Albert Einstein
Born: 14th March, 1879, Ulm, Germany
Died: 18th April, 1955, Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Influenced: Satyendra Nath Bose, Leo Szilard, Wolfgang Pauli
Influenced by: Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi
Albert Einstein was
unquestionably one of the two greatest physicists in the history. The atomic
theory achieved general acceptance only after Einstein’s 1905 paper which
showed that atoms’ discreteness explained Brownian motion.
Another 1905 paper
introduced the famous equation E = mc2.
Einstein played a
major role in developing quantum theory, beginning with his 1905 paper on the
photoelectric effect. However, he became displeased with modern quantum
mechanics as it had evolved after 1925, despite its acceptance by other physicists.
In a series of works
completed from 1911 to 1913, Planck reformulated his 1900 quantum theory and
introduced the idea of zero-point energy in his "second quantum
theory".
Assuming the energy of rotating diatomic molecules
contains zero-point energy, they then compared the theoretical specific heat of
hydrogen gas with the experimental data.
In 1917, he applied the general theory of
relativity to model the structure of the universe.
Following his research on general
relativity, Einstein entered into a series of attempts to generalize his
geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism as another aspect
of a single entity. In 1950, he described his "unified field theory" in a Scientific American article
titled "On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation".
Einstein published at least 300 books or
papers on physics altogether.
Einstein was involved in the following
theories:
1. Theory of relativity
2. Quantum theory
3. Einstein–Cartan theory
4. Geometric theory of gravitation
5. Unified field theory, etc.