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Compliments of Dr. Ozone
Albert Einstein was not a good student in High School. But he integrated many aspects and experiences of his life and became a great thinker. It is said that his theory of General Relativity came to him all at once, in a flash, so to speak.
I bring this up because I had a philosophy professor in college who was a young German physicist in the late 1920's. He was an assistant to Niels Bohr. He told us stories of gatherings where many of these scientists would meet together and just discuss life. Physics 'per se' was not really brought up. He himself went into philosophy in the sixties to try to answer more questions that physics couldn't answer. He was very impressed with Heisenberg, Einstein and others he met as a young man.
I like to think this philosophy professor was carrying on the traditions of his own mentors. I was always amazed the way he synthesized a soft science with a hard science. I wound up minoring in that subject because I liked listening to his lectures. He could put odds to equals in a very logical way. I still carry part of that myself. I like to think Einstein was like this too, because if you can put a square peg in a round hole when life presents it's problems, your really doing great.
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany. Einstein contributed more than any other scientist since Sir Isaac Newton to our understanding of physical reality.
Einstein worked at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland from 1902 to 1909. During this period he completed an astonishing range of theoretical physics publications, written in his spare time, without the benefit of close contact with scientific literature or colleagues.
The most well known of these works is Einstein's 1905 paper proposing "the special theory of relativity." He based his new theory on the principle that the laws of physics are in the same form in any frame of reference. As a second fundamental hypothesis, Einstein assumed that the speed of light remained constant in all frames of reference.
Later in 1905 Einstein showed how mass and energy were equivalent expressing it in the famous equation: E=mc2 (energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared). As time and technology went foward Einstein's personal views changed, especially concerning nuclear technology.
He worked on at Princeton until the end of his life on an attempt to unify the laws of physics.
What is the Theory of Relativity? (1919)
This article was written by Einstein to the London Times. It explains in general terms his thoughts on the relativity principles.
| A Step Further?
Black holes became a possibility with the theory of relativity. In fact their existence gave the theory it's final boost over the quantum fence. Meaning, even the physicists who doubted Einstein's theory could doubt no more. This site is very interesting. You will find two papers here written in the eighteenth century speculating on light as a constant variable. One paper discusses the possible existence of black holes. |
General Relativity
The quantum age begins
Special Relativity
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I do not have enough background in Physics to tell where the theory
of Relativity will take us. It gave us a true constant (light in a vacuum)
to measure other coordinate systems. This changed how Physicists viewed our world.
The Theory rests on the fact that nothing can go faster than the speed
of light. A mind puzzle is that if C is greater than the speed of
light mass becomes a negative radical, I.E., an imaginary number. Mass
that isn't?? Anyway, I hope my math's right.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome... 1997,1998 
crown2@zdnetmail.com
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