When Stephen Hawking was writing A Brief History of Time, his editors told him that he would lose half of his readers for each equation (方程式) he put in the book. Despite this warning, Hawking found it necessary to include one equation. His choice was the world's most famous equation, Albert Einstein's E = mc2. As simple as the equation may seem, it represents a theory so important that it changed science and physics completely. In fact, Einstein's discoveries made such a big difference that he felt he had to apologise to Newton. "Forgive me," Einstein wrote, "you found the only way which, in your age, was just about possible for a man of highest thought and creative power." Einstein had replaced Newton's theories with his own and changed our understanding of the universe.
Before Einstein, scientists believed that light travelled through space in a straight line. But Einstein was able to prove that light coming from the stars was bent as it passed the sun. As a result, it appeared to scientists on earth that the stars had moved. He worked out just how much the light would be bent; he could also work out how far the stars would appear to have moved.
His discovery was completely new; it was said that only three people could understand it at the time. The difficulty was how he could prove his ideas to other scientists. Many of them did not
accept his scientific ideas. But Einstein went on with his research. By 1919, scientists who had been watching the stars believed in his work and he quickly became world-famous. From that time on Einstein was greatly respected as the leading scientist of the century.
The First World War (1914-1918) had brought him great sadness. He had taken Swiss nationality in 1901 and therefore did not have to join the army, as Switzerland did not take sides in the war. Einstein thought that war was a terrible thing and believed that fighting and killing in wars was wrong. He did urge the United States to build an atomic bomb to defeat the Nazis, but when Einstein saw the effect of the bomb, he regretted his actions. What he wanted to see was an end to all the armies of the world.
When Hitler came into power in the early 1930s, Einstein, who was a Jew, found it impossible to continue living in Germany. His friends were beaten, or taken away, or their homes were destroyed. While he was doing research in America, Einstein wrote a letter to a newspaper to say that these acts were wrong. It meant that he would never be able to visit Germany again. That is why Einstein and his family left Europe for the USA in 1933.
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