Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born to a German Jewish family. His parents were concerned that he scarcely talked until the age of three, but he was not so as much of a backwards child than a quiet child. He would build tall houses of cards but he hated playing soldier. At the age of twelve he read a geometry book and was very fascinated by it.

At the age of fifteen Albert quit high school, disgusted by rote learning and different teachers. He followed his family to Italy where they had moved their failing electro-technical business. After half a year of wandering and loafing, he attended the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. After working hard in the laboratory but skipping lectures, he graduated with an unexceptional record. For two grim years, he could only find odd jobs, but he finally got a post as a patent examiner. He married a former classmate from his high school.

In 1909, Einstein became an assistant professor at the University of Zürich, his first full-time physics job. In 1911, he moved onto the German University of Prague. He continued to publish important physics papers, and was beginning to meet fellow scientists. The next year he returned to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich as a professor.

In 1914, Einstein moved to Berlin, taking a research post that freed him from teaching duties for a while. He separated from his wife and two sons when Word War I broke out. Einstein rejected Germany's aggressive aims, supporting the formation of a pacifist group. As Germany collapsed, Einstein became more involved in politics and supported a new progressive party. The next year he remarried. His general theory of relativity received stunning confirmation from British astronomers: as Einstein had predicted, gravity bends starlight. In the popular eye he became a symbol of science and of thought at its highest.

In 1952, Einstein was asked to become the second President of the State of Israel, but declined. He was supporting many causes such as United Nations and world government, nuclear disarmament, and civil liberties. While corresponding about a new anti-war project and writing a speech for Israel, he was stricken and died. Now the search for a better understanding about Einstein continues on. Einstein is my hero because he is a very smart person and I want to be like him. I hope to discover and invent many things. He is a very determined person. Who is your hero? Since I shared about my hero, it's your turn now!