Albert Einstein. Artwork of Albert Einstein (1879- 1955), German-Swiss-US physicist. Einstein is most famous for his mass-energy equation (E=mc2), derived from his 1905 paper on Special Relativity. This principle of mass-energy equivalence led to, among other things, nuclear fission and the atomic bomb. Einstein is also famous for his theories of Relativity, including his 1915 Theory of General Relativity. These theories replaced the Newtonian worldview and rewrote our concepts of gravity, space and time. Einstein also contributed to the theories of quantum physics, and was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect. He lived in the USA from 1933, first encouraging the atomic bomb project, and later campaigning for world peace.