He could have been president of Israel or played violin at Carnegie Hall, but he was too busy thinking. His thinking on God, love and the meaning of life graces our greeting cards and day-timers. Fifty years after his death, his shock of white hair and hanging moustache still symbolize genius. Einstein remains the foremost scientist of the modern time. Looking back 2,400 years, only Newton ,Galileo and Aristotle were his equals. Around the world , universities and academies are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Einstein's "miracle year" when he published five scientific papers in 1905 that basically changed our grasp of space, time ,light and matter. Only he could top himself about a decade later with his theory of relativity. Born in the age of horse-drawn carriages, his ideas launched a technological revolution that has made more changes in a century than in the previous two thousand years. Computers, satellites, telecommunications, lasers, televisions and nuclear power all owe their invention to ways in which Einstein exposed a stranger and more complicated reality underneath the world. He escaped Hitler's Germany and devoted the rest of his life to human rights and peace with an authority unmatched by any scientist today, or even most politicians and religious leaders. He spoke out against fascism and racial prejudice. His FBI file ran 1,400 pages. His letters expose a disorderly personal life - married twice and indifferent toward his children while absorbed in physics. Yet he charmed lovers and admirers with poetry and sailboat outings. Friends and neighbors fiercely protected his privacy. Why was 1905 called Einstein's "miracle year"?
Because he topped himself with the theory of relativity. Because he made important discoveries of space, time , light and matter. Because he published five papers on his theory of relativity. Because he wrote five important articles to help people understand space, time , light and matter better.