Richard Li Essays - Physics, Albert Einstein, Determinists, Sigma Xi

Richard Li Communication Albert Einstein- informative speech "some people wonder how does Physicists think. We would look out the window with a block of equation and just think, until these equations fit together." Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. Ever since Einstein was young, he was very curious with the invisible force behind the compass. Albert Einstein wanted to find "God's thought"; in one equation- the beauty, power and majesty of the worlds laws into one single equation. However, Einstein felt victimized by the Prussian style of education, which did not promote creativity. Professors thought he was a goofball and gave him bad marks. Even Einstein thought of him as a loser eventually. He was unable to find a job, even his father tried to beg the school to give him a position as an assistant, but to no effect. 1902 was Einstein's worst year. He wanted to marry his love, Maric, but he did not have a job and would not be able to support the family. His father's business also found no success and things are looking desperate. Luckily, in the following year Einstein's good friend Marcel Grossmann recommended him to work as a clerk in a swiss patent office. This not only meant a steady income for him, but he also became confident enough to marry Maric, which he did in 1903. Einstein worked 6 days a week at his new job. There he analyzed patents quickly and had a lot of time thinking about visions he had since he was young. Einstein was able to piece together from his daydreams that relativity is an universal law of nature, which he published as a paper. His theories was only noticed after receiving the attention of Max Planck, the founder of the quantum theory. After Planck confirmed the validity of his proposals, Einstein was invited to speak a international conference and rose in the academic world. Many prestigious universities offered him positions, including the university of Berlin, where he would serve as a director of physics institute from 1913 to 1933. With fame comes a price. Einstein's marriage was falling apart, as he was always traveling to speak at conferences. Einstein and his wife argued very frequently. Convinced that their marriage is doomed, they divorced and agreed to give the money to her if he ever won the Nobel Prize. November 4th, 1915 Einstein completed general theory of relativity, his masterpiece. There is much mathematical beauty. It can predict Mercury's orbit around the sun, as well as predicting deflection of light around the sun. His work was interrupted by World War 1. He was among the few intellectuals in Germany who signed a manifesto opposing the war. Following the war, expeditions where sent out to test Einstein's theory of deflected light near the sun. The results put Einstein on the headlines of many big papers, portraying him as the successor of Isaac Newton. On his way to speak across the world, he received word that he have received the Nobel Prize for physics, but for Photoelectric effect. During his acceptance speech, he spoke all about relativity and startled the audience. Once he was asked to appear alongside Charlie Chaplin, and Chaplin remarked "The people applaud me because everybody understands me. They Applaud you because no one understands you." When the Nazi's rose to power, they targeted relativity as "Jewish Physics." Nazi's enlisted many scientists to denounce his theory of relativity. Einstein in return simply said that defeating relativity does not take the words of 100 scientists. Rather just one fact. In 1932 Einstein decided to leave Germany, as his life was in danger. There has been a bounty placed on his head. Einstein moved to Princeton, New Jersey, which is a soon to be gather place for physicist from all around the world. Some newspaper articles declared that the "pope of physics had left Germany and Princeton is now the new Vatican." In the late 1930s, many physicists began to wonder if E = mc squared might make an atomic bomb possible, which was later shown that vast amounts of energy can be unleashed from the splitting of uranium atom, electrifying the physics community. Einstein wrote a letter to