Albert Einstein

1
Albert Einsteins Legacy

• Summary

2
Course Description

• 2005 is the 100th anniversary of Albert
  Einstein's miraculous year in which the world
  first saw Emc2 and the 50th anniversary of his
  death. His pioneering contributions in physics
  are being commemorated in a worldwide celebration
  of physics. We will take part in this celebration
  of Einstein's life, science, and philosophy by
  exploring the impact of his revolutionary
  thoughts about the fabric of space and time,
  leading to the now common notions of concepts
  like black holes, worm holes and the new views of
  the cosmos. Einstein's legacy is a new universe
  in which space and time are woven into the fabric
  of space-time. If this were all he had done, he
  would not have been declared Time Magazine's
  "Person of the Century". Einstein also
  contributed to humanity in his resistance to
  Hitler and in his controversial support of the
  Atomic Bomb. In this course we will explore the
  life, science and philosophy of Albert Einstein
  and the impact he and his colleagues have had on
  the world as we enter the 21st century.
• Topics will include a history of physics through
  the early twentieth century trips into the
  strange worlds of relativity and quantum physics
  a look into the atomic age and its impact on our
  way of life an exploration of Einstein's
  philosophical writings and the impact of
  Einstein's science on our lives and in our media
  The course will include specific readings, videos
  and participation in campus activities
  celebrating the centennial of the seminal work of
  one of the most recognized physicists of the 20th
  century.

3
Where have we been?

• Einsteins Youth
• Brownian Motion
• Special Relativity
• Quantum Mechanics
• General Relativity
• Manhattan Project

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.
4
Revolutions

• Space and Time
• Is space real?
• Measurements
• Uncertainty Principle
• Determinism vs Indeterminism
• Is there free will or is everything preordained?
• Time Travel
• Can we change the past?

There is a theory which states that if ever
anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for
and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre
and inexplicable.There is another theory which
states that this has already happened.
Douglas Adams
5
The Elder Einstein

• Pacifism vs Zionism
• Exile in 1933
• Writings
• Science
• War
• Atomic Weapons
• Religion
• Politics and Government
• Judaism

6
Group Reports

• Nov 16th
• McCallon, Pagels, Reece (18 min 4 min)
• Johnson, Overman, Seed (18 min 4 min)
• Sikes and Smith (12 min 3
  min)
• Purcell and Styles (12 min 3
  min)
• _______________________________________
• Nov 21st
• Hoxie, McDaniel, Whitner (18 min 4 min)
• Brenneman and Shipe (12 min 3 min)
• Rose, Schwarz (12 min 3
  min)
• Yohn, Piscatelli ?? (12 min 3
  min)

7
War

• He who joyfully marches to music rank and file,
  has already earned my contempt. He has been given
  a large brain by mistake, since for him the
  spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace
  to civilization should be done away with at once.
  Heroism at command, how violently I hate all
  this, how despicable and ignoble war is I would
  rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so
  base an action. It is my conviction that killing
  under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of
  murder.

8
Nature

• A human being is a part of a whole, called by us
  'universe', a part limited in time and space. He
  experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as
  something separated from the rest... a kind of
  optical delusion of his consciousness. This
  delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
  us to our personal desires and to affection for a
  few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to
  free ourselves from this prison by widening our
  circle of compassion to embrace all living
  creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

9
Religion

• ''It was, of course, a lie what you read about my
  religious convictions, a lie which is being
  systematically repeated. I do not believe in a
  personal God and I have never denied this but
  have expressed it clearly. If something is in me
  which can be called religious then it is the
  unbounded admiration for the structure of the
  world so far as science can reveal it. I am a
  deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat
  new kind of religion. What I see in nature is a
  magnificent structure that we can comprehend only
  very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking
  person with a feeling of humility. This is a
  genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to
  do with mysticism. I don't ty to imagine a
  personal God it suffices to stand in awe at the
  structure of the world, insofar as it allows our
  inadequate senses to appreciate it.''

10
Relationships

• "My passionate sense of social justice and social
  responsibility has always contrasted oddly with
  my pronounced lack of need for direct contact
  with other human beings and human communities. I
  am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never
  belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or
  even my immediate family, with my whole heart in
  the face of all these ties, I have never lost a
  sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

11
Happiness

• I have never looked upon ease and happiness as
  ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call
  the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have
  lighted my way, and time after time have given me
  new courage to face life cheerfully, have been
  Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of
  kinship with men of like mind, without the
  occupation with the objective world, the
  eternally unattainable in the field of art and
  scientific endeavors, life would have seemed
  empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts
  -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have
  always seemed to me contemptible.

12
Dont Panic!

• "You know,' said Arthur, it's at times like
  this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a
  man from Betelgeuse, and about to die from
  asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd
  listened to what my mother told me when I was
  young.'
• Why, what did she tell you?'
• I don't know, I didn't listen.'"