Albert Einstein

Born into a secular German-Jewish family, Einstein worked as a patent clerk in Bern when, in his 1905 'miracle year', he published the special theory of relativity and the explanation of the photoelectric effect. Facing rising antisemitism, he left Germany in 1933 and settled at Princeton, becoming a symbol of Jewish scientific achievement and a supporter of Jewish causes. His work reshaped physics, and his 1921 Nobel Prize was awarded specifically for the photoelectric effect, a cornerstone of quantum theory.