Albert Einstein - The Einstein Memorial

Albert Einstein, born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879, and raised in Munich, transformed scientific thought with new concepts of space, time, mass, motion, and gravitation and with the idea that energy and matter are interchangeable, a principle central to the development of atomic energy. After graduating from a technical institute in Zurich and being unable to find a teaching post, he worked in the Swiss patent office from 1902 to 1909 while pursuing scientific research in his spare time. In 1905 he received a doctorate in physics from the University of Zurich and published three papers that each became the basis of a new branch of physics: one treated light as energy particles called quanta and explained the photo-electric effect, work for which he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics; another presented his special theory of relativity and the equation E=mc2; and the third explained Brownian motion as evidence of the fundamental nature of matter. These achievements led to professorships in Switzerland and Prague, and in 1914 he moved to Berlin as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and director of the Kaiser Wihelm Physical Institute, while also being free to teach at the University of Berlin. He remained there despite growing anti-Semitism after World War I until Hitler came to power, then came to the United States in 1933 to join the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, New Jersey. He became a citizen of the United States in 1940, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1942, remained affiliated with the Princeton institute until his death on April 18, 1955, and in later years worked actively for world government and world peace while maintaining his allegiance to science. The Einstein Memorial, dedicated on April 22, 1979, on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences, honors both his scientific achievements and his commitment to truth, social justice, and ethical responsibility. It shows Einstein seated on a semicircular three-step bench of white granite from Mount Airy, North Carolina, with a circular sky map of the visible universe at his feet made from a 28-foot field of emerald pearl granite from Larvik, Norway, set with more than 2,700 metal studs marking celestial objects as they appeared at noon on the day of the dedication. The figure holds a paper bearing equations representing the photoelectric effect, general relativity, and the equivalence of energy and matter, and quotations on the back of the bench reflect his integrity, wonder, and concern for justice. Situated in a grove of elm and holly trees on the southwest corner of the Academy grounds, the memorial was financed by more than 5,000 contributions and created by sculptor Robert Berks. The bronze figure stands 21 feet high, weighs 7,000 pounds, was cast in 19 sections and welded together, required ten months and a crew of 25 to complete, and is supported by three concrete caissons sunk to bedrock.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States