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Patent Examiner-Einstein

Release time:

2017-07-07 14:11

Einstein was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, but many people do not know that Einstein also has a deep relationship with patents: from June 1902 to July 1909, Einstein was engaged in patent examination at the Swiss Patent Office.

After graduating from university in 1900, Einstein never found a suitable job and could only engage in some temporary jobs. It was not until 1902 that Einstein finally applied for a stable job as a patent examiner in the Swiss Patent Office. At that time, Einstein applied for a second-level technical expert, but unfortunately it was not approved. He only got a third-level technical expert position. The patent examination field was electromagnetic devices, but the salary was not low (3500 Swiss francs per year). This work gave Einstein a relatively stable life. Three years later, in 1905, Einstein, as a patent office examiner, published three important papers in succession, laying the foundation for the theory of relativity. Later, 1905 was called "Einstein's Miracle Year".

I don't know what the work of a patent examiner has brought to Einstein's great discoveries. A large number of contacts with those inventions should have some ideological inspiration, but I think the biggest benefit of being a patent examiner to Einstein is to have a stable life and a lot of time to think.

On April 1, 1906, Einstein was promoted to level 2 censor. This is how he distributes his time: 8 hours of patent examination, 8 hours of scientific work and 8 hours of sleep.

With the expansion of Einstein's reputation, in 1908, Einstein found a teaching job at the University of Bonn without pay. In July 1909, Einstein officially left the patent office to become a professor at the University of Zurich, thus ending the seven-year patent examination work.

Patent examiners have a saying: "proud to do what Einstein did!", The story comes from here.

News source:http://ip.people.com.cn/n/2014/0422/c136655-24929739.html

This news was re-edited and reorganized by the Huaxun team and added analytical comments.