D R Bhagat
On 7th of November 1919, the world woke up with the news headlines in the leading newspapers in London “Revolution in Science, The new theory of universe, Newtonian ideas overthrown”. The Royal Society of London had announced as confirmed the gravitational bending of light which was one of the predictions of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. This was on the basis of outcome of the studies of total eclipse occurred on 29th may 1919.
Born on 14th March 1879 in Ulm Germany Einstein was not considered as a brilliant student during his early school days. He was once asked by his teacher to leave the class as he was causing indiscipline, once called by his mathematics teacher as lazy dog and also once failed the entrance test to get admission in a polytechnic institute, this boy later came to be known as the greatest scientist of the20th century. He was the noble prize winner in physics in 1921and also was named as the” Person of the century” by the prestigious Times Magazine leaving behind Karl Marx and Mahatma Gandhi on second and third places respectively. Within two months of his birth, the family moved to Munich where his father started a business in electric goods. Einstein’s schooling also started here in Luitpold Gymnasium. His father’s business could not flourish here and hence they decided to migrate to Italy leaving Einstein behind to complete his matriculation. He however joined his parents in Italy soon after that without completing his matriculation. Here he applied for admission to the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland in 1895 but failed in the entrance examination. Later he took admission in a near by Swiss school in Aaraua. The atmosphere in this school was quite favourable for studies. He took special interest in mathematics and physics. After passing his matriculation examination he again took the entrance examination for admission to the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich and was successful in getting the admission. He graduated from this polytechnic in 1900.A Serbian woman named Maleva Maric was his classmate who was also having a keen interest in mathematics and physics. Both Albert and Maleva shared passion for science. They came close and eventually fell in love with each other. He later married her in 1903 despite the resistance by his parents. Out of this marriage they gave birth to two sons in 1904 and in 1910 named Hans Albert and Eduard respectively. He now felt difficulty in managing the family affairs in absence of any job. He made many efforts to get a university job but failed. At last he got a job in a patent office in Bern as a clerk that too with the help of a friend’s father.
During spare time in the office he used to study scientific papers and books which gave new ideas in his mind. It was in the year 1905 that a storm of revolutionary thoughts in science broke out in his mind. He wrote five papers one after the other which were published in the journal” Annalen der Physik” the same year. The first paper was “On a Heuristic View Point Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light”. This paper affirmed the existence of light quanta and that the light was made up of small particles known as photons. This paper also explained the laws of photoelectric effect for which he was awarded the Noble Prize in 1921.This discovery led the world to the era of lasers. The second paper was “On the motion of small particles suspended in liquid at rest”. This paper explained the Brownian Motion which was till then a mystery.The Brownian motion is a phenomenon where the small pollen grains suspended in a liquid move randomly. Einstein explained that it is due to the bombardment of the pollen grains by the atoms of the liquid.
This also proved that atoms really exist. The third paper was”On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”. This paper was the most important which gave the foundation of Special Thoery of Relativity. The fourth paper was regarding mass and energy of a body. The mass and energy were shown to be interchangeable and discovered the famous formula E=mc2, where E is the energy, m the mass and c, the velocity of light. This formula opened the doors of atomic energy and also gave birth to atomic bomb. The fifth paper was on”A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions”. This paper confirmed the Kinetic Theory of Heat. This paper was submitted to the University of Zurich for which he was awarded the Doctorate degree.
In classical physics of Newton space, time , mass and energy were considered as absolute but Einstein’s theory of relativity suggested that they are not absolute but are inter-related. When an object is moving with an extremely high speed its length will decrease and its mass will increase and the clock in it shall also run slow. He predicted that all these changes shall happen with a uniform rate. The position of objects also depends on the position of observer. A solid ball dropped from a moving jet by the pilot shall appear to him as falling in a straight line but for the observer on ground it shall appear to have taken the parabolic path. He also gave the new concept of gravity. He said that gravity is not a force but it is due to the curved geometrical position of the universe. More over it does not depend upon the mass of the object but upon the energy. His married life with Maleva Maric could not go smooth and Maleva applied for a divorce in a Zurich court accusing Einstein of adultery. On February 14, 1919, court awarded the divorce decree but with unusual order which is unique in the legal history of the world. The court ordered that if at any time in future Einstein gets the Noble Prize, the entire prize money shall be got credited to Maleva’s account by him and it happened in 1922 when he was awarded the Noble Prize in physics and the entire money was transferred into Maleva’s account as per directions of the court. Surprisingly this prize was not given to him for his revolutionary theory of relativity but for his work on photoelectric effect. He later married Elsa who was his cousin and was a widow.
Newton is known as the father of classical physics. He brought the revolution in science by giving the laws of motion, law of gravitation, laws of optics in a span of one year and a half but Einstein changed the face of physics altogether in a shorter span of one year. He made several contributions to the then newly developed Quantum Mechanics.The theoretical basis for lasers has enabled us to scan our bar codes, read our CD’s, print our documents and sculpt our corneas. The Theory of General Relativity enables the Global Positioning System.
He is also considered to be the father of modern physics. He breathed his last in Princeton, New Jersy , USA on April 18, 1955 and his brain was preserved for further experiments to know as to what made him so genius.
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