Bobblehead Einstein portrayed as a womanizer making moves on Marie Curie

[Note: Successful bitching has resulted in the removal of this video from YouTube. This is why I rarely use links.]

"'It's (Not) Okay to be (Not) Smart'"

by
Michael Getler

November 19th, 2013

PBS Ombudsman

The headline above is my edited version of the title of a PBS Digital Studios production of "A Very Special Thanksgiving Special/It's Okay to be Smart." The idea, its webpage states, is to "be thankful for everything science has given you this year."

First, a bit of background. PBS Digital Studios started last year and, by most accounts that I've seen, "has had a heck of a first year," as Digiday put it. Forbes described the launch as a way "to give the public broadcaster a way to create and distribute content that was created just for online viewing, as opposed to just distributing content that was being created for TV."

It was a way to connect big-time with the YouTube audience and an early offering called "Garden of Your Mind," based on the venerable Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, has been viewed more than nine million times.

One of the new video series is called "It's Okay to be Smart," but it appears that the Thanksgiving Special, set at a holiday dinner table, is more akin to the proverbial skunk at the picnic.

I've received a fair amount of mail about this five-minute segment and all of it is sharply critical. A sampling of those emails is posted below. I'm in agreement with the viewers.

The video presents a clever idea — to shed light on the personalities of some world famous scientists using bobblehead dolls to represent them around the table and some catchy dialogue. Only one is a woman, Marie Curie. She gets some sexual harassment-type attention from the Albert Einstein bobblehead and that's where "Okay to be Smart" gets dumb. Einstein, as a matter of fact and probably like others of that era, did not have what you'd call a great track record when it came to behavior toward women. How many people, do you think, know that?

But this attempt to be creative and humorous goes south fast. So fast, in fact, that the video now contains this statement at the beginning: "Several have taken offense to a scene at end of this video. Please see link in description to read our apology." The writer, Joe Hanson, to his credit, posted an explanation and apology on his blog.

What astounds me is that, while risk-taking is often to be applauded, this depiction of Einstein and Curie is so not funny, so off-the-wall, so not likely to be understood yet virtually guaranteed to anger a huge segment of a viewing audience for no good reason that one wonders how it was decided to show it. On the other hand, in an era where clicks count the most, maybe it is not so dumb.

What follows is a sampling of the letters to me, followed by a statement from PBS's Jan McNamara, senior director for corporate communications.
Here Are the Letters

My husband and I have supported NPR and PBS forever. For an equally long time we have been working to improve science education for all students and to increase the quality and diversity of the scientific workforce. And, oh yes, for many years we have been working not just providing services to rape victims but to change the culture that makes rape "ok."

We thought that we and PBS were on the same page until we saw your "A Very Special Thanksgiving Special/ It's Ok to be Smart." I don't know where to start — having Albert Einstein sexually harass Marie Curie and later in the piece, strip naked and "accidently" assault her could be a beginning. Does it make it worse that the woman being assaulted was the only woman there or that someone decided it was cool to make Albert Einstein a rapist or that everyone was white or that someone thought having Einstein try to rape the best known woman in science was a great way to encourage girls to enter science or . . . I just can't go on. I don't know what the heck you were thinking but I do know what I am thinking and it strongly impacts my future long-term support of public broadcasting.

Patricia B. Campbell, PhD, Groton, MA

~ ~ ~

I find the PBS Digital Studios video, "It's OK to be Smart," to be very offensive and unacceptable. I am very disappointed that PBS — normally a bastion of intelligent conversation and equality — would endorse such a blatantly sexist production.

Christopher Hunter, Warsaw, IN

~ ~ ~

I'm appalled that PBS allowed the video short, A Very Special Thanksgiving, to be distributed. Sexual harassment of women in science is not humorous, it's appalling. I expect more of PBS.

M. Eblen-Zayas, Northfield, MN

~ ~ ~

Have you seen the incredibly stupid and offensive "It's Okay to Be Smart" video done in PBS's name that has a naked Albert Einstein sexually assaulting a timid Marie Curie? Please, take down the video and have PBS issue an apology. There are so many things wrong with this video, from wronging Einstein and Curie, to making Curie (and thus women scientists in general) look like meek, "just grateful to be here" token sexual objects, to making male scientists look like misogynistic jerks. It is so embarrassing that this has been done in the name of PBS. This video sends exactly the opposite message of "it's okay to be smart." It suggests it's not only okay to be stupid, it's also okay to sexually assault a woman colleague or watch someone do it without saying anything.

Alice Dreger, PhD, East Lansing, MI

~ ~ ~

SO DISAPPOINTED IN PBS! Einstein raping Marie Curie? What were you thinking? Not funny, not appropriate, not up to your standards. Shame on you.

Acton, MA

~ ~ ~

The PBS Digital Studios youtube channel put up a Thanksgiving Special edition of Joe Hansen's It's Okay to be Smart series, in which a group of scientists from the ages gather for Thanksgiving dinner. In the video, Albert Einstein spends the entire time sexually harassing Marie Curie. He starts by blowing on her neck — with the scripted encouragement of Joe Hanson as narrator — and then continues with escalating physical and verbal attacks. He drops his clothing and jumps on her, knocking her over, at the end of the video. Many people have written to Hanson — via twitter, via comments on his blog post — and he has responded with a sort-of-apology post on his blog (which suggests people who don't see the humor in the sexual assault aren't understanding his intent), by linking the sort-of-apology post underneath the "see more" fold on youtube, and by adding a little text that appears if you hover over the play button that says "several have been offended by a scene at the end of the video." In the meantime, PBS (which promoted the video on its twitter feed) and PBS Digital have been silent . . . I am heartsick that a) Hanson does not seem to be able to hear the critiques, b) PBS Digital is letting that video stay up and, c) PBS/PBS Digital has not spoken to any of this.

The PBS imprimatur usually tells me that something is good; that it's educational; that it's something I'd be proud to show my kid. In this case, your brand is being seriously damaged.

Susan Harrington, Burlington, VT

Here's the PBS Response:

Joe Hanson issued a sincere apology on his blog [below], which is the channel he chose to discuss this issue. It included a detailed explanation of how the video was created, what he was trying to accomplish and the statement, "this video makes a joke to call attention to the sexual harassment that many women still today experience, often from wannabe Einsteins. The joke is uncomfortable because these issues are uncomfortable. To be very clear: that joke is not an endorsement of sexism in science. We aimed to ridicule miscues of science in society, past and present, using dolls, and we failed."

He also asks in the post that people form their opinions based on his past videos and writings, such as the video from the previous week, where he examines the fact that the vast majority of Nobel prize winners have been white men and criticizes women's "Nobel snubbing" as a "symptom of a larger problem," that "women are under-represented in science in general."

There have been a number of comments about "A Very Special Thanksgiving Special" since it debuted that have ranged from critical to laudatory. With this video, Joe has opened up an important, though difficult, debate. We believe we are meeting our public service mission by providing an open forum where this and other conversations about complex subjects can take place.

Reply...

On this week’s video …

My desk is covered in bobblehead dolls of famous scientists. This week I put out a video where they joined me for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Many people have contacted me on Twitter in the past day to say they are offended by that video. To you, and others, I am deeply sorry.

The criticism directed at the video (and much of it at me personally) centers around Albert Einstein’s advances toward Marie Curie. I should mention that Madame Curie is the only female science doll at the table for the simple reason she is the only female science doll available for purchase in bobblehead form.

One of the many points I was thinking about when I made this piece was that women are under-represented and don’t receive the respect they deserve in science today, well after Marie Curie’s time. I say this directly in the video and had intended the outrageous behavior of the Einstein doll to speak to this idea, as well. It didn’t come through the way I had hoped and I apologize for that and for the offense we caused.

In producing this video, we guided improv voice actors to create caricatures of dead scientists so we could lampoon the most extreme aspects of their personalities. Then we made dolls act out those extremes, flaws and all. We tried to present the way in which these characters might actually act, in their own time. Galileo doesn’t get evolution. Tesla is obsessed with Edison. And Einstein reflects the dark reality that many men in his time acted inappropriately toward women. 

This video makes a joke to call attention to the sexual harassment that many women still today experience, often from wannabe Einsteins. The joke is uncomfortable because these issues are uncomfortable. To be very clear: that joke is not an endorsement of sexism in science. We aimed to ridicule miscues of science in society, past and present, using dolls, and we failed.

We tried to reach another layer, another message in this video. But we missed the mark in delivering that message, and for that I am truly sorry.

To anyone curious if I am not aware of, or not committed to preventing this kind of treatment (in whatever way my privileged perspective allows me to do so) I would urge you to check out my past writing and videos … like maybe this video from the week before. This doesn’t excuse us, but I ask that you form your opinion of me, It’s Okay To Be Smart, and PBS Digital Studios from my body of work, and not a piece of it.

Snap from the past...the Einsteins arrive in San Diego

Dr. Albert Einstein and his wife after their arrival in San Diego on the steamship Belgenland.

December 31st, 1930

The January 1st, 1931 edition of the Los Angeles Times reported...

Dr. Albert Einstein, distinguished German scientist whose intricate mathematical deductions about space and time sent fame scurrying to thump on the door of his modest little Berlin flat, arrived in Pasadena last night by motor from San Diego….

Setting foot for the first time on California soil, Dr. Einstein walked down the gangplank of the around-the-world steamship Belgenland at San Diego yesterday morning shortly after 9 o’clock. He was given a welcome that has seldom been equaled in San Diego History….

Although far from garrulous, the wizard of mathematical theory gave as generously of responses as was within his power to the barrage of questions laid down before him by his inquisitors, who sought him out on the Belgenland as the vessel steamed slowly into port. And he hinted strongly, too, in his remarks at the Balboa Park fete, that he had been overcome by the greeting accorded him.

But it was in his radio talk that seemed to pour forth from his heart a torrent of emotion he no longer could contain in the face of the ado the city was making over his presence. He spoke in his native German, which was translated by his wife, Frau Elsa.

“I am delightfully moved by the wonderful and hearty reception accorded me here in San Diego,” he said. “I am stepping today for the first time on California soil and it was a beautiful gesture to receive the greetings of a group of young people.”

Still debating E=mc2

"More than one brain behind E=mc2"

January 28th, 2013

SPACEDAILY

 Two American physicists outline the role played by Austrian physicist Friedrich Hasenohrl in establishing the proportionality between the energy (E) of a quantity of matter with its mass (m) in a cavity filled with radiation.

In a paper about to be published in EPJ H, Stephen Boughn from Haverford College in Pensylvannia and Tony Rothman from Princeton University in New Jersey argue how Hasenohrl's work, for which he now receives little credit, may have contributed to the famous equation E=mc2.

According to science philosopher Thomas Kuhn, the nature of scientific progress occurs through paradigm shifts, which depend on the cultural and historical circumstances of groups of scientists. Concurring with this idea, the authors believe the notion that mass and energy should be related did not originate solely with Hasenohrl.

Nor did it suddenly emerge in 1905, when Einstein published his paper, as popular mythology would have it. Given the lack of recognition for Hasenohrl's contribution, the authors examined the Austrian physicist's original work on blackbody radiation in a cavity with perfectly reflective walls.

This study seeks to identify the blackbody's mass changes when the cavity is moving relative to the observer.

They then explored the reason why the Austrian physicist arrived at an energy/mass correlation with the wrong factor, namely at the equation: E = (3/8) mc2.

Hasenohrl's error, they believe, stems from failing to account for the mass lost by the blackbody while radiating.

Before Hasenohrl focused on cavity radiation, other physicists, including French mathematician Henri Poincare and German physicist Max Abraham, showed the existence of an inertial mass associated with electromagnetic energy.

In 1905, Einstein gave the correct relationship between inertial mass and electromagnetic energy, E=mc2. Nevertheless, it was not until 1911 that German physicist Max von Laue generalised it to include all forms of energy.

Friedrich Hasenohrl [Wikipedia]


E=mc2...Einstein's idea?

"Einstein's Mistakes"--Ohanian's book on the market

"God does not play dice"...re-evaluated

We analyze Einstein’s views on God and religion, and his
views on Quantum Mechanics.

One of Albert Einstein’s most famous statements is “God does
not play dice with the universe”. The common interpretation of
this statement contains two myths (or perhaps misunderstandings)
that I wish to correct in this article.

 "What Einstein meant when he said "God does not play dice ..."" by Vasant Natarajan

Supplemental reading...

God Does Not Play Dice: the Fulfillment of Einstein's Quest for Law and Order in Nature

by

David Albert Shiang

ISBN-10: 0980237319
ISBN-13: 978-0980237313

"Mistaken Identity and Mirror Images"...quirky stories

Albert Einstein accepted a “special” visiting professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in February 1920. Although his appointment should have been a mere formality, it took until October of that year before Einstein could occupy his special chair. Why the delay? The explanation involves a case of mistaken identity with Carl Einstein, Dadaist art, and a particular Dutch fear of revolutions. But what revolution was one afraid of? The story of Einstein's Leiden chair throws new light on the reception of relativity and its creator in the Netherlands and in Germany. 

"Mistaken Identity and Mirror Images: Albert and Carl Einstein, Leiden and Berlin, Relativity and Revolution" by Jeroen van Dongen

Einstein and the General Motors advertisement

"GM wins Einstein ad lawsuit..."

by

Jerry Hirsch

October 18th, 2012

The Los Angeles Times

General Motors is winning the nerd wars.

Earlier this week, it prevailed against Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a lawsuit over the use of the image of Albert Einstein in a People magazine advertisement in 2009.

...

According to the Detroit News, the Einstein ad for the GMC Terrain SUV depicted the face of the famous physicist on top of a fit, muscular man with the line, "Ideas are sexy too."

The Israeli university owns Einstein's publicity rights and sued the automaker. But U.S. District Judge Howard Matz ruled Monday that Einstein is perhaps the ultimate public figure.

Matz wrote that Einstein is "the symbol and embodiment of genius. His persona has become thoroughly ingrained in our cultural heritage. Now, nearly 60 years after his death, that persona should be freely available to those who seek to appropriate it as part of their own expression, even in tasteless ads."

GM had said that it believed that the Leo Burnett agency that worked on the advertisement had purchased a legitimate license to the image from Getty Images. The automaker declined to comment on the resolution of the lawsuit.

Einstein, religion, science

"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science." --Albert Einstein

Abstract:

In recent centuries the world has become increasingly dominated by empirical evidence and theoretic science in developing worldviews. Advances in science have dictated Roman Catholic doctrine such as the acceptance of Darwinian evolution and Big Bang cosmology. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) created an indelible impact on the relationship between science and religion. The question is whether or not his work was deleterious for church doctrine or whether it was compatible with, or even advanced, church dogma. It’s my contention that Einstein revived the relationship between science and theology and did not create a bifurcation between the two. Despite his personal religious beliefs, his work has helped to reinforce the harmonious conjunction of science with religion, which cannot be ignored by succeeding scientists and theologians. 

 "Albert Einstein and Scientific Theology" by Max L.E. Andrews

Einstein--Gutkind letter...SOLD!

Einstein's "religious" letter...two essays

 

"Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and Einstein

Picasso's "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon"

When you hit the Internet with a pick ax, it is amazing what falls out. Here is a play about Picasso and Einstein having a proposed encounter. It's called Picasso at the Lapin Agile [roughly translated as "Picasso at the Nimble Rabbit"] by Steve Martin. [Yes, Steve Martin the comic.] The "Lapin Agile" is a bar where the events unfold...an early beatnik setting for artists, philosophers and the like--a Greenwich Village in the early 1900's. All events take place before Einstein's "The Special Theory of Relativity" and Picasso's "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon".

Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays : Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for a Floating Lady, WASP

by

Steve Martin

ISBN-10: 0802135234
ISBN-13: 978-0802135230

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Charlie Rose

Steve Martin Interview

October 4th, 1996

Einstein, Argentina, relativity, 1925 and the discurso inédito paper

Almost 85 years ago Albert Einstein accepted an invitation from the University of Buenos Aires to give a lecture on relativity.

"Immediately after Einstein’s visit, Mauricio Nirenstein published a short paper in which he made some interesting remarks on the visit and the visitor. His paper was presented as a dialogue, a personal conversation in which Einstein outlined his views on the epistemology of the physical sciences."

"Einstein’s Unpublished Opening Lecture for His Course on Relativity Theory in Argentina, 1925" by Alejandro Gangui

Introduction:

In 1922 the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Council approved a motion to send an invitation to Albert Einstein to visit Argentina and give a course of lectures on his theory of relativity. The motion was proposed by Jorge Duclout (1856-1927), who had been educated at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich (ETH). This proposal was the culmination of a series of initiatives of various Argentine intellectuals interested in the theory of relativity. In a very short time Dr. Mauricio Nirenstein (1877-1935), then the university’s administrative secretary, fulfilled all the requirements for the university's invitation to be endorsed and delivered to the sage in Berlin. The visit took place three years later, in March-April 1925.

The Argentine press received Einstein with great interest and respect; his early exchanges covered a wide range of topics, including international politics and Jewish matters. Naturally, the journalists were more eager to hear from the eminent pacifist than from the incomprehensible physicist. However, after his initial openness with the press, the situation changed and Einstein restricted his public discourse to topics on theoretical physics, avoiding some controversial political, religious, or philosophical matters that he had freely touched upon in earlier interviews.

Immediately after Einstein's visit, Mauricio Nirenstein published a short paper in which he made some interesting remarks on the visit and the visitor. His paper was presented as a dialogue, a personal conversation in which Einstein outlined his views on the epistemology of the physical sciences. In a footnote, Nirenstein explained that Einstein's thoughts on epistemology were based on an unpublished text. However, in his reference to Einstein's text on epistemology, he indicated that Einstein's remarks were given in response to a recent newspaper article. He did not mention that Einstein, in fact, had written this text for his opening lecture at the UBA. Consequently, he did not explain why he did not publish it verbatim or in translation.

Einstein’s unpublished piece on the epistemology of physics became known in Argentina as the discurso inédito and it was rumored that Einstein had left it in the hands of Nirenstein. Six years after the visit, in 1931, an avant-gard literary journal, La Vida Literaria, published a Spanish translation of the inédito as well as photographs of two fragments of the manuscript, which serves to test the quality of the Spanish translation and shows that it was addressed to the UBA audience. The note in La Vida Literaria also referred briefly to Einstein’s encounters with the local press and to the impact these meetings may have had on his decision not to use the inédito as an introduction to his set of lectures.

The English translation of the inédito is based on three sources: the Spanish translation of the German text, written by Baldomero Sanín Cano and published in La Vida Literaria, Buenos Aires, 1931, which covers the whole text; photographs of pages 1 and 5 of the manuscript in German in Einstein’s hand, reproduced in the same journal; and transcribed excerpts from Einstein’s manuscript printed in J. A. Stargardt’s catalogs number 615 (1978), 117, and number 683 (2006), 188.

This introduction gives a brief account of the individuals, institutions, and events related to the inédito and compares it with the text of several lectures given by Einstein in Argentina where he briefly considered matters related to the philosophy of science. Einstein’s lecture may not rank among the best of Einstein’s pieces on epistemology, but it is, nevertheless, a succinct and candid account of his views on the subject in the year 1925. For the background and details on Einstein’s visit to Argentina and its impact there and in Uruguay, the reader is referred to the monograph Ortiz 1995.

"E=mc2...independent derivation?" poll

Do you believe that Einstein derived E = mc2 independently?

Yes...8 (72%)

No...3 (27%)

For those that voted "yes" just read the following and think about it...


E=mc2...Einstein's idea?

"Einstein's Mistakes"--Ohanian's book on the market

Einstein train...rusted and retired

Most unusual. The photo would make good for wallpaper or even a poster.

From Physics Central:

A train that describes how one might travel through spacetime was discovered in the Bolivian desert by a physics teacher. The old locomotive itself must have pushed the boundaries of space and time due to its mysterious location in the desert and its signs of old age. The unique feature of the train is the expression painted on the engine and signed by A. Einstein. Whether Albert Einstein painted or used this train himself remains unknown. But the significance of the painted expression goes beyond historical accuracy. While everyone can recite Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2, few know that he went even further to describe the relationship between mass and the shape of spacetime. This equation not only answers the question of how gravity works, but it also describes black holes, gravity waves, bending of light, planetary motion, and the shape of the universe. For instance, the left side of the equation with the big R’s represents the curvature and shape of spacetime and hence the path that an object follow. The right side of the equation with the big T represents the mass and energy density of a star or planet. Putting the two sides of the equation together says that a massive object like a star or planet will curve the surrounding spacetime. As a result this also curves the path of other objects moving past such as comets or satellites. Unfortunately the mathematics involved in this equation is quite advanced. In fact it was said that only a handful of people in the world understood it when Einstein proposed his theory of relativity. This kind of mathematics is called tensor calculus which is like regular calculus but in multiple dimensions. With such an intimidating mathematical equation staring at you from a train, one can take comfort in recognizing some of the symbols such as 8 and pi. Pi is a familiar term from geometry and interestingly enough that fraction helps to convert the mass energy density into the geometry of space and time.

Coincidentally, Einstein often used the example of observers traveling on a train to describe his theory of relativity. The observer on this particular day was Monica Witt, a physics teacher at Friends Seminary in New York City, who discovered this fascinating artifact while hiking through the Bolivian desert.

"This American Life"--Einstein-Newton wrong?

Ira Glass
"This American Life"

Now don't get bent out of shape but this is a Chicago radio [WBEZ] production ["This American Life"] boradcast this weekend on many National Public Radio stations [and available in the archives eventually]. It is mostly satricial and somewhat entertaining.

The premise:

Act Three.

Sucker MC-Squared.

Bob Berenz had a good job as an electrician. But he wanted to do something bigger. He came up with an idea for an invention. But as he studied physics texts to see if his invention could work, he happened upon the biggest idea of his life: a revelation about physics that would disprove Einstein, and Newton. That is, if Bob's right. Bob's friend, Robert Andrew Powell, reports the story. He's a sports writer and the author of We Own This Game, about youth football.

(16-1/2 minutes)

Song: "Modern Physics in Five Easy Verses," Bruce Lesnick


"This American Life"

African Einstein...implementation has begun

"Seeking an African Einstein"

by

Matin Durrani

July 2nd, 2008

physicsworld.com

A new postgraduate centre for maths and computer science has opened in the Nigerian capital of Abuja as part of an ambitious plan to find the "next Einstein" in Africa. The centre is providing advanced training to graduate students from across Africa in maths and related fields. It wants to attract the best young African scientists and nurture their talents as problem-solvers and teachers.

The new Nigerian centre is modelled on — and has close ties with — the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Cape Town, South Africa, which was set up in 2003 by the Cambridge University cosmologist Neil Turok. In recognition of the close ties with AIMS, the new centre is called AIMS (Abuja).

The plan is to set up another 15 AIMS-type centres across Africa over the next five years. Each centre will be run as a partnership with AIMS and AIMS (Abuja), plus one or more local universities. The centres will host students from across Africa but focus on particular branches of mathematical science.

New centres are planned for countries including Ghana, Madagascar, Sudan and Uganda — and they will join the African Mathematical Institutes Network (AMI-Net), which was created in 2005.

One wish to change the world

Turok, who was born in South Africa, wants to raise an endowment of $150m, which would allow 50 graduates to be supported at each of the 15 centres over the next five years. He has so far raised $2.7m after giving a talk earlier this year at the annual TED (technology, entertainment and design) conference in California, where he was one of three people to win a $100 000 TED prize. Each winner is obliged to give a talk that includes their "one wish to change the world", which for Turok was for the next Einstein to come from Africa.

Karl Voltaire, chief executive of AIMS (Abuja), told physicsworld.com that the new centre already has 50 students from across the continent and that classes began on Monday. "[Setting up AIMS (Abuja)] has been an exhilarating experience, frustrating at times, but well worth the effort of bringing students from across the continent to a place where they can learn with top faculty from all over the world," he said. "The challenges now include bringing more African women into science and convincing policy-makers across the continent of the importance of developing a scientific elite."

AIMS (Abuja) is based at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), which also opens this month. Focusing on engineering, materials science, computing as well as petroleum and natural-gas engineering, it has been funded by the World Bank and the Nigerian government. The plan is for AUST to eventually have up to 5000 students.

African "brain drain"?

Hawking, Einstein, Africa

Science in Africa

Free book..."The Age of Einstein"

A novice has to start somewhere.

The Age of Einstein, is a brief introduction to Einstein's Theories of Special and General Relativity. It is a book for the inquisitive general reader who wishes to gain an understanding of the key ideas put forward by the greatest scientist of the 20th-century. No more than a modest grasp of High School Mathematics is required to follow the arguments.

The Age of Einstein

Time to re-evaluate physics

I think, as I have said before, that it is time for a re-evaluation in physics...that mere mathematical expressions are insufficient as an epistemological sources without evidence...reverence for the scientific method...if not, then we move into the realm of metaphysics and philosophy.

The April 1st, 2008 issue of Discover ran this short comment:

"Has the Einstein Revolution Gone Too Far?"

Einstein ended science's devotion to experience; it may now be time to come back.

by

Richard Panek

April 1st, 2008

Discover

In the fall of 1919, Albert Einstein received an urgent telegram informing him that astronomers had observed evidence of the bending of light by the sun’s gravity, validating a key prediction of his general theory of relativity. He handed the cable to a student, who began congratulating him. "But I knew that the theory is correct," he interrupted. And what, she asked, if the observations had disagreed with his calculations? "Then I would have been sorry for the dear Lord," Einstein answered. "The theory is correct."

There, in a nutshell, is one of Einstein's most revolutionary yet underappreciated contributions to science. For thousands of years, researchers had studied the behavior of the heavens and sought to capture it in mathematical terms. Einstein reversed the challenge: He sought truth in equations and then trusted that studies of the heavens would back him up. Almost all of modern cosmology and theoretical physics follows from that leap of faith—or leap, perhaps, of reason.

Einstein's first big break with tradition came while he was in his twenties, as he pondered how light travels through a vacuum. At the time, most scientists believed that light was rooted to some substance embedded in empty space. But one evening in May 1905, Einstein did what no other physicist of his era had done: He took the math at face value. The constancy of the speed of light was right there on paper, in James Clerk Maxwell’s 1873 equations defining the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Hence, Einstein postulated, the constancy was right there in the universe, too. If the speed of light is the same to all observers, he realized, then time and space must stretch and compress so that no matter how you are moving, light’s behavior never appears to change. From that one insight sprang the entire special theory of relativity.

As Einstein extended his thinking from space and time to gravity, he found himself increasingly drawn to the power of the equation. "Never before in my life have I troubled myself over anything so much," he wrote to a friend, "and I have gained enormous respect for mathematics, whose more subtle parts I considered until now, in my ignorance, as pure luxury!" The result of that effort, in 1916, was general relativity—the theory that had the newly confident Einstein telling God how the universe must work. By 1933 he had no doubts about the path to scientific truth. Delivering the Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford, he declared: "Our experience hitherto justifies us in believing that nature is the realization of the simplest conceivable mathematical ideas. I am convinced that we can discover by means of purely mathematical constructions the concepts and the laws connecting them with each other."

Following Einstein's example, subsequent physicists have discovered previously unimagin­able phenomena: dark energy, black holes, the Big Bang. In trying to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics, theorists now invoke even more exotic things—subatomic strings, parallel universes, and higher dimensions. These latest concepts all exist beautifully in the mathematics, but so far observers have identified no sign of them in the real world.

Some scientists are starting to worry that Einstein’s revolution has gone too far. Without observation to check theory, at what point does the math devolve into game playing? Einstein, too, fretted about that possibility in his 1933 Oxford lecture. "Experience remains, of course, the sole criterion of the physical utility of a mathematical construction," he said. How to move beyond slavish devotion to experience may have been Einstein’s greatest gift to the 20th century. How to bring mathematical imagination back down to earth may rate as his greatest challenge to the 21st.

Facing that challenge will require a fresh look at Einstein, one that ignores the caricatures and unflinchingly explores the man and his work. It will also demand a rigorous investigation of the people and ideas that could take us beyond Einstein's science.


Handwerksgelehrte

Theoretical physics...philosophy/sci-fi?

112 Mercer Street...where Einstein lived

112 Mercer Street

Princeton University

Albert Einstein's house...a white frame two-story house with large front porch in Greek revival style where the physicist lived from the time he was ousted the Nazis and joined the Institute for Advanced Study in 1933 until his death in 1955. I suppose you could drive by and glance at Einstein's house but you can't take a tour unless you're Brian Greene.

And, speaking of houses...apparently there is some legal razzle-dazzle regarding Einstein's summer house in Caputh, Germany. This is a complicated matter of money, Jewish heritage, Nazi Germany, and a famous personality.

Take a tour.

"Einstein's heirs fight for his little piece of Germany"

Einstein, the Laskers, and chess

Edward Lasker
December 3rd, 1885 to March 25th, 1981

Emanuel Lasker
December 24th, 1868 to January 11th, 1941

If the following is true, what a bizarre situation. Einstein did play chess and was a good friend of Edward Lasker [famous chess player] and gave Einstein an autographed copy of his book Go and Gomoku [1934]. Einstein returned the gift with an autographed copy of one of his papers on relativity. Now the bizarre part. At some time later the Lasker book showed up in a used bookstore. Lasker was informed of the situation in which he replied that it was not a problem for he left the Einstein gift on the subway. True? Don't know, but it is a good story.

Now Emanuel Lasker, a close friend of Einstein's and no relation to Edward Lasker, passed away and Einstein wrote the following preface to the posthumous biography Emanuel Lasker, The Life of a Chess Master by Dr. Jacques Hannak [1952].

Einstein wrote:

Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people I came to know in my later years. We must be thankful to those who have penned the story of his life for this and succeeding generations. For there are few men who have had a warm interest in all the great human problems and at the same time kept their personality so uniquely independent.

I am not a chess expert and therefore not in a position to marvel at the force of mind revealed in his greatest intellectual achievement - in the field of chess. I must even confess that the struggle for power and the competitive spirit expressed in the form of an ingenious game have always been repugant to me.

I met Emanuel Lasker at the house of my old friend, Alexander Moszkowski, and came to know him well in the course of many walks in which we exchanged opinions about the most varied questions. It was a somewhat one-sided exchange, in which I received more that I gave. For it was usually more natural for this eminently productive man to shape his own thoughts than to busy himself with those of another.

To my mind, there was a tragic note in his personality, despite his fundamentally affirmative attitude towards life. The enormous psychological tension, without which nobody can be a chess master, was so deeply interwoven with chess that he could never entirely rid himself of the spirit of the game, even when he was occupied with philosophic and human problems. At the same time, it seemed to me that chess was more a profession for him than the real goal of his life. His real yearning seems to be directed towards scientific understanding and the beauty inherent only in logical creation, a beauty so enchanting that nobody who has once caught a glimpse of it can ever escape it.

Spinoza's material existence and independence were base on the grinding of lenses; chess had an analogous role in Lasker's life. But Spinoza was granted a better fate, because his occupation left his mind free and untroubled, while, on the other hand, the chess playing of a master ties him to the game, fetters his mind and shapes it to a certain extent so that his internal freedom and ease, no matter how strong he is, must inevitably be affected. In our conversations and in the reading of his philosophical books, I always had that feeling. Of these books, The Philosophy of the Unattainable interested me the most; the book is not only very original, but it also affords a deep insight into Lasker's entire personality.

Now I must justify myself because I never considered in detail, either in writing or in our conversations, Emanuel Lasker's critical essay on the theory of relativity. It is indeed necessary for me to say something about it here because even in his biography, which is focused on the purely human aspects, the passage which discusses the essay contains something resembling a slight reproach. Lasker's keen analytical mind had immediately clearly recognized that the central point of the whole question is that the velocity of light (in a vacuum) is a constant. It was evident to him that, if this constancy were admitted, the relative of time could not be avoided. So what was there to do? He tried to do what Alexnder, whom historians have dubbed "the Great," did when he cut the Gordian knot. Lasker's attempted solution was based on the following idea: "Nobody has any immediate knowledge of how quickly light is transmitted in a complete vacuum, for even in interstellar space there is always a minimal quantity of matter present under all circimstances and what holds there is even more applicable to the most complete vacuum created by man to the best of his ability. Therefore, who has the right to deny that its velocity in a really complete vacuum is infinite?"

To answer this argument can be expressed as follows: "It is, to be sure, true that nobody has experimental knowledge of how light is transmitted in a complete vacuum. But it is as good as impossible to formulate a reasonable theory of light according to which the velocity of light is affected by minimal traces of matter which is very significant but at the same time virtuallt independent of ther density." Before such a theory, which moreover, must harmonize with the known phenomena of optics in an almost complete vacuum, can be set up, it seems that evey physicist must wait for the solution of the above-mentioned Gordian knot - if he is not satisified with the present solution. Moral: a strong mind cannot take place of delicate fingers.

But I liked Lasker's immovable independence, a rare human attribute, in which respect almost all, including intelligent people, are mediocrities. And so I let matteers stand that way.

I am glad that the reader will be able to get to know this strong and, at the same time, find and lovable personality from his sympathetic biography, but I am thankful for the hours of conversation which this ever striving, independent, simple man granted me.

Einstein shot by Esther Bubley

Esther Bubley

"LIFE sent Bubley to photograph Albert Einstein on his 74th birthday. Einstein, who hated photographers, had agreed to a one-hour session, but he relented and allowed the quiet and unobtrusive Bubley to accompany him for the entire day."

Unless you are an aficionado of classic photographic print history, you may never have heard of Esther Bubley who took some remarkable and personal style photographs of Albert Einstein.


Esther Bubley (1921-1998)

Magazines: LIFE: Albert Einstein 74th Birthday (1953)


Book:

Esther Bubley: On Assignment

by

Esther Bubley and Bonnie Yochelson

ISBN: 193178857X

Einstein and the bird

Gillett Griffin [curator of the Princeton University Art Museum] offers a tale involving acceptance into the Einstein fold via a toy bird. [Note the European male attitude of a certain domestic chore.]:

In 1954 an invitation to dinner at the Einstein home in Princeton, New Jersey, and a toy brought Gillett Griffin into the life and family of Albert Einstein. The dinner party included professor Einstein's stepdaughter Margot, his housekeeper and another woman.

And then mid-way through dessert he apologized. Said he had to get to work. Said he had a lot of things on his mind. And so I thanked him profusely. As he was leaving the room I turned to the ladies and said, "Let me help with the dishes," says Mr. Griffin. "Einstein turned around and said, Ach, in Europe the men never do the dishes." And I prevailed anyway. They let me dry.

When the dishes were all done I thought I had better leave and I was getting ready to leave and thanking everybody. And Elaine Dukos said, "Did the professor show you his bird?" And I said no and she called upstairs. The typewriter was banging away upstairs. She said, "Professor, you need to show Griffin your bird." The typewriter stopped.

He came shuffling down the backstairs with a twinkle in his eye, beckoned with his head, went to a sort of baroque cabinet, pulled out a plastic dickey bird with suction cups and wound it up (and) stuck it on the mirror. Instead of watching the dickey bird going up the mirror, he watched my face. When the dickey bird hit the frame at the top, it fell into his hand. He said, "Did you like it." I said, "I loved it." Eventually I got three different telephone calls from the three ladies saying consider yourself part of the family. So how's that?

Being part of the Einstein family meant being challenged from time to time by the professor: He loved little plastic puzzles. Get the three balls in the center of a maize or get the ball up a ramp or whatever. And I hated those things because my brother would tease me a lot and that was one way of teasing me. But every time I would show up at the Einstein house he would hand me a puzzle. And I would work on it with…quietly…clouds of steam coming out of my ears. And then I would hand it to him and say, "You can do this better than I can." And he would say, "It just takes patience."

History/philosophy of science...I think so!

This is a huge problem today...so few scientists have a history of their profession. Robert Thornton who had recently received his Ph.D. and was preparing his teaching material at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez in 1944 wrote Einstein a letter. Thornton's question was simple and relevant: Is it worthy to introduce as much history of science and philosophy of science as possible into the realm of modern physics.

Einstein's answer [December 1944]:

I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today -- and even professional scientists -- seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is -- in my opinion -- the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.

Nothing new from Einstein for in 1916, Einstein wrote a memorial note for Ernst Mach:

How does it happen that a properly endowed natural scientist comes to concern himself with epistemology? Is there no more valuable work in his specialty? I hear many of my colleagues saying, and I sense it from many more, that they feel this way. I cannot share this sentiment. When I think about the ablest students whom I have encountered in my teaching, that is, those who distinguish themselves by their independence of judgment and not merely their quick-wittedness, I can affirm that they had a vigorous interest in epistemology. They happily began discussions about the goals and methods of science, and they showed unequivocally, through their tenacity in defending their views, that the subject seemed important to them. Indeed, one should not be surprised at this.

Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such an authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens. Thus they come to be stamped as "necessities of thought," "a priori givens," etc. The path of scientific advance is often made impassable for a long time through such errors. For that reason, it is by no means an idle game if we become practiced in analyzing the long commonplace concepts and exhibiting those circumstances upon which their justification and usefulness depend, how they have grown up, individually, out of the givens of experience. By this means, their all-too-great authority will be broken. They will be removed if they cannot be properly legitimated, corrected if their correlation with given things be far too superfluous, replaced by others if a new system can be established that we prefer for whatever reason.

Physics [and indeed all sciences] can be misguided and troubled with problems without a clear perspective of history and philosophy of science.