Einstein was one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. His work in the field of physics was revolutionary as it overturned the way people had for centuries understood the concepts of time and space, motion and light. These are fundamental features in the structure and function of the universe. Einstein contributed to the emerging field of quantum theory with his Photon Theory of Light. It described the way in which the energy in light is transmitted in particlelike fashion. As well, he independently developed the Theory of Relativity which challenged the previous notion of the relationship between time and space. In the process, he showed the limitations of the Newtonian concepts of motion known to us in classical physics.

Einstein became a celebrity to the American public. He maintained a high profile in society and was dedicated to pacifism, social reform and the re-establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. His Jewish ethnicity had been the cause for his own emigration during the Nazi regime. It may also have played a part in his inability to gain entrance into graduate school in Switzerland (the fact that he had not been an outstanding student up to that point was probably the greater impediment though.)

Although a Jew, Einstein had a certain respect for Christianity. In a little known interview with George Sylvester Viereck in The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929, Einstein had this to say:

Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No one can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot... no one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.