Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is known all over the world as a brilliant theoretical physicist and the founder of the theory of relativity. He is perhaps the greatest scientist of the 20th century. Some of his ideas made possible the atomic bomb, as well as television and other inventions.

He was born in 1879 in a small German town. His family soon moved to Munich, where Albert went to school. Neither his parents, nor his school teachers thought much of his mental abilities. His uncle often joked: "Not everybody is born to become a professor".

In 1895 Albert failed the entrance examination to a technical college in Zurich. A year later, however, he managed to pass the exam and entered the college.

After graduating from the college, Einstein started to work at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. In 1905 he wrote a short article in a science magazine. This was his "Special Theory of Relativity", which gave the world the most famous equation relating mass and energy, the basis of atomic energy.

Later, he became a professor in several European universities and in 1914 moved to Berlin as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. After ten years of hard work he created his "General Theory of Relativity".

In 1921 Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics.

A Jew, and a pacifist, he was attacked by the Nazis, and when Hitler came to power in 1933 he decided to settle in the United States. In 1939 Albert Ein-
stein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, outlining the military potential of nuclear energy and its danger. After the war he spoke out against nuclear weapons and repression.

Einstein died in 1955. The artificial element einsteinium has been named in his honour.

Vocabulary:

article – зд.: статья

artificial element – искусственный элемент

basis – основа, основание

einsteinium [,ain`stainiəm] – эйнштейний

equation [i`kwei3n] – уравнение

invention – изобретение

Jew [d3u:] – еврей

mass – масса

mental abilities – умственные способности

military potential – военный потенциал

Nazi [`na:tsi] – сущ.: нацист

nuclear weapons – ядерное оружие

pacifist – пацифист

prominent – видный, выдающийся

repression – репрессия

science magazine – научный журнал

technical college – технический колледж

theoretical physicist [θiə`reticəl `fizisist] – физик-теоретик

theory of relativity – теория относительности

to be named in smb’s honour – быть названным в чью-л. честь

to relate – связывать, устанавливать отношение

to come to power – прийти к власти

to settle – поселиться

to manage – зд.: суметь, справиться

to pass an exam – сдать экзамен

to attack – атаковать, to be attacked by smb. – быть атакованным кем-л.

to fail an entrance exam – провалить вступительный экзамен

to outline – обрисовать, наметить в общих чертах

to influence – оказывать влияние

to speak out against smth. – выступать против чего-л.

Questions:

1. When and where was Einstein born?

2. Where did he work after graduating from the college?

3. When did he create his "Special Theory of Relativity"?

4. How long did it take him (сколько времени у него заняло) to form his "General Theory of Relativity"?

5. Why did Einstein leave Germany?