ABSTRACT
Albert Einstein was born in 1879, the eighth year after Otto von Bismarck's unification of Germany by "blood and iron". His life spanned the two revolutions of 20th century physics, in both of which he was intimately involved, and two World Wars. Two of the three principles Einstein placed at the basis of the theory, the "principle of general relativity" or general covariance, and what he termed "Mach's principle", gave rise to a good deal of controversy and misunderstanding, some of it on Einstein's part. His first scientific paper was published in 1901, the year he received Swiss citizenship. Einstein acquired his first academic job when he was made associate professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich in October 1909, having received his first honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva in July. Less widely known, but worthy of emphasis, are contributions Einstein made to the development of the quantum theory during the Berlin period.
