  Einstein is usually revered as the father of special and general relativity.
In this article I demonstrate that he is also the father of Solid State
Physics, or even his broader version known as Condensed Matter Physics
(including liquids). His 1907 article on the specific heat of solids
introduces, for the first time, the effect of lattice vibrations on the
thermodynamic properties of crystals, in particular the specific heat. His 1905
article on the photoelectric effect and photoluminescence opened the fields of
photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Other important
achievements include Bose-Einstein condensation and the Einstein relation
between the difussion coefficient an mobility. In this article I discuss
Einstein's papers relevant to these topics and their relevance to modern day
condensed matter physics.
