The physique that changed the concepts of space and of time with the theory of relativity and the famous AND=MC2Nobel Prize in 1921 for the discovery ofphotoelectric effect. This and much more was Albert Einsteinwe briefly reconstruct his exciting life and its extraordinary intuitions in this article.
Who he is and what Albert Einstein did
Albert Einsteinthe German of the twentieth century of the US naturalized and Swiss, was born a Ulma (Southern Germany) in 1879 by family of Jewish origins. After some movements between Monaco and Milan, he arrives in Zurich where he completes his studies with a doctorate In the 1905.
This year was one of the turning point in the history of Albert, an extremely fertile period in which he published Ben Six several writings. Among these, the article on thephotoelectric effectwhich will guarantee him the Nobel In the 1921and the titled writing On the electrodynamics of moving bodies in which we find a first exhibition of the theory of restricted relativity.
Between 1909 and 1914 he taught in Zurich, after which he was called to Berlin to become a member of thePrussian Academy of Sciences. Here he got the experimental confirmation of his theory on general relativity through thesolar eclipse of 1919.
Einstein remained in Germany up to 1933despite the fact that in those years they piled criticisms and continuous attacks by the Nazi German colleagues. After that, I climbed Hitler to the government, went to Princetonin New York State (USA). Here continued his studies until 1955the year in which he passed away.
Before leaving, however, Albert Einstein left his mark: he wrote one pacifist request to the then American president Roosevelt against the use of nuclear weaponsinviting his interlocutor to “remain human”.
The photoelectric effect
Let’s start with what allowed him to get the Nobel Prize. It was the 1905 and the magazine Annalen der physik published Three short writings of the twenty -six year old Einstein. All three postponed to oneThe only great search: the will to modify the concepts fundamental of electromagnetism, mechanics and thermodynamics. In short, a definitely courageous undertaking.
In the first of these three writings entitled On a heuristic point of view regarding the production and transformation of light Einstein hypothesized the double nature of light: corpuscular And wave. The light is no longer just a wave, but every now and then its being made up of corpuscles prevails, Discreet energy packagesthe so -called how many or photons As Lewis renamed them in 1926.
Precisely from these first studies of Einstein derives the whole debate relating to the dual nature of the light that will lead to foundation of quantum mechanics. This hypothesis was the interpretative key ofphotoelectric effect: when gods photons (an electromagnetic radiation) they have At a certain frequency one metal surfaceit emits electrons. To interact with the surface are precisely the discreet packages of energy that pass their energy to the electrons.
The restricted relativity
Always in 1905 Albert Einstein had another magnificent intuition. Two more of the articles published on Annalen they will merge the special relativity or restricted. The starting point is made up of Two postulates:
– the light moves in the void with a Fixed speed “C”independent of the motion of the light source;
– the laws of physics I am the same For all observers who are in Inertial reference systems (i.e. not subject to external forces such as acceleration).
From these hires derives that the motorcycle is relating to the reference system In all cases, except for When the relative motion between two inertial reference systems approaches the light speed. Not the relevance of this intuition, the theory of special relativity was not immediately experienced and for this reason initially was taken with skepticism.
Yet Einstein continued in his company by developing, in an article from 1907, theequivalence conceptual between mass and energyexpressed by the famous equation AND=MC2. Where c It is the speed of light.
Theory of general relativity
Ten years later, in 1915Einstein publishes the Complete theory of general relativity: a new description of the nature of space and time as well as the matter and gravity, capable of explain phenomena who seemed Not respond to Law of universal gravitation Of Newton. THE’universe could be distorted due to the relative motion e deformed from big masses like planets or stars. For this reason, the light rays that passed near a mass like that of the sun, for example, were distorted.
This effect of distortion was verified with the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. On this occasion there were two expeditions, one of which led by English Arthur Eddington who announced the confirmation of Einstein’s theory.
Where is Einstein’s brain?
The peculiarity of the history of one of the greatest physicists ever surpasses even the moment of his death. Albert Einstein had in fact requested to be cremated At the time of the passage to better life, and so it happened, except for that for his brain. The scientist’s brain material was removed by the doctor who took care of his autopsyThomas Harvey. They retained for well 30 years Einstein’s brain, after which – when the scientist’s family was informed of the situation – decided to divide it into 240 parts. Each of them was sent to a researcher and the larger part It is still at thePrinceton Hospital.
