In the history of world science, it is difficult to find a scientist of the same magnitude as Albert Einstein. However, his path to fame and recognition was not easy. Suffice it to say that Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize only after he was unsuccessfully nominated for it more than 10 times.
Short biographical note
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the German city of Ulm into a middle-class Jewish family. His father first worked in the production of mattresses, and after moving to Munich, he opened a company that sold electrical equipment.
At the age of 7, Albert was sent to a Catholic school, and then to the gymnasium, which today bears the name of the great scientist. According to the memoirs of classmates and teachers, he did not show much zeal for study and had high marks only in mathematics and Latin. In 1896, on the second attempt, Einstein entered the Zurich Polytechnic at the Faculty of Education, as he later wanted to work as a physics teacher. There he devoted much of his time to studyingMaxwell's electromagnetic theory. Although it was already impossible not to notice Einstein's outstanding abilities, by the time he received his diploma, none of the teachers wanted to see him as his assistant. Subsequently, the scientist noted that at the Zurich Polytechnic he was obstructed and bullied for his independent character.
The beginning of the path to world fame
After graduation, Albert Einstein could not find a job for a long time and even starved. However, it was during this period that he wrote and published his first work.
In 1902, the future great scientist began working at the Patent Office. After 3 years, he published 3 articles in the leading German journal Annals of Physics, which were later recognized as harbingers of the scientific revolution. In them, he outlined the foundations of the theory of relativity, the fundamental quantum theory from which Einstein's theory of the photoelectric effect later emerged, and his ideas regarding the statistical description of Brownian motion.
The revolutionary nature of Einstein's ideas
All 3 articles of the scientist, published in 1905 in the Annals of Physics, became the subject of heated discussion among colleagues. The ideas he presented to the scientific community certainly deserved to win the Nobel Prize for Albert Einstein. However, they were not immediately recognized in academic circles. If some scientists unconditionally supported their colleague, then there was a fairly large group of physicists who, being experimenters, demanded to present the results of empiricalresearch.
Nobel Prize
Shortly before his death, the famous arms magnate Alfred Nobel wrote a will, according to which all his property was transferred to a special fund. This organization was supposed to conduct a selection of candidates and annually present large cash prizes to those "who have brought the greatest benefit to mankind" by making a significant discovery in the field of physics, chemistry, as well as physiology or medicine. In addition, prizes were awarded to the creator of the most outstanding work in the field of literature, as well as to the contribution to uniting nations, reducing the size of the armed forces and "promoting the holding of peace congresses."
In his will, Nobel demanded in a separate paragraph that when nominating candidates, their nationality should not be taken into account, as he did not want his award to be politicized.
The first Nobel Prize ceremony took place in 1901. Over the next decade, such outstanding physicists as:
- Wilhelm Roentgen;
- Hendrik Lorenz;
- Peter Zeeman;
- Antoine Becquerel;
- Pierre Curie;
- Marie Curie;
- John William Strett;
- Philippe Lenard;
- Joseph John Thomson;
- Albert Abraham Michelson;
- Gabriel Lippmann;
- Guglielmo Marconi;
- Karl Brown.
Albert Einstein and the Nobel Prize: First Nomination
The first great scientist was nominated for this award in 1910. His "godfather" was the laureateNobel Prize in Chemistry Wilhelm Ostwald. Interestingly, 9 years before this event, the latter refused to hire Einstein. In his presentation, he emphasized that the theory of relativity is deeply scientific and physical, and not just philosophical reasoning, as Einstein's detractors tried to present it. In subsequent years, Ostwald repeatedly defended this point of view, repeatedly putting it forward for several years.
The Nobel Committee rejected Einstein's candidacy, with the wording that the theory of relativity does not exactly meet any of these criteria. In particular, it was noted that one should wait for its more explicit experimental confirmation.
Be that as it may, in 1910 the prize was awarded to Jan van der Waals for deriving the equation of state for gases and liquids.
Nominations in subsequent years
For the next 10 years, Albert Einstein was nominated for the Nobel Prize almost every year, with the exception of 1911 and 1915. At the same time, the theory of relativity was always indicated as a work that was worthy of such a prestigious award. This circumstance was the reason why even contemporaries often doubted how many Nobel Prizes Einstein received.
Unfortunately, 3 out of 5 members of the Nobel Committee were from the Swedish Uppsala University, known for its powerful scientific school, whose representatives achieved great success in improving measuring instrumentsand experimental technology. They were extremely suspicious of pure theorists. Their “victim” was not only Einstein. The Nobel Prize was never awarded to the outstanding scientist Henri Poincare, and Max Planck received it in 1919 after much discussion.
Solar Eclipse
As already mentioned, most physicists demanded experimental confirmation of the theory of relativity. However, at that time it was not possible to do this. The sun helped. The fact is that in order to verify the correctness of Einstein's theory, it was required to predict the behavior of an object with a huge mass. For these purposes, the Sun was the best suited. It was decided to find out the position of the stars during the solar eclipse that was supposed to occur in November 1919, and compare them with the "ordinary". The results were supposed to confirm or refute the presence of a space-time distortion, which is a consequence of the theory of relativity.
Expeditions were organized to Princip Island and the Brazilian tropics. Measurements taken during the 6 minutes that the eclipse lasted were studied by Eddington. As a result, Newton's classical theory of inertial space was defeated and gave way to Einstein's.
Recognition
1919 was the year of Einstein's triumph. Even Lorenz, who had previously been skeptical of his ideas, recognized their value. Simultaneously with Niels Bohr and 6 othersscientists who had the right to nominate colleagues for the Nobel Prize, he spoke out in support of Albert Einstein.
However, politics intervened. Although it was clear to everyone that the most deserved candidate was Einstein, the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1920 was awarded to Charles Edouard Guillaume for his research on anomalies in nickel and steel alloys.
Nevertheless, the debate continued, and it was obvious that the world community would not understand if the scientist was left without a well-deserved reward.
Nobel Prize and Einstein
In 1921, the number of scientists who proposed the candidature of the creator of the theory of relativity reached its climax. Einstein was supported by 14 people who officially had the right to nominate applicants. One of the most authoritative members of the Royal Society of Sweden, Eddington, in his letter even compared him to Newton and pointed out that he was superior to all his contemporaries.
However, the Nobel Committee commissioned Alvar Gulstrand, the 1911 medical laureate, to give a talk on the value of the theory of relativity. This scientist, being a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Uppsala, criticized Einstein sharply and illiterately. In particular, he argued that the bending of a light beam could not be considered a true test of Albert Einstein's theory. He also urged not to consider observations made about the orbits of Mercury as evidence. In addition, he was especially outraged by the fact that the length of the measuring ruler can change depending on whether the observer is moving or not, and at what speed he does it.
As a resultNobel Prize was not awarded to Einstein in 1921, and it was decided not to award anyone.
1922
Theoretical physicist Carl Wilhelm Oseen from the University of Uppsala helped save face for the Nobel Committee. He proceeded from the fact that it does not matter at all for which Einstein receives the Nobel Prize. In this regard, he proposed to award it "for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."
Oseen also advised the members of the committee that not only Einstein should be awarded during the 22nd ceremony. The Nobel Prize in the year preceding 1921 was not awarded, because ethat it became possible to note the merits of two scientists at once. The second winner was Niels Bohr.
Einstein missed the official Nobel Prize ceremony. He gave his speech later, and it was devoted to the theory of relativity.
Now you know why Einstein won the Nobel Prize. Time has shown the significance of the discoveries of this scientist for world science. Even if Einstein had not been awarded the Nobel Prize, he would still go down in the annals of world history as a man who changed the ideas of mankind about space and time.
