“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

 Albert Einstein, famed German-born American physicist, was raised in a middle-class Jewish German family in the 1870’s.  At the young age of 16, he renounced his German citizenship and studied in Switzerland.  He subsequently returned to Germany as a Professor at the University of Berlin in 1914 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in Physics in 1921. He and his wife, Elsa, eventually immigrated to the U.S. in 1933, following an increasingly anti-semitic environment in Germany.  Although many in America during that time found him and his scientific views to be quite radical, he became an icon of scientific genius with his development of the Theory of Relativity. 

In June 1940, Einstein took his American citizenship test and was subsequently naturalized in October 1940.  Here is a copy of his “Declaration of Intention.”  Looks rather archaic and not anything like the Naturalization documents/certificates of today.

He died in 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey at the age of 76.

A few of his notable quotes include:

“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.”  — Albert Einstein

“The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, can see in the service to the community their highest life achievement.” — Albert Einstein

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” — Albert Einstein

For additional information about a great American immigrant and icon, watch this:  A Short Film