Albert Einstein!

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

You will rarely hear a physicist use the word genius when referring to people these day's although there is one person they will always praise.

-Albert Einstein.

The father of modern day physics Einsteins work was crucial and the basis of some of our modern physics today. You've no doubt heard of the equation E=mc^2. (otherwise, have you been living in a cave‽) this equation was created from Einsteins special relativity work and featured in his paper on mass/energy equivalence. This equation is famous worldwide and when physics is mentioned this equation is usually present in most minds today. It basically says that E (energy) = m (mass)*c (the speed of light - in a vaccumn) ^2 and in a way states that mass and energy are one of the same and can be described and equivalent.

But back to Einstein ...

Many of Einsteins papers lead to increase work in that topic and often entire branches of physics - to name a few: in one paper Einstein describes the particle/wave duality of light which later lead to De Broglies theorem of a particle/wave duality for all matter, another instance is general or special relativity which has branched into a field of physics.

It is clear why Einstein is so praised in the physics community - as well as being one of the great mind of history he was shown to set a spark of physics. In my opinion, without Einstein humans would not have near as much of a knowledge of physics than we do today.

In his time he was so famous that people would stop him on the street and ask him to explain some of his many theories - a truly unquestionable, great mind.

It is rare for a physicist from Einsteins time to escape into the world of popular culture but in Einstein's case he is the template for all manner of 'mad scientists'.

I think he accomplised a great deal in his lifetime inspiring other great minds as well as adding to his own scientific contributions.

And why the sudden Einstein post I hear you ask?

Well, there's method in the madness - tomorrow (well in the UK anyway ...) marks the 133rd Anniversary of Einstein's birth - yes, it's Einsteins birthday.

So celebrate the life of this truly great physicist, theologian and philosopher tomorrow - and maybe stop to think what physics would be life without minds like these. 
What science would be like without minds like these.
And ultimately what the world would be like. 

Thanks for reading, Chris.