Einstein.
Albert Einstein.
E=MC²
His name is synonymous with smarts.
People don’t say, “You don’t have to be an Edison to figure it out.”
They don’t say, “You don’t have to be a Bill Gates to figure it out.”
They don’t say, “You don’t have to be a Carl Sagan to figure it out.”
Instead, they say, “You don’t have to be an Einstein to figure it out.”
He had the wisdom of Solomon. Plus a mastery of the photoelectric effect, which earned him the Nobel Prize in physics.
In 2002, there was a groundbreaking exhibit in New York about this
great scientific genius. Although Einstein’s thoughts are often assumed to be
too complex for mere mortals to master, The New Yorker reports that this
assumption is completely untrue. Walk in the door of this exhibit, and you are
immediately greeted with a view of yourself as seen through a black hole.
It is not a pretty sight.
Then, as you work your way through the displays, you come to understand
how light travels, why time warps, and what makes stars shine. You discover
that the mass of a single penny, under the right conditions, could be converted
into enough energy to fuel New York City for two years. Of course, to
accomplish this feat, you would need to crank up your oven to a temperature
hotter than the sun. So, for now, New York is stuck with ConEd.
Most amazing of all is what Albert Einstein managed to accomplish in a
single year.
In 1905, at the age of 26, he published three groundbreaking papers
that provided the blueprint for much of modern science. The first was on the
motion of particles suspended in liquid. The second was on the photoelectric
effect, the release of electrons from metal when light shines on it. Last and
perhaps most famous, Einstein published his special theory of relativity, which
led to the shocking conclusion that time is not constant, and neither is weight
nor mass.
It is still hard to believe that Einstein’s work in that single year
led to the discovery of, among other things, X-ray crystallography, DNA, the
photoelectric effect, vacuum tubes, transistors and the mechanics of the
information age.
1905. What a year.
Richard P. Feynman explained that Einstein’s general theory of
relativity does away with the need for a force of gravity. Time and distance
rates depend on the place in space you measure time and on the time. In this
theory, the effects of gravitation are local, not distant. Nature does what is easiest. In this case, objects in the universe simply
respond to the contours of space in their immediate vicinity. The laws of
physical phenomena must be the same for a fixed observer as for an observer who
has a uniform motion of translation relative to him, so that we have not any
means of discerning whether or not we are carried along in such a motion.
Newton’s second law F=d(mv)/dt assumed that m is a
constant. His famous formula, E=MC², modifies what Newton thought of as
constant. Einstein said that the mass of a body increases with velocity. The
theory of relativity changes Newton’s laws by introducing a correction factor
to the mass. The formula for relativistic mass says that the inertia is very
great when v is nearly as great as c. Space and time are relative
to the observer. The speed of light
relativizes both space and time.
Experiments proved that light did not travel in space in a straight
line. As one advances toward the speed
of light, time slows down. The law of
gravitation has an elegantly simple principle. Every object in the universe
attracts every other object with a force that for any two bodies is proportional
to the mass of each and varies inversely as the square of the distance between
them. If we add the fact that an object responds to a force by accelerating in
the direction of the force by an amount that is inversely proportional to the
mass of the object, we shall have said everything required. Einstein modified
Newton’s law of gravitation to take into account the theory of relativity.
Anything that has energy has mass. Even light has a mass. For consistency in
our physical theories, it would be important to see whether we can modify
Newton’s law modified to Einstein’s law to be consistent with the uncertainty
principle. Scientists have not completed this last modification. All of this
had a practical effect upon our view of the universe. Light travels in accord
with the curvature of the universe. This discovery has led to a revision of our
view universe, especially as it begins (and is therefore finite), as it matures
(the universe grows), and as it possibly moves toward its end (like any finite
thing).
Of course, Einstein’s work at that time also laid the groundwork for
the atomic bomb. He did not like that. When America dropped the bomb on
Hiroshima, Einstein’s immediate response was “Vey iz mir” ... “Woe is me.” I have
read enough about this incident not to have this reaction. Truman agonized over
the decision. He knew a ground battle would be devastating to both sides. He made
a judgment he thought best, in light of the information he had. People have
started second-guessing this decision, of course, but we must always remember
that people must often make judgments that will be difficult to determine as to
whether it was the right decision.
In any case, Einstein was one of the smartest humans in history, and
yet he ended his career feeling that his creations had slipped beyond his
control. The pro-bomb position that he took during the Second World War turned
into pacifism by the end of his life. The mushroom cloud that validated so many
brilliant theories brought no joy to this genius, but instead only woe.
“Vey iz mir.”
The point here is that regardless of your view of whether dropping the
bomb was wise, Einstein came to think of the answer as “No.” For him, the best
knowledge and the best wisdom can turn out not to be so wise or knowledgeable. He
thought he was part of something wise, but came to think of his involvement in
the bomb as questionable. In his words, Vey iz mir!
The experience of Einstein with the bomb actually shows how difficult
it can be to determine whether a decision is wise.
It is essential to have a discerning mind and to understand that human
wisdom can lead both to good and to evil. Experiments on stem cells derived
from human embryos can unlock cures for disease, but may also undermine the
dignity of embryonic life. Advances in computer technology create amazing tools
for education and business, but produce incredible amounts of toxic waste when people
throw away outdated computers. The clearing of land and the building of homes
can provide wonderful quality of life for new generations, but these actions
can also degrade the environment and reduce biodiversity.
How do we discern whether our actions are going to
lead to good or to evil?
No comments:
Post a Comment