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Albert Einstein Quotes and Facts

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Need to do research on the famous scientist? EasyBib has got you covered. Here are over 50 Albert Einstein quotes, plus important facts like Albert Einstein’s birthdate, important contributions to science, and lasting legacy.

Biography and overview

Who was Albert Einstein, and why is he important? He is perhaps the most famous physicist in history, and his work has contributed to multiple advancements in the sciences. Albert Einstein’s birthday is March 14th, 1879. He is best known for developing the theory of relativity, as well as his involvement in research that led to the development of the first atomic bombs. He was an excellent student at math and the sciences from an early age, and it’s said that he taught himself algebra and geometry over one of his summer holidays from school.

After graduating from college in 1900, he obtained a job at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland. There, he researched and approved patents on numerous technological advancements of that era, such as the typewriter. He applied his knowledge of technology and physics further by obtaining a PhD from the University of Zurich in 1905 at the age of 26. Due to his great success and the popularity of his published papers among those in the scientific community, he went on to become a lecturer at the University of Bern, the first of many positions he held in higher academics.

Einstein traveled frequently throughout his research and professional career, and visited the United States for the first time with a visit to New York City in 1921. At the outset of World War II, he discovered that his cottage in Belgium was ransacked by Nazi soldiers in the area. He then decided to renounce his German citizenship (though he kept his Swiss citizenship), and officially became a US citizen in 1940.

Keep reading to find more information and famous quotes from the famous scientist.

What is Albert Einstein famous for?

Albert Einstein Theory of Relativity and E = MC2

You may be asking: “What did Albert Einstein invent?” Though not an inventor specifically, Einstein did make many important contributions to science. The scientific discovery that made Albert Einstein famous was his “theory of relativity.” A basic explanation of this is essentially that huge objects, such as planets, bend space around them as they travel or rotate. This has become an important part of modern astrophysics, and plays a major role in the study of black holes. Within Einstein’s theory of relativity, he wrote perhaps the most famous equation of all time: E=MC2 . This is a formula on mass energy equivalence, and is frequently used in depictions of scientific research and intelligence. It would make him one of the most well-known scientists of all time.

Photons

Though there are no specific Albert Einstein inventions to speak of, he is credited as being the first researcher to determine that light is made up of individual particles, which would later come to be referred to as photons. This was a result of his studies into the thermal properties of light. Though this is now thought of as scientific truth, it was met with great skepticism at the time in the science community. The most well-known critic of the photon theory was Niels Bohr, a fellow physicist. The two scientists would debate frequently throughout their careers, but were still close friends. Bohr eventually conceded to Einstein and recognized the existence of photons in 1925. It is important to note that, though Einstein is the first to identify photons as a concept, they were not given a name until much later.

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Albert Einstein famous quotes

Here are 50 Albert Einstein quotes for your paper on the famous scientist.

Albert Einstein technology quotes:

“There is a race between mankind and the universe. Mankind is trying to build bigger, better, faster, and more foolproof machines. The universe is trying to build bigger, better, and faster fools. So far the universe is winning.”

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”

Albert Einstein quotes about life:

“Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.”

“It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.”

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”

“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”

“What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.”

Albert Einstein love quotes:

“Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not. So each is inevitably disappointed.”

“We can explain how the universe works, yet we cannot say why people fall in love. Some things remain governed by mysterious, yet intriguing forces.”

Albert Einstein quotes imagination:

“Imagination is the highest form of research.”

“Knowledge is a map that guides us while imagination is the territory where we can roam freely and search for answers and opportunities. Imagination knows no restraint and it is the power that puts knowledge to use.”

Albert Einstein quotes on education:

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

“The only source of knowledge is experience.”

“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”

“Studying, and striving for truth and beauty in general, is a sphere in which we are allowed to be children throughout life.”

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”

More quotes by Albert Einstein:

“Weak people revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore.”

“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”

“Black holes are where God divided by zero.”

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”

“The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance.”

“Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”

“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

“It gives me great pleasure, indeed, to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.” – On receiving Lord & Taylor Award, 1953.

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.”

“The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.”

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

“The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.”

“We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.”

“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”

“How unfortunate a state must a community find itself if it cannot produce a more suitable candidate upon whom to confer such a distinction?” – Upon receiving a distinction from the Chicago Decalogue Society

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”

“Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.”

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.”

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

“The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.”

“The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.”

“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.”

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”

“One must shy away from questionable undertakings, even when they bear a high-sounding name.”

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

“My pacifism is not based on any intellectual theory but on a deep antipathy to every form of cruelty and hatred.”

“It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.”

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

“Most people stop looking when they find the proverbial needle in the haystack. I would continue looking to see if there were other needles.”

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”

“Thinking is hard work; that’s why so few do it.”

“Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”

Fast facts about Albert Einstein

Want to know interesting more about Einstein? Here are the answers to a few frequently asked questions about the life of the famous scientist.

What was Albert Einstein’s Profession?: Scientist, Physicist and Professor
When was Albert Einstein Born?: March 18th, 1879
Where was Albert Einstein Born?: Ulm, Württemberg, Germany
What was Albert Einstein High School and Education?: Aargau Cantonal School, B.A. – Swiss Federal Polytechnic (1900), Ph.D. – University of Zurich (1905).
When did Albert Einstein Die?: Einstein died April 18th, 1955 in Princeton, NJ.
How did Albert Einstein Die?: He died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
What is He Best Known For?: Theory of relativity, E=MC2 , photons, atomic bomb
What are Some of His Achievements and Awards?: Nobel Prize in Physics (1921), Matteucci Medal (1921), Copley Medal (1925), Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1926).
What Are Famous Albert Einstein Books?: Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (1916); The World As I See It (1934); Ideas and Opinions (1954)

Have more questions about who is Albert Einstein and what his greatest accomplishments were? Click here for more interesting Albert Einstein Facts.

Einstein and World War II

Fleeing Germany

“As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail.”

What impact did his German heritage have on his life, and what did Albert Einstein do to escape the Nazis? Though not a strictly religious man, Einstein was Jewish by heritage. This fact, along with his views on politics and his scientific advancements, made him a threat to the Nazi regime that was gaining control of his native Germany in the early 1930s. Many of the books of Albert Einstein and his scientific works were burned at the now infamous Nazi book burnings, as intellectualism by Jewish researchers was not accepted by the fascists. After deciding to leave Nazi occupied territory for good in 1933, he came to reside in Princeton, NJ, where he took a position at the school’s Institute for Advanced Studies. Up until that time, it was rare for a university to employ Jewish faculty, but the Institute became a haven for other scientists who were fleeing Nazi controlled areas in Europe.

The Atomic Bomb

“Mankind invented the atomic bomb, but no mouse would ever construct a mousetrap.”

It is a common misconception that Einstein invented the atomic bomb. While he certainly conducted years of research into atomic theory, he was not directly involved with the development of the weapon itself. His works on relativity, including E=MC2 , however, were crucial to the other scientists who worked on the bomb’s creation. His greatest contribution the development was of a secondary nature, in that he signed a letter written by other research scientists of the age to then-president Franklin Roosevelt urging that it would be in the interest of national security for the bomb to be researched and built before the German army could do the same. He would later come to regret this decision, as expressed in the quote “I made one great mistake in my life, when I signed the letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made.”

Pacifism

“Every man has a right over his own life and war destroys lives that were full of promise.”

Despite his legacy as being involved in the creation of the atomic bomb, Einstein was a pacifist at his core. In a letter that he wrote in 1928 to London’s “No More War” movement, he said “Every thoughtful, well-meaning, and conscientious human being should assume, in time of peace, the solemn and unconditional obligation not to participate in any war for any reason.” He struggled, however, with justifying holding these views with the pressing need to stop Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime in the 1930s. His strong feelings against Hitler prompted him to have a modified view on war as America became involved in the conflict. When the war ended, however, Einstein became a staunch supporter of the anti-nuclear movement and disarmament.

Albert Einstein death and legacy

Albert Einstein died of an aneurysm on April 18th, 1955 in Princeton, NJ. Over his lifetime, he had written more than 300 scientific papers on a wide variety of topics. He also published several non-scientific works, including a pacifist letter/article called “Why War?” (1933) which he addressed to the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, who also wrote a letter in reply. One of the most interesting things about Einstein is, since one of his famous hobbies was plumbing, that he was made an honorary member of the Steamfitters Union. His legacy to science, however, is most significant, and is still of great importance to physicists today.

Einstein became a favorite model for “mad scientists” and his white-haired look became the depiction of a “genius” in popular culture. A famous photograph of him with his tongue sticking out was taken by Arthur Sasse in 1951, and has been reproduced all over the world. His name has become synonymous with a highly intelligent person, leading to the sarcastic saying for when a person does something foolish, “Way to go, Einstein!”

Awards and honors

Einstein received numerous awards and honors both throughout his lifetime and posthumously. One of his greatest achievements was obtaining the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

In 1999, Time magazine named the physicist “the person of the century.”

Museums and memorials

Commissioned in 1979, the Albert Einstein Memorial is located in Washington, D.C. at the National Academy of Sciences. It is a bronze statue which depicts the scientist clutching papers in his hand.

The Einstein Museum in Bern, Switzerland is a display of the scientist’s life and greatest works. It documents his life both in Europe and abroad, and also has an extensive collection of personal items from the great physicist.

Located in Princeton, New Jersey, the Albert Einstein House was the home of the scientist while he worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the town’s famed university. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and became an official National Historic Landmark in 1976. It is, however, still a private residence. Einstein lived there until his death in 1955.

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Sources

“The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921.” NobelPrize.org, 10 May 2019, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1921/einstein/biographical/.

Schilpp, Paul Arthur. Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist. MFJ Books, 2000.

Einstein, Albert, and Sigmund Freud. Why War? CAT Pub. Co., 1991.

Sagan, Carl. “The Other World That Beckons.” The New Republic, 14 Mar. 2014, newrepublic.com/article/117028/world-beckons.

“Nobel Prize in Physics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics.

“The World’s Best Known Pictures.” Photography, by John Ingledew, Laurence King, 2005, p. 113.

Golden, Frederic. “Albert Einstein.” Time, Time Inc., 31 Dec. 1999, content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993017,00.html.

Heilbron, J. L., and James R. Bartholomew. The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford University Press, 2003.

“Einstein the Greatest.” BBC News, BBC, 29 Nov. 1999, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/541840.stm.