Albert Einstein is a household name, but few know of his work and his role in science.
When I was younger, my perception of Einstein was that he was a mad scientist who conducted all kinds of crazy experiments that led to his trademark frizzy hairstyle. But this could not be further from the truth. For Einstein was a theoretical physicist rather than an experimentalist. The only materials he required for his research were paper and pencil.
In his early years, Einstein worked in a patent office in Bern, Switzerland. Everyday, he would come into work, quickly analyze the patent applications on his desk, and proceed to secretly work on questions in theoretical physics of the day. It was here that he developed his famous theory of Special Relativity.
Relativity is one of the fields that gave rise to the Modern Physics revolution. Classical physics explains common human experiences such as falling objects, friction, electricity, and magnetism through Newton’s laws of motion and through the principles of Electromagnetism. Modern Physics explains events that are not common to our everyday experiences, such as objects traveling close to the speed of light and behaviors of atoms.
Special Relativity tells us that space and time are not static, but stretchy and dynamic. When Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion, it was believed that time was constant throughout the universe, meaning the way one experiences time on Earth experiences it the same way on Mars. Time was seen as an arrow that when fired traveled in the same direction indefinitely. However, Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity told us otherwise. Time is not constant. People experience time differently. This was a completely non-intuitive way of understanding the universe and it shook the foundations of physics.
Special Relativity simply tells us that people in different reference frames experience things differently. Everything is relative, not absolute. Therefore, space and time are relative. The theory requires that nothing travel faster than the speed of light. But if you travel close to the speed of light, then very weird things begin to happen. Time slows down for you, and space compresses. These phenomenons are called Time Dilation and Length Contraction. Let’s suppose you stood on Earth, and I was in a space ship flying close to the speed of light past Earth. Suppose you were able to see exactly what I was doing in the space ship. If I were doing jumping jacks at a normal pace, you would actually see me doing it very very slowly. This is because time has slowed down for me in your reference frame. To myself, I would feel as if I were doing jumping jacks regularly. Not only would you see me doing jumping jacks slowly, you would notice that I am a lot thinner and contracted, like squeezing a picture together in Photoshop. This is a very bizarre and strange idea, but the mathematics indicates this.
You might say well that is nice that the math shows this, but it is all just a theory. But in fact, these effects have been experimentally verified. They tested time dilation by synchronizing two very precise atomic clocks so that they ticked in unison. One clock they left on the ground and the other they put on a PanAm aircraft. They flew this aircraft around the world in the direction of the Earth’s rotation to give it extra speed and when they brought back the clocks together, they measured the difference and the time difference was exactly the amount predicted by Einstein’s theory. Relativity has practical uses today too. You unknowingly experience these phenomenons when you use your smartphones or gps systems to navigate yourself through the world. GPS signals are provided by satellites orbiting the Earth. These satellites travel at very high speeds and as a result, they are affected by time dilation. To make sure they are synced properly, their clocks must be corrected to take these effects into account. Without Relativity, your GPS would be useless. Relativity is real.
Einstein’s contributions extend far beyond his theory of Special Relativity. His other work includes General Relativity, the Photoelectric Effect, theoretical foundations in lasers. One could write volumes about his work, and covering it all in one blog post would be too exhausting. This is but a taste of one of Einstein’s most important contributions to physics. With it, his legacy will continue to echo throughout generations to come.
VIDEO: Einstein’s Relativity – Time Dilation
