The 20th Century Genius Award

The 20th Century Genius Award

Nicholas T. Wilson
HUM/102
April 22, 2014
Nancy Erickson
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The figure that I would like to nominate for the 20th Century Genius Award is Albert
Einstein. His vast work and many cultural contributions can be classified in both the Age of
Modernism and the Age of Pluralism. The following examples will explore his many works and
ideas, an abstract of his life, his lifetime contributions to the arts and culture and an exploration
of his overall genius.
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 to Hermann and Pauline Einstein in Ulm,
Wurttemberg, Germany. The family moved to Munich shortly after Alberts birth. Einstein was
surrounded by a family of intellectuals. Hermann Einstein, was an electrician. As a child,
Einstein was very curious, and lively. Around the age of five, it is said that Albert was fascinated
by complex scientific and mathematical concepts. Although Albert Einsteins showed a high
level of mathematical intelligence early on in his life, controversy lies in whether Einstein was
developmentally disabled. Alberts parents thought he suffered from a slow learning disability,
however, it is more likely that Einstein may have suffered from dyslexia or Aspergers
syndrome, a form of autism. Albert attended a Catholic elementary school, were he took violin
lessons on his mothers urging. Although he loathed the lessons, and eventually stopped them, he
would later on discover an appreciation and great comfort in Mozarts violin sonatas. Due to
Germany learning methods at the time, Albert Einstein was not considered smart in school. It is
believed that Einstein was dissatisfied at the level of education he was receiving and at the age of
15 he decided to leave school and join his family in Italy.
In 1895 Albert Einstein moved to Switzerland and enrolled as a student at the cantonal
school in Aarau to complete his education. At the age of eighteen, Albert renounced his German
citizenship. He then enrolled in the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich where he
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obtained his education in physics and mathematics. At the age of twenty-one, Einstein graduated
and a year later received his Swiss citizenship. For seven years, Einstein worked as a patent clerk
in Switzerland. His job required him to inspect the proposals of others inventions and decide
whether or not they were achievable. Also during his time at the patent office Einstein earned a
doctorate from the University of Zurich. It is also believed that during that time in his life,
Einstein made some of his most shocking and amazing discoveries. At the age of twenty-five
Einstein married Mileva Maric, a fellow pupil. Mileva and Albert had two sons, Hans Albert and
Eduard.
Albert Einstein is highly regarded as one of the most important scientist of the twentieth
century, known for his hypothetical and mathematical physicist. In 1905, Einstein obtained his
above mentioned doctors degree, and gained recognition for his series of works he submitted on
Annus Mirabilis papers to a German physics journal. One of the most well-known works by
Einstein is the theory of relativity. Einsteins theory of relativity explains the relationship
between space and time. This theorys best known for the equation E=mc2. This equations
explains the relationship between energy, mass, and the velocity of light. Some of Einsteins
other works include the Modern quantum theory, BoseEinstein statistics, Energy momentum
pseudo tensor, Unified field theory, EinsteinCartan theory, Quantized atomic vibrations and
Theory of critical opalescence. In 1909, Einstein resigned from his position at the patent office,
and was selected as Associate Professor of the theoretical physics at Zurich University. At the
age of thirty- three, Albert predicts the bending of the light theory, and in the same year is chosen
as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Prague in Germany, and Professor of
theoretical physics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
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During his years in Berlin, Einstein becomes a German citizen again and is designated as
the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute, and selected Professor at the University of
Berlin. Einstein also signs the anti-war Manifesto to Europeans. At age thirty-six in 1915
Einstein, becomes a member of an antiwar society called the New Fatherland League. He also
completes his General Theory of Relativity. In 1916, Einsteins logical structure of general
theory of relativity is published. The very next year he writes his first paper on cosmology. Over
the next several years Einsteins works begins to be used throughout the scientific community.
His many works are being used to help scientists better understand the world and its scientific
laws and theories. By this time many people not only in the scientific community began to
associate Einsteins name with genius. By 1921, at the age of forty-two, Einstein awarded the
Nobel Prize for his photoelectric effect, as described in his Annus Mirabilis paper
(nobelprize.org, 2011). From then until the mid-1930s, Einstein spends most of his time
defending his theories and increasing his wellbeing. Einstein could feel his colleagues resistance
to his work, because many did not comprehend the mathematics involved in it. In addition, anti-
Semitism in Germany and Europe were on the rise, with Einstein being born Jewish this caused
many to second guess his work.
When the Nazis assume power over Germany, and began enforcing anti-Jewish laws.
Einstein renounces his citizenship once again and leaves Europe and immigrates to the United
States. Albert Einsteins accomplishments are well known and an international celebrity when he
reaches the United States. In 1933 Einstein publishes a book on Why War. In 1934, at the age of
fifty-five, a collection of his essays on his perspective of The World As I see it published.
Einstein book The Evolution of Physics, is published in 1938. Albert Einstein continued to make
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breakthroughs in physics; he maintained an affluent group of scholarly partnerships, including
Niels Bohr, Satyendra Nath Bose.
During World War II Einstein wrote a famous letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt warning
him of the possibility that Germany was building an atomic bomb and urging nuclear research
and the development of an atomic bomb based on uranium-fusion reactions, in order to stop the
Nazis from their goal of word domination. Despite the legend that Albert Einstein worked on
the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, it is untrue. A few years after his first letter
to Roosevelt, Einstein writes to again, imploring him to restrain from using an atomic weapons
against Japan. But as we all know, this letter arrived too late and in 1945, the first nuclear bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima, The letter was discovered after Roosevelt death unopened. Einstein
was devastated and horrified by the use of the atomic bomb, but that did not compare to his
devastation he felt when the allied armies liberated the Nazi concentration camps. The carnage
and death tolls from those camps was appalling to Einstein. This is said to have changed the once
anti-war Einstein. In 1940, at the age of sixty-one, Albert Einstein became a U.S. Citizen. Once
the United States entered WWII, he contributed to the war effort in many way. He supported the
American war efforts by auctioning of his signed paper on special relativity for six million
dollars. After the war in 1948, Israel was founded and Einstein remained an active supporter of
Jewish organizations both in the United States and Israel. In 1952, at the age of seventy-three,
the Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion invited Einstein to become second president of the
Jewish state. Einstein was deeply moved by the gesture but declined the offer, stating that he was
not getting any younger, and that there were more experienced and deserving individuals in
leading a country. He also admitted to knowing little about nature, and nothing about men. At the
age of seventy-one, Einsteins theories become fully integrated in the world physics. His lifes
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work has changed the human race for the better. On April 18, 1955, at the age of seventy-six,
Albert Einstein passes away of a ruptured aortic aneurysm,
The figure that I would like to nominate for the 20th Century Genius Award is Albert Einstein. A
significant argument can be made that his was the greatest scientist of all time. His many works
to include the Modern quantum theory, BoseEinstein statistics, Energy momentum
pseudotensor, Unified field theory, EinsteinCartan theory, Theory of relativity, Quantized
atomic vibrations and Theory of critical opalescence have all made a positive impact on the
world we know today. His ideas, and work, are a reflection of his true genius, and an appraisal of
his impact on culture. He was a man with profound thought, and deeply humane feelings. Albert
Einstein made us see the universe in a new light. His many gifts to humanity include knowledge,
the idea to always remain curious, the power to stand up for what you believe is right and to
always ask questions.








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References
Belanger, C. (2006). Albert Einstein: The Path to Relativity. Albert Einstein, 1(1), 1-6.
nobelprize.org. (2011). Albert Einstein - Biography. Retrieved from
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html
Schweber, Sylvan S. (2008): Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius. Harvard
University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02828-9.
Isaacson, Walter (2007): Einstein: His Life and Universe. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New
York. ISBN 978-0-7432-6473-0