For better or worse, his work brought us into the atomic age.

His impact doesn't seem all that imposing until you stop and think; what if he'd been of the mind set to have thrown in with the Nazis? I still don't have enough info to flesh this out completely but, I'm still glad he was on our side.

Certainly influential, but his relationship to the bomb is a bit inflated by legend. He deserves recognition as one of the most brilliant scientific minds in history, second only to Sir Isaac Newton arguably, but his "influence" while great probably should not have him so high on the list.

Einstein was pretty influential.  However, the science community will always remember Einstein for famously carrying that 'Babes of Science' calendar under his left arm. You couldn't go five minutes before Einstein would talk about Marie Curie aka Ms. November aka Ms. Proton in that one piece bathing suit....whoa baby!

To Fuckitall, Yes it was his mind that brought the Atomic bomb but It wasn't his decision to use it. He wrote a letter describing the devastation it can cause and requested that it not be created. Robert Oppenheimer was put in charge of making the bomb and Truman used it. Back then Japan was so horrendous that China still isn't with best terms with Japan over what they did. Truman decided that the US has lost enough and went ahead with the bombs. Now its your opinion to say it was right or wrong but the point of war is to win and Japan had done enough wrong doing and torture to the world at that time. Japan is now a great country.

It's almost impossible to put into words how influential Einstein's work in special and general relativity was. He was also influential in quantum mechanics, even though he didn't want to believe in quantum mechanics because he didn't like the random nature of quantum mechanics. I always find it somewhat amusing that he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for brownian motion, and not for his work in relativity.

One of the few people from the 20th century that will be remembered 500 years from now, if he is right...

To blame this man for what our military did with his work in physics is to do him a great disservice. This was a good man who brought about a tipping point in physics. He is no more guilty for the destruction brought about by the atomic bomb than I am. Truman called the shots and our people saw the horrifying results but saw the enemy as worthy of that holocaust. When we talk of 9/11, we should remember Yokahama and Nagasaki and feel more shame than pride. I am tired of people saying it is the only way we could stop the Japanese. I still hear it when people say Nuke Iran. Don't blame Einstein. His name is synonimous with genius the world over but those two cities are our shame, not his.

How is the the most influencial man? He was the reason so many people die in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is a mass muderer along with GW Bush. While its true that he did help in the scientific fields but he still can be compared as Hitler.

What an amazing peace loving individual!

Good Christian man, disproved evolution to his sceince teacher!

Einstein is probably one of the most influential figures in science in the twentieth century, but more importantly, he was a man of great character.

Time flies. Last week was the 50th anniversary of his passing. Not only a great scientist -- maybe the greatest -- but also greatly influenced world history. As vast and profound his contributions to physics are, it is amazing when I hear that his measured IQ was not particularly high or that upon autopsy, his brain was no larger or no smaller than a typical human brain. To correct one poster, Einstein did not have bad hygiene and E=mc^2 is not a formula for speed of light, but of the vast amounts of energy released when atoms are split.

Centuries before his time.

He helped lay the groundwork for today's theoretical physics.

While Albert Einstein had not the social skills, nor the hygeine, to help him in his social and love life, he was among one of the World's most brilliant scientists and an astounding astrophysicist. He is credited with putting America into the Nuclear age, (for better and for worse), developing a formula for the speed of light (e=mc2), and for many other important accomplishments throughout his life.

Most people don't understand Einstein's theories, so they believe they have not been influenced by him. But his theories set the foundation for the creation of atomic war, which has greatly influenced our recent history. His theories that contributed to recent discoveries in quantum physics will probably end up being the most influential of all. Just like most true geniuses, the true influence of his work will not be fully known for generations to come.

Not impressed.

remember mila iva maric!