Albert Einstein was an ethnically Jewish, German-born, theoretical physicist of the 20th century who is best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity.
He also made important contributions to statistical mechanics, especially his treatment of Brownian motion, his resolution of the paradox of specific heats, and his connection of fluctuations and dissipation. Despite his reservations about its interpretation, Einstein also made contributions to quantum mechanics and, indirectly, quantum field theory, primarily through his theoretical studies of the photon.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific works and more than 150 non-scientific works. In 1999Time magazine named him the Person of the Century, and in the words of a biographer, "to the scientifically literate and the public at large, Einstein is synonymous with genius."
