Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) reshaped physics with the special and general theories of relativity, won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, and spent his later years at Princeton as the twentieth century’s most recognisable scientist. He also attracts more misattribution than almost any figure in history: a witty line with no owner tends to drift toward his name. Some of the most-loved Einstein quotes are genuine and traceable — the bicycle line comes from a 1930 letter to his son Eduard — while others, however charming, appear nowhere in his writings. We separate the two. The standard reference for anyone checking is Alice Calaprice’s The Ultimate Quotable Einstein.