page_title: Albert Einstein
section_title: Bohr versus Einstein
hierarchical_section_title: Albert Einstein / Scientific career / Quantum mechanics / Bohr versus Einstein
caption_attribution_description: English: Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The picture was taken at Ehrenfest's home in Leiden, the occasion was most likely the 50th anniversary of Hendrik Lorentz' doctorate (December 11, 1925).
context_page_description: Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He is best known to the general public for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc², which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect", a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
  The son of a salesman who later operated an electrochemical factory, Einstein was born in the German Empire but moved to Switzerland in 1895 and renounced his German citizenship in 1896. Specializing in physics and mathematics, he received his academic teaching diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zürich in 1900. The following year, he acquired Swiss citizenship, which he kept for his entire life. After initially struggling to find work, from 1902 to 1909 he was employed as a patent examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern.
context_section_description: The Bohr–Einstein debates were a series of public disputes about quantum mechanics between Einstein and Niels Bohr, who were two of its founders. Their debates are remembered because of their importance to the philosophy of science. Their debates would influence later interpretations of quantum mechanics.
caption: Einstein and Niels Bohr, 1925
exif: {}