Albert Einstein Was Born in 1879

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    Albert Einstein Was Born in 1879

    1905: "Annus Mirabilis" - Einstein's "Miracle Year"

    Year Theory Description

    1905 Ph.D.Einstein received his doctorate from the University of Zurich for a theoretical dissertation providing a new wayof calculating the size of molecules.

    1905 Brownian Motion

    In 1827 the botanist Robert Brown observed under themicroscope the movement or motion of plant sporesfloating in water and moving about randomly all the time.The explanation for this was already thought to be therandom motion of molecules "hitting" the spores.But the first satisfactory theoretical treatment of theBrownian motion was made by Albert Einstein in 1905.Einstein's theory enabled significant statistical predictionsabout the motion of particles that are randomly distributedin a fluid. These predictions were later confirmed byexperiment.

    1905 Photoelectric Effect It was known that when light was shone on certainsubstances, the substances gave out electrons, but thatonly the number of electrons emitted, and not their energy, was increased when the strength of the light wasincreased.According to classical theory, when light, thought to be

    composed of waves, strikes substances, the energy of theliberated electrons ought to be proportional to theintensity of light.In other words, the energy emitted by the irradiatedsubstance is changing in a discrete quantities rather thanin a continuous manner.Einstein proposed that under certain circumstances lightcan be considered as consisting of particles, but he alsohypothesized that the energy carried by any light particle,called a photon, is proportional to the frequency of theradiation.

    This proposal, that the energy contained within a light beam is transferred in individual units, or quanta,contradicted a hundred-year-old tradition of consideringlight energy a manifestation of a continuous processes or of its wave nature.Virtually no one accepted Einstein's proposal until adecade later when the American physicist Robert

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    Andrews Millikan experimentally confirmed the theory.This Einstein's efforts helped out with the development of the quantum theory (mechanics).For this contribution, Einstein was awarded the NobelPrize in physics for 1921 (see below).

    1905 Special Theory of Relativity

    This theory provides a consistent explanation for the wayradiation (light, for example) and matter interact whenviewed from different inertial frames of reference, that is,an interaction viewed simultaneously by an observer atrest and an observer moving at uniform speed.Einstein based this theory on two postulates: the principleof relativity, that physical laws are the same in all inertialreference systems, and the principle of the invariance of the speed of light, that the speed of light in a vacuum is auniversal constant for all observers regardless of the

    motion of the observer or of the source of the light.He was thus able to provide a consistent and correctdescription of physical events in different inertial framesof reference without making special assumptions aboutthe nature of matter or radiation, or how they interact.Among the theory's main assertions and consequences arethe propositions that the maximum velocity attainable inthe universe is that of light; that objects appear to contractin the direction of motion and vice versa; that the rate of amoving clock seems to decrease as its velocity increases;the results of observers in different systems are equally

    correct; and that mass and energy are equivalent andinterchangeable properties according to Einstein's famousformula:

    E=mcThough Einstein did not invent the atomic bomb, thisequation laid the theoretical background for it.

    Think Like Einstein

    After 1905

    Year Theory Description

    1911 Why Is The sky Blue? The case, "Why is the sky blue?", was finally settled byEinstein in 1911, who calculated the detailed formula for the scattering of light from molecules; and this was foundto be in agreement with experiment.

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    Why Is the Sky Blue?

    1916 General Theory of Relativity

    Einstein expanded the special theory of relativity into thegeneral theory of relativity that applies to systems innonuniform (accelerated) motion as well as to systems in

    uniform motion (like in the special theory of relativity).The general theory is principally concerned with thelarge-scale effects of gravitation and therefore is anessential ingredient in theories of the universe as a whole,or cosmology.The theory recognizes the equivalence of gravitational andinertial mass. It asserts that material bodies producecurvatures in space-time that form a gravitational fieldand that the path of a body in the field is determined bythis curvature. In other words, according to this theory,space becomes curved in the vicinity of matter (this is the

    meaning of gravity); the greater the concentration of matter, the greater the curvature and the greater thegravity. The geometry of a given region of space and themotion in the field can be predicted from the equations of the general theory.

    1922 Nobel PrizeOn December 10, 1922, Einstein received the Nobel prizein physics for the year 1921, especially for his discoveryof the law of the photoelectric effect (see above).

    1924 Bose-Einstein

    Condensate

    The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a phase of matter,in the sense that solid, liquid, gas and plasma are phasesof matter.In 1924 the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose sentEinstein a paper in which he derived the Planck law for

    black-body radiation by treating the photons as a gas of identical particles. Einstein generalized Bose's theory toan ideal gas of identical atoms or molecules for which thenumber of particles is conserved and, in the same year,

    predicted that at sufficiently low temperatures the particles would become locked together, or overlap, in thelowest quantum state of the system. The result of Einstein's and Bose's efforts is the so called Bose Einsteinstatistics. We now know that this phenomenon, (BEC),only happens for "bosons".What does it mean to say that atoms overlap? The coins ina stack of pennies dont overlap, and neither do the gasmolecules in the air we breathe. As a gas becomes colder and colder, quantum mechanics tells us that the wavelike

    behavior of the atoms becomes more and more important.

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    At the lowest temperatures, within a few hundred billionths of absolute zero (-273.15C), the waves of theatoms in a gas can overlap and create, in effect, one super-atom. In this state, it hardly even makes sense to talk about individual atoms because they all behave as onecollective object. This is much like the output of a laser,since all the light is the same wavelength (same color) andthe waves are all in step and you cant tell one light

    particle (a photon) from another.In recent developments, BECs are being used to createatom lasers, the equivalent of a laser made of light; in thestudy of superconductivity (the ability of some materialsto conduct electrical current without any resistance);superfluidity (the ability of some materials to flowwithout resistance) and in refining measurements of timeand distance.

    1926 Einstein Refrigerator

    Only few know that Albert Einstein was also a practicalman and invented a refrigerator. The Einstein refrigerator is an absorption refrigerator which has no moving partsand requires only a heat source to operate - it does notrequire electricity to operate, needing only a heat source,e.g. a small gas burner, suitable for poor countries andoutdoor activities. It was jointly invented in 1926 byAlbert Einstein and his former student Le Szilrd and

    patented in the US on November 11, 1930 (U.S. Patent1,781,541).

    1945 The First Atomic BombWas Dropped

    The first atomic bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", wasdropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.Although Einstein did not invent the bomb and did not

    participate in the Manhattan Project, his theories laid thefoundation for it.The Relativity Theory showed that mass could beconverted directly into energy (E=mc), and that a minute

    piece of mass could release a vast amount of energy.In 1939 Einstein collaborated with several other physicistsin writing a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt,

    pointing out the possibility of making an atomic bomb andthe likelihood that the German government wasembarking on such a course. The letter, which bore onlyEinstein's signature, helped lend urgency to efforts in theU.S. to build the atomic bomb, but Einstein himself

    played no role in the work and knew nothing about it atthe time.

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    Albert Einstein Died in 1955

    Einstein was a theoretical physicist and not an inventor. He gave us the special and generaltheories of relativity, and he did some important work on the photoelectric effect. He didinvent some inventions, like the Einstein calculator.

    He also invented the Einstein refrigerator, which University of Oxford scientists are nowinvestigating in their efforts to develop energy efficient, eco-friendly refrigeration. TheEinstein refrigerator used no moving parts, no electricity or harmful gases.

    Einstein also had the idea to make the atomic bomb in the united states. So, we were the

    first country to make and use the atomic bomb. Although that isn't really an invention, it isuseful.

    The atom bomb was not invented by him,

    the formula or say theory required for its invention was first observed by him

    E=mc 2

    Note: There are comments associated with this question. See the discussion page to add tothe conversation.

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