History UsefulNotes / AlbertEinstein

* CelebrityResemblance: Invoked quite brilliantly (of course) as a way to avoid unwanted conversations. Whenever he was approached on the street by strangers who recognized him and wanted to discuss his theories, [[RefugeInAudacity he would respond]], "Pardon me, sorry! Always I am mistaken for Professor Einstein."

* DichterAndDenker: One of the ''Denker'', although he later moved to the US.

Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879, Einstein was the son of an engineer. He was gifted in math and science from an early age. (The urban legend that he failed mathematics in high school was completely untrue. He did fail the entrance examination to The Zürich Institute of Technology, [[CripplingOverspecialization due to]] ''[[CripplingOverspecialization French]]''[[note]]On the other hand, [[DichterAndDenker Wernher von Braun]] ''did'' fail ninth-grade algebra, so you can use that to cheer your kid up about his bad grades if you like.[[/note]].) [[TeenGenius He first started thinking about relativity at the age of 16]], as he tried to imagine how a light wave would look if he traveled with it at the speed of light.

Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879, Einstein was the son of an engineer. He was gifted in math and science from an early age. (The urban legend that he failed mathematics in high school was completely untrue. He did fail the entrance examination to The Zürich Institute of Technology, [[CripplingOverspecialization due to]] ''[[CripplingOverspecialization French]]''[[note]]On the other hand, Wernher von Braun ''did'' fail ninth-grade algebra, so you can use that to cheer your kid up about his bad grades if you like.[[/note]].) [[TeenGenius He first started thinking about relativity at the age of 16]], as he tried to imagine how a light wave would look if he traveled with it at the speed of light.

* ''YoungEinstein'', of course.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', Einstein builds a time machine shortly after WWII and uses it to go back in time and [[strike: kill]] remove Adolf Hitler from time long before the war. [[AlternateHistory It worked]]. [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct Sort of]].

** [[InNameOnly But not]] LittleEinsteins.

* ''In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' Einstein builds a time machine shortly after WWII and uses it to go back in time and [[strike: kill]] remove Adolf Hitler from time long before the war. [[AlternateHistory It worked]]. [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct Sort of]].

* ''In CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' Einstein builds a time machine shortly after WWII and uses it to go back in time and [[strike: kill]] remove Adolf Hitler from time long before the war. [[AlternateHistory It worked]]. [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct Sort of]].
** In Red Alert 3, set after the original time travel event, the Russians use a new time machine to erase Einstein in 1927, before the original time travel event, but after Einstein removed Hitler from time itself (1924).

[[caption-width-right:333: The man who shaped the whole Twentieth Century.]]

** Aaand then the Soviets travelled back in time to [[strike: kill]] remove ''him'' (After ''he'' [[strike: killed]] remove Hitler. I think...) to stop him from developing the Allies superior weapons. Somehow, [[FromBadToWorse It Got Even MORE Worse.]]
*** In Red Alert 3, set after the original time travel event, the Russians use a new time machine to erase Einstein in 1927, before the original time travel event, but after Einstein removed Hitler from time itself (1924).

-->-- '''Einstein's explanation for the theory of relativity''', ''attributed''

* {{Casanova}}: He had multiple mistresses.

* ''In CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' Einstein builds a time machine shortly after WWII and uses it to go back in time and [[strike: kill]] remove Adolf Hitler from time long before the war. [[AlternateHistory It worked]]. [[ItGotWorse Sort of]].
** Aaand then the Soviets travelled back in time to [[strike: kill]] remove ''him'' (After ''he'' [[strike: killed]] remove Hitler. I think...) to stop him from developing the Allies superior weapons. Somehow, [[ItGotWorse It Got Even MORE Worse.]]

** Similarly, the current trope picture for EurekaMoment is a [[TheFarSide Far Side]] cartoon about Einstein's EurekaMoment.

* In the HeecheeSaga future, Robinette Broadhead has an A.I. created to be Einstein. Every single writing by and about Einstein is used to create an A.I. as close to the real thing as possible. This [[HeroicBSOD creates a problem later on]] when the A.I. discovers that God really does play dice with the universe.

* In ''TimeSquad'', Einstein masqueraded as a Texas car salesman named Big Al.

** Fun stuff: there are people thinking of bringing (some form of) cosmological constant back through the kitchen door. Ever heard of Dark Energy?

-->-- '''Einstein's explanation for the theory of relativity''', ''attributed''

Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879, Einstein was the son of an engineer. He was gifted in math and science from an early age. (The urban legend that he failed mathematics in high school was completely untrue. He did fail the entrance examination to The Zürich Institute of Technology, [[CripplingOverspecialization due to]] ''[[CripplingOverspecialization French]]''[[hottip:*:On the other hand, Wernher von Braun ''did'' fail ninth-grade algebra, so you can use that to cheer your kid up about his bad grades if you like.]].) [[TeenGenius He first started thinking about relativity at the age of 16]], as he tried to imagine how a light wave would look if he traveled with it at the speed of light.

After graduating, a friend got him a job at a patent office, a boring post where he could work on physics secretly. Nothing special happened until 1905, dubbed ''[[AltumVidetur Annus Mirabilis]]''[[hottip:*:"Wonderful Year"]], when he published four papers, in which he explained the photoelectric effect (which eventually got him a Nobel prize, and provided a ''major'' breakthrough in quantum mechanics), Brownian motion (which proved the existence of atoms once and for all--a scientific mystery that has been around since the days of classical Greece), special UsefulNotes/{{relativity}} (a theory explaining the previously observed fact that light travels at the same apparent speed regardless of the speed of the observer, which predicts some bizarre consequences, like that two observers moving relative to each other will not agree on how quickly time passes), and matter-energy equivalence (where we get the equation E = mc[[superscript:2]]). Needless to say, the papers had a revolutionary impact on science, most notably kicking off the age of nuclear energy.

In the US, Einstein became something of a pop culture icon, with newspapers and reporters beating a path to his door. He also became [[FriendToAllChildren something of a star amongst children]], who wrote him thousands of letters about all manner of topics. Einstein was an influential member of the civil rights, pacifist, and Zionist movements; David Ben-Gurion even offered him the (mostly ceremonial) post of President of Israel (its powers are similar to those of the [[TheHouseOfWindsor British Monarch]]). He turned it down (much to Ben-Gurion's relief, as a pacifist saint is not exactly something that a fledgling nation beset by enemies need), and the post went to Chaim Weizmann (himself a scientist).

** During his tenure at Princeton, the university employed grad students to follow him and eavesdrop/take notes, just in case he mentioned something ground-breaking off-hand.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His feelings toward the fateful A-bomb letter.

* ''Einstein & Eddington'', in which Einstein is played by Andy Serkis (i.e. Gollum)
* ''DextersLaboratory'': Dexter himself praises and cherishes Albert Einstein so much, he even has a poster of of him in his room.

** A short episode written by a contest-winning kid revealed that he and The Doctor are engaged in a prank war, filching one another's petty (and occasionally not so petty) possessions for no adequately explained reason.

* Implied in ''FamilyGuy'' that he stole the Relativity theory from someone named "Smith". And by implied, it means he savagely beat poor Smith to death.

* The Nicholas Roeg film ''Insignificance'', about the imaginary meeting of Einstein, {{Marilyn Monroe}}, [[RedScare Sen. Joseph McCarthy]] and [=Joe DiMaggio=] in a hotel room. The characters are billed as The Professor, The Actress, The Senator and The Ballplayer: but it's not difficult to figure out who's who.

* Appears playing poker with Data, Isaac Newton, and StephenHawking (played by the ''real'' Stephen Hawking) in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':

** A short episode written by a contest-winning kid revealed that he and The Doctor are engaged in a prank war, filching one another's petty (and occasionally, not so petty) possessions for no adequately explained reason.

* His views about religion were complex. He believed in a God and considered himself religious, but his definition of those terms was somewhat rather different from the norm. He was heavily influenced by Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza and believed in Spinoza's definition of God, which is ambiguous and somewhat... well, rather different from the norm. Spinoza posited an impersonal, amoral, non-sapient god in a kind of pantheism, in which God permeates and transcends nature. Einstein did say that he considered most of the beliefs of organized religion to be childish, but [[JesusWasWayCool he liked the teachings of Christ and Buddha]].

After graduating, a friend got him a job at a patent office, a boring post where he could work on physics secretly. Nothing special happened until 1905, dubbed ''[[AltumVidetur Annus Mirabilis]]''[[hottip:*:"Wonderful Year"]], when he published four papers, in which he explained the photoelectric effect (which eventually got him a Nobel prize, and provided a ''major'' breakthrough in quantum mechanics), Brownian motion (which proved the existence of atoms once and for all--a scientific mystery that has been around since the days of classical Greece), special relativity (a theory explaining the previously observed fact that light travels at the same apparent speed regardless of the speed of the observer, which predicts some bizarre consequences, like that two observers moving relative to each other will not agree on how quickly time passes), and matter-energy equivalence (where we get the equation E = mc[[superscript:2]]). Needless to say, the papers had a revolutionary impact on science, most notably kicking off the age of nuclear energy.

* In ''RedDwarf'' episode "Meltdown", he's a wax droid.