Albert Einstein: The General Theory of Relativity Essay

The Economist’s article “The most beautiful theory” discusses Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It explains the origins of general relativity through Einstein’s initial thought experiments that eventually led to the realization that the university functions in four dimensions (“three spatial dimensions, one temporal one”) and that mass curved space-time, creating gravity. Over time, Einstein’s theory was verified by observations, such as those made by Arthur Eddington when he noticed the skew of light around the sun during an eclipse, which could only have been due to distorted space-time. His theory has also been expanded over the years as physicists try to combine general relativity with

The Special Theory of relativity is an acknowledged physical theory that revolutionized advancements in the relationship between space, and time. The theory is one of the most interesting discoveries that are still used today in science fiction movies such as Star Wars, and Star Trek through the use of black holes, and time travel due to it’s astonishing results, and it occurrence at speeds close to the speed light, which can be appealing to a wide range of audience. This was a harvest from six years of extremely handwork by Albert Einstein. Einstein used resources that were widely available to the public due to his economic constraints. It wasn’t until 1905, when Einstein finally had finished and published his discoveries, and gatherings

Through wonder and complicated thinking Einstein gave a strong argument on how space and time could be curved. By Einstein creating this theory he completely altered the way we could think of space and time. Einstein pictured space as a three-dimensional version of a thin rubber sheet. If you put a heavy object on the sheet, it makes a dent, and therefore an object's path would be affected by that dent. So, planets orbit the sun because “the space around the sun is curved in the 2-D equivalent of a funnel or basin”.( http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/20th_people_einstein.html) “The curvature of space results in the effects of gravity. This notion of curved space becomes more tangible . . . occurs because its curvature of space”. (http://www.fi.edu/learn/case files/einstein/curved.html) Einstein introduced this special theory of relativity because it dealt only with the special case of motion in frames of reference that are neither increasing nor decreasing to the viewer. In other words, “the frames of the reference are . . . a consistent speed in a straight line”. (Jake Goldberg pg.47) Einstein also changed how we now think about gravity itself! He came up with his own theory of gravity as well, called Equivalence Principle. “Einstein said that when he was sitting in a chair in the patent office at Bern when all of a sudden a thought occurred to me: 'If a person falls freely he will not feel his own weight.' I was

Modern physicists found, however, that at the physical extremes of nature-the microcosmic realm of atomic particles and the macrocosmic world of heavy astronomical bodies-the laws of Newton’s principia did not apply. German physicist, Albert Einstein, made public his special theory of relativity, a radically new approach to the new concepts of time, space, motion, and light. Building on Einstein’s theories, Werner Heisenberg theorized that since the very act of measuring subatomic phenomena altered them, the position and the velocity of a subatomic particle could not be measured

1) How did Albert Einstein's "new physics" change perceptions of the way the universe worked?

Albert Einstein, the acclaimed theoretical physicist, became Albert Einstein when his passion for physics and

Einstein has provided evidence for the atomic theory, and he proposed the special theory of relativity, wave theory, and photon theory (Goldenstern 51) (Anirudh). In Einstein’s special theory of relativity, Einstein says that space and time are linked together. According to Elizabeth Howell, “...as an object approaches the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite and it is unable to go any faster than light travels.” He the first to accurately determine the size of atoms and prove their existence (Anirudh).

One achievement of Einstein’s was the human understanding of light. His interest in light came at an early age. In 1905, he conducted his first “Thought Experiment” and formed the special theory of relativity which said that light is constant. This contradicted what other scientist of his time had thought. It also said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light at 186,000 miles/second, and that light travels at the same speed no matter where the source is coming from. Another

In 1905, Einstein wrote a paper about random motions of particles in liquids, which was known as the Brownian motion. Within this paper, he explained what Brown had proposed by stating that the reason pollen moved through water was by individual water molecules. While Einstein was working on this experiment, he noticed how many atoms are in a mole. He then determined the size of molecules through Avogadro’s number. In 1905, when Einstein released his revolutionary paper, he suggested that light could also be considered as a collection of photons, challenging the wave theory of light. Einstein advanced the theory of relativity. This showed major changes to mechanics with dealing with situations close to the speed of light. Even today, this theory is the most accurate when dealing with the motion at any speed. Einstein promoted the equivalence of energy and mass through his theory of special relativity. The formula is E=mc2, where c is the speed of light within a vacuum. Einstein then later on proposed the theory of general relativity in 1916. Even to this day, all experiments have been able to use general relativity. This theory has helped model large-scale structures of our universe. After receiving a paper from Satyendra Nath Bose, and Indian physicist, Einstein continued the idea onto atoms. Within the paper, Bose showed his method that light could be understood that gas was a

These included his PhD (in 1905), the Nobel Prize for Physics (in 1921), and the Royal Society Copley medal (in 1925). During the year 1915, Einstein completed his general theory of relativity. “He was convinced that general relativity was correct because of its mathematical beauty and because it accurately predicted the perihelion of Mercury’s orbit around the sun, which fell short in Newton’s theory.”

Einstein’s first scientific papers were published in 1900 in his journal Annalen Der Physik and received a PhD in 1905. The year 1905 was considered to be Einstein’s miracle

This idea challenged the standard physical theory of the time. He was bound to have skeptics, people who would severely doubt his idea. His general relativity sums up his special relativity and Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, or spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation is present. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of partial differential

This source is written by Barrow who is an English, cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. This article talks about the Albert Einstein’s innovation who is the celebrity, hero, and icon for everyone and everywhere at all the time. It’s main argument about how Einstein became the global icon. Barrow argues that how Einstein was accepted universally as a hero and restored faith in the unintelligibility of science. The author talks about the Einstein’s achievement in the physics world “the theory of relativity.” His theory changed the whole world in different age. Barrow argues that today the Einstein industry is strong as ever. He also tells if the human race had to agree on an image to transmit to the space inhabitant civilization,

Albert Einstein is considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century. He is known for developing the theories of relativity. He is also noted for his mathematical formula of E = mc² (David Bodanis). Although he was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project, which was responsible for creating the atomic bomb, but he is still considered the mastermind because of his breakthrough formula. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (A. Calaprice & T. Lipscombe).

The third paper was on electrodynamics of moving bodies. It became known as the theory of relativity. It explains how matter and radiation interact with one another. With these well thought out papers Albert Einstein had solved the unanswered problems of the world. He wanted to learn more and began to try and answer the questions of the universe. In 1939 Einstein connected with other scientists and wrote a letter to the president, Franklin D.