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What do you know about Albert Einstein? Inside the balloons, write key words orphrases to indicate what you know about him:

Biography - Albert EinsteinThe Nobel Prize in Physics 1921

Ú)Albert Einstein was born at UIm, in Württemberg, G~rmany, on March 14,1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich and he began hisschooling there at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy andAlbert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 heentered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as ateacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained hisdiploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find ateaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the SwissPatent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.

@During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he producedmuch of his remarkabIe work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 hebecame Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor ofTheoretical Physics at Prague,returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointedDirector of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlín. Hebecame a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until1933 when he renounced hiscitizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor ofTheoretical Physics at Princetonj, He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired fromhis post in 1945.

@After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government Movement, he wasoffered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he declined, and he collaborated with Dr.Chaim Weizmann in establishing the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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11: [~instein always appeared to have a clear view ofthe problems ofphysics and the\l <3 determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main~ t> stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his rnajor achievements as mere stepping-stones for

o:: the next advance.

~At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of Newtonian mechanicsand his special theory of relativity stemmed from an attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanicswith the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statisticalmechanics and problerns in which they were merged with quantum theory: this led to anexplanation of the Brownian movement of moIecules. He investigated the thermal properties oflight with a low radiation density and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theoryoflight. i~\4 l~t.o

®In his early days in Berlin'~nstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the specialtheory of relatívity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his papel'on the general theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems of thetheory of radiation and statistical mechanics.

f!J In the 1920s, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field theories, although hecontinued to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he perseveredwith this work in America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of thequantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connectionwith atomic transitíon probabilities and relatívístic cosmology.

(3:\ ~1<31S" o••.w~ (s.c¿ ¡? 2.)~ After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of

physics, takíng the opposite approach, geometrisation, to the majority of physicists.

® Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more important works includeSpecial Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), GeneralTheory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movernent (1926), and TheEvolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, About Zionism. (1930), Why War?(1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) are perhaps the mostimportant.

¡O Albert Einsteín received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy frommany European and American universities. During the 1920s he lectured in Europe, Americaand the Far East and he was awarded Fellowships 01' Memberships of all the leading scientificacademies throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work,including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal ofthe Franklin Institute in 1935.

C0 Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectuaI solitude and, forrelaxation, music played an important part in his life. He married Mileva Maric in 1903 andthey had a daughter and two sons; their marriage was dissolved in 1919 and in the same yearhe married his cousin, EIsa Lowenthal, who died in 1936. He died on Aprill8, 1955 atPrinceton, New Jersey.

Taken from: Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967.First published in the book series Les Prix Nobel.

It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1921.Available at: http://nobelprize.org/nobelptizeslphvsjcsllaurea{es/1921/eínstein-bio.htm.l

* Albert Einstein was formally associated with the Institute for Advanced Study located in Princeton,New Jersey.

Exercises

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Working with the text

Now that you have learnt a great deal about AlbertEinstein, in the following table summarize the main aspects

ofhis life:

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Born

Lived in

Nationalities

Major field

Known for

Wrote

Notable Prize

Died

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Actiuities for this text were prepared by Pro]. Magaly Rodríguez. Pictures were taken fromwww.wikipedia.com