Even Einstein Had His Off Days

[zavvy]

<b>Even Einstein Had His Off Days</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />WE have now entered what is being celebrated as the Einstein Year, marking the centenary of the physicist's annus mirabilis in 1905, when he published three landmark papers - those that proved the existence of the atom, showed the validity of quantum physics and, of course, introduced the world to his theory of special relativity. Not bad for a beginner.<br /><br />"It's not that I'm so smart," Einstein once said, "It's just that I stay with problems longer." Whatever the reason for his greatness, there is no doubt that this determination allowed him to invent courageous new physics and explore realms that nobody else had dared to investigate. <br /><br />What he was not, however, was a perfect genius. In fact, when it came to the biggest scientific issue of all - the origin of the universe - he was utterly wrong. And while we should certainly laud his achievements over the next 12 months, we may learn a more valuable lesson by investigating Einstein's greatest failure.<br /><br />The story starts in the late 19th century, when the scientific establishment believed in an eternal and unchanging universe. This was a neat theory of cosmology, because a universe that had always existed did not raise any awkward questions, such as "When was the universe created?" and "What (or Who) created it?"<br /><br />Einstein grew up in this era, and was similarly convinced that the universe had existed for an eternity. However, when he developed general relativity (his theory of gravity) in 1915, he became aware of a tricky problem. Gravity is an attractive force - it attracts coins to the ground and it attracts comets toward the sun. So why hadn't gravity caused the matter in the universe to collapse inward on itself? <br /><br />Gravity seemed to be incompatible with an eternal, unchanging universe, and Einstein certainly had no symp

 

[alkalin]

Good article, thanks.<br /><br />There are differences in what Hubble and Einstein claimed, in my humble view. The Universe is a truely complex place. Look for what you are looking for. You may not be disappointed. <br /><br />Is your paradigm close to ultimate truth yet? Is it logical? Does it offer causality that is plausible? Does it imply weakness or strength in our math ability? Does it fit ‘all’ aspects of reality we are trying to fit? Or is it stuck in the usual rut of only answering a few aspects of what we think reality should to be? Does the ‘believer’ of it try to ‘sell’ the idea?<br /><br />What many may think is genius in Einstein perhaps is far more related to some niche he managed to fill in the solid wall of institutionalism of his day, and he had far more success than he might have deserved otherwise. What truly amazes me are the insights of Maxwell. Yet there is barley a whimper here and most elsewhere about him. He truly defined the universe in the equations of diametrics, something rather complicated. Since Dr. E was not concerned so much in complicated math, many, including Lorentz, worked at supplying very simple forms of math to allow Dr. E to contemplate the most general and philosophical questions of the universe, and his mind was very able in this area. <br /><br />That to me resulted in what is most tragic in the sense it may have delayed much understanding of our universe for many decades. Some of these ‘simplified’ equations do not represent true reality, if you are not being careful in their application.<br /><br />Yet you find them in all their gory in all the text books of today. I’m sure galled I’m not in the business of selling an education....<br />

 

[CalliArcale]

Yes, fascinating, thanks! I don't think I can add much to what alkalin and stevehw33 said, but I wanted to say something. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[chew_on_this]

he could have trimmed his eyebrows once in a while.

 

[zavvy]

Steve, Calli and Alkalin...<br /><br />Thanks for the kind words.. glad you enjoyed the article!<br /><br />