Sharpen Your Mind: Einstein

Posted by Jerry Lopper Mar 29, 2007

We tend to picture Albert Einstein as an elderly, distinguished looking, gray haired scholar. But Einstein produced his greatest contributions when he was a twenty-six year old patent office clerk.

He wrote four papers in 1905 while working at the patent office. His first paper proposed that light was composed of small packets of energy, called energy quanta. We now call these packets protons. Einstein won his Nobel Prize for his work on light.

His second paper dealt with the topic of atoms, heretofore a convenient theoretical notion, but unproven. His empirical evidence, based on the movement of particles suspended in liquid, proved that matter must have an underlying structure, now explained by the concept of the atom.

His third and fourth papers explained the relationship between matter and energy, his famous energy (e) = mass (m) times the speed of light (c) squared, the theory of relativity.

Interesting Trivia:

Einstein began his work on the theory of relativity when he was sixteen years old.

Einstein was asked to serve as Israel's second president, but declined saying he lacked people skills.

For more mind sharpening material see Mind & Attitude in the index.

Source: The Intellectual Devotional, David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim