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Einstein

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  • #51
    Originally posted by Anonymouse

    "Charlatan."

    "What is 'charlatan'?"



    "A quack."



    "I don't have feathers!"

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    • #52
      Looks like at least Einstein OWNED Oppenheimer in Princeton.
      this post = teh win.

      Comment

      • #53
        Originally posted by Stark Evade
        And only his name is commonly associated with STR which is unfair and misleading because so much work was done before him, including all of the math involved.
        That's not entirely true, as the equations most commonly associated with SR are the Lorentz Transformations. You're probably right that the larger, non-scientific world credits Einstein almost exclusively, but people that actually work in the field seem to realize that Einstein is responsible for none of the nuts and bolts of the theory. His contribution was the famous gedankens that demonstrate how the transformations can be explained as a relativistic effect, rather than as an ether effect. In that sense, he is responsible for SR, as he was the first to realize that the mathematical and experimental results were due to relativity.

        Realistically, I don't think he was stupid. But when it comes to scientists, I also don't think he's as special as he's made out to be either.
        I'd actually imagine that he probably wouldn't disagree with you there. Einstein wasn't much of a mathematician and he did little to no experimentation. He was, however, a great theoretician. Perhaps the fact that he wasn't too involved with developing the small cogs in the system is what allowed him to see the big picture better than anyone else could.

        Also, I really think he has been as popularized as he has been simply because he is a figure that the common man can identify with. He struggled with math, worked at a patent office, and came up with a large theoretical breakthrough seemingly just by thinking about it. Dan Dennett gives a decent description of this in one of his papers:

        Chalmers would like to fulfil the Philosopher’s Dream:

        To prove a priori, from one’s ivory tower, a metaphysical fact that forces a revolution in the sciences.

        It is not an impossible dream. (That is, it is not logically impossible.) Einstein’s great insight into relativity comes tantalizingly close to having been a purely philosophical argument, something a philosopher might have come up with just from first principles.
        Home Page
        http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/chalmersdeb3dft.htm
        Tufts University is a world-class private research university in Greater Boston that provides an education like no other.


        When people look at the work of Hilbert and Poincare and Lorentz, they see incomprehensible physical minutiae and post-graduate level mathematics. Einstein's publications, at least the ones on SR, are simply more accessible. The layman can read them and say "hey, that makes sense."

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        • #54
          Nice input Louseyourname and thanks for the links. I enjoyed the thread in the physics forum particularly. And as I knew/figured - many contributed (to relativity - general and special) - and Einstein wasn't so much a great mathmatician perhaps - but at least he understood the signifigance of some seemingly disconected findings and had the insight to apply them and to communicate the concepts - a very important and often underappreciated skill - and the fact that he is recognized both in the physics community, the noblel committe and society in general certainly says something for his contributiions. So OK perhaps he did not give the credit that his predecessors and discoverers of specific formula and principals deserved....shame on him...but really now...

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          • #55
            Well, I just spotted another good thread on Einstein over at the Physics Forums.

            What are the current pressing questions in Einstein's field of study?
            http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=778693#post778693
            I'm heading to this year's Nobel Conference in Minnesota. The topic is the Legacy of Einstein and the panels will consist of scientists in the areas of statistical physics, relativity, cosmology, and unified theories, who will discuss current work in the areas of Einstein's greatest...


            One of the posters there was invited to a lecture at the nobel presentation this year, and one of the topics was Einstein's legacy. This lecture seems to have focused mostly on one of his lesser-known contributions, in the area of condensed matter physics. The linked thread contains one man's notes from that lecture.

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