Einstein 1879 was born in a Jewish family in Germany, and 1900 graduated with honors from the Teachers College of Zurich University of Technology. His family is very poor, but for his uncle's support, he can't afford to go to college.
After graduating from college, Einstein wanted to stay and teach so that he could support himself and do further research in the field of physics. This is a quiet and beautiful life! It's a pity that he is unsociable at school and "in a daze", and he doesn't know how to get on well with the professor. A professor named Weber liked Einstein at first, and then he became more and more alienated from him. The reason is that he is neither sloppy nor worldly. People call Weber a professor, but he is called Mr. Weber. "You say so, he is determined to do so! The class is not very good, and the experiment is not good! Hum ... "Weber once commented on him behind his back. Once Einstein wrote an article to Professor Weber, hoping to get some advice and guidance from him. After reading it for a long time, Weber didn't know what Einstein had written, so he returned the article to Einstein, but said, "You are a very clever young man. Unfortunately, you don't listen to anyone ... "Einstein blurted out," Mr. Weber ... "But Mr. Weber didn't listen, waved and turned away. I want to stay in school now, but which professor is willing to recommend this stubborn and unruly student? Besides, he is Jewish.
Einstein had to go back to his parents' home in Italy. After half a year, there is nowhere to find a job. The plight of unemployment worried Einstein very much. He almost fell to the bottom of his life. In desperation, he had a whim and wanted to ask the great German chemist ostwald for help. Because ostwald once pushed his way through the crowd in the most difficult time and gave great help to the Swedish chemist Arenarius (1903 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry), he made brilliant achievements in the future. Ostwald was once called "Science Bole" for this matter. Einstein thought, maybe this "science bole" can also find my "swift horse"! So he wrote a letter to ostwald on March 190 1. The letter said: "... inspired by your general chemistry, I wrote a paper on capillary action, so I took the liberty to send you a copy." At the same time, I ask abruptly, do you want to recruit an assistant in mathematics and physics? I venture to ask, because I have no money, only such a job can give me the opportunity to further my studies. "
It is conceivable that Einstein wrote such a letter out of helplessness, and the frustration of life made him change his character that he didn't care about other people's thoughts at all. The letter he wrote to ostwald was more sophisticated and tactful. First of all, he said that his article was influenced by general chemistry, and he quietly flattered ostwald before making a request. I'm afraid he won't be like this when he was a student six months ago.
But this "Bole" didn't write back to Einstein, which made Einstein very disappointed, but he was somewhat unwilling. On April 3rd, he sent another postcard to ostwald, thinking that since the other party didn't reply, it would be a bit boring to write again. So he made an excuse and said on the postcard that he might have forgotten to write his return address last time, so he told him the address on purpose this time. Of course, it is also necessary to explain your predicament again. But ostwald still didn't reply.
In desperation, Einstein turned to Professor Kavelin Agnes of Leiden University in the Netherlands (19 13 won the Nobel Prize in Physics) for help. This time, he considered it more carefully. In addition to sending the paper, he also attached a postcard with his address on it and a round-trip stamp. But this round-trip postcard never came back, and it was probably thrown into the wastebasket by Agnes. Einstein must be in a bad mood.
Einstein's father deeply sympathized with his son's situation and knew how disappointment hurt his son's self-esteem. If this goes on, it may completely ruin his future. Although he is poor and ill, he is not familiar with the scientific situation, but out of deep fatherly love, how much he wants to help his son. So ten days after Einstein sent his second letter to ostwald, he also wrote a letter to ostwald: "Dear Professor, please forgive me for being such a father and writing to you for the future of my son. ..... My son is extremely uneasy because of his current unemployment. The longer he stays, the more useless he feels. More seriously, because I am not rich, he feels that he is a burden to his family.
Because my son respects the greatest scientist of your time, I dare you to read my son's paper and write a few words to encourage him to restore his confidence in work and life. I would appreciate it if you could give him a teaching assistant position.
I beg your pardon for interrupting me again. I hope you won't let my son know that I wrote to you. "
Poor father, great father! Who can read this letter without being moved by Einstein's father's deep love for his son? But I don't know whether ostwald didn't receive this letter or remained unmoved after reading it. Einstein didn't get any reply, let alone any encouragement and help.
One door closes and the other opens. 190 1 April, Einstein's college classmate Grossman wrote a letter to Einstein, which contained good news. The letter said that the Patent Office in Bern, Switzerland, would set up a technical post dedicated to examining various new inventions. Grossman said that his father would like to recommend Einstein for this post.
A year later, Einstein finally officially entered the Patent Office as a three-level technical examiner with an annual salary of 3,500 Swiss francs. At the age of 23, he finally got rid of the terrible shadow of unemployment, and was able to support himself, support his family and stop worrying about bread. Because of this, Einstein devoted himself to the help of this classmate all his life. He said many times, "This is the greatest thing Grossman has ever done for his friends."
Einstein admitted that "the biggest mistake in life"
Einstein, a world-class scientist, has always felt guilty for his "biggest mistake in his life". What did Einstein do wrong?
19 17, that is, the year after he founded the general theory of relativity, Einstein and Dutch physicist de sitter independently studied this work to explain the stability of the universe. They found that the cosmic solution of the gravitational field equation is dynamic rather than static. In other words, the universe either expands or contracts. Because of the prejudice of physical intuition and the error of mathematical operation, Einstein never gave up the concept of static universe. In order to get the static solution of the universe model, he did not hesitate to introduce a "universe term" into the equation. This conclusion accords with the cosmological principle at that time and the known observation facts. However, in 1922, American scholar Friedman found another dynamic solution of this equation; 1927 Belgian scholar Lemaistre also got the same solution independently. From a mathematical point of view, it is proved that the universe is not static, but expands or contracts uniformly. However, Einstein still refused to accept this result and insisted on his view of static universe model.
Two years later, according to the observation of distant nebulae, American astronomer Hubble found that the spectral lines emitted by distant stars had a red shift, and the spectral lines of stars farther away from the earth had a greater red shift. This shows that the star is moving away from the earth. Hubble's discovery supported Friedman's dynamic universe model and changed Einstein's view of the universe. Einstein called the mistake of sticking to the static universe model "the biggest mistake in his life" and withdrew his criticism of Friedman and others.
Later, on his 70th birthday, he said to his good friend Sollovan, "I don't think any concept in my works is firmly established, and I'm not sure that I'm on the right track in general." This sentence largely contains his mistakes in 19 17.
A world-famous great scientist can bravely admit his mistakes and humbly review his achievements that have been recognized and praised by the world, which shows that Einstein is realistic and respects the scientific and open mind. This is why Einstein was able to achieve great success.