Curated atlas · Science

The Life of Einstein

A tighter weekly atlas of Albert Einstein's life, mixing the landmark papers with personal upheavals, public celebrity, exile from Nazi Germany, and a few memorable human moments.

77 years

4,004 blocks

34 events

8 stages

1 block = 1 week · 1 row = 52 weeks77y · 4,004 blocks

1879

1889

1899

1909

1919

1929

1939

1949

Stages

Timeline ledger

Chronicle

34 events · 8 stages

Childhood in Ulm and Munich

15y 44w

Mar 14, 1879 → Dec 28, 1894

Born in Ulm, Germany

Mar 14, 1879

Aarau and ETH formation years

6y 8w

Dec 28, 1894 → Feb 15, 1901

Becomes a Swiss citizen

Feb 15, 1901

Bern patent office and miracle year

8y 31w

Mar 1, 1901 → Sep 24, 1909

First scientific paper published

Mar 1, 1901

Marries Mileva Maric

Jan 2, 1903

Hans Albert is born

May 13, 1904

Completes doctoral dissertation

Apr 28, 1905

Photoelectric effect paper published

Jun 9, 1905

Brownian motion paper published

Jul 14, 1905

Special relativity published

Sep 22, 1905

E = mc² paper published

Nov 17, 1905

Officially awarded PhD

Jan 12, 1906

Zurich and Prague professorships

4y 26w

Oct 1, 1909 → Mar 27, 1914

Attends the first Solvay Conference

Oct 27, 1911

Elected to the Prussian Academy

Jul 18, 1913

Berlin and the relativity breakthrough

5y 32w

Mar 27, 1914 → Oct 31, 1919

Moves to Berlin

Mar 27, 1914

Presents the field equations

Nov 19, 1915

Publishes on gravitational waves

Jan 25, 1918

Divorces Mileva Maric

Feb 14, 1919

Eclipse tests general relativity

May 23, 1919

Marries Elsa Lowenthal

May 30, 1919

Relativity announced to the world

Oct 31, 1919

Celebrity scientist and quantum skeptic

13y 22w

Nov 7, 1919 → Mar 24, 1933

Arrives in New York to a hero's welcome

Apr 1, 1921

Nobel Prize announced

Nov 3, 1922

Launches Bose-Einstein statistics

Jul 4, 1924

Patent awarded for the Einstein refrigerator

Nov 7, 1930

Attends City Lights premiere with Charlie Chaplin

Jan 30, 1931

Exile, Princeton, and war years

12y 42w

Mar 24, 1933 → Dec 28, 1945

Renounces German citizenship

Mar 24, 1933

Defends intellectual freedom in London

Sep 29, 1933

EPR paradox paper published

May 10, 1935

Elsa dies

Dec 18, 1936

Signs the Einstein-Szilard letter

Jul 28, 1939

Becomes an American citizen

Sep 27, 1940

Late Princeton years

9y 17w

Dec 28, 1945 → Apr 15, 1955

The famous tongue photo

Mar 9, 1951

Aneurysm ruptures

Apr 15, 1955

Dies in Princeton

Apr 15, 1955

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