'The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking' Albert Einstein was unquestionably one of the greatest scientists of all time. He discovered the Theory of Relativity that led to explosive developments in diverse fields of knowledge. He did not demolish Newton's laws, as some people think, but fine-tuned them and thus expanded man's understanding of the Universe. In the process he stepped on the immense energy that every object holds and presented it in the form of the equation, E=mc?, where 'E' stands for Energy, 'm' for mass and 'c' for the speed of light, and thus set the stage for the exploitation of atomic energy. Light, Einstein said, chooses the shortest path. The straight line is the shortest route where distances are small. Not where vast distances are covered. Then light arches with the curvature of the route. These are just two of the myriad new ideas that Einstein gifted to the world of science. This biography traces the trajectory of his life ? his childhood, when his genius was not readily perceived; the turbulent times at the institutions of higher learning where his spirit of independence and his Jewish origin seemed to thwart his career growth; the never-say-die spirit that took him finally to dizzying heights, in a briefs span of ten years; his role, in the next forty years, till death, in 1955 as the repository of scientific wisdom and the champion of peace and humanism; and also his private and personal life -with great sensitivity and understanding. The style of presentation is lucid and exciting, and provides compulsive reading from beginning to end. Table Of Contents Prologue Childhood Years Striking it Rich at Zurich Scaling Great Heights In the Service of Man Epilogue Chronology