Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, to Hermann and Pauline Einstein.
Albert Einstein
The Einstein family moves to Munich, where his father and uncle found a company manufacturing electrical equipment.
Einstein in 1882, age 3
While sick in bed at age five, Einstein is given a compass by his father, an experience he later credited with sparking his fascination with unseen physical forces and electromagnetism.
Einstein begins attending St. Peter's Catholic elementary school in Munich.
He transfers to the Luitpold Gymnasium, receiving advanced primary and secondary education.
Einstein leaves the Gymnasium and joins his family in Pavia; he later criticizes strict rote learning as harmful to creativity.
At 16, Einstein sits the entrance examination for the ETH Zurich polytechnic school; he excels in math and physics but fails the general portion.
With his father's approval, Einstein renounces his Württemberg (German) citizenship to avoid conscription, becoming effectively stateless for several years.
Einstein's Matura certificate from canton Aargau, 1896
At age 17, Einstein enrolls in the mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the federal polytechnic school (later ETH Zurich).
Einstein graduates from the polytechnic school, certified to teach mathematics and physics.
Einstein acquires Swiss citizenship, which he retains for the rest of his life.
Einstein publishes his first scientific paper in Annalen der Physik, on capillarity phenomena.
Einstein begins work in Bern at the Swiss Patent Office as an assistant examiner.
Einstein at the Swiss patent office, 1904
In Bern, Einstein and friends form the Olympia Academy, meeting to discuss science and philosophy (including Poincaré, Mach, and Hume).
Einstein’s position at the Swiss Patent Office becomes permanent, though his employers initially doubt he should be promoted until he masters machine technology.
Einstein and Marić’s son Hans Albert is born in Bern.
Einstein completes his doctoral dissertation, "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions", at the University of Zurich.
Einstein's 1905 dissertation, Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen ("A new determination of molecular dimensions")
Einstein’s annus mirabilis: he publishes four landmark papers on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity, and mass–energy equivalence (E = mc²), reshaping modern physics.
Einstein is formally awarded his PhD by the University of Zurich.
Einstein formulates the equivalence principle, a key conceptual step toward general relativity.
He secures a junior teaching position at the University of Bern, beginning a transition from the patent office to academia.
A well-received lecture on relativistic electrodynamics helps him obtain an associate professorship at the University of Zurich.
Einstein and Marić’s son Eduard is born in Zurich.
Einstein becomes a full professor at the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague.
Einstein attends the first Solvay Conference, an important gathering of leading physicists.
He returns to ETH Zurich as chair in theoretical physics, working with Marcel Grossmann on a relativistic theory of gravitation.
Einstein with colleagues at the ETH in Zurich, 1913
Einstein begins a relationship with Elsa Löwenthal.
Einstein joins the Prussian Academy of Sciences after being recruited to Berlin by Max Planck and Walther Nernst.
Einstein develops the Entwurf ("draft") theory of gravity during his search for appropriate field equations, later abandoning it.
Einstein moves to Berlin (Dahlem) and takes up his Humboldt University position, focusing primarily on research.
Einstein with other physicists and chemists in Berlin, 1920
With the outbreak of World War I, Einstein publicly distances himself from the pro-war "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" and signs the pacific "Manifesto to the Europeans" instead.
Einstein completes the mathematical formulation of general relativity, applying it to phenomena including Mercury’s perihelion precession.
Einstein and Wander Johannes de Haas publish work on the Einstein–de Haas effect, linking magnetization to angular momentum.
Einstein is elected president of the German Physical Society for a two-year term.
He predicts gravitational waves as a consequence of general relativity.
Einstein becomes the first director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics.
In cosmology, Einstein introduces the cosmological constant to allow a static-universe solution in general relativity (the "Einstein static universe").
He publishes his paper introducing stimulated emission, foundational for the later development of the laser and maser.
Einstein signs the founding proclamation of the liberal German Democratic Party.
Einstein and Mileva Marić divorce after years of separation; the settlement includes his promise to give her any future Nobel Prize money.
A total solar eclipse (29 May) enables tests of light bending; results presented in London (6 Nov) are consistent with general relativity, launching Einstein’s global fame.
The New York Times reported confirmation of the bending of light by gravitation after observations of the 29 May 1919 eclipse were presented in London on 6 November 1919
Einstein marries Elsa Löwenthal, who remains his companion through his emigration to the United States.
Einstein is elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Einstein arrives in the United States and undertakes a highly publicized lecture tour, helping cement his status as a celebrity scientist.
Einstein's official portrait after receiving the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics
Einstein is elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.
Einstein begins serving (1922–1932) on the League of Nations’ International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
Einstein at a session of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (League of Nations)
He is awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for the law of the photoelectric effect.
With Satyendra Nath Bose, Einstein helps lay the groundwork for Bose–Einstein statistics and related quantum ideas.
Einstein and Elsa tour South America, visiting Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina for lectures and academic events.
Einstein and Leó Szilárd co-invent an absorption refrigerator (patented in 1930), designed to operate with no moving parts.
Einstein makes another major US visit, including a fellowship at Caltech, while managing intense public attention.
Einstein with Charlie Chaplin at the Hollywood premiere of Chaplin's City Lights, January 1931
The FBI opens a secret dossier on Einstein (which grows to 1,427 pages by the time of his death).
With the Nazi rise to power, Einstein resigns from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and decides not to return to Germany.
Cartoon of Einstein after shedding his "pacifism" wings (Charles R. Macauley, c. 1933)
Einstein learns the Enabling Act of 1933 has made Hitler’s dictatorship effectively legal, reinforcing that returning to Berlin is unsafe.
In Antwerp, Einstein formally renounces his German citizenship by surrendering his passport to the consulate.
Einstein’s 26 May arrival in England (via Dover) is documented as he moves through Europe while seeking a safe, permanent base.
Landing card for Einstein's 26 May 1933 arrival in Dover, England from Ostend, Belgium
Einstein meets Winston Churchill at Chartwell while seeking political help for scientists and refugees threatened by Nazi persecution.
Winston Churchill and Einstein at Chartwell House, 31 May 1933
Einstein delivers a major speech on academic freedom at London’s Royal Albert Hall, then returns to the US days later.
Einstein takes up a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where he remains affiliated until his death.
Portrait of Einstein taken in 1935 at Princeton
Einstein and Nathan Rosen propose what become known as Einstein–Rosen bridges (a wormhole model) as part of attempts to model particles via field equations.
Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen publish the EPR paradox, arguing quantum mechanics is incomplete due to entanglement’s implications.
Einstein’s wife Elsa dies after being diagnosed with heart and kidney problems the previous year.
Albert and Elsa Einstein, 1930
Einstein co-signs the Einstein–Szilárd letter urging President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pursue nuclear research in response to fears of a German atomic bomb program, helping spur the Manhattan Project.
Facsimile of the Einstein–Szilard letter
Einstein becomes a US citizen while retaining Swiss citizenship, formalizing his long-term home in America.
Einstein accepting a US citizenship certificate from judge Phillip Forman in 1940
Einstein visits Lincoln University (a historically Black college), receives an honorary degree, and publicly speaks against racism in America.
Einstein undergoes surgery to reinforce an abdominal aortic aneurysm (later the cause of his death).
After Chaim Weizmann’s death, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion offers Einstein the ceremonial post of President of Israel; Einstein declines, citing lack of aptitude for the role.
In a letter to Eric Gutkind, Einstein strongly critiques traditional religious claims and describes "God" as a human product, expressing a non-personal, philosophical view of spirituality.
Einstein and other intellectuals sign the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, warning about the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Einstein suffers internal bleeding from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and is hospitalized in Princeton.
Albert Einstein dies in Princeton, New Jersey, after refusing surgery to prolong his life. During the autopsy, Thomas Stoltz Harvey removes Einstein’s brain for preservation without family permission.
The chemical element Einsteinium is named in Einstein’s honor, a few months after his death.
Einstein’s Princeton home, the Albert Einstein House, is designated a National Historic Landmark.
The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled in Washington, D.C., outside the National Academy of Sciences.
Einstein is named Time magazine’s Person of the Century, reflecting his lasting cultural and scientific impact.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics marks 2005 as the "World Year of Physics" ("Einstein Year"), commemorating Einstein’s 1905 annus mirabilis.