Albert Einstien Read online

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  20th CENTURY BIOGRAPHIES

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  TIONAL PUBLISHING

  Albert Einstein

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  ALBER

  ALBE T

  R

  Martin Luther King Jr.

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  20TH CENTUR

  EINSTEIN

  EINS

  Few people have had as great an impact on our understanding of the natural world than Albert Einstein.

  His brilliant insights into the nature of the universe HE TURNED

  transformed life in the twentieth century. Read this Y BIOGRAP

  THE WORLD

  fascinating story of a true genius and his efforts to bring OF SCIENCE

  about a peaceful world.

  UPSIDE DOWN

  HIES • ALBER

  T EINSTEIN

  SCHRAFF

  BY ANNE SCHRAFF

  Einstein Book 9/18/07 3:46 PM Page 1

  ALBERT

  EINSTEIN

  BY ANNE SCHRAFF

  Einstein Book 9/18/07 3:46 PM Page 2

  Development: Kent Publishing Services, Inc.

  Design and Production: Signature Design Group, Inc.

  SADDLEBACK EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING

  Three Watson

  Irvine, CA 92618-2767

  Web site: www.sdlback.com

  Photo Credits: pages 8, 42, 45, 61, Zuma Press; page 24, KPA Photo Archive

  Copyright © 2008 by Saddleback Educational Publishing.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-10: 1-59905-246-6

  ISBN-13: 978-1-59905-246-5

  eBook:

  978-1-60291-607-4

  Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 09 08 07

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  T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

  Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

  Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

  Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

  Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

  Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

  Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

  Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

  Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

  Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

  Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

  Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

  Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

  Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

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  4

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  C H A P T E R

  1

  In the 17th century, the scientist Sir Isaac Newton taught about space, matter, and time. He taught that space, matter, and time are separate from each other. Albert Einstein came along over 200 years later. He disagreed. He said all three are closely related, or relative to each other. They are connected. And they are connected in ways that can be hard to understand.

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  Einstein turned the world of science upside down with his theory of relativity. Einstein knew his ideas could play a part in the making of atomic bombs. He wanted them to be used as a force for peace. But he cried out in sorrow when atomic bombs took

  thousands of lives at the end of World War II.

  Albert Einstein was born on Friday, March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany.

  The Einsteins were a middle class family. They had lived in southern Germany for over 300 years. Albert’s father, Hermann, was a warm and optimistic man. He was an engineer whose many business ventures had failed. But he never stopped trying.

  Hermann Einstein married Pauline Koch, a gentle and intelligent young woman, in 1876. The Einsteins were Jews, but they did follow Hebrew 6

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  religious practices. For example, they did not go to the synagogue or follow dietary laws.

  Albert was the Einstein’s first child.

  Pauline thought her baby son’s head was an unusual shape. She worried that he might have mental problems. Her worry only increased when Albert was slow to learn to speak.

  In 1880 the Einsteins moved to Munich, the capital of Bavaria and a center of industry. Albert’s father hoped he’d have better luck there. In 1881

  Albert’s sister, Maja, was born. It was a happy home. The parents showered their two children with love.

  Grandparents, aunts, and uncles all interested in their well-being surrounded the children. Still, Albert was very quiet. Even at nine, he only spoke slowly and thoughtfully.

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  Albert Einstein was a curious young boy.

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  When Albert was very young, his father gave him a magnetic compass.

  The little boy was delighted and captivated by the compass. He kept studying it and turning it around and around. Albert also enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles and building very high houses of cards. He liked to read, but he never chose light, funny books. He always wanted serious books that he could learn from.

  As a young child, Albert was tutored at home. He had a very hot temper. One day, when he was frustrated, he picked up a chair and threw it at his tutor. The angry teacher fled, never to return.

  Albert learned to control his temper after that.

  One day, Albert’s parents took him to see a military parade. They thought he would enjoy seeing the marching 9

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  soldiers and hearing the music. But Albert wept at the sight of the soldiers marching close together. They looked like a frightening monster with many arms and legs to the little boy. All his life, Albert would dislike the military.

  Albert’s mother was a talented pianist who passed on her love of music to her children. Albert loved to listen to his mother playing the piano.

  Finally, it was time for Albert to attend regular school. His parents wanted to pick the best school they could find for their son. The nearest good school was a Catholic school. It had a fine academic record. The Einsteins did not care what religion was taught at the school. They only wanted their son to get a good education.

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  Albert Einstein enjoyed hearing the colorful Bible stories at the Catholic school. He was the only Jewish child in the whole school, but that was not a problem. The problem was that Albert just did not like school. He thought it had been better before with a tutor and his parents teaching him at home.

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  C H A P T E R

  2

  Albert did not like the discipline of the classroom. He did not want to sit in one place. He did not want to do as he was told. He was rebellious and troublesome. He hated having to memorize. Albert preferred being alone, so he avoided the other children. He also disliked sports. He did not t
ake part in any of the games.

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  Even though seven-year-old Albert did not like school, he worked hard. His report cards were excellent. But Albert always believed he learned the really important things at home. For example, his Uncle Jakob introduced him to algebra. He loved it from the beginning.

  Whenever the boy had some free time, he studied mathematics on his own.

  Albert also learned to play the violin at home. His love of music grew.

  When he was ten years old, Albert was sent to Luitpold School, a secondary school. Again, he was very unhappy. He knew a lot more than the other students about mathematics and science. He was not popular with the other students.

  Albert began teaching himself physics and higher mathematics while studying the regular subjects at Luitpold.

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  To young Albert, school felt like the army. The teachers were like officers. He was told that he had to be like everybody else. He begged his father to move the family out of Germany.

  Albert Einstein believed in pacifist ideals from a young age. He worried that he might be drafted into the German army. He believed that all conflicts between nations could be settled by peaceful compromise. He thought war was barbaric.

  In 1894 when Albert was fifteen, his father failed in business again. Albert’s father got a new job in Italy. The family packed up and left Germany. They took their daughter, Maja, with them. Since Albert had not yet graduated from high school, he was left behind. Albert was crushed. He had to live in a boarding house. He was miserable without his family.

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  After six months, Albert quit school and joined his family in Italy. His parents were upset that their son had left school without earning his high school diploma. It was impossible to enter most colleges without a high school diploma.

  Albert loved Italy. He went to art galleries. He learned to sail. He climbed mountains. He listened to music. But his parents wanted him to earn a living in electrical engineering. He needed a university degree. Few universities enrolled students without their high school diploma. But his parents found one that required only that students pass an entrance test. It was called the Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute. Albert scored well in math but didn’t pass the general knowledge test.

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  The Institute sent Albert to school for a year in Aarau, a nearby town. There he prepared for the exam. Albert enjoyed school in Switzerland. He loved the land and the people. He felt free to study. He did not just have to memorize dates and facts. He took the test again, and this time he passed.

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  C H A P T E R

  3

  Einstein planned to teach math and physics in high school. He began a four-year course at the Institute. He liked college better than high school. But he was still not a good student. He often cut classes. And he argued with his teachers when he disagreed with them.

  Einstein enjoyed walking in the hills around the school. He liked to eat his meals in restaurants. In the evenings, he played music. Einstein and his friends each played an instrument. They would 17

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  gather at someone’s home or in a little coffee shop. Einstein played the violin and a young female student from Serbia, Mileva Maric, played the piano.

  Young Albert took notice of the dark haired, dark-eyed Maric, and they became friends. But even though he enjoyed his friends, Einstein was most interested in self-study. He was constantly wondering about the rules of physics and trying to work out problems that interested him. When he and his friends went on sailboat rides, everyone relaxed. But Einstein wrote math problems and solutions on a notepad.

  His mind was always busy.

  Einstein became a close friend of another student, Marcel Grossman.

  Einstein and Grossman and other friends spent hours discussing mathematical problems.

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  Although Einstein was recognized at the Institute as brilliant and gifted, he was unpopular with the professors. He was stubborn. He refused to listen to them and give them the respect they felt they deserved. In August 1900 Einstein graduated. Now twenty-one, he needed a job badly. He was living on an allowance from home, and his family was far from rich. Hermann Einstein never found a good enough position to give his family a worry free life. Albert Einstein wanted to be on his own and not add to the financial burdens of his family.

  Einstein wrote letters to different schools asking for a position teaching mathematics. Since he had not made friends with his professors at the Institute, there were no helping hands reaching out to him. On his job applications, Einstein wrote that he had 19

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  already published scientific articles in the German Annals of Physics. But after searching for a year he still had no job.

  He earned some money tutoring students in math and science. He took part time positions teaching when the regular teachers were ill. But he had no real job and no decent income.

  In 1901 Albert Einstein became a citizen of Switzerland. He submitted a paper he had written to the University of Zurich in the hopes of getting his Ph.D. Such a degree would have increased his chances of finding work.

  His paper was rejected. Einstein was beginning to feel that the world was against him.

  Down to his last few cents, Einstein got a long-term substitute teaching job at Winterthur, 17 miles north of Zurich. He taught mathematics to boys 20

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  who were not interested at first. But Einstein discovered that he was able to gain their attention and teach them something. But that job ended and soon Einstein was so poor that he was cutting back on his meals and losing weight. He got another job tutoring boys, but he was fired when his employer disagreed with his methods.

  Albert Einstein had almost given up hope of finding a good job. In 1902

  his friend, Marcel Grossman, came to his rescue.

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  C H A P T E R

  4

  With the help of his friend, Marcel Grossman, Albert Einstein got a job in Bern, Switzerland, at the patent office as a third class examiner. His job was to be part of a technical team looking at new inventions and deciding if they deserved a patent. A patent is a document certifying that the invention worked and was original. Einstein loved to work with new inventions. He was like a child again, staring with wonder at that compass his father gave him. Einstein's 22

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  skill and enthusiasm soon got him promoted to second class technical expert.

  Mileva Maric was a physicist like Albert Einstein. She too had big dreams for her profession. She enjoyed discussing scientific theories with Einstein. She was intelligent enough to understand him. Originally from Greece with Serbian roots, she grew up in Hungary. Four years older than Einstein, she was bright, energetic, and quick. But Albert Einstein wanted a wife, not a partner in his work. He asked Maric to marry him. They were married in January 1903.

  The young couple rented an

  apartment with a view of the Alps.

  Einstein was pondering the nature of light, concluding that it was made up of individual particles of energy, which he 23

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  called photons. The scientific world at the time thought light was transmitted in waves.

  Albert Einstein with his wife, Mileva Maric.

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  The Einstein’s first son, Hans Albert, was born on May 14, 1904. Einstein was very happy as a father. He often wheeled his infant son down the
street in a baby carriage. He even tried to help his wife with the household chores.

  Mileva Einstein was a perfectionist.

  Soon, she was taking care of the baby and the house while Einstein was writing scientific articles and thinking about atoms and molecules. At the time, no one knew for sure if atoms and molecules even existed.

  Atoms and molecules are the smallest particles in nature. They are often invisible, even under a microscope.

  Einstein wanted to prove that these invisible particles behaved just like larger, visible particles. He noticed that larger particles moved around when in a liquid. He thought they were being hit 25

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  by smaller, invisible particles. The only way to prove his theory was through mathematics.

  The motion of particles was called Brownian Motion. Einstein published an article, “On the Movement of Small Particles,” in 1905. He proved the existence of molecules and their motion.

  For this discovery, Albert Einstein was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Zurich.

  1905 was an incredible year for Einstein. It came to be called a

  “Wonderful Year.” He published a number of research papers that changed science forever. While working full time at the patent office, he produced revolutionary theories about space, matter, and time.

  Einstein turned his attention to the study of light. The speed of light had 26

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  been verified as 186,000 miles a second.

  Now Einstein concluded that the speed of light in free space was the only fixed thing in the universe. Everything else is relative. This was called his “Theory of Relativity.”

  According to Einstein, time is variable.

  For example, if someone walked beside a man bouncing a ball, the path of the ball would look straight up and down.

  But if you stood still, and the man walked past you bouncing the ball, the ball would appear to move diagonally up and down. So it would seem as if the ball went a longer distance in the same amount of time. The idea of time and space, then, depended on the observer and where he was.

  Another example is a sailor raising a flag on a ship. To the sailor standing at the base of the flagpole, the flag moves 27