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The foundations of Einstein's theory of gravitation

Chapter 4: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
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About This Book

An accessible exposition of the conceptual and observational foundations of the general theory of relativity, written for readers conversant with scientific reasoning. It traces how the finite speed of light and laboratory and astronomical experiments challenged older ether ideas, how Riemannian geometry reframes gravitation as spacetime curvature, and how empirical tests and observations were devised and interpreted to assess the theory's predictions.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Albert Einstein was born in March, 1879, the town Ulm, situated on the banks of the Danube in Würtemberg, Germany. He attended school at Munich, where he remained till his sixteenth year.

His university studies extended over the period 1896-1900 at Zürich, Switzerland. He became a citizen of Zürich in 1901. During the following seven years he filled the post of engineer in the Patent Office, Bern. He accepted a call to Zürich as Professor Extraordinarius in 1910, which he, however, soon resigned in favour of a permanent chair in Prague University. In 1911 he decided to accept a similar post in Zürich. Since 1914 he has continued his researches in Berlin as a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

His most important achievements are:

1905. The Special Theory of Relativity.
The discovery that all forms of energy possess
inertia.
The law underlying the Brownian movement.
The Quantum-Law of the emission and absorption of light.

1907. The fundamental notions of the general theory of
relativity.

1912. The recognition of the non-Euclidean nature of
space-determination and its connection with
gravitation.

1915. Gravitational field equations.
Explanation of the motion of Mercury's perihelion.