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Hello from a lirker. I am a retired Physics instructor. I enjoy th=
e list. BUT, I come and go, you know when you are retired there are =
alot of places to go, things to see, fish to be caught, coffee to be =
drunk and buddies to BS with. So I am not current with all the topic=
s that you have discussed this fall. But I would like to add the fol=
lowing:
Next year, 2005, is the 100th anniversary of what's being called Eins=
tein's annus mirabilis The annus mirabilis is the collective works t=
hat Einstein did in 1905.
=2E.. Historians call it the annus mirabilis, the miracle year.
The annus mirabilis is the collective works of Einstein in 1905. If =
you do a Goggle search on "Einstein annus mirabilis" you will get a h=
uge listing of sources of this event to be celebrated evidently throu=
gh out the world (exaggeration mine).
Here is a text and the source of one of the search elements done on E=
instein annus mirabilis.=20
There is a parlor game physics students play: Who was the greater gen=
ius? Galileo or Kepler? (Galileo) Maxwell or Bohr? (Maxwell, but it's=
closer than you might think). Hawking or Heisenberg? (A no-brainer, =
whatever the best-seller lists might say. It's Heisenberg). But there=
are two figures who are simply off the charts. Isaac Newton is one. =
The other is Albert Einstein. If pressed, physicists give Newton prid=
e of place, but it is a photo finish -- and no one else is in the rac=
e.
Newton's claim is obvious. He created modern physics. His system desc=
ribed the behavior of the entire cosmos -- and while others before hi=
m had invented grand schemes, Newton's was different. His theories we=
re mathematical, making specific predictions to be confirmed by exper=
iments in the real world. Little wonder that those after Newton calle=
d him lucky -- "for there is only one universe to discover, and he di=
scovered it. "
But what of Einstein? Well, Einstein felt compelled to apologize to N=
ewton. "Newton, forgive me;" Einstein wrote in his Autobiographical N=
otes. "You found the only way which, in your age, was just about poss=
ible for a man of highest thought and creative power." Forgive him? F=
or what? For replacing Newton's system with his own -- and, like Newt=
on, for putting his mark on virtually every branch of physics.
That's the difference. Young physicists who play the "who's smarter" =
game are really asking, "how will I measure up?" Is there a shot to m=
atch -- if not Maxwell, then perhaps Lorentz? But Einstein? Don't go =
there. Match this:=20
=B7 In 1905, Einstein is 26, a patent examiner, working on ph=
ysics on his own. After hours, he creates the Special Theory of Relat=
ivity, in which he demonstrates that measurements of time and distanc=
e vary systematically as anything moves relative to anything else. Wh=
ich means that Newton was wrong. Space and time are not absolute -- a=
nd the relativistic universe we inhabit is not the one Newton "discov=
ered."
That's pretty good -- but one idea, however spectacular, does not mak=
e a demi-god. But now add the rest of what Einstein did in 1905:=20
=B7 In March, Einstein creates the quantum theory of light, t=
he idea that light exists as tiny packets, or particles, that we now =
call photons. Alongside Max Planck's work on quanta of heat, and Niel=
s Bohr's later work on quanta of matter, Einstein's work anchors the =
most shocking idea in twentieth century physics: we live in a quantum=
universe, one built out of tiny, discrete chunks of energy and matte=
r.
=B7 Next, in April and May, Einstein publishes two papers. In=
one he invents a new method of counting and determining the size of =
the atoms or molecules in a given space and in the other he explains =
the phenomenon of Brownian motion. The net result is a proof that ato=
ms actually exist -- still an issue at that time -- and the end to a =
millennia-old debate on the fundamental nature of the chemical elemen=
ts.
=B7 And then, in June, Einstein completes special relativity =
-- which adds a twist to the story: Einstein's March paper treated li=
ght as particles, but special relativity sees light as a continuous f=
ield of waves. Alice's Red Queen can accept many impossible things be=
fore breakfast, but it takes a supremely confident mind to do so. Ein=
stein, age 26, sees light as wave and particle, picking the attribute=
he needs to confront each problem in turn. Now that's tough.
=B7 And of course, Einstein isn't finished. Later in 1905 com=
es an extension of special relativity in which Einstein proves that e=
nergy and matter are linked in the most famous relationship in physic=
s: E=3Dmc2. (The energy content of a body is equal to the mass of the=
body times the speed of light squared). At first, even Einstein does=
not grasp the full implications of his formula, but even then he sug=
gests that the heat produced by radium could mark the conversion of t=
iny amounts of the mass of the radium salts into energy.
In sum -- an amazing outburst: Einstein's 1905 still evokes awe. Hist=
orians call it the annus mirabilis, the miracle year. Einstein ranges=
from the smallest scale to the largest (for special relativity is em=
bodied in all motion throughout the universe), through fundamental pr=
oblems about the nature of energy, matter, motion, time and space--al=
l the while putting in forty hours a week at the patent office.=20
And that alone would have been enough to secure Einstein's reputation=
. But it is what comes next that is almost more remarkable. After 190=
5, Einstein achieves what no one since has equaled: a twenty year run=
at the cutting edge of physics. For all the miracles of his miracle =
year, his best work is still to come:=20
=B7 In 1907, he confronts the problem of gravitation -- the s=
ame problem that Newton confronted, and solved -- almost. Einstein be=
gins his work with one crucial insight: gravity and acceleration are =
equivalent, two facets of the same phenomenon. Where this "principle =
of equivalence" will lead remains obscure, but to Einstein, it offers=
the first hint of a theory that could supplant Newton's.
=B7 Before anyone else, Einstein recognizes the essential dua=
lism in nature, the co-existence of particles and waves at the level =
of quanta. In 1911 he declares resolving the quantum issue to be the =
central problem of physics.
=B7 Even the minor works resonate. For example, in 1910, Eins=
tein answers a basic question: "Why is the sky blue?" His paper on th=
e phenomenon called critical opalescence solves the problem by examin=
ing the cumulative effect of the scattering of light by individual mo=
lecules in the atmosphere.
=B7 Then in 1915, Einstein completes the General Theory of Re=
lativity--the product of eight years of work on the problem of gravit=
y. In general relativity Einstein shows that matter and energy--all t=
he "stuff" in the universe--actually mold the shape of space and the =
flow of time. What we feel as the "force" of gravity is simply the se=
nsation of following the shortest path we can through curved, four-di=
mensional space-time. It is a radical vision: space is no longer the =
box the universe comes in; instead, space and time, matter and energy=
are, as Einstein proves, locked together in the most intimate embrac=
e.
=B7 In 1917, Einstein publishes a paper which uses general re=
lativity to model the behavior of an entire universe. General relativ=
ity has spawned some of the weirdest, and most important results in m=
odern astronomy (see Alan Lightman's article on this website), but Ei=
nstein's paper is the starting point, the first in the modern field o=
f cosmology--the study of the behavior of the universe as a whole. (I=
t is also the paper in which Einstein makes what he would call his wo=
rst blunder--inventing a "cosmological constant" to keep his universe=
static. When Einstein learned of Edwin Hubble's observations that th=
e universe is expanding, he promptly jettisoned the constant.)
=B7 Returning to the quantum, by 1919, six years before the i=
nvention of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle Einstein =
recognizes that there might be a problem with the classical notion of=
cause and effect. Given the peculiar, dual nature of quanta as both =
waves and particles, it might be impossible, he warns, to definitivel=
y tie effects to their causes.
=B7 Yet as late as 1924 and 1925, Einstein still makes signif=
icant contributions to the development of quantum theory. His last wo=
rk on the theory builds on ideas developed by Satyendra Nath Bose, an=
d predicts a new state of matter (to add to the list of solid, liquid=
, and gas) called a Bose-Einstein condensate. The condensate was fina=
lly created at exceptionally low temperatures only last year.
In sum: Einstein is famous for his distaste for modern quantum theory=
--largely because its probabilistic nature forbids a complete descri=
ption of cause and effect. But still, he recognizes many of the funda=
mental implications of the idea of the quantum long before the rest o=
f the physics community does.
After the quantum mechanical revolution of 1925 through 1927, Einstei=
n spends the bulk of his remaining scientific career searching for a =
deeper theory to subsume quantum mechanics and eliminate its probabil=
ities and uncertainties. It is the end, as far as his contemporaries =
believe, of Einstein's active participation in science. He generates =
pages of equations, geometrical descriptions of fields extending thro=
ugh many dimensions that could unify all the known forces of nature. =
None of the theories work out. It is a waste of time...and yet
Contemporary theoretical physics is dominated by what are known as "S=
tring theories." They are multi-dimensional. (Some versions include a=
s many as 26 dimensions, with fifteen or sixteen curled up in a tiny =
ball.) They are geometrical -- the interactions of one multi-dimensio=
nal shape with another produces the effects we call forces, just as t=
he "force" of gravity in general relativity is what we feel as we mov=
e through the curves of four-dimensional space-time. And they unify, =
no doubt about it: in the math, at least, all of nature from quantum =
mechanics to gravity emerges from the equations of string theory.=
=20
As it stands, string theories are unproved, and perhaps unprovable, a=
s they involve interactions at energy levels far beyond any we can ha=
ndle. But they are beautiful, to those versed enough in the language =
of mathematics to follow them. And in their beauty (and perhaps in th=
eir impenetrability) they are the heirs to Einstein's primitive, firs=
t attempts to produce a unified field theory.
Between 1905 to 1925, Einstein transformed humankind's understanding =
of nature on every scale, from the smallest to that of the cosmos as =
a whole. Now, nearly a century after he began to make his mark, we ar=
e still exploring Einstein's universe. The problems he could not solv=
e remain the ones that define the cutting edge, the most tantalizing =
and compelling.
You can't touch that. Who's smarter? No one since Newton comes close.
Thomas Levenson is a Boston-based independent film maker and author. =
He is a producer of NOVA's Einstein Revealed, and author of several b=
ooks. The latest is Measure for Measure: A Musical History of Science=
, with Einstein in Berlin to follow, scheduled for publication in 199=
8
=20