Timeline
Texts by Dr. Antonio Moreno González
Given Albert Einstein's intense and diverse private, professional and social life, no chronology of his life can be reduced to a few notes on key events: his fame and importance meant that everything he did and everything that happened to him was significant. Nonetheless, the following timeline is meant to summarise some of the most important events:
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1879
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Born on 14 March in Ulm, Germany
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1880
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Se traslada con su familia a Munich
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1885-88
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Attends a Catholic school
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1889-94
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Student at the Luitpold Gymnasium (now the Albert Einstein Gymnasium)
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1894
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His family moves to Milan. Einstein leaves the Institute without completing his studies and goes to Pavia, where he lives with his family
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1895-96
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He attends the cantonal school of Aarau, Switzerland
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1896
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He renounces his German citizenship. Admitted to the Polytechnic School in Zurich, where he completes his studies in 1900 |
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1901
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Obtains Swiss nationality
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1902
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Employed at the Swiss patent office in Berne
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1903
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Marries Mileva Maric
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1904
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His son Hans Albert is born
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1905
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Annus mirabilis. Receives a PhD from the University of Zurich
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1909
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Leaves his job in the patent office. Obtains a post as associate lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Zurich
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1910
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Son Eduard is born
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1911-12
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Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Prague
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1912-14
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Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the Federal Technological Institute of Zurich (formerly the Polytechnic) |
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1914
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Lecturer at the University of Berlin and member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Mileva and the children stay in Zurich |
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1915
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Begins publications on the general theory of relativity |
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1917
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Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics in Berlin
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1917-20
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Einstein's health deteriorates. He is looked after by his cousin, Elsa Loewenthal |
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1919
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Divorces Mileva and marries Elsa. Solar eclipse confirms Einstein's predictions on the deflection of light rays. Remarkable jump to world fame |
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1921
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Visits US for first time with Chaim Weizmann
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1922
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Awarded 1921 Nobel prize for Physics.Publishes his first work on the unified field theory. Becomes member of the League of Nations' Committee on Intellectual Co-operation. Begins a tour of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and the United States |
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1927
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First debates with Niels Bohr on quantum mechanics |
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1928
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Diagnosed with a heart condition
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1932
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Hitler, born in Austria, is granted German citizenship. He takes power in Germany and Nazi anti-Semitism intensifies |
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1933
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Einstein and his family flee to Princeton, USA |
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1936
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Elsa dies
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1939
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Outbreak of World War II. Einstein signs letter to President Roosevelt warning of the threat to the world of Germany's manufacturing an atom bomb |
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1940
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Takes American citizenship
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1944
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Re-writes the 1905 manuscript on the special theory of relativity which is auctioned for six million dollars to aid the allied cause |
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1945
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Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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1946
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Chairs the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. Continues his campaign against re-armament and in favour of a world government |
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1947
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Mileva Maric dies in Zurich
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1950
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Appoints Otto Nathan and Helen Dukas as his executors |
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1952
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Offered and declines the presidency of the state of Israel |
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1955
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With Bertrand Russell, draws up a manifesto against the nuclear threat. On 18 April, Einstein dies at Princeton hospital as the result of a burst aortic aneurysm in the abdominal aorta. He was cremated and his ashes scattered into the Delaware River |
His parents, Hermann Einstein (1847 - 1902) and Pauline Koch (1858 - 1920)
Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, "a lovely corner of the world"
Reception by the New York Jewish community, 1921
With Elsa
North American citicen, together with Helen Dukas (1896 - 1982) and Margot Einstein (1899 - 1986), 1940
In his final years