Einstein Albert - On a beam of light: a story of Albert Einstein

Over 100 years ago, as the stars swirled inthe sky, as the Earth circled the sun, as theMarch winds blew through a little town bya river, a baby boy was born. His parentsnamed him Albert.

Albert turned one year old.

And didnt say a word.

Albert turned two.

And didnt say a word.

Albert turned three.

And hardly said a word at all.

He just looked around with his big, curious eyes.

Looked and wondered. Looked and wondered.

His parents worried. Little Albert was so different; was there somethingwrong? But he was their baby, so they loved himno matter what.

One day, when Albert was sick in bed, his father brought hima compassa small round case with a magnetic needle inside.No matter which way Albert turned the compass, the needle alwayspointed north, as if held by an invisible hand. Albert was so amazedhis body trembled.

Suddenly he knew there were mysteries in theworldhidden and silent, unknown and unseen.

He wanted, more than anything, to understand those mysteries.

Albert started asking questions. Questions at home. Questions at school. But Albert didnt want to be like the other students.So many questions that some of his teachers told him he was adisruption to his class. They said he would never amount to anythingunless he learned to behave like all the other students.

But Albert didnt want to be like the other students.

He wanted to discover the hidden mysteries in the world.

One day, as Albert was zipping through the countryside on his bicycle,he looked up at the beams of sunlight speeding from the sun to the Earth.He wondered, what would it be like to ride one of those beams? Andin his mind, right then and there, Albert was no longer on his bicycle,no longer on the country road he was racing throughspace on a beam of light. It was the biggest, most excitingthought Albert had ever had. And it filled his mind with questions.

Albert began to read and study.

He read about light and sound. About heat and magnetism. And aboutgravity, the invisible force that pulls us down toward our planet, andkeeps the moon from floating away into outer space.

And he read about numbers. Albert loved numbers.

They were like a secret language for figuring things out. But all thatreading still didnt answer all of Alberts questions. So he kept onreading. Wondering. And learning.

When Albert graduated from college, he wanted to teach the subjectshe lovedall the things he had read about all those years.But Albert couldnt find a job as a teacher.So he got another job.

A simple, quiet job in a government office. An office where he workedwith other peoples ideas and inventions. He did his work very welland very quicklyso quickly that he had lots of extra time tothink and wonder.

Albert watched a lump of sugar dissolve and disappear into his hot tea.

How could this happen?

He watched the smoke from his pipe swirl and disappear into the air.

How could one thing disappear into another?

Then he began to figure it out. He thought about the idea thateverything is made out of teeny, tiny, moving bits of stufffar tootiny to seelittle bits called atoms. Some people didnt believethat atoms existed, but Alberts figuring helped prove that

everything in the world is made of atoms

even sugar and tea, even smoke and air. Even Albert and you.

Then Albert thought about motion.

He realized that everything is always moving.

Moving through space, moving through time. Even sound asleepwere moving, as our planet circles the sun, and our lives travel intothe future. Albert saw time and space as no one ever had before.