Albert Einstein -- Scientist-Humanist

Our very own Earle Mullen shared with us his fascination with the science and philosophy of Albert Einstein. The United Nations has declared 2005 the International Year of Physics in celebration of the centenary of Einstein’s Annus Mirabilis, in which the 26-year-old patent clerk wrote six papers that shook the foundations of our understanding of the universe. Einstein became an icon of the twentieth century as evidence accumulated to support his overthrowing Newton’s theory of gravity. He completely changed the concepts of space and time that hitherto has been considered absolute. Yet despite his towering intellect, Einstein willingly answered many people’s questions about a variety of topics.

Albert Einstein was born in 1879 to non-observant Jews in Ulm Germany. Science grabbed his interest at an early age – the “miracle” of the magnetic compass fascinated him at age 5. He became intensely religious for about a year when he was 11 years old, but then his focus switched to science. He failed the entrance exam at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute (ETH) at age 16. After studying for the following year, he passed the exam and avoided the German draft by surrendering his German citizenship and moving to Switzerland. Five year later he became a Swiss citizen.

Einstein needed a job in his new homeland, and a friend’s father found him a position as a technical expert, third class, at the Berne Patent Office. The young patent clerk edited and polished patent applications. His duties provided him with ample time to study physics. 1905 was the pivotal year of Einstein’s career because of his six papers on physics. His Light Quantum Hypothesis explained the phenomenon of how metals give off electrons when exposed to strong light. Contrary to the accepted notion that light was a wave, Einstein theorized that light had to behave as a particle in order to produce this effect. In another paper, he developed a method for determining the sizes of molecules using Brownian Motion in liquid. His best-known theory of special relativity was based on thought experiments in which he imagined chasing a light wave.

Before 1905 scientists assumed that since light was a wave, it had to propagate through a medium that they named ether. But the Michelson-Morley experiment designed to detect ether could not measure anything. Baffled, many scientists invented convoluted theories to explain the results. Einstein decided that ether simply did not exist and that light could propagate in a vacuum. He postulated the equivalency of uniformly moving observers. For example, a person standing in a train station watches a train pass by and sees a passenger who appears to be moving as fast as the train. The passenger sees the person in the station appear to move at the same speed in the opposite direction. Each person views the motion of the other differently because of the different frames of reference. However, Einstein theorized that the speed of light is constant regardless of the frame of reference. In a three-page paper, he derived his most famous equation from first principles: E=mc² – energy equals mass times the speed of light squared (i.e. all bodies have energy based on their mass).

A year after his flurry of ultimately influential papers, Einstein received a promotion at the Patent Office – technical expert, second class. Meanwhile his ideas gained recognition, and in three years he became a professor at the University of Zurich. Other universities courted him, and by age 34 he happily joined the University of Berlin that founded a special institute for him and granted him complete research freedom.

In 1936 after ten years of work, Einstein completed his General Theory of Relativity. He declared that the “happiest thought of [his] life” was a person falling off the roof of a house. Although the unfortunate falling person might disagree, Einstein explained that the person would not experience a gravitational field. Hence the person would fall just as fast as Newton’s apple and see the apple as stationary. In Einstein’s General Theory, the curvature of space-time accounts for the motions of celestial bodies. Newton had explained this motion as action-at-a-distance caused by the mutual attraction of these bodies. Using an analogy to explain Einstein’s theory, imagine a cannonball (a star) on a trampoline (space-time). The trampoline stretches and forms a depression. If one were to drop a marble (planet) near the cannonball, it would fall into the depression and appear to be attracted to the cannonball.

One of the “proofs” of the General Theory was its use in explaining the anomaly of the apparent ellipse shift of Mercury’s orbit. This mysterious behavior made sense if one understood that the light from Mercury was being bent around the sun. Additionally, during an eclipse scientists measured the apparent position of a star known to be behind the sun. This investigation showed that the beam of light was curved.

Einstein tended to speak about God metaphorically. He was not an Atheist, but nor did he believe in a typical God that “rewards and punishes the objects of his creation.” He rejected the idea that one needed religion to be a good person. Regarding science and religion, Einstein stated, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”

Beyond the realm of science, Einstein was deeply concerned about world affairs. Zionism became one of Einstein’s interests, and he helped raise money for the cause. He believed that Israel needed peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in order to survive. He also greatly admired Gandhi and with him signed a manifesto against obligatory military service. He praised Gandhi: “the greatest political genius of our time… gave proof of what sacrifice man is capable once he has discovered the right path. His views were the most enlightened of all the political men of our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit; not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by nonparticipation in what we believe is evil.”

Einstein fiercely opposed militarism but knew that war was necessary to stop Hitler. (He had escaped Germany in 1932 to become a professor at Princeton, and never returned.) Upon learning about Germany’s access to uranium deposits in the Belgian Congo and at the urging of fellow physicists, he wrote a letter to President Roosevelt about German interest in developing nuclear weapons. Because of Einstein’s stature, Roosevelt promptly authorized the Manhattan Project. Einstein later regretted his letter because Germany did not succeed and because of the devastation of Hiroshima: “The release of atomic energy has brought into the world the most revolutionary force since pre-historic man’s invention of fire… Had I known that the Germans would not succeed… I never would have lifted a finger. I made one mistake in my life… when I signed that letter to President Roosevelt advocating that the bomb should be built. But perhaps I can be forgiven…”

During the later years of his life, Einstein unsuccessfully strove to reconcile the theories of gravitation and electro-magnetism and thereby develop a Universal Theory that would unite all forces. He never stopped working until his death in 1955. Einstein’s scientific legacy will remain even if String Theory replaces his theories. His legacy as a humanitarian endures. Among his many quotes, this one exemplifies his beliefs: “In the last analysis, everyone is a human being, whether he is an American or a German, a Jew or a Gentile. If it were possible to hold only this worthy point of view, I would be a happy man.”