s quantum theory to explain the photo electric effect (proposed by Max Planck in 1900).

Along the quantum theory the scientists were attracted to the theory of relativity as well. The great Indian scientist Satyendra Nath Bose, who was one of the student of Sir Ashutosh Mukerjee, with Einstein’s permission translated the researched papers on the theory of relativity from German to English, and got them published from the university. In 1924 when Bose was visiting Europe for his further research, he personally met Einstein and thanked him for granting permission to translate his work. Einstein too expressed his pleasure for excellent translation by Bose. According to Theory of relativity, the rays of light should bend while passing near a massive star. This was verified by Eddingtonin 1919 during a total solar eclipse. He worked as an assistant professor in Zurich university and got approved by many scientists for his writings. He even got many invitations from many institutions from different countries.

In the fall of 1939, in a personal letter to the then American President Roosevelt, he wrote warning that soon German scientists would be able to turn Uranium in to a massive source if energy with a capacity to destroy the world. One such bomb would be enough to destroy a big city or port. He requested the president to sanction a project to counter the German bomb. As per his prediction, exactly 6 years later, on August 6th 1945, America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. About 60,000 people died instantly, 100000 people were seriously injured & about 2, 00,000 people lost their homes. Another such bomb was dropped 3 days later in Nagasaki in Japan. Japan surrendered immediately and the World War 2 was ended.

Einstein was awarded the Nobel price for physics in 1921 for his research on photo electric effect. After putting forward his general theory of relativity & publishing papers in cosmology, he spent many years trying to develop a unified theory combining gravity and electromagnetism. He did not succeed and no one else has succeeded so far. Einstein was a fore most opponent of the deadly weapons of mass destruction like the atom bomb. He felt guilty, for his invention had caused large destruction in Japan. He even corresponded with Gandhiji, the apostle of non-violence, on this issue.

Death: This messenger of peace and a great scientist bade farewell to the world on April 18, 1955 at Princeton. He regretted and was pained by the misuse of atomic energy till his last breath.

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