Albert Einstein is probably best known for his special theory of relativity, which presented the formula E=mc2—that is, energy is equal to mass times the speed of light squared. He was only 26 years old when he made this discovery, and he spent much of the rest of his life working on the general theory of relativity, which he announced in 1926, and on the unified theory of relativity, which he did not complete.
A German by birth, Einstein was a long-time pacifist and was opposed to the Nazi regime. In 1934, the Nazis took away both his citizenship and his property. He became an American citizen in 1940.
Although he did not believe in a personal God, Einstein was a deeply religious man. He rejected the concept of an evil God, saying, "The Lord God is subtle, but malicious he is not." John Bartlett, Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1980). p. 764. His view of religion was tied to his sense of the cosmos: "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God." "Dr. Albert Einstein Dies in Sleep at 76; World Mourns Loss of Great Scientist," The New York Times, April 19, 1955.
