Two theories of relativity

There are two Einsteins. For most of the world, Einstein (1879–1955) is a cult figure: the pre-eminent icon of genius. With his wispy, wild grey hair, missing socks and other-worldly idealism, he has replaced the wizards of earlier times in the popular mind. This Einstein is dangerous, a stereotype with a life of its own that distorts both the man behind it and the nature of the science that so shapes our world.

Among physicists, Einstein is at times remembered as a grumpy, cutting and arrogant fellow with little patience for family or colleagues. He so annoyed his teachers at university that he failed to secure a job in academia, and had to scramble to find low-paying work in the Swiss patent office (although some say that being Jewish hurt his chances too). During his twenties in Berne, Einstein was a fashionable man about town. His wit and violin playing brought him many dinner invitations, and he formed a reading group with friends to study the work of Kant, Schopenhauer and other philosophers. In 1905, his miracle year, he published several unrelated papers. One was good enough to win a Nobel prize, and another revolutionized our views of space and time. The 25-year-old patent clerk had remade physics in his own image.

Einstein's 1905 theory of space and time is now called the special theory of relativity.