Albert Einstein (English version)

Einstein was undoubtedly one of the most important and revolutionary scientists who ever lived; The physicist made such a contribution to the development of human knowledge that he is regarded by many to be one of the greatest human beings of all time so that Time magazine has called him the "person of the century." Over the course of his career, he developed many ideas and formulated several theories, some of which he conducted exclusively (with occasional help from experts) and others in collaboration with some fellow scientists. With many of his works proved correct by evidence and the rise in the academic world, Albert Einstein has become a synonym for genius worldwide.

Albert was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879, within a Jewish family. In the future, the Einstein family moved to Italy, but the 15-year-old son remained in Germany in the city of Munich to finish his studies.

In order to enter the Polytechnic School of Zurich, in Switzerland, he took several tests, in which he obtained outstanding marks in the subjects of physics and mathematics. It is of paramount importance to break the “myth” that says Einstein was a bad student at school, especially in math. This rumor arose from a misunderstanding due to the inversion of the grading system in one year at the school in Aargau, with the maximum grade being 6, with a score ranging from 1 to 6. The preserved certificate of enrollment exposes the excellent final grades obtained by the young man at school; Yet his focus was on physics and mathematics, so much so that Einstein began to study calculus at the age of twelve, and two years later he had mastered differential calculus (derivative study) and integral calculus (integral/anti-derivative study). At 17, he was able to enter his desired college, attending the course to obtain the diploma of professor of physics and mathematics.

During his time in Switzerland, Einstein obtained the citizenship of the country and, after a long time looking for a job, got one at the patent office. His job did not require much of himself and so he took the time to conduct his own research and to conduct his doctorate at the Zurich Polytechnic School as well.

In 1900, Einstein had his first scientific paper published and, five years later, completed his doctorate and published four revolutionary works which would name 1905 as the “miraculous year”. This year, science has changed forever with the insertion of articles on special relativity, photoelectric effect, Brownian motion and mass-energy equivalence (which is a consequence of special relativity). In this way, Einstein became known in the academic world and from there he began to gain worldwide fame.

With his rise, Albert quit his job at the patent office and began teaching at several universities. Upon returning to Germany, he entered the University of Berlin and received the titles of director of the Kaiser Institute and president of the German Society of Physics.

Between 1907 and 1915 the physicist worked on what would be the "evolution of special relativity," extended to gravitational fields, in his most famous theory: the theory of general relativity. From this work came, in the future, indications of the existence of extremely curious objects, such as black holes, and singular phenomena, such as gravitational waves. According to general relativity, very massive objects bend what has come to be called space-time fabric such that light is also bent (by following a curvilinear path). A few years later, general relativity was proved by the observation of a star during an eclipse, highlighting the curvature of light predicted by the theory.

In 1911 Einstein was invited to the first Solvay conference, which was intended to bring together all the greatest scientists of the time to discuss important scientific topics. In future conferences, more big names were added to the meetings, with highlights such as Marie Curie, J.J Thomson, Erwin Schrödinger, Paul Dirac, Max Born, among many others. In 1922, Einstein earned his physics Nobel Prize essentially for his work with the photoelectric effect.

Another famous research conducted throughout his scientific career was that of Bose-Einstein condensate, which was done in collaboration with physicist Nathan Satyendra Nath Bose and the work done by these scientists describes the behavior of bosons at an extremely low temperature.

With the formulation and advancement of quantum mechanics, the strange nature of this field of science became so evident that the probabilistic essence deeply troubled Einstein, who believed that the universe was deterministic. The physicist claimed that while quantum theory yielded correct results, it was incomplete, so he worked on explanations aimed at bringing experimentally correct results by deterministic means, such as the "theory of hidden variables." However, his efforts failed and several experiments continued to point out to quantum theory as the correct description of the universe. Einstein stated his outrage at his famous quote"God does not play dice."

The scientist experienced both world wars and, luckily, was not in Germany when the Nazi party came to power. Due to the conditions Germany was in, Albert Einstein decided to stay in the US and in the future gained American citizenship. Despite not having much interest in politics, as evidenced in his phrase “equations are more important to me because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity,” Einstein took political positions promoting peace, due to his fear that wars would bring disaster.

In his later years, he worked on a grand and ambitious theory that aimed to unify physics with the complete reconciliation of quantum mechanics with relativity. With his death at Princeton on April 18, 1955, his final efforts were inconclusive and later evolved to form string theory, which has several variations today.

Below is Albert Einstein's Certificate of Admission, with grades ranging from 1 to 6, so 6 is the top grade.