Albert Einstein
The name Albert Einstein has become synonymous with intelligence, wisdom and knowledge. The man has been turned into a myth, the unreachable mind of the 20th century, if not of all time. And yet this same man was rejected entrance into university, had trouble concentrating on basic math and was seen as a "Troublemaker" during the early years of his life.
At the early age of five, Albert Einstein racked his brain with a simple question; Why does the compass always point north? This would seem a normal question, but to a five year old? It could be discounted by them as "Magic", or something that only adults could understand.
His curiosity didn’t end there. At the age of twelve, Einstein received a book dealing withEuclidean plane geometry. The order of it, the certainty, it drew him in. It became his own personal anchor, to remember that everything could be explained and put into order, he merely needed to find that order.
By the time he was fifteen, one of his teachers requested that he leave school, as he was "making the teachers look bad in front of the other students". It’s questionable if he left because of the militaristic style of the school or simply because he wanted to join his parents, who had moved to Italy from Munich, but he did indeed leave school at the age of fifteen and went to Italy.
In Italy he spent a mere half year, and then applied to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, though he was rejected entrance. The sent him to a Swiss school in Aarau, where he learned a new passion for physics, and began his career that would lead to him becoming the most famous physicist of all time.
When Einstein graduated from the school in Aarau, he entered the Institute of Technology in Zurich. He met the woman that he would marry for a short time there, though the marriage would not last and by 1919 they were divorced.
After graduating from the Institute of Technology, Einstein went on to work in a patent office in Bern, a place that allowed him to easily continue his work. It was both steady pay and hours, so for the master of physics, finding time to work on his theories was simple. He started to publish papers, and by 1909 he was offered a position (Which he accepted) at the University of Zurich. With his new position and his rising respect within the world of science, Einstein quickly found himself being invited to present his theories at conventions around Europe, including the annual convention of German scientists.
Within a short amount of time, Einstein was offered a position as a full professor at the University of Prague, a massive step up for the once patent officer.
In 1914, the German government offered Einstein a position as a research appointment in Berlin. Though he was opposed to the militaristic attitudes of Germany, it was too good an offer to refuse, since he would no longer have to teach, which interrupted his research greatly.
In 1915, because of his ability to do nothing but research, he had it; The theory of General Relativity, one of two theories that would soon be considered one of the greatest contributions to science. It also spawned the famous equation "E=MC2", or energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.
Throughout his life, Einstein had other great achievements; the theory of Special Relativity, encouraging F.D.R. to start research on a nuclear weapons program before the Nazis completed their program, and eventually speaking out to have the same nuclear weapons disarmed. A year before his death, he was offered the presidency of Israel, which he turned down. He was the father of three children, though the fate of one is unknown (The child either died at birth or was put up for adoption.)
The little Jewish man from Munich may not have been able to do basic mathematics due to boredom, but he still left a lasting impression on the entire world, both in science and in peace.
By: Cameron