When British eclipse expeditions in 1919 confirmed his predictions, Einstein was idolized by the popular press. The London Times ran the headline on 7 November 1919 "Revolution in science - New theory of the Universe - Newtonian ideas overthrown".

In 1920 Einstein's lectures in Berlin were disrupted by demonstrations, which, although officially denied, were almost certainly anti-Jewish.

During 1921 Einstein made his first visit to the United States. His main reason was to raise funds for the planned Hebrew University of Jerusalem. However he received the Barnard Medal during his visit and lectured several times on relativity. He is reported to have commented to the chairman at the lecture he gave in a large hall at Princeton that was overflowing with people: -

"I never realized that so many Americans were interested in tensor analysis."

Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 but not for relativity rather for his 1905 work on the photoelectric effect. In fact he was not present in December 1921 to receive the prize being on a voyage to Japan. Around this time he made many international visits. He had visited Paris earlier in 1922 and during 1923 he visited Palestine. After making his last major scientific discovery on the association of waves with matter in 1924 he made further visits in 1925, this time to South America.

Niels Bohr and Einstein were to carry on a debate on quantum theory, which began at the Solvay Conference in 1927. Planck, Niels Bohr, de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Dirac were at this conference, in addition to Einstein.

Indeed Einstein's life had been hectic and he was to pay the price in 1928 with a physical collapse brought on through overwork. However he made a full recovery despite having to take things easy throughout 1928.

 To have another Home

By 1930 he was making international visits again, back to the United States. A third visit to the United States in 1932 was followed by the offer of a post at Princeton. The idea was that Einstein would spend seven months a year in Berlin, five months at Princeton. Einstein accepted and left Germany in December 1932 for the United States.

At the beginning of the Second World War in August 2, 1939, Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the US president. He explained to President Roosevelt recent discoveries about Uranium that indicates the promise of bombs that create a nuclear-chain reaction. He suggests the creation of a task force to keep track of and expedite developments of uranium-based bombs.

In 1940 Einstein became a citizen of the United States, but chose to retain his Swiss citizenship. He made many contributions to peace during his life. In 1944 he made a contribution to the war effort by hand writing his 1905 paper on special relativity and putting it up for auction. It raised six million dollars, the manuscript today being in the Library of Congress.

By 1949 Einstein was unwell. A spell in hospital helped him recover but he began to prepare for death by drawing up his will in 1950. He left his scientific papers to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a university which he had raised funds for on his first visit to the USA, served as a governor of the university from 1925 to 1928 but he had turned down the offer of a post in 1933 as he was very critical of its administration.

After the death of the first president of Israel in 1952, the Israeli government decided to offer the post of second president to Einstein. He refused but found the offer an embarrassment since it was hard for him to refuse without causing offence.

 End of a great Life

One week before his death Einstein signed his last letter. It was a letter to Bertrand Russell in which he agreed that his name should go on a manifesto urging all nations to give up nuclear weapons. It is fitting that one of his last acts was to argue, as he had done all his life, for international peace.

Einstein was cremated at Trenton , New Jersey at 4 pm on 18 April 1955 (the day of his death). His ashes were scattered at an undisclosed place.