Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955), a world-famous German-American scientist, the founder and founder of modern physics.
Einstein graduated from the Technical University of Zurich in 1900 and began teaching at the university in 1909. In 1914, he became the director of the Wilhelm Royal Institute of Physics and a professor at the University of Berlin. He was later forced to immigrate to the United States and became an American citizen in 1940.
The late nineteenth century was a period of change in physics. Starting from experimental facts, Einstein re-examined the basic concepts of physics and made fundamental breakthroughs in theory. Some of his achievements greatly promoted the development of astronomy. His quantum theory has a great influence on astrophysics, especially theoretical astrophysics. The first mature aspect of theoretical astrophysics, the theory of stellar atmospheres, was built on the basis of quantum theory and radiation theory. Einstein's special theory of relativity successfully revealed the relationship between energy and mass, solving the long-standing problem of stellar energy sources. In recent years, more and more high-energy physical phenomena have been discovered, and special relativity has become one of the most basic theoretical tools to explain such phenomena. His general theory of relativity also solved a long-standing mystery in astronomy and deduced the phenomenon of light bending that was later verified. It also became the theoretical basis for many later astronomical concepts.
Einstein's greatest contribution to astronomy is his cosmological theory. He founded relativistic cosmology, established a static finite and boundless self-consistent dynamic universe model, and introduced new concepts such as cosmological principles and curved space, which greatly promoted the development of modern astronomy.
Growth history
At 11:30 am on March 14, 1879, Einstein was born at No. 135 Bahnhofstrasse, Ulm, Germany. Both parents are Jewish. His father's name was Hermann Einstein, and his mother's name was Pauline Coker.
In 1884, at the age of 5, Einstein was fascinated by the pocket compass.
In 1885, Einstein began to learn violin.
In 1886, Einstein studied at the Munich Public School (Council School); he studied Jewish rules at home.
In 1888, Einstein entered Louisbold High School. Continue to receive religious education in school and receive a ordination ceremony. Friedman is the instructor.
In 1889, under the guidance of Talmei, a medical student, he read popular scientific readings and philosophical works.
In 1891, he taught himself Euclidean geometry and felt passionate about it. At the same time, he began to teach himself advanced mathematics.
In 1892, he began to read the works of Immanuel Kant. In 1895, he taught himself calculus.
In 1896, he received a diploma from Aarau High School. In October, he entered the Normal Department of the Federal Technical University of Zurich to study physics.
On October 19, 1899, Einstein officially applied for Swiss citizenship.
Einstein graduated from the Federal University of Technology in Zurich in August 1900; in December he completed the paper "Inferences from Capillary Phenomenon", which was published in the Leipzig "Journal of Physics" the following year.
In 1901, he obtained Swiss nationality on March 21. From May to July of this year, I completed the thesis on the thermodynamic theory of electric potential difference.
In September 1904, he was converted from a probationary employee of the Patent Office to a formal third-level technician.
In March 1905, he developed quantum theory, proposed the light quantum hypothesis, and solved the problem of photoelectric effect. In April, he submitted his thesis "A New Method for Determining Molecular Size" to the University of Zurich and obtained his doctorate. In May, he completed his thesis "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" and independently and completely proposed the principle of special relativity, ushering in a new era of physics.
In April 1906, he was promoted to a second-level technician in the Patent Office. In November, I completed a paper on the specific heat of solids, which is the first paper on the quantum theory of solids. In October 1908, he concurrently served as a non-staff lecturer at the University of Bern.
Left the Bern Patent Office in October 1909 and became an associate professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich.
Completed the paper on critical opalescence in October 1910.
The law of "photochemical equivalent" was proposed in 1912.
Received the title of academician in Berlin on December 7, 1913.
In April 1914, Einstein accepted the invitation from the German scientific community and moved to Berlin.
In August, World War I broke out. Although he lived in the birthplace of the war and lived surrounded by war advocates, he resolutely expressed his anti-war attitude.
In September, Einstein participated in the founding of the anti-war group "New Motherland Alliance". When the organization was declared illegal and its members were arrested and persecuted in large numbers and went underground, Einstein remained determined Participate in the secret activities of this organization.
In October, under the control and instigation of militarists, the German scientific and cultural circles issued the "Declaration of a Civilized World" to defend the aggressive war launched by Germany and advocated that Germany was above all else and that all The world should embrace the "true German spirit". There were ninety-three people who signed the "Declaration", all of whom were prestigious German scientists, artists and pastors at the time. Even Nernst, Roentgen, Ostwald, Planck, etc. all signed it. When Einstein was asked to sign, he flatly refused, but at the same time he resolutely signed his name on the anti-war "Letter to Europeans." This move shocked the world.
In November 1915, he proposed the complete form of the gravity equation of general relativity and successfully explained the perihelion motion of Mercury.
In March 1916, he completed the concluding paper "The Foundation of General Relativity". In May, he proposed the hypothesis that the universe is finite and unbounded. In August, he completed "Quantum Theory of Radiation", summarizing the development of quantum theory and proposing the theory of stimulated emission.
After the victory of the Soviet socialist revolution led by Lenin in 1917, Einstein enthusiastically supported this great revolution and praised it as a great social experiment that would be of decisive significance to the world. : "I respect Lenin because he was a person who had a spirit of complete self-sacrifice and devoted himself wholeheartedly to realizing social justice. I don't think his methods are practical, but one thing is for sure: people like him are He is the defender and recreater of human conscience."
In November 1918, influenced and inspired by the victory of the Russian October Revolution, German workers and soldiers launched an uprising and overthrew Kaiser Wilhelm. On the third day after II stepped down, Einstein wrote two postcards to his mother, cheering "A great thing has happened... What an honor it is to experience this event personally!" In the 1920s and early 1930s, , Einstein was basically an absolute pacifist. However, the reality of constant wars of aggression and plunder shattered his beautiful dream. Especially after Hitler came to power in 1933, Germany became increasingly fascist, which made Einstein realize that a new barbaric war was inevitable, prompting him to change his views. He made it clear: "When the law and human dignity must be defended, we must fight. Since the danger of fascism has arrived, I no longer believe that absolute passive pacifism is effective. As long as fascism rules Europe, then There will be no peace." Because of Einstein's progressive activities and because he was a Jew, he was listed as an important target of persecution by the German Nazis. Fortunately, he left Germany at the end of 1932 to give lectures in the United States and was not persecuted. His house in Berlin was raided and destroyed, his property confiscated, his books burned, and the Nazis offered a reward of 20,000 marks for his death. Facing the danger of assassination by the Nazis, Einstein showed no fear, but fought more determinedly. When his close friend Laue wrote a letter to persuade him to adopt a prudent and protective attitude towards political issues, he regardless of his personal safety, loudly pointed out that fascism means war, peace must be defended with arms, and called on the American people to rise up and fight fascism. When Einstein later learned from radio broadcasts that the United States had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and injuring many civilians, he felt very sad. He later wrote a letter to American citizens, saying: "Our scientists who have liberated this huge power must first take responsibility for everything. Atomic energy must be limited and must not be used to kill all mankind, but to use it to kill all mankind." To enhance human happiness."
Einstein's theory in 1919 is regarded as "one of the greatest achievements in the history of human thought." In December, he received the only honorary degree in Germany: a doctorate in medicine from the University of Rostock.
From April 2 to May 30, 1921, in order to raise funds for the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he and Weizmann visited the United States for the first time.
In January 1922, he completed his first paper on unified field theory. In July, he was threatened with murder and temporarily left Berlin. On October 8, Einstein and Elsa took a ship from Marseille to Japan. Visits Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai along the way. On November 9, while on his way to Japan, Einstein was awarded the 1921 "Nobel Prize in Physics". Visited Japan from November 17th to December 29th.
In July 1923, he went to Gothenburg to receive the 1921 Nobel Prize. In December, it was speculated for the first time that quantum effects may arise from over-constrained general relativistic field equations.
In 1924, the "Bose-Einstein condensation" was discovered.
After 1925, Einstein went all out to explore a unified field theory. In the first few years, he was very optimistic and thought victory was in sight; later he found difficulties and he believed that the existing mathematical tools were not enough.
In the 30 years from 1925 to 1955, in addition to the completeness of quantum mechanics, gravitational waves and the motion problems of general relativity, Einstein devoted almost all of his scientific and creative energy to The search for unified field theory.
In 1926, he was elected as an academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
1928 After 1928, he turned to the exploration of pure mathematics. He tried various methods, but failed to achieve results of real physical significance.
In January, he was elected as a director of the "German Human Rights League" (formerly the German "New Fatherland League").
On his 50th birthday in March 1929, he hid in the countryside to avoid birthday celebrations. Won the "Planck Medal" on June 28.
From December 11, 1930 to March 4, 1931, Einstein visited the United States for the second time, giving lectures at the California Institute of Technology.
In July 1932, he corresponded with Freud to discuss the psychological issues of war; he called on the German people to defend the Weimar Republic and oppose fascism with all their strength.
On January 30, 1933, the Nazis came to power.
On March 10, he issued a statement in Pasadena that he would not return to Germany, and set off back to Europe the next day.
On March 20, the Nazis raided his house and he protested. Later, his property in Germany was confiscated and his books burned.
In May 1935, he formally applied for permanent residence in the United States in Bermuda. That year, he was running around in order to give the Nobel Prize (Peace Prize) to Ossietzky, who was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp. In March 1937, he supported China's "Seven Gentlemen".
In 1937, with the cooperation of two assistants, he derived the equations of motion from the gravitational field equations of general relativity, further revealing the unity between space, time, matter, and motion. This is the generalized theory of The major development of the theory of relativity was also the last major achievement achieved by Einstein in his scientific creation activities. In terms of unified field theory, he never succeeded. He never got discouraged and started from the beginning with full confidence every time. Because he stayed away from the mainstream of physics research at that time and attacked problems on his own that were unsolvable at the time, he was very isolated in the physics community in his later years, contrary to his situation in the 1920s. However, he remained fearless and unswervingly followed the path he had identified. Until the day before his death, he was still preparing to continue his mathematical calculations on the unified field theory in his hospital bed. Concerned about the destiny of all mankind, Einstein loved science and mankind. He did not put himself outside society because he was immersed in scientific research. He has always been concerned about human civilization and progress, and fought tenaciously and bravely for it. He said: "Only by dedicating oneself to society can one find out the meaning of a life that is actually short and risky." This is exactly what he did.
In September 1938, he wrote a letter to his descendants five thousand years later, expressing his dissatisfaction with the current situation of capitalist society.
On August 2, 1939, he wrote to President Roosevelt, suggesting that the United States speed up atomic energy research to prevent Germany from mastering the atomic bomb first.
On May 22, 1940, he called Roosevelt to oppose the U.S. neutrality policy.
Obtained U.S. citizenship on October 1.
In May 1943, he participated in the work of the U.S. Navy as a scientific advisor.
In 1944, in order to support the anti-fascist war, the manuscript of the 1905 special theory of relativity paper was auctioned for US$6 million.
In 1947, he continued to publish a lot of remarks about world government.
In January 1949, he wrote "Reply to Criticism", a counter-criticism of the Copenhagen School's criticism in the collection "Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist".
In 1949, Einstein wrote an article "Why Socialism?" 》Thesis. Here, he puts forward a view that still seems correct! "The planned economy is not yet socialism. The planned economy itself may be accompanied by complete enslavement of individuals. The establishment of socialism requires solving some extremely difficult social-political problems. In view of the high concentration of political and economic power, how Is it possible to prevent administrative personnel from becoming unlimited and arrogant? How can individual rights be protected while ensuring a democratic balance of administrative power? ”
February 1950 On the 13th, he delivered a televised speech opposing the United States’ efforts to build a hydrogen bomb. On March 18, the will was signed and sealed.
In 1951, he published a series of articles and letters pointing out that the United States' policy of arms expansion and war preparation was a serious obstacle to world peace.
After the death of Weisman, the first president of Israel, in November 1952, the Israeli government asked him to serve as the second president, but he was rejected.
In March 1954, he was publicly denounced by U.S. Senator McCarthy as an "enemy of the United States."
In 1955, Einstein and Russell jointly issued the "Russell-Einstein Declaration" opposing nuclear war and calling for world peace.
Died in the hospital at 1:25 on April 18, 1955. After the long and arduous exploration of the general theory of relativity, Einstein still felt dissatisfied and wanted to extend the general theory of relativity to include not only the gravitational field, but also the electromagnetic field. He believed that this was the third stage in the development of relativity, that is, unified field theory.
After 1928, he turned to the exploration of pure mathematics. He tried various methods, but failed to achieve results of real physical significance.
In the 30 years from 1925 to 1955, in addition to the completeness of quantum mechanics, gravitational waves and the motion problems of general relativity, Einstein devoted almost all of his scientific and creative energy to The search for unified field theory.
In April 1914, Einstein accepted the invitation from the German scientific community and moved to Berlin. In August, World War I broke out. Although he lived in the birthplace of the war and lived surrounded by war advocates, he resolutely expressed his anti-war attitude. In September, Einstein participated in the founding of the anti-war group "New Motherland Alliance". Even though the organization was declared illegal and its members were arrested and persecuted in large numbers and went underground, Einstein still resolutely participated in the organization's secret activities. . In October, the German scientific and cultural circles, manipulated and instigated by militarists, issued the "Declaration of the Civilized World" to defend the aggressive war launched by Germany and advocated that Germany was above all else and that the whole world should accept "the true German spirit". There were ninety-three people who signed the "Declaration", all of whom were prestigious German scientists, artists and pastors at the time. Even Nernst, Roentgen, Ostwald, Planck, etc. all signed it. When Einstein was asked to sign, he flatly refused, but at the same time he resolutely signed his name on the anti-war "Letter to Europeans." This move shocked the world.
After the victory of the Soviet socialist revolution led by Lenin in 1917, Einstein enthusiastically supported this great revolution and praised it as a great social experiment that would have decisive significance for the world. : "I respect Lenin because he was a person who had a spirit of complete self-sacrifice and devoted himself wholeheartedly to realizing social justice. I don't think his methods are practical, but one thing is for sure: people like him are People are the defenders and recreaters of human conscience.
”
In November 1918, influenced and inspired by the victory of the Russian October Revolution, German workers and soldiers launched an uprising and overthrew Kaiser Wilhelm II. On the third day after he stepped down, Einstein gave him My mother wrote two postcards in a row, cheering "A great thing has happened... What an honor it is to experience this event personally!" "In the 1920s and early 1930s, Einstein was basically an absolute pacifist. However, the reality of constant aggression and plundering wars shattered his beautiful dreams. Especially after Hitler came to power in 1933 The increasing fascism of Germany made Einstein realize that a new barbaric war was inevitable, prompting him to change his views. He made it clear: "When the law and human dignity must be defended, we must fight. Since the danger of fascism has arrived, I no longer believe in the effectiveness of absolute passive pacifism. As long as fascism rules Europe, there will be no peace. "Because of Einstein's progressive activities and because he was a Jew, he was listed as an important target of persecution by the German Nazis. Fortunately, he left Germany at the end of 1932 to give lectures in the United States and was not persecuted. His house in Berlin was raided. His property was confiscated, his works were burned, and the Nazis offered a reward of 20,000 marks to kill him. Faced with the danger of assassination by the Nazis, Einstein did not show any fear, but fought more firmly. When his close friend Laue wrote to persuade him to adopt a prudent and protective attitude towards political issues, he regardless of his personal safety, loudly pointed out that fascism means war, peace must be defended with arms, and called on the American people to rise up and fight against fascism. Stan later learned from the radio broadcast that the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing many civilians. He later wrote a letter to American citizens, saying: "We have liberated the scientists who have unleashed this huge power. Everything must first take responsibility, and atomic energy must be limited and must not be used to kill all human beings, but used to enhance human happiness. "
In 1949, Einstein wrote a paper "Why Socialism?". Here, he put forward a view that still seems correct! "Planned economy is not socialism. . A planned economy may itself be accompanied by complete enslavement of individuals. The construction of socialism requires solving some extremely difficult social-political problems. In view of the high concentration of political and economic power, how can it be possible to prevent administrators from becoming unlimited and arrogant? How can individual rights be protected while ensuring a democratic balance of administrative power? "
In 1955, Einstein and Russell jointly issued the "Russell-Einstein Declaration" opposing nuclear war and calling for world peace.
On April 18, 1955, The greatest scientist in human history, Albert Einstein, died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm in Princeton, USA
Einstein’s contribution
The law of the immortality of matter, said. The quality of matter is immortal; the law of conservation of energy refers to the conservation of energy in matter.
Although these two great laws have been discovered one after another, people think that they are two nonsense. Irrelevant laws each explain different laws of nature. Some people even think that the law of the immortality of matter is a chemical law and the law of conservation of energy is a physical law, and they belong to different scientific categories.
Love. Einstein believed that the mass of a substance is a measure of inertia, and energy is a measure of motion; energy and mass are not isolated from each other, but are interconnected and inseparable. Changes in the mass of an object will cause corresponding changes in energy; Changes in the energy of an object will also cause corresponding changes in mass.
In the special theory of relativity, Einstein proposed the famous mass-energy formula: E=mc^2
(E here represents the energy of the object, m represents the mass of the object, and c represents the speed of light, which is 300,000 kilometers per second.)
According to Einstein’s theory, if the temperature of 1 gram is 0 ℃ water, when heated to 100 ℃, the water absorbs 100 calories. At this time, the mass of the water also increases accordingly. According to the mass-energy relationship formula, the mass of 1 gram of water increases by 0.00000000000465 grams.
Einstein's theory was initially opposed by many people. Even some famous physicists at the time expressed doubts about the young man's paper. However, with the development of science, a large number of scientific experiments proved that Einstein's theory was correct, and Einstein became a world-famous scientist and one of the greatest scientists in the 20th century.
Einstein’s mass-energy relationship formula correctly explains various nuclear reactions: Take helium 4 as an example, its nucleus is composed of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. It stands to reason that the mass of the helium 4 nucleus is equal to the sum of the masses of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. In fact, such arithmetic does not hold true. The mass of the helium nucleus is 0.0302 atomic mass units less than the sum of the masses of 2 protons and 2 neutrons [57]! Why is this? Because when two deuterium nuclei (each deuteron contains 1 proton and 1 neutron) merge into a helium 4 nucleus, a large amount of atomic energy is released. When 1 gram of helium 4 atom is produced, approximately 2700000000000 joules of atomic energy are released. Because of this, the mass of the helium 4 nucleus decreases.
This example vividly illustrates: when two deuterium nuclei are aggregated into one helium-4 nucleus, it seems that the mass is not conserved, that is, the mass of the helium-4 nucleus is not equal to the sum of the masses of the two deuteron nuclei. . However, calculated using the mass-energy relationship formula, the mass lost by the helium 4 nucleus happens to be equal to the mass lost due to the release of atomic energy during the reaction!
In this way, Einstein clarified the essence of the law of immortality of matter and the law of conservation of energy from a new height, pointed out the close relationship between these two laws, and enabled mankind to understand nature The understanding has deepened a step further.
There are no mysteries of nature that humans cannot understand; however, the mysteries of nature are endless. Human beings will never be able to fully understand nature, and will never be able to fully understand its mysteries. Only by never being satisfied can we keep moving forward.
The law of the immortality of matter and the law of conservation of energy are the great laws of nature. It comes from objective reality and has been tested in objective reality for a long time. Over the years, these two laws have withstood thousands of tests, shining brightly like gems that can withstand wind and rain.
The law of the immortality of matter and the law of conservation of energy have become the cornerstones of modern natural science. At the same time, they have also fundamentally dealt a fatal blow to religious idealism, because matter cannot be created out of thin air. It cannot be eliminated out of thin air, so no one will believe in the anti-scientific fallacy that God created all things and God created the world. In addition, it also eloquently illustrates that there will never be a "perpetual motion machine" in the world. It is impossible to obtain energy from nature without spending labor.
Laws exist objectively. Although people cannot "create" laws or "transform" laws, they can discover laws, master laws, and utilize laws. Now, the declaration of the immortality of matter and the law of conservation of energy have been grasped by millions of people. People are using the law of immortality of matter and the law of conservation of energy to conquer nature, transform nature, and uncover the secrets of nature!
Books
"An Inspiring View on the Generation and Transformation of Light"
"A New Method for Determining Molecular Size"
"The motion of suspended particles in static liquids required by the molecular kinetic theory of heat" "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies"
"Is the inertia of an object related to the energy it contains? 》
"Special Theory of Relativity"
"General Theory of Relativity"