Albert Einstein for Kids
By: Jason Haas
Albert Einstein: A Pretty Cool Guy
Hi kids! You've probably all heard of Albert Einstein before. You may know that he was a scientist.You may know that he discovered something called "relativity" and has something to do with the equation "e=mc2." The "E" stands for "energy," the "m," stands for mass, and the "c," stands for the speed of light. He realized that mass is simply "frozen" potential energy. The energy that is contained in a few pounds of coal is much more than what is released by burning coal. There would be about twenty-five billion kilowatt-hours produced by releasing the stored energy as opposed to the little bit of energy produced by burning the charcoal in a barbecue grill. The problem was then releasing the energy. This problem of how to release the stored energy from matter in a controlled, safe way still needs to be researched. This idea is actually what nuclear power consists of, but many people have doubts about nuclear power's safety. So, all of that is relativity. Relativity takes into account different points of view or perspectives and says that what you think is real could be seen in a different way from a person who is outside of your situation. Many of these ideas existed before, but only Einstein was able to make them work together.
Albert Einstein used the knowledge that he gained from school and from books, and he reorganized them. He used his imagination to connect things in his head, and to imagine things that human beings couldn't see with the naked eye. Creativity and imagination were very important to Albert Einstein. He thought about mass and energy in a new, creative way, and it allowed him to become probably the most famous scientist of this century. His imagination helped him to think about things that don't actually exist, but would prove his theory, like the infinitely tall building. Creativity and imagination are excellent tools for solving problems, and Albert Einstein is an excellent example of this.
Albert was always a smart person. He was very shy and quiet as a young boy. There are many stories about Albert. People say that he failed mathematics, and others say he didn't. Most agree however, that he did not like his school in Germany. German schools were very boring and strict when Albert was a little boy. He was made to sit in uncomfortable wooden desks and repeat everything the teacher said. He would often day-dream in class because he was so bored and did not care for the lectures and "sing-song drills" that German schools used as tools for learning. He liked to think creatively instead of repeating things. Albert grew to like to read books that weren't for school, simply because he wanted to learn and didn't get satisfaction from what was taught in school. He wanted to learn more about things like the magnetism that made the needle in his compass always face north. He wanted to know about the mysteries of the universe which eventually he would explain.
Young Albert
When Albert asked, his Uncle Jacob would explain all sorts of things about electricity to Albert while he worked on inventions in the shop that he shared with Albert's father. Albert also learned outside of school from a college student who was living with the Einstein family, whose name was Max Talmey. Max came to have a great liking for Albert because Albert was so curious and intelligent, and would bring Albert many books by great. Talmey made sure that he gave Einstein books about math and physics, including a book on geometry by the founder of geometry, Euclid.
All of this learning and reading was done because Albert wanted to. He spent a lot of his time reading because he was curious about the nature of the universe. He wanted to know something, so he went to find the answer instead of letting the idea slip away, as most people do. People should learn a lesson from young Albert Einstein. He knew at a young age that life is not for simply wasting. He knew that if a person desires something, they should seek it out.
