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what did Einstein do?

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boring........

All of the things mentioned but he didn't do them single handedly! E.g. Poincare did a lot of the relativity work, but Einstein finished it off to clinche the deal.

He has become a somewhat cliched example of "genius physicist" but there are lots of equally brilliant scientists in the 20th century who aren't household names e.g. Dirac, Bohr, Heisenberg...

Reply 22

flamer

I enjoyed reading Greene's Book on Physcis (the fabric of the cosmos). I read about Physics when I took my a levels. I've developed an Interest in physics over the last few weeks. I just am a bit interested at the moment tbh :/

Reply 23

jonski

More to the point, what did he do in his free time? A man with hair like his must have got up to some crazy ****, I'll bet ol' Alby was a bit of a player in his time

Reply 24

Stardust Mirage

Original post by flamer

lets discuss e = mc 2

what does it mean for energy.

Note : i ask this in my capacity as a human being (with a word and MOUTH)

Energy stored = mass x (spped of light)^2. this equation became the cornerstone for development of nuclear power.

Reply 25

ilickbatteries

Underwear models and cocaine.

Physics was nothing more than a side project he worked on while on the toilet.

Reply 26

wibletg

Original post by jonski

More to the point, what did he do in his free time? A man with hair like his must have got up to some crazy ****, I'll bet ol' Alby was a bit of a player in his time

You would be correct, sir. He had a string of mistresses :tongue:

Reply 27

flamer

haven't slept for 48 Hours!

what i'm trying to stress is that I have absolutely no connection with any ideas in physics and that i'm trying my hardest to get to grips with the basics without going absolutely bonkers because it's way too complicated.

Reply 28

kingkongjaffa

Original post by flamer

lets discuss e = mc 2

what does it mean for energy.

Note : i ask this in my capacity as a human being (with a word and MOUTH)

Essentially Einstein equating the mass of an object completely converted into pure energy was equal to the speed of light squared multiplied by the mass of said object (read as particle)

Energy = Mass * C (speed of light)^2

for example in particle collisions
as stated in nuclear power and such.

Reply 29

Ventura7

Original post by flamer

Einstein is said to be one of the greatest intellects of the last 100 years. he 'reformed' modern physics. but what did he actually do? I ask this because I'm new to the world of Maths and Physics and I'm intetrested in forming an opinion.

Theory of relativity which helped create the first atom bomb, however he did not invent the atom only his findings were used.

Reply 30

around

Original post by bluesky42

This is very true, Albert Einstein is famous mainly because he wasn't reticient and didn't mind being in the eyes of the public.

Mind you, General Relativity is a pretty **** hot model.

btw, the equation actually goes E^2 = m^2*c^4 + c^2*p^2 where p is momentum (if you think about how photons have energy you can deduce that E = mc^2 is only a low-energy approximation)