Albert Einstein, whose theories laid the groundwork for 20th century technologies ranging from television to space travel, has been chosen as Time[2]'s Person of the Century[3].

Born in Germany in 1879, Einstein developed the theory of relativity, which rejects the concept of absolute motion and explains why motion, speed and mass appear different depending on the observer's frame of reference.

The theory laid the groundwork for spectacular technological developments and observations in many fields, including gravitation and the study of the cosmos, and nuclear fission, which is the basis for the atom bomb.

In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1933, he immigrated to the United States to take a post at Princeton University. A year later, the property he left behind in Germany was confiscated by the Nazi[4] government because he was Jewish.

While an ardent pacifist, Einstein in 1939 urged President Roosevelt in a letter[5] to investigate the possibility of using atomic energy to develop a bomb.

Einstein died in 1955.

In the issue that appears on newsstands Monday, Time called him a "genius, political refugee, humanitarian, locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe."

Time's runners-up[6] for Person of the Century were President Roosevelt[7], who the magazine said represented the triumph of democracy and freedom over fascism and communism, and Mahatma Gandhi[8], who it picked to symbolize the ability of individuals to resist authority in order to secure civil rights and personal liberties.