I. Einstein’s early yearsII. The Miracle year: 2005

A. The Quantum Nature of LightB. Brownian motion and atomic theoryC. Special Relativity

1. Newton and absolute space and time2. Thought experiments3. E = mc2

III. General RelativityIV. Quantum WeirdnessV. Einstein’s later years

Einstein and 20th Century Physics

I. Albert Einstein (1879- 1955) The Early Years

Pauline and Hermann Einstein

Mileva Maric (1875 – 1948)Patent clerk (1902 – 1909)

1903 - 1919

Eduard and Hans

II. The Miracle Year: 1905A. The Quantum Nature of Light

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879)

• Speed of light = 300, 000 Km/sec (186, 000 mi/sec)

• Maxwell’s equations

• the aether returns!

• the wave nature of light

• electromagnetism

3 key inventions

3. Transformer

1. Electric motor

2. Electric generator

• Light is electromagnetic energy

The first color photograph

Maxwell’s Accomplishments

4 equations describing EM

II. The Miracle Year: 1905A. The Quantum Nature of Light

Quantum mechanics

Quantum of light = photon

II. The Miracle Year: 1905B. Brownian Motion and Atomic Theory

Proof of the existence of atoms

II. The Miracle Year: 1905C. Special Relativity

1. Galileo’s principle of relativity2. Newton’s space, time, and gravity3. Experiments to detect the aether4. Thought experiments

Inertial reference frame = constant speed and not changing direction = no acceleration

• Riding next to a beam of light

• Twin paradox

The Cosmic Speed Limit (300, 000 km/sec)

No absolute simultaneity

Why special?

4. E = mc2 Energy = mass x the speed of light squared

Hadron Super Collider

Nuclear Power Plant

Implications for travelling at the speed of light(explained by Einstein)

Summary of Special Relativity

• the speed of light is a constant – it is invariant

• nothing in the Universe can travel faster than the speed of light• space and time are not absolute – they vary according to speed

• there is no absolute simultaneity

• E = mc2 has many implications and applications

• Special relativity is contrary to Newtonian physics

III. General Relativity 1915

“My happiest thought”

2 problems with Special Relativity

Confirmation

1. Gravity not dealt with2. Deals with constant velocities – what about acceleration?

Equivalence principle – riding in elevators

Mass warps spaceBlack Holes

(That’s Gravity!!) Newton and Gravity

Big BangGeneral Relativity Prediction

Cosmological constant – “My biggest mistake”

Georges Lemaître : 1931

Confirmation

singularity

14 billion years ago

Edwin Hubble: 1929

IV. Quantum WeirdnessUncertainty Principle

“God does not play dice” Werner Heisenberg (1901 – 1976)

Electron weird behaviorElectron behavior unpredictable

“Einstein! Stop telling God what to do!”

Quantum mechanicsApplications of QM

V. Einstein’s Later Years

Elsa Einstein (1876 – 1936)

Einstein’s office in Princeton University

Unified Field TheoryFour fundamental forces

1. The strong interaction2. The electromagnetic force3. The weak force4. The gravitational force

Nobel Prize 1921

Einstein the rock star

Einstein’s letter to FDR

A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.

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 our science can reveal it.

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.

Einstein’s God

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