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How did Einstein Think?

pitt.edu

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Re: How did Einstein Think?

#21

Post by keithpeter »

maskedinvader wrote: post #3

For someone who recently read a lot about Einstein and his work and learn what his theory actually accomplishes, this was a great read. I am glad I took 15 minutes of my time to read this paper. Personally I feel it sucks that almost every educated person can recollect his famous equation but a small fraction actually know what it is all about and how his work changed our understanding of space and time. I recommend…

I particularly liked the contrast between the algebraic and geometrical views of the world.

The simple illustration of a 'singularity' arising from the slope of a vertical line (y = mx+c with m=infinity) compared with the geometrical view where such a line is simply a vertical line which can be transformed into any other line by rotating will be useful in teaching!

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#22

Post by dannylandau »

titzer wrote: post #10

Like many people, Einstein's life and work has been fascinating to me, but in comparison to other brilliant scientists of the twentieth century, there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. That said, I find Einstein-worship annoying. The cultural obsession with Einstein and cult of personality detracts from the reality th…

Not sure I would agree with that sentiment. Einstein was considered to be exceptional even by his peers. I've read quite a few biographies of of prominent/famous scientists, including Teller, Bohr, Fermi, Pauli, Landau, Feynman, Bethe, Von Neumann, Abraham Pais, Weisskopf, Wigner, etc.. and almost all revere Einstein and put him on the same pedestal as Isaac Newton (and in Mathematician case -- Karl Gauss). Based on a brief appraisal of his accomplishments, one can objectively come to the conclusion that he was head and shoulders above the rest, such as: 1) Brownian Motion -- showing the existence of atoms. 2) Photoelectric Effect -- demonstrating that light can be thought of as a particle. 3) Special Relativity -- Relating mass with energy. 4) General Relativity -- generalizes the special case and incorporate gravity as well.

Many other contributions including Bose-Einstein effect that he would like consider secondary contributions, but have non the less have gone on to generate enormous research in the field (and lead to not a few noble prizes if that matters to people).

Heisenberg is probably the only one that can be honestly said to have made a profound discovery rivaling Einstein.

Just my two cents here.

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#24

Post by danieldyer »

titzer wrote: post #19
las_cases wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. I can guess at least one: Nikola Tesla. May I ask you what other names do you have in mind?

John Von Neumann, Grace Hopper, Turing. Bernoulli, Euler, Riemann.

Don't forget Emmy Noether: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Noether

"In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fräulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began. In the realm of algebra, in which the most gifted mathematicians have been busy for centuries, she discovered methods which have proved of enormous importance in the development of the present-day younger generation of mathematicians."

- Albert Einstein

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#25

Post by tormeh »

las_cases wrote: post #17
titzer wrote: post #10

Like many people, Einstein's life and work has been fascinating to me, but in comparison to other brilliant scientists of the twentieth century, there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. That said, I find Einstein-worship annoying. The cultural obsession with Einstein and cult of personality detracts from the reality th…

> there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. I can guess at least one: Nikola Tesla. May I ask you what other names do you have in mind?

Maxwell

and though obvious, Newton is not to be sneezed at.

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#26

Post by mafribe »

titzer wrote: post #19
las_cases wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. I can guess at least one: Nikola Tesla. May I ask you what other names do you have in mind?

John Von Neumann, Grace Hopper, Turing. Bernoulli, Euler, Riemann.

Exactly what has G. Hopper done that warrants her inclusion in this list?

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#27

Post by JoeAltmaier »

las_cases wrote: post #17
titzer wrote: post #10

Like many people, Einstein's life and work has been fascinating to me, but in comparison to other brilliant scientists of the twentieth century, there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. That said, I find Einstein-worship annoying. The cultural obsession with Einstein and cult of personality detracts from the reality th…

> there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. I can guess at least one: Nikola Tesla. May I ask you what other names do you have in mind?

Asimov wrote on Newton in particular, as the greatest scientist of all time. All others compete for 2nd place. Optics, Physics, Calculus. Nobody holds a candle to that accomplishment. Also, he invented the doggy door, and milled edges on coins (to discourage filing, a common 18th-century way to steal precious metal)

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#28

Post by joshmarlow »

titzer wrote: post #18
ok_craig wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why people are always so interested in cutting down other peoples' heroes. "Oh, Einstein wasn't special, if he didn't get it, the next guy would have. Check out these folks instead." Somehow not sensing the irony that if we all did then worship the other ones you're talking about, you or someone like you would then just make the same claims on those people.. that they're not special, it was about timing and…

No, sorry. It's not about me at all. If I felt like I was special for having different heroes than everyone else then I wouldn't bother trying to draw attention to their accomplishments. It's about our culture's disproportionate focus on one particular person and their contributions to the exclusion of a much more complicated reality.

You know, whether right or wrong in this case, I think you're on to something. As a culture, we do like to focus on singletons - we like the idea of lone geniuses toiling away and changing the world and skip over the amount of team-work/collaboration that goes into real advances.

So I wonder: is this specific to our culture or is a multi-cultural thing? If it is multi-cultural, then an explanation might be that hyper-focus on individual accomplishment was a more accurate perspective in our hunter-gatherer days; fewer people means that each person has a bigger relative impact.

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#29

Post by jpmattia »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #27
las_cases wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are at least a handful if not a dozen or couple of dozen people who were and are equally as intelligent, brilliant, and more prolific. I can guess at least one: Nikola Tesla. May I ask you what other names do you have in mind?

Asimov wrote on Newton in particular, as the greatest scientist of all time. All others compete for 2nd place. Optics, Physics, Calculus. Nobody holds a candle to that accomplishment. Also, he invented the doggy door, and milled edges on coins (to discourage filing, a common 18th-century way to steal precious metal)

Do you recall if Asimov had anything to say about Newton's disastrous investments?

BTW: I saw Asimov speak way back when I was in high school, circa 1981. He was great in person.

Re: How did Einstein Think?

#30

Post by ibebrett »

danieldyer wrote: post #24
titzer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

John Von Neumann, Grace Hopper, Turing. Bernoulli, Euler, Riemann.

Don't forget Emmy Noether: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Noether "In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fräulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began. In the realm of algebra, in which the most gifted mathematicians have been busy for centuries, she discovered methods which have proved of enormous importanc…

She was brilliant, but lets not go overboard. She's not even the biggest name in the fields of math she contributed to.
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