Biography albert einstein quotes about technology videos
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Albert Einstein: His life, theories and impact on science
Albert Einstein is often cited as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. His work continues to help astronomers study everything from gravitational waves to Mercury's orbit.
The scientist's equation that helped explain special relativity – E = mc^2 – is famous even among those who don't understand its underlying physics. Einstein is also known for his theory of general relativity (an explanation of gravity), and the photoelectric effect (which explains the behavior of electrons under certain circumstances); his work on the latter earned him a Nobel Prize in Physics in
Einstein also tried in vain to unify all the forces of the universe in a single theory, or a theory of everything, which he was still working on at the time of his death.
Related:What is the Theory of Everything?
Einstein's early years
Einstein was born on March 14, , in Ulm, Germany, a town that today has a population of just more than , There is a small commemorative plaque where his house used to stand (it was destroyed during World War II). The family moved to Munich shortly after his birth, according to the Nobel Prize website, and later to Italy when his father faced problems with running his own b
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Einstein didn’t say technology would create 'generation of idiots'
A post on Facebook, shared hundreds of times, attributes a quote stating “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots” to Albert Einstein.
There is no evidence that he ever said this. According to Quote Investigator—a site that sources quotes circulating online—the earliest versions of this post appeared online in
In an article about the same quote, US fact checking service PolitiFact found no record of this quote in a definitive collection of the scientist's words.
Both PolitiFact and fellow fact checking service Snopes have pointed out that a quote bearing some resemblance to the Facebook post appears in the film Powder, with a character played by Jeff Goldblum saying: "It’s become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity."
Another character, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, responds "Albert Einstein."
Posts in which quotes are misattributed to public figures are relatively common on social media, and often reach very large audiences. We have recently checked quotes misattributed to Sir David Attenborough and Boris Johnson.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures
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