Many people call Albert Einstein a genius. But most people – even those who  call him a genius – don’t understand his discoveries well enough to explain them.

For example, if you ask adults what Albert’s famous equation – E=mc² – means, most will have no idea.

Lets take a look at how Albert got his start in becoming one of the greatest scientists in history and learn what E=mc² means (Don’t worry. It’s easy.)

Albert Einstein was a German mathematician and physicist. He was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany.  His parents were Hermann Einstein and Pauline (nee Koch) Einstein. Shortly after Albert’s birth, the family moved to Munich, Germany. Hermann ran an electrochemical factory and Pauline was a stay-at-home mom who took care of Albert and his younger sister, Maja.

When Albert was only five years old, something important happened: he saw a compass for the first time. He was fascinated – mystified, even – that some unseen force would make the needle of the compass move. This led to a life-long interest in unseen forces.

At a young age, Albert liked puzzles and building with toy building sets. His sister, Maja Einstein, said that using playing cards, he could build towers as high as fourteen stories.

Albert hated socks. He stopped wearing them, and the rest of his life, even as an adult, he would never wear socks. Shoes, yes. Socks, no.

Alfred went to school at the Luitpold Gymnasium (high school) in Munich. He felt lonely there and didn’t like how rigid and strict the manner of teaching was. Nonetheless, he came to love music, mathematics, and science.

At age 12, another important thing happened: he found out about geometry. He called his manual his “holy geometry book.”

There is an untrue idea that many people believe. It’s that Albert didn’t do well in school. Some people try to excuse themselves for not studying hard by saying, “It’s okay that I’m not getting good grades. Einstein didn’t get good grades, either.” The truth is, even though Albert didn’t like the school he attended, he was a very good student.

In the mid-1890s, Hermann moved the family to Italy, but left Albert in Munich to finish his studies. Albert dropped out of school and moved to Italy to be with his family. He finished high school in Aarau, Switzerland, and afterwards attended college at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He studied to become a teacher of physics and math.

He graduated, but couldn’t find a teaching job.

In 1902, Einstein found work as a technical assistant in the Swiss Federal Office for Intellectual Property. His job was to examine patent applications. He discovered he could do a whole day’s work in just a few hours, which meant he had lots of free time each day to think, to study, and to do his own scientific research.

He got his doctorate degree and in 1909 was hired as a junior professor at the University of Zurich.

In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”

Whole books have been written about the photoelectric effect, but to boil it down, some scientists thought light was waves and some thought it was particles. Albert proved that light is both: small packets of energy called photons that have wave-like properties.

After Albert received the Nobel Prize, he became world famous. He moved to the United States.

He died on April 18, 1955 from an aortic aneurysm, meaning a blood vessel near his heart burst.

Albert Einstein was a fascinating man and a true genius who made many important discoveries. Reading a biography of him would be time well-spent.

Let’s learn what Albert’s famous E=mc² means. First of all, it’s an equation, the same way that 2 = 1+1 is an equation. What’s on the left side is equal to what’s on the right side.

E stands for energy. Small m stands for mass. Small c stands for the speed of light. The raised number 2 means squared – that is, a number is multiplied times itself. For example, 3² (three squared) means 3 multiplied by 3, which is 9. So in the equation, the speed of light (c) is multiplied times itself.

If you look at the equation (E=mc²) and say the following out loud 15 or 20 times, you will easily remember what many adults don’t even know: “Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.”

What it means is that energy and mass are the same thing, just in different forms. If a log, which has mass, is burned in a stove, the log is converted into energy: heat to warm a home.

Fun Facts

•  Einstein did not speak until the age of four. He later said that he could speak, he just didn’t have anything to say.

•  Albert played the violin. He said, “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music … I get most joy in life out of music.”

•  He didn’t like getting his hair cut. That’s why, after he became famous, pictures show him with long, wild-looking hair.