Albert Einstein: his life and work.
By Keith Butler
Albert Einstein (1879 -1955)
German born American physician and Nobel laureate, best know as the creator of
the special and general theories of relativity and for his bold hypothesis
concerning the particles and nature of light.
He was born in Ulm on March
14th 1879 and spent his youth in Munich. Here his family owned a small shop
that manufactured electric machinery. He did not talk until the age of three,
but even as a youth he showed a brilliant curiosity about nature and an ability
to understand difficult mathematical concepts. At the age of 12 he taught
himself Euclidean geometry. Einstein hated the dull regimentation and
unimaginative spirit of school in Munich. At the age of 15 his family left Germany
to go to Milan for 4 years
He spent a year with his parents in Milan and when it became clear that
he would that he would have to make his own way in the world, he finished secondary
school in Arrau, Switzerland, and entered the Swiss National Polytechnic in
Zurich.
Einstein did not enjoy the methods of instructions there. He often
missed classes, using the time to study Physics on his own or to play his
beloved violin. He passed his examinations and graduated in 1900 by studying
the notes of a classmate. His professors did not think highly of him and would
not recommend him for a university position. Einstein worked as a tutor and
substitute teacher.
In 1902 he secured a position as an examiner in the Swiss patent office
in Bern. In 1903 he married Mileva Marci, who had been his classmate at the
polytechnic. They had two sons but eventually divider. Einstein later
remarried. Einstein received his doctorate from the University of Zurich for a
theoretical dissertation on the dimensions of molecules, and he also published
three theoretical papers of central importance to the development of 20th
- century physics.
In the first of these papers, on Brownian motion, he made significant
predictions about the motion of particles that are randomly distributed in a
fluid. These predictions were later confirmed by experiment.In the spring of 1905 after considering these problems of ten years. The
difficulty that others had with Einstein's work was not because it was too
mathematically complex or technically obscure the problem resulted rather from
Einstein beliefs about the nature of good theories and the relationship between
experiment and theory. The second paper, on the photoelectric effect, contained
a revolutionary hypothesis concurring the nature of light.
Einstein not only proposed that under certain circumstances light can
be considered as consisting of
particles, but he also hypothesized that the energy carried by any light
particle, called a photon, is proportional to the frequency of the radiation
In fact when the American physicist Robert Andrews Millikan experimentally
confirmed the theory almost a decade later, he was surprised and somewhat
disquieted by the outcome. Einstein, whose prime concern was to understand the
nature of electromagnetic radiation, subsequently urged the development of a
theory that would be a fusion of the wave and particle models for light. Again,
very few physicists understood or were sympathetic to these ideas. Einstein did
have important supporters however his chief early patron was the German
physicist Max Planck. Even before he left the patent office in 1907. Einstein
began work on extending and generalising the Theory of Realativity to all
coodinate systems.
Einstein's third major paper of 1905, on the
Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, contained what became known as the Special
Theory of Relativity. In the spring of 1905, after considering these problems
for ten years, Einstein realized that the crux of the problem lay not in a
theory of matter but in a theory of measurement. At the heart of his special
theory of relativity was the realization that all measurements of time and
space depend on judgments as to whether two distant events occur
simultaneously.
He began by
enunciating the Principle of Equivalence, a postulate that gravitational fields
are equivalent to accelerations of the frame of reference. The full general
Theory of Relativity was not published until 1916. On the basis of the General
Theory of Reality Einstein account for the previously unexplained variations in
the sun.
The
confirmation of this
latter phenomenon during
an eclipse of
the sun in
1919 became a media event
and Einstein fame
spread worldwide. Most of
Einstein's collegues felt that these efforts were misguided. Between 1915 and
1930 the mainstream of Physics was in developing a new conception
of the fundamental
characters of matter
known as Quentin
Theory.
Einstein
however would not
accept such notions
and remaied a
critic of these
developments until the
end of his life." God
" Einstein, once said, "does
not play dice with the world".
After 1919
Einstein became internationally renowned. He accrued honors and awards,
including the noble prize for Physics in 1921 from various world scientific
societies. His visit to any part of the world became a National event
photographers and reporters followed him everywhere. While regretting his loss
of privacy Einstein capitalized on his fame to further his own political and
social views.
The
two special movements
that received his
full support were
Pacifism and Zionism. When Hitler came fully
in power Einstien
immediately left Germany
to live in
the United States
of America. He took a position at the Institute for
advanced study at Princeton, New Jersey. While continuing his efforts on behalf
of world Zionism, Einstein renounced his former pacifist stand in the face of
the awesome threat to humankind posed by the Nazi regime in Germany. In 1939
Einstein collaborated with several other physicists in writing a letter to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt pointing out the possibility of making an
atomic bomb and the likelihood that the German government was embarking on such
a course.
In
1939 Einstein and
other physicsts in writing
a letter to the president of the United
States of America
at that time
the president of
America was Franklin
D. Roosevelt pointing
out the possability
of making an
atomic bomb. After the war
Einstein was active
in the cause of internationl disarmament and world
government. He continued his active
support of zionism
but declined the
offer made by leaders of the
state of Israel
to become president
of that country.
In
the U.S. during
the late 1940s
and early 50s
he spoke out
on the need for the
nation's intellectuals to
make any sacrifice
necessary to preserve
political freedom. Einstein died
in princeton on
April 18,1955. Einstein 's efforts
in behalf of
social causes have
sometimes been viewed
as unrealistic. In fact
his proposals were
always carefully thought
out. Like his scientific
theories, they were
motivated by sound
intuition based on a shrewd
and careful assessment
of evidence and
observation.
Although Einstein
gave much of
himself to political
and social causes, science always came first, because , he often said
only the discovery
of the nature of the
universe would have
lasting meaning.
SHORT QUESTIONS
Here are
some of the
books by Einstein that I consulted from this essay
1- Einstein
A: RELATIVITY:
THE SPECIAL AND GENERAL THEORY,
1916.
2- Einstein A:
ABOUT ZIONISM, 1931.
3- Einstein A:
BUILDERS OF THE
UNIVERSE, 1932.
4- Einstein A: WHY
WAR, 1933.
5- Einstein A:WITH
SIGMUND FREUD; THE
WORLD AS I
SEE IT ,1934.
6- Einstein A: THE
EVOLUTION OF PHYSICS , 1938.
The experience
of doing the
special study topic
introduced me to
the following skills:.
1-I LEARNED
HOW TO FIND SUITABLE BOOKS
FROM THE SCHOOL
LIBRARY,
2-I LEARNED
HOW TO USE THE INTERNET,
3-I LEARNED
HOW TO READ MANY SOURCES,
4-I LEARNED
HOW TO TYPE UP THE
ESSAY USING MICROSOFT WORD,
1-THE REASONS
WHY THIS TOPIC WAS
WORTH STUDYING WAS BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH EINSTEIN WAS FAMOUS
THERE WERE NO MENTION
ABOUT HIM IN
THE LEAVING. CERT BOOK
2-HIS IDEAS AND
THEORIES HAVE CHANGED AND ALTERED THE MODERN WORLD.
1-One of
the books I
used from this eassy was Why War . I
picked this because
I though it
was very intresting(since Einstein wrote it) It gave me a good insight into Einstein's
thought on war in general
2- It was written in a very clear form and easy
to understand style
3-Why
war gives you
a great picture
of the wars over the
years
DURING HISTORY
CLASS THE ISSUE OF SUBJECTIVITY AND BIAS CAME UP. THIS BOOK SEEMED TO GIVE A
BALANCED VIEW OF THE TOPIC. THIS IMPRESION WAS GOT BY CHECKING OTHER SORCES FOR
DATES, FACTS ETC.