debbie millman

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Albert Einstein: March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955

At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of Newtonian mechanics and his special theory of relativity stemmed from an attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory: this led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He investigated the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theory of light.

In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics.

In the 1920's, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field theories, although he continued to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.

From NobelPrize.org

person of the century



2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Don't forget, today is also "Pi Day", when math and science geeks everywhere celebrate the number 3.1415962...

3/14/2007 04:19:00 PM  
Blogger Mary Campbell said...

one of my favorite einstein quotes:

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. "

....a brilliant man with brilliant hair.

3/16/2007 12:23:00 PM  

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