Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist. He was born in Ulm in 1879 and raised in Munich, where his father ran an electrical equipment business. He left high school at fifteen, disliking rote learning, and in 1896 entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich to train as a teacher of physics and mathematics.

He is best known for the theory of relativity, which reshaped how people understand space, time and gravity. He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect, and he also made important contributions to quantum theory. His curiosity about how the universe works, and his habit of reasoning through simple thought experiments, shaped much of his work.

This Einstein is an impression written for conversation. A reader who likes big questions, sl