Einstein and the Annus Mirabilis of 1905

“I am sending you some papers which may be of interest,” wrote a young patent clerk named Albert Einstein to a friend in 1905.

The year 1905 will always be remembered as the “Annus Mirabilis” in the annuals of Physics.

It was the year where a series of events would catapult a young Swiss patent clerk named Albert Einstein onto the world stage as the twentieth century’s greatest physicist fourteen years later.

In one miraculous  year, Einstein published four papers that were to substantially alter our views regarding the fundamental nature of space, time, and matter and lay the foundations of modern physics.

Einstein's original paper on special relativity (On The Electrodynamics Of Moving Bodies)

The first “Annus Mirabilis” in physics is linked to the year 1666 with Isaac Newton’s discoveries in calculus, motion, optics and gravitation culminating with the publication of Newton’s tour de force - the Principia, published on July 5th, 1687. Here Newton outlined his theory of Universal Gravitation.

Today on Far Future Horizons we travel back to “Einstein’s Miracle Year” of 1905 and follow the events that would transform a young Albert Einstein from an obscure patent clerk into an icon - as scientific genius, pacifist and writer. This BBC documentary explores Einstein’s life, loves and prolific career before he immigrated to the United States.

Einstein’s Miracle Year

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