Timeline: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

One hundred years ago this month, Einstein discovered the general theory of relativity. This interactive timeline follows Einstein’s early progress from his brilliant but rebellious school days to his first job working as a clerk in a patent office in Bern, Switzerland, through to the announcement of Einstein’s special theory of relativity in 1905.

The stage is now set for Einstein’s big questions about how gravity actually works — questions he explores with his boyhood classmate and friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann. Flash forward to Berlin in the fall of 1915: a rival emerges just as Einstein closes in on solutions he’s been working toward for more than a decade. In late November, Einstein stands before the prestigious Prussian Academy of Sciences to deliver his fourth and final lecture, the one that would forever change the way we think about our universe.