Albert Einstein died 56 years ago today. The city will remember the great scientist with a series of events called 'Einstein in Hong Kong'.
He was the father of the seminal Theory of Relativity and has been an unrivalled icon of modern science. His face - a kindly grandpa with an unruly mop of white hair - has come to define our image of a genius. Yet few of us truly know enough about Einstein.
Young Post wanted to find out more about the German-born physicist so we talked to Hans-Rudolf Ott, president of the Albert Einstein Society. Ott notes that Einstein was an average student. At age 21 in 1902, he graduated with poor grades from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He wanted to become a professor, but no one would hire him. Einstein landed a lowly job instead at the Federal Office of Intellectual Property in Bern, where he examined applications for patents until 1909.
Yet he never turned his back on physics despite his punishing work schedule. In his spare time, he continued working on his ideas, and his office drawer - which he dubbed his 'department of theoretical physics' - filled up with notes.
Ott thinks Einstein profited from the situation because 'he was free from academic pressures and trends to develop his own ideas'. He adds: 'Einstein had a strongly developed intuition to realise what was important. Much of his inspiration came from reading literature and from identifying important questions.'
Einstein also cultivated a circle of friends called the 'Olympia Academy' to debate physics and philosophy. 'He had colleagues with whom he could have [honest] discussions,' Ott says. 'I believe it is important that he had this free exchange of ideas.'
Before Einstein came along, scientists had thought the world was divided into two realms: the realm of energy where fire crackled and wind raged and the realm of mass made up of living and inanimate things like animals and buildings.