10 Interesting Facts about Albert Einstein

10 Interesting Facts about Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born on 14^TH March 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany. He is a celebrated physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.

Einstein loved Prague and evidence suggests that he was happy during his stay in the city. He was especially fond of the Kampa area and the famous Charles Bridge. Here are several interesting facts about Albert Einstein stemming from his brilliant mind to his travels and even his general way of life.

1.    Einstein attended Charles University in Prague

The first fun fact about Albert Einstein is that in April 1911, the capital of the Czech Republic became the place where one of the greatest physicists of all time called home. Albert Einstein was 32 when he moved from Zürich to the city of Prague where he lived for 16 months with his family.

During his stay, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist worked at the German-speaking branch of the Charles University, which was called the German University of Prague. However, the German-speaking branch of Prague’s Charles University ceased to exist in 1945.

2. Albert Einstein lived on Lesnická Street in Prague

Throughout his stay in Prague, Einstein and his family lived in a three-bedroom apartment in a building on Trebížského Street No.1215 in the Smíchov district of the city. The building was sited on the left bank of the Vltava River. The name of the street has changed since Einstein lived there. Trebížského Street is now called Lesnická street (it was renamed in 1947), but it is still remembered as Einstein’s former residence. Today, the building bears a plaque with a life-size sculpture of Einstein’s head.

3.    Einstein introduced his most famous works whilst in Prague

During his stay in Prague, Einstein published various papers on the Theory of Relativity. He was fond of this historical city and credited Prague with helping him to develop the general theory of relativity. His stay and work in Prague turned out to be a perfect fit for Einstein, who found he could breeze through his official duties in a few hours and spend the rest of the day writing and conducting research on his work and even introducing the famous equation E=mc2.

4.    Einstein played the violin for his friends

During his spare time, Einstein could be found at Mrs Berta Fanta’s salon, located in a building on Old Town Square or at the elegant Café Louvre. These were the meeting places for a debating circle which, apart from Einstein, included many other famous participants, such as Franz Kafka and Max Brod. It is said that Kafka would sometimes read from his works while Einstein accompanied him on the violin.

Einstein would often bring his violin to these meetings and play music for his friends between discussions. One of his favourites was Mozart’s Violin Sonata. Today, the building features a plaque which reads:

“Here, in the salon of Mrs Berta Fanta, Albert Einstein, professor at Prague University in 1911 to 1912, founder of the Theory of Relativity, Nobel Prize Winner, played the violin and met his friends, famous writers Max Prod and Franz Kafka.”

5.    Einsteinova Street in Prague is named after Einstein

There are various plaques and sculptures scattered throughout the city paying tribute to the genius. An interesting fact about Einstein is that there is even a street named after him, Einsteinova, in the Prague 10 districts of the city.

6.    Einstein was slow to speak as a child

As a child, Albert Einstein was supposedly slow to talk. As told by his biographer, he didn’t start speaking until at least age three. American economist Thomas Sowell even coined the phrase ‘Einstein syndrome’ which describes late talkers who are highly intelligent and possess strong analytic skills and memory. In these exceptionally bright ”Einstein children”, visual-spatial skills emerge before verbal skills.

7.    Einstein had a daughter

Einstein renounced his German citizenship in 1896 and enrolled at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich. There, he began a passionate love affair with Mileva Maric, a fellow physicist-in-training originally from Serbia.

Mileva Maris, the mother to Einstein’s 3 children – Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

The couple later married and had two sons after graduating, but a year before they tied the knot, Maric gave birth to an illegitimate daughter named Lieserl. Einstein never spoke about the child to his family, and biographers weren’t even aware of her existence until examining his private papers in the late-1980s. Her fate remains a mystery to this day, but many suspect that she died at a young age from Scarlett Fever.

8.    Einstein loathed socks

Part of Albert Einstein’s charisma was his scruffy look. In addition to his uncombed hair, one of Einstein’s peculiar habits was to never wear socks. To Einstein, socks were a pain because they would often get holes in them.

9.    Einstein invented a new type of fridge

Moved by the story of a Berlin family who was killed by toxic fumes from their fridge, Albert Einstein co-invented a refrigerator. This was in conjunction with Leo Szilard (his former student). The fridge operated on compressed gases. The Einstein-Szilard refrigerator was patented in 1930

10. Einstein’s name is an anagram

‘Albert Einstein’ is an anagram of ‘Ten elite brains’.

An Anagram is a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another. Can you map out the words?

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You now know 10 interesting facts about Albert Einstein. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article and that it has given you some insight into the life of Albert Einstein.