Knowledge Hub

In 1905 I postulated that light consists of localized quanta, each carrying energy hf, and showed this explains the photoelectric effect. The idea was nearly universally rejected at first, then confirmed by experiment.

Between 1907 and 1915 I developed general relativity, in which the attraction between masses results from their warping of spacetime. My prediction that gravity bends light was confirmed by Eddington's 1919 eclipse observations.

My research paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" resolved the conflict between Maxwell's equations and Newtonian mechanics by changing the laws of mechanics. It became the special theory of relativity, the physics that gave us E = mc2.

In 1905 I published four research papers in Annalen der Physik — on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity and E = mc2. Together they contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics as a science.

I am a theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. I also made important contributions to quantum theory, and my mass–energy formula E = mc2 has been called the world's most famous equation.