1879-1955. German-born US physicist, who
formulated the theories of relativity, and
worked on radiation physics and
thermodynamics. In 1905 he published the
special theory of relativity, and in 1915
issued his general theory of relativity. His
latest conception of the basic laws governing
the universe was outlined in his unified
field theory, made public 1953; his
`relativistic theory of the non-symmetric
field', was completed 1955. Einstein wrote
that this simplified the derivations as well
as the form of the field equations and thus
made the whole theory more transparent,
without changing its content. Born at Ulm, in
Wurttemberg, West Germany, he lived with his
parents in Munich and then in Italy. After
teaching at the polytechnic school at Zurich,
he became a Swiss citizen and was appointed
an inspector of patents in Berne. In his
spare time, he took his PhD at Zurich. In
1909 he was given a chairmanship of
theoretical physics at the university. After
holding a similar post at Prague 1911, he
returned to teach at Zurich 1912, and in 1913
took up a specially created post as director
of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics,
Berlin. He received the Nobel Prize for
Physics 1921. After being deprived of his
position at Berlin by the Nazis, he emigrated
to the USA 1933, and became professor of
mathematics and a permanent member of the
Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton,
New Jersey. During World War II he worked for
the US Navy Ordnance Bureau.