360Einstein's 'miracle year' transforms physics
In 1905, Albert Einstein, a 26-year-old clerk at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, published four papers that changed physics. They explained light as particles, proved atoms exist, set out special relativity and introduced E = mc², showing that mass and energy are equivalent. 1905 became known as his 'miracle year'.
In 1905, Albert Einstein was not a professor. He worked six days a week checking patent applications in Bern and did physics in his spare time.
That year, the journal Annalen der Physik published four of his papers. The first explained the photoelectric effect by treating light as tiny packets of energy, later called photons, and helped found quantum physics.
The second explained the jittery 'Brownian motion' of tiny particles in water, giving strong evidence that atoms and molecules are real. The third set out the special theory of relativity: the speed of light is the same for everyone, and time and space depend on how fast you move.
The fourth, a short follow-up, introduced the idea behind E = mc², that a small amount of mass holds an enormous amount of energy. Einstein went on to publish general relativity in 1915, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on light.
- March–September 1905
- Four landmark papers are published
- 1915
- The general theory of relativity
- 1919
- An eclipse confirms that gravity bends light
- 1921
- Nobel Prize in Physics
Sources: NobelPrize.org · Albert Einstein Archives · Britannica.