Albert Einstein

"A theory can be proved by experiment; but no path leads from experiment to the birth of a theory."
 

Time Period: 1879 - 1955

Background: Albert Einstein was undoubtedly one of the greatest scientists of all time. Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, he was interested in the field of science since an early age, despite how he was shunned to the side because of his obvious lack in understanding...or so people thought. Einstein grew up and taught the University of Zurich in Switzerland, the University in Prague, and was a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. He received the Nobel Prize "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect," in 1921.

Belief: Einstein did extensive research on physics and chemistry. He became famous for the theory of relativity, which laid the basics for the release of atomic energy. In this Theory, he established law of mass/energy - equivalence through E=mc^2, the calculation of movement of molecules in a liquid, now called Brownian Motion, and using Planck's quantum Theory, the proton theory of light and the photoelectric effect. His general theory of relativity today is still central to our understanding of the universe.

Contribution: On a branch, perhaps, of the intended course previous scientists were currently moving on, discovering the internals of atoms, Einstein proposed a new standing that related indirectly yet preciously close to the understanding of the atomic theory. For Einstein was the figure who stated, now in full acceptance to the entire scientific community, that atoms did indeed exist.