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Monday, December 27, 1999

Einstein named Person of the Century

Associated Press
 

   NEW YORK - Albert Einstein, whose theories laid the groundwork for 20th century technologies ranging from television to space travel, has been chosen as Time's Person of the Century, the magazine announced Sunday.
   "In a century that will be remembered foremost for its science and technology - in particular for our ability to understand and then harness the forces of the atom and universe - one person clearly stands out as both the greatest mind and paramount icon of our age: The kindly, absent-minded professor whose wild halo of hair, piercing eyes, engaging humanity and extraordinary brilliance made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius, Albert Einstein," the magazine said.
   Einstein developed the theory of relativity, which rejects the concept of absolute motion and explains why motion, speed and mass appear different depending on the observer's frame of reference. The theory laid the groundwork for spectacular technological developments and observations in many fields, including gravitation and the study of the cosmos, and nuclear fission, which is the basis for the atom bomb.
   In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1933, he immigrated to the United States to take a post at Princeton University.
   Einstein died in 1955.
   Time's runners-up for Person of the Century were President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi.
  
  

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