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Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles
by Samuel GraydonA rollercoaster ride through the life and ideas of the twentieth century's most famous and controversial scientist in 99 sparkling vignettes.DROPOUT. PACIFIST. PHYSICIST. CASANOVA. REFUGEE. REBEL. GENIUS.THINK YOU KNOW EINSTEIN? THINK AGAINHis face is instantly recognisable. His name is shorthand for genius. Today, he's a figurehead as much as a man, symbolic of things larger than himself: of scientific progress, of the human mind, even of the age. But who was Einstein really?The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered relativity, black holes and E = mc2, dined with Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood and was the inspiration for (highly radioactive) element 99, Albert Einstein was also a high school dropout with an FBI file 1,400 pages long.In this audiobook, Samuel Graydon's writing brings history's most famous scientist back to life. From his lost daughter to escaping the Nazis, from his love letters to unlikely inventions, from telling jokes to cheer up his sad parrot Bibo to refusing the Presidency of Israel, through the discoveries and thought experiments that changed science, Einstein in Time and Space tells 99 unforgettable stories of the man who redefined how we view our universe and our place within it.(P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles
by Samuel GraydonDROPOUT. PACIFIST. PHYSICIST. CASANOVA. REFUGEE. REBEL. GENIUS.THINK YOU KNOW EINSTEIN? THINK AGAINHis face is instantly recognisable. His name is shorthand for genius. Today, he's a figurehead as much as a man, symbolic of things larger than himself: of scientific progress, of the human mind, even of the age. But who was Einstein really?The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered relativity, black holes and E = mc2, dined with Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood and was the inspiration for (highly radioactive) element 99, Albert Einstein was also a high school dropout with an FBI file 1,400 pages long.In this book, Samuel Graydon brings history's most famous scientist back to life. From his lost daughter to escaping the Nazis, from his love letters to unlikely inventions, from telling jokes to cheer up his sad parrot Bibo to refusing the Presidency of Israel, through the discoveries and thought experiments that changed science, Einstein in Time and Space tells 99 unforgettable stories of the man who redefined how we view our universe and our place within it.
Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles
by Samuel GraydonWalter Isaacson&’s Einstein meets Craig Brown&’s 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret, in this innovative biography of the famous physicist told in ninety-nine dazzling vignettes.Most of us would agree that Albert Einstein&’s name is synonymous with &“genius&” and that his likeness is often used as a shorthand for all scientists, appearing everywhere from cartoons to textbooks. He has become more myth than man. That being the case, how best to capture his essence? In Einstein in Time and Space, talented young science journalist Samuel Graydon answers that question with an illuminating mosaic—99 intriguingly different particles that cumulatively reveal Einstein&’s contradictory and multitudinous nature. Glimpsed among these shards: a slacker who failed every subject but math, a job seeker who couldn&’t get hired, a lothario who courted many women, and a charmer who was the life of the party. As brilliant as he was inconsistent, Einstein was simultaneously an avid supporter of the NAACP and the fight for civil rights and someone capable of great prejudice. He was loved by many, known by few, and inspirational to a generation of young physicists. Graydon reveals every corner of Einstein&’s world: the false reporting that rocketed Einstein to fame nearly overnight, his effect on people he met merely in passing, even the remarkable posthumous journey of the famed physicist&’s brain. Entertaining, comforting, bolstering, and shocking, Einstein in Time and Space is the unique story of a man who redefined how we view our universe and our place within it.
Einstein on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms
by George Bernard Shaw Albert EinsteinScience and religion are compatible, declares the famous physicist. In these essays, Einstein views science as the basis for a "cosmic" religion, embraced by scientists, theologians, and all who share a sense of wonder in the rationality and beauty of the universe. In the course of his career, Einstein wrote more than 300 scientific and 150 nonscientific publications. These essays date from the 1930s and 40s. In direct, everyday language the author develops a coherent view that transcends both the antiquated religion of fear and the modern religion of ethics. His concept of cosmic religion combines science and religion, with science forming the basis for a more enlightened religion. In these essays and aphorisms, Einstein also reflects on pacifism, disarmament, and Zionism. In addition to a brief biography of the author, this volume includes a warm appreciation by George Bernard Shaw.
Einstein on Einstein: Autobiographical and Scientific Reflections
by Jürgen Renn Hanoch GutfreundNew perspectives on the iconic physicist's scientific and philosophical formationAt the end of World War II, Albert Einstein was invited to write his intellectual autobiography for the Library of Living Philosophers. The resulting book was his uniquely personal Autobiographical Notes, a classic work in the history of science that explains the development of his ideas with unmatched warmth and clarity. Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn introduce Einstein's scientific reflections to today's readers, tracing his intellectual formation from childhood to old age and offering a compelling portrait of the making of a philosopher-scientist.Einstein on Einstein features the full English text of Autobiographical Notes along with incisive essays that place Einstein's reflections in the context of the different stages of his scientific life. Gutfreund and Renn draw on Einstein's writings, personal correspondence, and critical writings by Einstein's contemporaries to provide new perspectives on his greatest discoveries. Also included are Einstein's responses to his critics, which shed additional light on his scientific and philosophical worldview. Gutfreund and Renn quote extensively from Einstein's initial, unpublished attempts to formulate his response, and also look at another brief autobiographical text by Einstein, written a few weeks before his death, which is published here for the first time in English.Complete with evocative drawings by artist Laurent Taudin, Einstein on Einstein illuminates the iconic physicist's journey to general relativity while situating his revolutionary ideas alongside other astonishing scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century.
Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb
by Albert EinsteinThe most famous scientist of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein was also one of the century's most outspoken political activists. Deeply engaged with the events of his tumultuous times, from the two world wars and the Holocaust, to the atomic bomb and the Cold War, to the effort to establish a Jewish homeland, Einstein was a remarkably prolific political writer, someone who took courageous and often unpopular stands against nationalism, militarism, anti-Semitism, racism, and McCarthyism. In Einstein on Politics, leading Einstein scholars David Rowe and Robert Schulmann gather Einstein's most important public and private political writings and put them into historical context. The book reveals a little-known Einstein--not the ineffectual and naïve idealist of popular imagination, but a principled, shrewd pragmatist whose stands on political issues reflected the depth of his humanity.Nothing encapsulates Einstein's profound involvement in twentieth-century politics like the atomic bomb. Here we read the former militant pacifist's 1939 letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning that Germany might try to develop an atomic bomb. But the book also documents how Einstein tried to explain this action to Japanese pacifists after the United States used atomic weapons to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, events that spurred Einstein to call for international control of nuclear technology.A vivid firsthand view of how one of the twentieth century's greatest minds responded to the greatest political challenges of his day, Einstein on Politics will forever change our picture of Einstein's public activism and private motivations.
Einstein on the Road
by Josef EisingerAt the height of his fame, Albert Einstein traveled throughout the world, from Japan to South America and many places in between. During these voyages, between 1922 and 1933, he was in the habit of keeping travel diaries in which he recorded his impressions of people and events, as well as his musings on everything from music and politics to quantum mechanics and psychoanalysis. These fascinating recordsare now here published in thier entirety, painting an engaging personal portrait of Einstein the man.The author has created a vivid and entertaining narrative that brings Einstein's voice to the fore. During Einstein's travels far and wide, he meets with royalty, presidents, movie stars, and artists--Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Kreisler, and Sinclair Lewis, as well as the most eminent scientists of the time, including Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and Edwin Hubble.In his travel entries, we read his candid impressions of the Far East during a long sea voyage to Japan (1922), where Einstein is welcomed with enormous enthusiasm, and steals the show at an imperial reception. He and Elsa visit and explore many Japanese cities, as well as Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Barcelona, Madrid, and Jerusalem, where Einstein cogitates on Zionism and sees it in action. In 1931, the couple spends eight weeks in Pasadena, where Einstein enjoys fruitful interactions with scientists at Caltech and the Mount Wilson observatory. This portion of the diaries contains illuminating observations about America, science, and the Hollywood celebrities he encounters. He returns to Caltech two more times, and enjoys two extended sojourns in another academic sanctuary, Oxford University. Back at home in Berlin, his diary shows his deep involvement with the academic, social, and cultural life of the German capital, and with the politics of the Weimar Republic. He discusses books, dinner parties, plays, concerts, and sailing, but his greatest passion, apart from physics, is music; he is never happier than when playing chamber music, preferably Mozart--and he does so at every opportunity. A lifelong pacifist, he watches the rise of the Nazis with anxiety, and when Hitler gains control in 1933, he renounces pacifism and searches for a place of refuge. He finds it in Princeton, New Jersey, where he joins the newly created Institute for Advanced Study and becomes an American, never more to roam. Filled with memorable vignettes, this singular book provides a window into the thoughts and opinions of the twentieth century's most celebrated scientist and allows us to share in his exhilarating experiences.
Einstein on the Run: How Britain Saved the World's Greatest Scientist
by Andrew RobinsonA "highly readable" account of the role Britain played in Einstein's life—by inspiring his teenage passion for physics and providing refuge from the Nazis (The Wall Street Journal).In late 1933, Albert Einstein found himself living alone in an isolated holiday hut in rural England. There, he toiled peacefully at mathematics, occasionally stepping out for walks or to play his violin. But how had Einstein come to abandon his Berlin home and go “on the run”?This lively account tells the story of the world’s greatest scientist’s time in Britain for the first time, showing why the country was the perfect refuge for Einstein from rumored assassination plots by Nazi agents. Young Einstein’s passion for British physics, epitomized by Newton, had sparked his scientific development around 1900. British astronomers had confirmed his general theory of relativity, making him internationally famous in 1919. Welcomed by the British people, who helped him campaign against Nazi anti-Semitism, he even intended to become a British citizen. So why did Einstein then leave Britain, never to return to Europe?“A vivid look at how the U.K. affected the German-born physicist’s life and thinking.” —Publishers Weekly“A marvelous job of pulling new and interesting material out of the Einstein archives . . . I suspect that even readers who have devoured many books about Einstein and are already familiar with his interactions with the English . . . will find much to learn and enjoy.” —Metascience Journal“Robinson has that rare knack for presenting a near-encyclopedic volume of historical information, anecdotes and contemporaneous accounts in a thoroughly delightful fashion.” —Physics WorldIncludes photographs and illustrations
Einstein para perplejos
by Andres Gomberoff José EdelsteinUn absorbente y entretenido conjunto de ensayos que abordan la vida y obra de Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein es un modelo universal de la inteligencia, la humanidad y la imaginación. Sin embargo, su obra ha permanecido distante para el público general. En Einstein para perplejos, José Edelstein y Andrés Gomberoff buscan revertir esta situación. Para ello abordan el contexto histórico e intelectual en el que se originaron las ideas de Einstein y también el legado que dejó tras su muerte, mostrándonos en su tiempo y en el nuestro a un científico que, entre otras teorías, predijo hace cien años la existencia de ondas gravitacionales que recientemente han revolucionado a la astronomía. Este contundente libro sobre el premio Nobel nos instruye y divierte con un planteamiento para cualquier lector interesado en su pensamiento.
Einstein para perplejos
by ANDRES GOMBEROFF JOSÉ EDELSTEINUn absorbente y entretenido conjunto de ensayos que abordan la vida y obra de Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein es un modelo universal de la inteligencia, la humanidad y la imaginación. Sin embargo, su obra ha permanecido distante para el público general. En Einstein para perplejos, José Edelstein y Andrés Gomberoff buscan revertir esta situación. Para ello abordan el contexto histórico e intelectual en el que se originaron las ideas de Einstein y también el legado que dejó tras su muerte, mostrándonos en su tiempo y en el nuestro a un científico que, entre otras teorías, predijo hace cien años la existencia de ondas gravitacionales que recientemente han revolucionado a la astronomía. Este contundente libro sobre el premio Nobel nos instruye y divierte con un planteamiento para cualquier lector interesado en su pensamiento.
Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time And The Beauty That Causes Havoc
by Arthur J. MillerThe most important scientist of the twentieth century and the most important artist had their periods of greatest creativity almost simultaneously and in remarkably similar circumstances. This fascinating parallel biography of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso as young men examines their greatest creations-Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Einstein's special theory of relativity. Miller shows how these breakthroughs arose not only from within their respective fields but from larger currents in the intellectual culture of the times. Ultimately, Miller shows how Einstein and Picasso, in a deep and important sense, were both working on the same problem.
Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by William Lane Craig Quentin SmithEinstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity is an anthology of original essays by an international team of leading philosophers and physicists who have come together to reassess the contemporary paradigm of the relativistic concept of time. A great deal has changed since 1905 when Einstein proposed his Special Theory of Relativity, and this book offers a fresh reassessment of Special Relativity’s relativistic concept of time in terms of epistemology, metaphysics, and physics.
Einstein The Searcher: His Work Explained from Dialogues with Einstein (Routledge Library Editions: 20th Century Science)
by Alexander MoszkowskiThis volume, first published in 1921, presents a series of portraits of Einstein, thus offering glimpses in the character and private reflections of the man who changed the course of modern science. Intended neither as a biography, nor as a résumé of Einsteinian physics, Einstein: The Searcher instead focusses on Einstein’s relationship with the scientific project as he himself conceived it, and so is still of contemporary significance for those puzzled by the spirit of scientific enquiry.
Einstein, Tagore and the Nature of Reality: Literary And Philosophical Reflections (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics)
by Partha GhoseThe nature of reality has been a long-debated issue among scientists and philosophers. In 1930, Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein had a long conversation on the nature of reality. This conversation has been widely quoted and discussed by scientists, philosophers and scholars from the literary world. The important question that Tagore and Einstein discussed was whether the world is a unity dependent on humanity, or the world is a reality independent on the human factor. Einstein took the stand adopted by Western philosophers and mathematicians, namely that reality is something independent of the mind and the human factor. Tagore, on the other hand, adopted the opposite view. Nevertheless, both Einstein and Tagore claimed to be realists despite the fundamental differences between their conceptions of reality. Where does the difference lie? Can it be harmonized at some deeper level? Can Wittgenstein, for example, be a bridge between the two views? This collection of essays explores these two fundamentally different conceptions of the nature of reality from the perspectives of theories of space-time, quantum theory, general philosophy of science, cognitive science and mathematics.
Einstein the Searcher: His Work Explained From Dialogues With Einstein
by Alexander MoszkowskiThis book, originally published in 1921, is written as an introduction of the theory of relativity of Albert Einstein. Moszkowski wrote the book in a way simple to understand for everyone. He developed the content in close personal discussions and it offers a wonderful view into the human Albert Einstein and his life and work. The writer Alexander Moszkowski lived from 1851 to 1934. He was born in Pilica (Poland), lived most of his life in Germany. Moszkowski was well known with Albert Einstein and probably the first author to open Einstein's theory of relativity to a wide audience.-Print ed.
Einstein Was Right: The Science and History of Gravitational Waves
by Alessandra Buonanno Kip S. Thorne Harry Collins Don Howard Professor Diana K. Buchwald Tilman Sauer Barry C. Barish Daniel Kennefick Jürgen RennAn authoritative interdisciplinary account of the historic discovery of gravitational wavesIn 1915, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the movement of large masses—as part of the theory of general relativity. A century later, researchers with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed Einstein's prediction, detecting gravitational waves generated by the collision of two black holes. Shedding new light on the hundred-year history of this momentous achievement, Einstein Was Right brings together essays by two of the physicists who won the Nobel Prize for their instrumental roles in the discovery, along with contributions by leading scholars who offer unparalleled insights into one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of our time.This illuminating book features an introduction by Tilman Sauer and invaluable firsthand perspectives on the history and significance of the LIGO consortium by physicists Barry Barish and Kip Thorne. Theoretical physicist Alessandra Buonanno discusses the new possibilities opened by gravitational wave astronomy, and sociologist of science Harry Collins and historians of science Diana Kormos Buchwald, Daniel Kennefick, and Jürgen Renn provide further insights into the history of relativity and LIGO. The book closes with a reflection by philosopher Don Howard on the significance of Einstein's theory for the philosophy of science.Edited by Jed Buchwald, Einstein Was Right is a compelling and thought-provoking account of one of the most thrilling scientific discoveries of the modern age.
Einstein Wrote Back: My Life in Physics
by John W. MoffatJohn W. Moffat was a poor student of math and science. That is, until he read Einstein’s famous paper on general relativity. Realizing instantly that he had an unusual and unexplained aptitude for understanding the complex physics described in the paper, Moffat wrote a letter to Einstein that would change the course of his life. Einstein Wrote Back tells the story of Moffat’s unusual entry into the world of academia and documents his career at the frontlines of twentieth-century physics as he worked and associated with some of the greatest minds in scientific history, including Niels Bohr, Fred Hoyle, Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac, Erwin Schrödinger, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Abdus Salam, among others. Taking readers inside the classrooms and minds of these giants of modern science, Moffat affectionately exposes the foibles and eccentricities of these great men, as they worked on the revolutionary ideas that, today, are the very foundation of modern physics and cosmology.
The Einsteinian Revolution: The Historical Roots of His Breakthroughs
by Jürgen Renn Hanoch GutfreundHow the Einsteinian revolution can be understood as the result of a long-term evolution of science The revolution that emerged from Albert Einstein’s work in the early twentieth century transformed our understanding of space, time, motion, gravity, matter, and radiation. Beginning with Einstein’s miracle year of 1905 and continuing through his development of the theory of general relativity, Einstein spurred a revolution that continues to reverberate in modern-day physics. In The Einsteinian Revolution, Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn trace the century-long transformation of classical physics and argue that the revolution begun by Einstein was in fact the result of a long-term evolution. Describing the origins and context of Einstein’s innovative research, Gutfreund and Renn work to dispel the popular myth of Einstein as a lone genius who brought about a revolution in physics through the power of his own pure thought. We can only understand the birth of modern physics, they say, if we understand the long history of the evolution of knowledge.Gutfreund and Renn outline the essential structures of the knowledge system of classical physics on which Einstein drew. Examining Einstein’s discoveries from 1905 onward, they describe the process by which new concepts arose and the basis of modern physics emerged. These transformations continued, eventually resulting in the establishment of quantum physics and general relativity as the two major conceptual frameworks of modern physics—and its two unreconciled theoretical approaches. Gutfreund and Renn note that Einstein was dissatisfied with this conceptual dichotomy and began a search for a unified understanding of physics—a quest that continued for the rest of his life.
Einstein’s Brain: Genius, Culture, and Social Networks
by Sal RestivoThis book reviews the research on Einstein’s brain from a sociological perspective and in the context of the social brain paradigm. Instead of “Einstein, the genius of geniuses” standing on the shoulders of giants, Restivo proposes a concept of Einstein the social being standing on the shoulders of social networks. Rather than challenging Einstein’s uniqueness or the uniqueness of his achievements, the book grounds Einstein and his achievements in a social ecology opposed to the myths of the “I,” individualism, and the very idea of “genius.” “Einstein” is defined by the particular configuration of social networks that he engaged as his life unfolded, not by biological inheritances.
Einstein's Clocks and Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time
by Peter Galison"More than a history of science; it is a tour de force in the genre."--New York Times Book Review A dramatic new account of the parallel quests to harness time that culminated in the revolutionary science of relativity, Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps is "part history, part science, part adventure, part biography, part meditation on the meaning of modernity....In Galison's telling of science, the meters and wires and epoxy and solder come alive as characters, along with physicists, engineers, technicians and others....Galison has unearthed fascinating material" (New York Times). Clocks and trains, telegraphs and colonial conquest: the challenges of the late nineteenth century were an indispensable real-world background to the enormous theoretical breakthrough of relativity. And two giants at the foundations of modern science were converging, step-by-step, on the answer: Albert Einstein, an young, obscure German physicist experimenting with measuring time using telegraph networks and with the coordination of clocks at train stations; and the renowned mathematician Henri Poincaré, president of the French Bureau of Longitude, mapping time coordinates across continents. Each found that to understand the newly global world, he had to determine whether there existed a pure time in which simultaneity was absolute or whether time was relative. Esteemed historian of science Peter Galison has culled new information from rarely seen photographs, forgotten patents, and unexplored archives to tell the fascinating story of two scientists whose concrete, professional preoccupations engaged them in a silent race toward a theory that would conquer the empire of time.
Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries)
by Michio KakuIn paperback for the centenary of the discovery of relativity, "a fresh and highly visual tour through Einstein's astonishing legacy" (Brian Greene). The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the paper that launched Einstein's career, made E=mc2 famous, and ushered in a revolution in science--the paper that announced the theory of special relativity. And there's no better short book that explains just what Einstein did than Einstein's Cosmos. Keying Einstein's crucial discoveries to the simple mental images that inspired them, Michio Kaku finds a revealing new way to discuss these ideas, and delivers an appealing and always accessible introduction to Einstein's work.
Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat: How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics
by Paul HalpernWhen the fuzzy indeterminacy of quantum mechanics overthrew the orderly world of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger were at the forefront of the revolution. Neither man was ever satisfied with the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, however, and both rebelled against what they considered the most preposterous aspect of quantum mechanics: its randomness. Einstein famously quipped that God does not play dice with the universe, and Schrödinger constructed his famous fable of a cat that was neither alive nor dead not to explain quantum mechanics but to highlight the apparent absurdity of a theory gone wrong. But these two giants did more than just criticize: they fought back, seeking a Theory of Everything that would make the universe seem sensible again. In Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat, physicist Paul Halpern tells the little-known story of how Einstein and Schrödinger searched, first as collaborators and then as competitors, for a theory that transcended quantum weirdness. This story of their quest--which ultimately failed--provides readers with new insights into the history of physics and the lives and work of two scientists whose obsessions drove its progress. Today, much of modern physics remains focused on the search for a Theory of Everything. As Halpern explains, the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson makes the Standard Model--the closest thing we have to a unified theory-- nearly complete. And while Einstein and Schrödinger failed in their attempt to explain everything in the cosmos through pure geometry, the development of string theory has, in its own quantum way, brought this idea back into vogue. As in so many things, even when they were wrong, Einstein and Schrödinger couldn’t help but get a great deal right.
Einstein's Essays in Science
by Albert Einstein Alan HarrisHis name is synonymous with "genius," but these essays by the renowned physicist and scholar are accessible to any reader. In addition to outlining the core of relativity theory in everyday language, Albert Einstein presents fascinating discussions of other scientific fields to which he made significant contributions. The Nobel Laureate also profiles some of history's most influential physicists, upon whose studies his own work was based.Assembled during Einstein's lifetime from his speeches and essays, this book marks the first presentation to the wider world of the scientist's accomplishments in the field of abstract physics. Along with relativity theory, these articles examine the methods of theoretical physics, principles of research, and the concept of scientific truth. Einstein's speeches to audiences at Columbia University and the Prussian Academy of Science appear here, along with his insightful observations on such giants of science as Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Niels Bohr, Max Planck, and others.
Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
by Paul SenAn entertaining, eye-opening account of the extraordinary team of innovators who discovered the laws of thermodynamics essential to understanding the world today—from refrigeration and jet engines to calorie counting and global warming—for fans of How We Got to Now and A Short History of Nearly Everything.Einstein&’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. Thermodynamics—the branch of physics that deals with energy and entropy—is the least known and yet most consequential of all the sciences. It governs everything from the behavior of living cells to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Not only that, but thermodynamics explains why we must eat and breathe, how lights turn on, the limits of computing, and how the universe will end. The brilliant people who decoded its laws came from every branch of the sciences; they were engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, cosmologists, and mathematicians. From French military engineer and physicist Sadi Carnot to Lord Kelvin, James Joule, Albert Einstein, Emmy Noether, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking, author Paul Sen introduces us to all of the players who passed the baton of scientific progress through time and across nations. Incredibly driven and idealistic, these brave pioneers performed groundbreaking work often in the face of torment and tragedy. Their discoveries helped create the modern world and transformed every branch of science, from biology to cosmology. Einstein&’s Fridge brings to life one of the most important scientific revolutions of all time and captures the thrill of discovery and the power of scientific progress to shape the course of history.
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity: A Concise Introduction
by Brian P. DolanEinstein's general theory of relativity can be a notoriously difficult subject for students approaching it for the first time, with arcane mathematical concepts such as connection coefficients and tensors adorned with a forest of indices. This book is an elementary introduction to Einstein's theory and the physics of curved space-times that avoids these complications as much as possible. Its first half describes the physics of black holes, gravitational waves and the expanding Universe, without using tensors. Only in the second half are Einstein's field equations derived and used to explain the dynamical evolution of the early Universe and the creation of the first elements. Each chapter concludes with problem sets and technical mathematical details are given in the appendices. This short text is intended for undergraduate physics students who have taken courses in special relativity and advanced mechanics.