To clear up the question about the formula in advance: It says that a lot can come from a little. The best example of this is the sun, which constantly loses a tiny portion of its mass, which in the form of light and heat (i.e. energy) makes life on earth possible in the first place. In the same way, atomic energy is the conversion of a little matter into a lot of energy: electric current.

Everything is relative

However, this formula only makes up a small part of Einstein's theory. Probably his most important insight was that time and space are not constant, but relative. How fast time passes depends on the speed at which you move through space: the faster the movement, the slower the time. - This doesn't just sound very theoretical, it actually is. An example from everyday life makes it clear: our navigation system would not get us to our destination so reliably if it calculated without the theory of relativity. The speed of satellites and their distance from the earth is enormous. Without Einstein's discovery, Google Maps might be able to find a city, but not a specific address - so his work has great significance for our lives every day. Would you have guessed it?

Albert Einstein completed his work on the general theory of relativity in 1916, when he was Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. He had already begun in 1914 in his Dahlem apartment at Ehrenbergstraße 33 - and the commemorative plaque on the façade of the house is a reminder of this. It is one of over 500 such plaques from the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, which have been commemorating places in Berlin where important personalities and institutions have lived, worked or operated since 1985. The award-winning design by Wieland Schütz remains unchanged to this day.

Keep your eyes open on your next visit to Berlin! From Brecht to Bonhoeffer to Bowie, you may come across our plaques in all parts of the city - and if you find one and pause for a moment, time will pass very slowly for a moment!