The Life and Influences of Albert Einstein

Authors Avatar

Ryan Hebson, Ryan McCormick, Sarah Wilkinson, Natalie Spradlin

Scientific Methods

Professor Heaton

19 October 2004

The Life and Influences of Albert Einstein

        Sometimes in history, ironically, the greatest contributions to society come from the most inconceivable places.  Undoubtedly, Albert Einstein contributed not only innovative thought to his time, but also aided in revolutionizing science especially in physics.  His efforts, however, would not have been expected by historians if only his childhood was examined.  

        Einstein was born March 14, 1879 to Herman and Pauline Einstein.  Albert was the first child born to this young, Jewish couple.  After a year, the couple moved to Munich where Einstein would spend the remainder of his childhood (Schulmann, par. 1).  Like many children during this time, “Einstein's childhood was a normal one, except that to his family's irritation, he learnt to speak at a late age” (Schulmann, par. 1).

        His childhood was fortunate in that he was able to receive a high quality of education.  By the age of five he was enrolled in a private school and by six he was receiving a full scale education at Petersschule, a Catholic school in Munich (Schulmann, par. 1).  Einstein never shined in school and when attempting to apply to ETH, a school in Zurich, he was turned down because his exam results were “insufficient” (Schulmann, par. 2).  Therefore, Einstein followed the advice of his rector and “attended the "Kantonsschule" in the town of Aarau in order to improve his knowledge” (Schulmann, par. 2).  The remainder of Einstein’s early life was marked by disappointment in that he was rejected from various schools and jobs.  In between jobs, Einstein tutored in mathematics and physics and out of this grew “Akademie Olympia,” an organization devoted to “scientific and philosophical questions” (Schulmann, par. 3).  This organization may have been the major origin for Einstein’s transformation from “average student” to genius (Schulmann, par. 3).

It is important to understand that Einstein’s innovations and theory’s came at a time when science and technology was booming.  Scientific revolutions were occurring with uncanny frequency in the disciplines of biology, invention, and chemistry due to the devotion of numerous, professional scientists.  Charles Darwin, in 1859, wrote “Origin of Species” a philosophical breakthrough in biology in the theory of evolution.  In 1879, the same year as Einstein’s birth, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.  Finally, in 1908, Ernest Rutherford received a Nobel Prize for his earlier work on illustrating the atomic nucleus (Scientific Timeline).  However, Einstein’s innovative theology and contributions to science in quantum mechanics, the relationship between mass and energy, and the principle of equivalence may have advanced science further than anyone. 

Albert Einstein “didn’t invent anything.  He didn’t discover a new planet or star.  He didn’t produce something faster, bigger, or better” (Wishinsky p.1).  He did however, “see the world in a new way.  He asked new questions about light, energy, space, time, mass, and gravity.  He formulated new answers.  He made scientists rethink their old theories and see new possibilities” (Wishinsky p.1).  

Join now!

        Einstein conducted many studies.  A few of them are quantum mechanics, the relationship between mass and energy, and the principle of equivalence.  Quantum mechanics is defined in Albert Einstein: the Rebel behind Relativity, by Jake Goldberg, as “a theory of matter that describes the behavior of subatomic particles based on the idea that they have properties of both waves and particles.”  A man by the name of Planck researched this idea before Einstein.  But, Einstein elaborated more on the idea that “energy is emitted and absorbed by objects in tiny chunks called quanta” (Goldberg p.38).  In Einstein’s first paper that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay