5 Qualities That Made Albert Einstein Genius

Collaborative instinct

Einstein mastered the art of collaboration like no other physicist of the time. He worked with his first wife Mileva Marić, British astronomer Arthur Eddington, with his professor, mathematician Hendrik Lorentz and most importantly with Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, with whom he formulated the Bose-Einstein statistics and Bose-Einstein condensate.

Powerful Imagination

When Einstein first published his ideas in the early half of the 20th century, none in the scientific community took them seriously. They were too imaginative as well as complex at the same time. For example the concept of space-time curvature was first thought of in 1911 but only verified and accepted 8 years later when Arthur Eddington confirmed it.

Childlike curiosity

Einstein's work was a result of his childlike curiosity. He had once famously declared: 'Never lose a holy curiosity'. Despite several rumors, he was an excellent student who taught himself algebra at the age of 12. For simply wanting to learn was a pleasure for his kind. At the same age, he also discovered an alternative proof of Pythagorean theorem. By age 14, he had self-taught himself differential and integral calculus.

Challenging the norms

Einstein was also a rebel. As a 15 year old, he had clashed with the authorities at his school for differences on the teaching method. He later wrote that creative thought was lost in a strict rote learning and he hated it. He said: 'School failed me and I failed the school'. His father wanted him to become an electrical engineer but he went with physics against his father's wishes.

Einstein's big brain

There has been a lot of talk about Einstein's brain and why not. He was the greatest mind since Newton and perhaps more famous worldwide. After his death, it was found that Einstein's brain included a greater density of neurons in some parts of the brain. His prefrontal cortex, which is linked to planning, focused attention, and perseverance, was also greatly expanded, unlike other test brains observed.

Famous Physicist Who Took His Life Due To Depression

Ludwig Boltzmann was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who did not get the recognition for his work that he deserved. It is that which drove him to deep depression and which ultimately led to his suicide in 1906, aged 62.

However, today, we know Boltzmann as one of the founders of thermodynamics. His work, that is, statistical mechanics, is one of the pillars of modern physics. He is remembered not only for his pioneering contributions but also for his great personality.

As a student

He obtained his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1866. His thesis was on the kinetic theory of gases, but it was built upon the idea of atoms, the existence of which was not universally accepted at that time.

James Clerk Maxwell at that time was the only person to take Ludwig's theory seriously. He compiled a list of ideas which helped Boltzmann come up with, what is now called, Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution.

As a teacher

He taught maths and physics at various universities during his lifetime. Name and year of joining are: University of Graz (1869), University of Vienna (1873), University of Munich (1890). His students included the likes of Lise Meitner and Paul Ehrenfest.

But what brought him wider public attention were his lectures on philosophy. The lecture halls were jam-packed and because of their popularity, Boltzmann was also invited for a dinner party by the then Emperor of Austria.

As a husband

In 1872, long before women were allowed to study at Austrian Universities, Ludwig met the love of his life, Henriette von Aigentler. She wanted to become a professor of physics in Graz but her application was rejected.

Unlike his colleagues at the University of Graz, Boltzmann supported Henriette's decision to re-apply and helped her in the same. In 1876, Ludwig and Henriette married and had three daughters and a son.

Work on Entropy

In 1877, Ludwig explained the law of entropy, that all systems will either be in a state of disorder or move towards it, in an equation which is inscribed on his tombstone. His work was viciously attacked by many leading scientists of the time which led ultimately to his suicide in 1906.

5 True Love Stories In The Physics World

Marie and Pierre

The two were among the greatest scientists of the 20th century and married on 26 July, 1895. For their honeymoon, Pierre and Marie took a bicycle tour around the French countryside.

In Pierre, Marie had found a caring and a brilliant lab partner. In Marie, Pierre discovered the love of his life. And together, they went on to win the Nobel Prize, in 1903. Marie went on to win another in 1911.

Richard and Arline

Richard Feynman was instantly smitten by Arline Greenbaum. He wrote about their journey in the autobiographical book, What do you care what other people think? which was adapted into a 1996 movie.

Despite being from two separate worlds, Arline and Richard were united by the threads of love. Although they weren't meant to be forever, as Arline was struck by tuberculosis, their love became an example for everyone.

Carl and Ann

Ann Druyan co-wrote the TV show Cosmos with Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. They also went on to collaborate on other projects, like the 1997 film Contact.

It was as if Carl was creatively lost when Ann Druyan entered his life, before and during the filming of Cosmos. Together they were an unstoppable creative force, a proof that true love brings the best out of you.

Stephen and Jane

Stephen and Jane tied the knot in 1965, two years after Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, that would eventually paralyse him completely. They had 3 children together - Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

When Stephen was in need, Jane was always there beside him, like a rock solid support. Stephen and Jane's story proves that true love need not fear what life has to throw at you.

Paul and Margit

Dirac married Margit Wigner, sister of physicist Eugene Wigner and a divorcee, in 1937. He was 35 years old when he took the decision against existing societal norms.

All his life Dirac waited to share his deepest thoughts and feelings with someone he could trust and admire. Paul and Margit happened to meet, although by chance but their chemistry like a classical love story it transpired.

5 Deserving Indians Who Did Not Win Nobel Prize

Yes, lately, there have been many Indian-American Nobel Laureates. But there is, so far, only one, let's say, "wholly Indian" Nobel Prize winner in science. He is C.V. Raman who won it for physics in 1930. In this post, let's take a look at deserving candidates who did not win the most coveted prize.

Satyendra Nath Bose

Bose was a brilliant physicist who collaborated with Albert Einstein to work out what is now called the Bose-Einstein statistics. Several Nobel Prizes were awarded related to the field initiated by him but Bose himself never won the top honors.

He was nominated five times but the Nobel committee did not find his work worthy of the Prize. Paul Dirac, English Physicist, coined (and popularized) the term Boson in Bose's honor (particles that obey Bose Einstein statistics).

So, when asked about his Nobel Prize snub, Bose replied: "I have got all the recognition I deserve." Surely, his name will live on forever in the scientific world, thanks to Dirac.

Meghnad Saha

He was an Indian astrophysicist who made fundamental contributions to astronomy. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectrum of stars to their actual temperatures. This is helpful in studying the composition of star and predicting its life cycle.

Saha was nominated for the Prize several times especially for the work done in astronomy. But at that time astronomy was not considered a branch of physics. Edwin Hubble tried to change that during his lifetime but to no avail.

Homi Bhabha

He was a nuclear physicist who is regarded as the father of Indian nuclear programme. Bhabha figured out the interaction of cosmic rays with the upper atmosphere to produce particles observed at the ground level.

He later concluded that observation of such particles was a straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Bhabha was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1951 and 1953-1956 but never won.

G.N. Ramachandran

He was an Indian physicist who is known for the creation of Ramachandran plot for understanding the peptide structure. He completed his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his fundamental contributions in the understanding of protein structure and functioning. Top scientists including Linus Pauling and Francis Crick regarded Ramchandran's work Nobel worthy.

E.C. George Sudarshan

In 2005, a controversy broke out when Roy Glauber won the Nobel Prize for Glauber–Sudarshan representation in quantum optics while Sudarshan was ignored by the committee. In 2007, Sudarshan told the Hindustan Times, "The 2005 Nobel prize for Physics was awarded for my work, but I wasn't the one to get it."

10 Galileo Galilei Quotes To Succeed In Life

Galileo played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance period. He was the first to discover the rings of Saturn. His work in physics helped Newton formulate the laws of motion. Here is a list of some of his finest sayings:

1. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. (context: Galileo's trial by The Church)

2. The book of the universe is written in a mathematical language, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.

3. The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.

4. My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry? (In a 1610 letter, Galileo's trial)

5. Nature is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men.

6. In the long run my observations have convinced me that most men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some conclusion in their minds which, either because of its being their own or because of their having received it from some person who has their entire confidence, impresses them so deeply that one finds it impossible ever to get it out of their heads.

7. In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

8. I have been in my bed for five weeks, oppressed with weakness and other infirmities from which my age, seventy four years, permits me not to hope release. Added to this, the sight of my right eye — that eye whose labors (dare I say it) have had such glorious results — is for ever lost. That of the left, which was and is imperfect, is rendered null by continual weeping. [context: His house arrest after the trial; Galileo became partially blind by looking at the Sun through his telescope]

9. Light held together by moisture. (his description of wine)

10. You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.