Einstein, Albert

Einstein, Albert (1879–1955) world famous and highly influential expatriate German scientist The most famous scientist of his time and the most important physicist since Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein created the simple equation, E = mc2 that not only demonstrated the equivalence of matter and energy, but showed the tremendous quantity of energy inherent in the atomic nucleus. The insight, provided mainly by Leo Szilard, that such energy might be liberated was the theoretical basis for the atomic bomb. While Einstein did not participate directly in the war effort, the letter Szilard persuaded him to compose and send to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, prompted Roosevelt to authorize what quickly became the Manhattan Project, the all-outAmerican effort to create an atomic weapon before the Axis powers (especially Germany) could do the same. Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879 and moved with his family the following year to Munich. Young Einstein did not respond well to the strict and unimaginative German schools, but fared better in Swiss schools. He graduated in physics and mathematics from the Federal Polytechnic Academy in Zürich in 1900. He became a Swiss citizen, taught mathematics very briefly, then worked as a patents examiner in Bern. In 1905, Einstein published "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions," which earned him a Ph.D. from the University of Zürich. This same year saw the publication of papers including "On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light," which formed the basis for quantum theory; "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," which postulated the epoch-making special theory of relativity; and "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" which established the equivalence of mass and energy, expressing this in the equation E = mc2. Einstein was catapulted to prominence among physicists and became in 1912 a professor at the Polytechnic in Zürich. In 1914, Einstein became associated with the Prussian Academy of Sciences and lectured at the University of Berlin. He published "Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity" in 1916, arguing that gravitation is not a force, as Newton held, but a curved field in what Einstein called the space-time continuum. While Einstein was revolutionizing the field of physics, he was also becoming a social and political activist, with an increasing commitment to pacifism, and he used his growing international fame as a scientist to publicize his social and political views. A Jew, Einstein toured the United States in spring 1921 to raise money for the Zionist Palestine Foundation Fund. He was treated as a great celebrity in the United States and conceived an affection for the country. This same year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Yet the heyday of Einstein's theoretical innovations was over. During the later 1920s and 1930s, he devoted as much time to the cause of pacifism as he did to science. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, Einstein left Germany and accepted appointment to the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He lived in Princeton for the next two decades. In 1939, the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr told Einstein that the German physicist Lise Meitner had split the uranium atom, resulting in the conversion of its mass into energy. It was a practical demonstration of Einstein's 1905 theory. Bohr shared with Einstein his speculation that a controlled chain reaction splitting of uranium atoms could produce an explosion far greater than any conventional chemical explosive could create. The Hungarian expatriate physicist Leo Szilard, coming to this same conclusion and fearing that German scientists would produce a nuclear weapon for Hitler, persuaded Einstein to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging "watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration." Einstein wrote: In the course of the last four months it has been made probable—through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America— that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future. This new phenomena would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable— though much less certain—that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. Einstein suggested that the president "may think it desirable to have some permanent contact maintained between the administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America," and he concluded the letter on an ominous note: "I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such an early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated." Such was Einstein's prestige that Roosevelt almost immediately authorized what soon became the Manhattan Project. Einstein played no actual role in the creation of the atomic bomb, but his letter provided the impetus for the undertaking. After its use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein became an eloquent voice in the quest for ways to prevent any future use of atomic weapons. He was listened to politely but largely ignored by statesmen and politicians.