Einstein completed his General Theory of Relativity and in 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (iconic status cemented in 1919 when Arthur Eddington’s expedition confirmed Albert Einstein’s prediction). It also launched him to international superstardom and his name became a household word synonymous with genius all over the world.Karl Schwarzschild (October 9, 1873 – May 11, 1916) was a German physicist. He is also the father of astrophysicist Martin Schwarzschild. He is best known for providing the first exact solution to the Einstein field equations of general relativity, for the limited case of a single spherical non-rotating mass, which he accomplished in 1915, the same year that Einstein first introduced general relativity. The Schwarzschild solution, which makes use of Schwarzschild coordinates and the Schwarzschild metric, leads to the well-known Schwarzschild radius, which is the size of the event horizon of a non-rotating black hole. Schwarzschild accomplished this triumph while serving in the German army during World War I. He died the following year from pemphigus, a painful autoimmune disease which he developed while at the Russian front.See all the TED-Ed Lessons about space here.

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