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We all know Albert Einstein as a scientist and a revolutionary physicist. But besides that, he was also a human! Just like any other person in this world he had his own unique journey with numerous setbacks and profound lessons for all of us. The fact that he consistently recovered from every setback only to come back stronger, is what’s truly inspiring about Einstein.
In this blog we share the story of Albert Einsteins life, and explore his journey beyond his genius, as someone who rose out of struggle to become a world-renowned scientist. Let’s uncover this journey with lessons that can inspire you to stand tall in the face of adversity, and rise above the challenges of life through your focus and dedication.
Albert Einstein’s Childhood Rebellion
Born on March 14th, 1879 Albert Einstein was one of the most influential and revolutionary scientists of the 20th century. Einstein belonged to a middle-class Jewish family with a secular belief system. His father was Hermann Einstein, who ran an electrochemical factory, while his mother Pauline Koch was a housewife. He also had a sister Maria who was two years younger than him.
Einstein’s Rebellion Against Conventional Education
While he was originally born in Germany, his parents moved to Munich, shortly after his birth. Albert Einstein was a child of tremendous intellectual curiosity, and a creative mind. In his early years of education, he excelled at mathematics and physics while performing poorly at languages, chemistry, biology, and other humanities subjects. His teachers even told him that nothing would become of him. They could not understand that Einstein’s problem was less with studies, and more with the education system. Sometimes, it is important to understand the uniqueness of individuals or else, we may overlook something extraordinary. That was the case with Einstein’s teachers.
FUN FACT: Albert Einstein liked to play the violin, and attributed his scientific contributions to this hobby.
Albert Einstein’s Youth: A Journey of Growth and Resilience
At the age of 15 he ended up dropping out of school because of his differences with his teachers and the education system that frustrated him. Now you must have heard stories about him being expelled, but most of the valid sources refute such claims. The truth in fact is that he himself left school. The education system was focused on rote learning and was so conventional that it stifled the creativity and originality of Einsteins own mind. Does that mean he had no formal education? Perhaps not! He completed high school in Switzerland and was later accepted into ETH Zurich (then known as ETH Polytechnic), a university in Switzerland.
FUN FACT: Einstein developed an interest in the invisible forces as he was intrigued to see how the compass needles deflected because of such forces at the age of 5.
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Einsteins Education at ETH Zurich
He was accepted at the polytechnic if he completed his high school studies which he did. At the Polytechnic, Einstein met some like minded people, and made friends with whom he discussed his thoughts and ideas about space and time. For a genius like Einstein, the confinement of ideas and creativity was intolerable. According to him, the happiest times of his life were spent in Zurich, a place where his intellectual curiosity was granted freedom and acceptance by many of his peers.
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Einstein’s Toughest Years Begin
After graduating from Polytechnic, Einsteins faced some of the hardest times in his life. Since he was always at odds with authority and conventional ways of education, the professors refused to give him letters of recommendation and he struggled to find a job. His parents opposed to his relationship with Maric, a fellow physicist he wished to marry. Until 1902 it got worst as his father’s company also went bankrupt. Later in that year he managed to be a clerk at the Swiss patent office in Bern. However, another setback was soon to come. His father became really ill passed away after giving him his blessing to marry Maric. Afterward he spent many years in sorry, for his father has passed away thinking of him as a failure. However, his pain did not stop him from going forward.
From a Clerk to a Physicist
Soon he married Maric and had two children Hans Albert and Eduard Albert. He turned his job at the patent office into a blessing in disguise. With his intellect he could quickly analyze the patent applications and think about something he had wondered about since his childhood. What if man could race beside a light beam? Well, this tenacity and commitment to his passion, led him to his miracle year in 1905.
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Albert Einsteins Rise as a Physicist
Einstein’s Miracle Year 1905
In 1905, he published 4 papers in which his ground breaking discoveries about the photoelectric effect, existence of atoms, mathematical theory of special relativity, and the infamous equation E = mc2 became a part of scientific knowledge.
Einstein’s Ascent to Fame and Scientific Glory
A few years after these publications, his era of fame began. He was offered prestigious jobs at notable universities like ETH Zurich, University of Berlin, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Side by side he was also looking into the flaws he observed in his theory of relativity. He had observed that his theory had not mentioned the aspects of gravitation or acceleration. Until 1905 he had explained the previously incomplete version of the general theory of relativity. One of the most remarkable reasons for Einsteins success was that he acknowledged his mistakes and constantly improved his work.
It wasn’t all a bed of roses though. During these times however, his family life was extremely disturbed. As was lost in the study of relativity, he neglected his wife and children and eventually married his cousin Mileva, whom he divorced in 1919 after agreeing to give her all the money, if he were to receive a Nobel Prize anytime in his life. Maybe if he had slowed down a bit in his professional pursuits, he wouldn’t have lost his precious family dynamics.
Einstein During the Chaos of the World Wars
The World War I
Soon after that, another crisis broke out. This one shook up not only Einsteins but perhaps the whole world. Yes, we’re talking about the first World War. He was amongst the only intellectuals opposed to Germany’s entry into the world. In the chaotic environment of November 1918, some radical students held the rector and some professors of the University of Berlin hostage. He was called to mediate a crisis which would have otherwise ended up in a tragic police confrontation.
Albert Einsteins Wins the Nobel Prize: BUT NOT FOR ‘RELATIVITY’
After the first world war, his fame once again grew. This happened when his prediction of starlight being deflected near the sun was confirmed and led to a myriad of new ideas in astronomy as well. He became renowned as the successor of Isaac Newton in these days.
Soon he was getting invitations from across the world. During his travels he was given the news of him becoming a Nobel Prize winner in physics. The Nobel Prize was granted in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect and not the theory of relativity. In his speech as he received the Nobel Prize, all he talked about was the theory of relativity, surprising the audiences across the globe. His work did not stop here. In fact, in the next decade he worked with numerous scientists and thinkers and even developed the new science of cosmology.
Albert Einstein Vs. Nazi Opposition
Einstein’s fame came with its own new challenges. He had earned Nazi backlash which targeted his theory of relativity. The Nazi’s named his scientific contributions as ‘Jewish Physics’ and created organized movements as well as book burnings to denounce his work. They went as far as getting a book published against his work. The book was called ‘One Hundred Authors against Einstein’ and was published in 1931. When asked about this denunciation of his life’s work he calmly responded that to defeat relativity one did not need the word of 100 scientists, just one fact. His calm and confidence came from all the hard work he had put in the development of his theories. When you know you’ve done your own homework well, its difficult for others to come and take away your credits!
This backlash earned him the hatred of Germans and he decided never to step foot in Germany again, In the 1930s there was even a price on his head. After this he settled at the Princeton Institute of Advanced studies. Besides these events, the 1930s were a sad period as his son Eduard developed a disease called schizophrenia, while one of his best friend also committed a suicide.
FUN FACT: Some sources claim that Einstein had been offered the presidency of Israel, which he refused!
Einstein and the Atomic Bomb
After this period, the development of atomic bomb started, all thanks to his E = mc2 equation. While he was involved in these efforts in the initial period of 1939, he was eventually excluded from the Manhattan Project because of his political views and backgrounds. After the deployment of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki he became an advocate for the control of nuclear arms. Despite his enthusiasm for science, he soon came to see man’s tendency to use it in horrific ways.
The Final Chapter of Albert Einsteins Extraordinary Life
After this period, until the late 1940s and 1950s Einsteins had confined himself to the walls of Princeton where he interacted with only a few close scientists. However, his contributions to physics were still in progress.
Finally in 1955, one of hid blood vessels close to the heart had been burst. He refused to surgery saying,
"I want to go when I want to go. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”
Soon after on the 18th of Aprill 1955, he passed away, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy, that was far ahead of his time.
FUN FACT: Einsteins brain was preserved to conduct research after his death!
Key Lessons from the Life of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein’s life was a snow storm of scientific discoveries along side numerous personal and professional struggles. Many would tell you how he was a genius without going to school. But all of that is mere hearsay. In reality, much of his substantial work was developed only after he took formal education and later worked at some of the worlds best educational institutes. Similarly, as you may have heard of his supposed IQ to be over 150, and assumed him to be just a gifted soul who came to this world and changed the course of physics and world politics; that is also not the case.
Einstein was also human. Just like many of us, he had his own intellectual gifts alongside a chain of personal struggles all his life. Do you know what made him a legend? It was his persistence, and commitment to the study of physics. He was never running behind fame. He was just focused on his passion for solving scientific mysteries, and problems. Since a child he was interested in the invisible forces of the world. He held on to his childlike curiosity and spark as he grew up. And that paid up, didn’t it?
Remember, whenever you come across a great person, you must acknowledge that a diamond sparkles only after a stone is cut and polished. The struggles in life are like a double-edged sword. You can either rise as a hero out of it, or succumb to the miseries. We hope that you are able to figure out the Einsteins in yourself by polishing your own unique strengths and capabilities. Rise and Shine!
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