Einsteins Miraculous Year Early Life Born March 14

Einstein’s Miraculous Year

Early Life • • • Born – March 14, 1879, Ulm, Germany. Enters Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich, 1888. Drops out of Luitpold Gymnasium, 1895 Fails entrance examination to Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, 1895. Finishes high school at canton school in Aarau, 1896. Enters Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, 1896 Graduates from Federal Institute of Technology, 1900 Temporary high school teaching positions, tutoring, 1901. Appointed as technical expert third class to patent office in Bern, 1902. Marries Mileva Marič, 1903. Birth of first son, Hans Albert, 1904.

Einstein’s 1905 Papers • March - On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light. Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XVII, 132 -148. • April - A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XVIX, 289 -306. • May - On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid Demanded by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat. Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XVII, 549 -560. • June - The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XVII, 891 -921. • September - Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on its Energy Content? Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XVIII 639 -641. • December - On the Theory of Brownian Motion. Annalen der Physik, ser. 4, XIX, 371 -381.

A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions Submitted April 30, 1905; Published, February 8, 1906. doctorial dissertation classical hydrodynamics and diffusion theory effect of solute molecules (spheres) on viscosity of solution. mathematical error, corrected in 1911 comparison with data on sugar solutions suggested that water molecules attach to sugar molecules (later verified) N = 2. 1 X 1023 R = 9. 9 X 10 -8 cm Einstein’s most frequently cited paper

On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid Demanded by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat. Received May 11; published July 18, 1905. Brownian motion statistical mechanics (fluxuations) and diffusion theory evidence for reality of atoms formula for measurement of molecular size

On the Theory of Brownian Motion Received December 19, 1905; published February 8, 1906. vertical distribution of suspension with gravity rotational Brownian motion

The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies Received June 30; published September 26, 1905. Special Theory of Relativity asymmetries in electromagnetism postulates (invariance of speed of light) simultaneity position-time transformation equations length contraction time dilation velocity addition relativistic mass applications to electrodynamics and optics

Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on its Energy Content? Received September 27; published November 21, 1905. energy-mass equivalence (E = mc 2)

On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light Received March 18; published June 9, 1905. quantization of light, E f statistical mechanics applied to radiation quanta explain/predict observations fluorescence: Stoke’s rule (f 2 f 1) photoelectric effect ionization of gas by UV light

Later Life • General Theory of Relativity, 1916. • Nobel Prize, 1921 (photoelectric effect). • Leaves Germany, moves to Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N. J. , 1933. • Dies, April 18, 1955.

References • Einstein’s Miraculous Year, John Stachel, Princeton University Press, 1998. • Subtle is the Lord…, Abraham Pais, Oxford University Press, 1982. • Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel, Banesh Hoffmann, Viking, 1972. • Einstein: His Life and Times, Phillip Frank, Knopf, 1972. • The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol 2, John Stachel, ed. , Princeton University Press, 1987. • Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, www. aip. org/history/einstein/