Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Albert Einstein
Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Albert Einstein
What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Albert Einstein
One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The end of a GENIUS
1879: Albert Einstein is born to Hermann Einstein (a featherbed
salesman) and his wife Pauline in Ulm, Germany.
1884: Around this time, Albert receives his first compass,
beginning his quest to investigate the natural world.
1889: At age 10, Albert sets into a program of self education and
reads as much about science as he can.
1894: The Einsteins move from Munich to Pavia, Italy and
Albert, 15, stays on in Munich to finish the school year. Albert
lasts only a term on his own and follows his family to Pavia
1895: Albert attempts to skip high school by taking an entrance
exam to the Swiss Polytechnic, a top technical university, but he
fails the arts portion. His family sends him to the Swiss town of
Aarau to finish high school.
1896: Albert graduates from high school at the age of 17 and
enrolls at the ETH (the Federal Polytechnic) in Zurich.
1898: Albert falls in love with Mileva Maric, a Hungarian
classmate at the ETH.
1900: Albert graduates from the ETH.
1901: Albert becomes a Swiss citizen. Unemployed, he searches
for work. He and Mileva meet in northern Italy for a tryst.
Mileva becomes pregnant. In the fall, Albert finds work in
Schaffhausen, Switzerland as a tutor. Mileva, visibly pregnant,
moves to Stein Am Rhein, three miles upriver. Mileva then moves
to Hungary to give birth to their baby at her parent's home.
Albert moves to Bern.
1902: In January, Mileva gives birth to their daughter, Lieserl,
whom they eventually put up for adoption. She reportedly
becomes ill and then all record of her disappears. Albert takes a
job at the Swiss Patent Office. Hermann Einstein becomes ill and
dies.
1903: Albert and Mileva marry in January
1904: Mileva gives birth to their first son, Hans Albert.
1905: "Annus Mirabilis" -- Einstein's "Miracle Year": his Special
Theory of Relativity is born. June 30th, Einstein, submits his
paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" to the leading
German physics journal. At age 26, he applies his theory to mass
and energy and formulates the equation e=mc2.
1906: Still living in Bern, Einstein continues as an Examiner at
the Swiss Patent Office.
1907: Einstein begins applying the laws of gravity to his Special
Theory of Relativity.
1910: Son Eduard is born.
1911: The Einsteins move to Prague where Albert is given a full
professorship at the German University there. Albert is the
youngest to attend the invitation-only Solvay Conference in
Brussels, the first world physics conference.
1912: The Einsteins move to Zurich where Albert is given a
position as a professor of Theoretical Physics at the ETH.
1913: Einstein works on his new Theory of Gravity.
1914: Einstein becomes director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
in Berlin and professor of theoretical physics at the University of
Berlin. The family moves there in April, but Mileva and the sons
return to Zurich after 3 months. The divorce prodeedings begin.
In August, World War I begins.
1915: Einstein completes the General Theory of Relativity.
1917: Einstein collapses and, near death, falls seriously ill. He is
nursed back to health by his cousin, Elsa. He publishes his first
paper on cosmology.
1919: Albert marries Elsa. May 29, a solar eclipse proves
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity works.
1922: Is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for 1921.
1927: Attends fifth Solvay Conference and begins developing the
foundation of quantum mechanics with Bohr.
1928: Einstein begins pursing his idea of a unified field theory.
1932: Einstein is 53 and at the height of his fame. Identified as a
Jew, he begins to feel the heat of Nazi Germany.
1933: Albert and Elsa set sail for the United States. They settle in
Princeton, New Jersey where he assumes a post at the Institute for
Advanced Study.
1936: Elsa dies after a brief illness.
1939: World War II begins. Einstein writes a famous letter to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning of the possibility of
Germany's building an atomic bomb and urging nuclear research.
1940: Einstein becomes an American citizen; retains Swiss
citizenship.
1949: Mileva dies.
1955: Einstein dies of heart failure on April 16.
The end of a GENIUS
salesman) and his wife Pauline in Ulm, Germany.
1884: Around this time, Albert receives his first compass,
beginning his quest to investigate the natural world.
1889: At age 10, Albert sets into a program of self education and
reads as much about science as he can.
1894: The Einsteins move from Munich to Pavia, Italy and
Albert, 15, stays on in Munich to finish the school year. Albert
lasts only a term on his own and follows his family to Pavia
1895: Albert attempts to skip high school by taking an entrance
exam to the Swiss Polytechnic, a top technical university, but he
fails the arts portion. His family sends him to the Swiss town of
Aarau to finish high school.
1896: Albert graduates from high school at the age of 17 and
enrolls at the ETH (the Federal Polytechnic) in Zurich.
1898: Albert falls in love with Mileva Maric, a Hungarian
classmate at the ETH.
1900: Albert graduates from the ETH.
1901: Albert becomes a Swiss citizen. Unemployed, he searches
for work. He and Mileva meet in northern Italy for a tryst.
Mileva becomes pregnant. In the fall, Albert finds work in
Schaffhausen, Switzerland as a tutor. Mileva, visibly pregnant,
moves to Stein Am Rhein, three miles upriver. Mileva then moves
to Hungary to give birth to their baby at her parent's home.
Albert moves to Bern.
1902: In January, Mileva gives birth to their daughter, Lieserl,
whom they eventually put up for adoption. She reportedly
becomes ill and then all record of her disappears. Albert takes a
job at the Swiss Patent Office. Hermann Einstein becomes ill and
dies.
1903: Albert and Mileva marry in January
1904: Mileva gives birth to their first son, Hans Albert.
1905: "Annus Mirabilis" -- Einstein's "Miracle Year": his Special
Theory of Relativity is born. June 30th, Einstein, submits his
paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" to the leading
German physics journal. At age 26, he applies his theory to mass
and energy and formulates the equation e=mc2.
1906: Still living in Bern, Einstein continues as an Examiner at
the Swiss Patent Office.
1907: Einstein begins applying the laws of gravity to his Special
Theory of Relativity.
1910: Son Eduard is born.
1911: The Einsteins move to Prague where Albert is given a full
professorship at the German University there. Albert is the
youngest to attend the invitation-only Solvay Conference in
Brussels, the first world physics conference.
1912: The Einsteins move to Zurich where Albert is given a
position as a professor of Theoretical Physics at the ETH.
1913: Einstein works on his new Theory of Gravity.
1914: Einstein becomes director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
in Berlin and professor of theoretical physics at the University of
Berlin. The family moves there in April, but Mileva and the sons
return to Zurich after 3 months. The divorce prodeedings begin.
In August, World War I begins.
1915: Einstein completes the General Theory of Relativity.
1917: Einstein collapses and, near death, falls seriously ill. He is
nursed back to health by his cousin, Elsa. He publishes his first
paper on cosmology.
1919: Albert marries Elsa. May 29, a solar eclipse proves
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity works.
1922: Is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for 1921.
1927: Attends fifth Solvay Conference and begins developing the
foundation of quantum mechanics with Bohr.
1928: Einstein begins pursing his idea of a unified field theory.
1932: Einstein is 53 and at the height of his fame. Identified as a
Jew, he begins to feel the heat of Nazi Germany.
1933: Albert and Elsa set sail for the United States. They settle in
Princeton, New Jersey where he assumes a post at the Institute for
Advanced Study.
1936: Elsa dies after a brief illness.
1939: World War II begins. Einstein writes a famous letter to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning of the possibility of
Germany's building an atomic bomb and urging nuclear research.
1940: Einstein becomes an American citizen; retains Swiss
citizenship.
1949: Mileva dies.
1955: Einstein dies of heart failure on April 16.
The end of a GENIUS
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Later Life
When British eclipse expeditions in 1919 confirmed his predictions about the general theory of relativity, Einstein was bombarded by the popular press. Einstein's personal ethics also fired public imagination. Einstein, who after returning to Germany in 1914 did not reapply for German citizenship, was one of only a handful of German professors who remained a pacifist and did not support Germany's war aims. After the war, when the victorious allies sought to exclude German scientists from international meetings, Einstein--a Jew traveling with a Swiss passport--remained an acceptable German envoy. Einstein's political views as a pacifist and a Zionist pitted him against conservatives in Germany, who branded him a traitor and a defeatist. The public success accorded his theories of relativity evoked savage attacks in the 1920s by the anti-Semitic physicists Johannes Stark and Philipp Lenard, men who after 1932 tried to create a so-called Aryan physics in Germany. Just how controversial the theories of relativity remained for less flexibly minded physicists is revealed in the circumstances surrounding Einstein's reception of a Nobel Prize in 1921--awarded not for relativity but for his 1905 work on the photoelectric effect.
With the rise of fascism in Germany, Einstein moved, in 1933 to the United States and abandoned his pacifism. He reluctantly agreed that the new menace had to be put down through force of arms. In this context Einstein sent a letter, in 1939, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that urged that the United States proceed to develop an atomic bomb before Germany did. The letter, composed by Einstein's friend Leo Szilard, was one of many exchanged between the White House and Einstein, and it contributed to Roosevelt's decision to fund what became the Manhattan Project.
As much he appeared to the public as a champion of unpopular causes, Einstein's central concerns always revolved around physics. At the age of 59, when other theoretical physicists would long since have abandoned original scientific research, Einstein and his co-workers Leopold Infeld and Banesh Hoffmann achieved a major new result in the general theory of relativity.
Until the end of his life Einstein sought a unified field theory, whereby the phenomena of gravitation and electromagnetism could be derived from one set of equations. After 1920, however, while retaining relativity as a fundamental concept, theoretical physicists focused more attention on the theory of quantum mechanics, as elaborated by Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and others, and Einstein's later thoughts went somewhat neglected for decades. This picture has changed in more recent years. Physicists are now striving to combine Einstein's relativity theory with quantum theory in a "theory of everything," by means of such highly advanced mathematical models as superstring theories.
With the rise of fascism in Germany, Einstein moved, in 1933 to the United States and abandoned his pacifism. He reluctantly agreed that the new menace had to be put down through force of arms. In this context Einstein sent a letter, in 1939, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that urged that the United States proceed to develop an atomic bomb before Germany did. The letter, composed by Einstein's friend Leo Szilard, was one of many exchanged between the White House and Einstein, and it contributed to Roosevelt's decision to fund what became the Manhattan Project.
As much he appeared to the public as a champion of unpopular causes, Einstein's central concerns always revolved around physics. At the age of 59, when other theoretical physicists would long since have abandoned original scientific research, Einstein and his co-workers Leopold Infeld and Banesh Hoffmann achieved a major new result in the general theory of relativity.
Until the end of his life Einstein sought a unified field theory, whereby the phenomena of gravitation and electromagnetism could be derived from one set of equations. After 1920, however, while retaining relativity as a fundamental concept, theoretical physicists focused more attention on the theory of quantum mechanics, as elaborated by Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and others, and Einstein's later thoughts went somewhat neglected for decades. This picture has changed in more recent years. Physicists are now striving to combine Einstein's relativity theory with quantum theory in a "theory of everything," by means of such highly advanced mathematical models as superstring theories.
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