| Author |
Message
|
| VitalOne |
 Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:03 am Post subject: What's so special about Einstein? |
 |
|
Banned (Trolling)
Joined: 28 Nov 2009
Posts: 133
Location: US
|
The media and society usually makes Einstein seem like some type of super-genius. But when I look at history and his accomplishments I'm not impressed at all.
Lorentz already had the theory of relativity, way before Einstein, the main difference between Einstein's and Lorentz's was the aether. The theory of relativity was originally called the "Lorentz-Einstein" theory. But Lorentz is not really given much credit at all, he's basically seen as a nobody compared to Einstein and usually never listed in the top ten greatest scientists (despite his contributions).
Einstein did not understand mathematics at all, his wife had to help him much but is not given any credit at all in history. Einstein's wife understood mathematics much better than Einstein himself.
Newton was a much greater genius but is not viewed as such in the media and society.
So why is Einstein viewed as such a great scientist and great genius despite the fact that he didn't understand math and the foundation for relativity was already set out by Lorentz? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
| ishmaelblues |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Junior
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 242
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| JennLonhon |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Sophomore
Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 109
Location: Under the Sun, Moon and Stars
|
How can you be sure that Einstein did not understand maths. You can not claim that just like that. Do you have any visible proofs? So, You're saying that Einstein in all the lectures he gave spoke about something he did not actualy understand himself? Well, no offense, but it doesn't seem likely.
I mean, it is said that Bell did not invent the telephone, it was Antonio Meuchi, and I can believe that. Bell could have just taken the patent and the plans from this guy. But to believe that Einstein actually gave speeches about something he did not understand quite well.... Yes, his wife, Mileva, did help him a lot, but that doesn't mean he did not know maths. Piere and Maria Currie also worked together didn't they?
Now, about Lorentz-Einstein theory, if Lorentz wasn't given much credit, it's because Lorentz didn't know how to get that credit. Simple as that. But that doesn't prove that Einstein has less credit for that theory than Lorentz....
P.S. Quite frankly, I don't care, I just wanted to point out the obvious....
_________________
"Be the change you want to see in the world"
Mahatma Gandhi
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace"
Jimmy Hendrix |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| jackson33 |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Professor
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 1594
|
| VitalOne; I'm not particularly a fan of Einstein, but as a THEORETICAL Scientist/Physicist, he added to direction of where science wanted to head. Maybe it was pure imagination and/or guesses, but in general, much of his theory, were alterations of previous ideas. Relativity itself was not instantly accepted, but as others trying to disprove/prove, this or other ideas began accepting, most importantly proving to some degree his ideas, it gave credence to his work and the then unknown work of others. This in many ways goes on, even today, Theory of Everything (TOE). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| korben |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Banned
Joined: 25 Jan 2010
Posts: 110
|
It's kind of funny that you mention this, I remember a lot of Einstein quotes and this is one of his: "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
_________________
[insert a quote here] |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| mathman |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Junior
Joined: 07 Jul 2008
Posts: 223
Location: New York State
|
Einstein's 1905 papers stand as one of the important accomplishments of physics.
He got a Nobel prize for describing the photoelectric effect. In describing the effect he showed that Plank's quantum theory was for real, not just a mathematical trick. A later paper laid the groundwork for the laser.
Other major contributions were the explanation for Brownian motion, which, among other things, demonstrated that molecules were real and not just an artifact.
In additional to the 1905 and following papers, General Relativity (1917) was something that no one else at the time had any thought of. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| kojax |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Radioactive Isotope
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 3034
|
Einstein did a lot for science behind the scenes. Somewhere around half the time, whenever I read about a discovery from his era, it was a scientist somewhere who wrote to Einstein, and then he saw merit in it, and either helped them develop it further, or at least submitted it on their behalf to an appropriate publication.
He made a lot of other peoples' careers, and I think that's part of why he's so fondly remembered. He was in the middle of everything whenever groups of scientists would gather together to collaborate on things, and usually the guy least interested in taking credit. It was enough for him that he'd already had two very big ideas. He was like the one guy you knew wouldn't take any of your spotlight from you, which made him the perfect person to mediate between all the other scientists, and kind of keep the peace so collaboration could continue.
Not that he didn't have some serious debates over stuff. Him and Niels Bohr really went at it sometimes over QM. Seriously, though: I think the social role he played, in bringing all the others together, far overshadows his own individual accomplishments. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Heinsbergrelatz |
| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 598
Location: Singapore
|
| Einstein painted a whole new picture of how we visualize space and time today. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| VitalOne |
| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
Banned (Trolling)
Joined: 28 Nov 2009
Posts: 133
Location: US
|
| JennLonhon wrote: |
How can you be sure that Einstein did not understand maths. You can not claim that just like that. Do you have any visible proofs? So, You're saying that Einstein in all the lectures he gave spoke about something he did not actualy understand himself? Well, no offense, but it doesn't seem likely.
I mean, it is said that Bell did not invent the telephone, it was Antonio Meuchi, and I can believe that. Bell could have just taken the patent and the plans from this guy. But to believe that Einstein actually gave speeches about something he did not understand quite well.... Yes, his wife, Mileva, did help him a lot, but that doesn't mean he did not know maths. Piere and Maria Currie also worked together didn't they?
Now, about Lorentz-Einstein theory, if Lorentz wasn't given much credit, it's because Lorentz didn't know how to get that credit. Simple as that. But that doesn't prove that Einstein has less credit for that theory than Lorentz....
P.S. Quite frankly, I don't care, I just wanted to point out the obvious.... |
It is well known that Einstein did not really understand mathematics very well, he did understand the basics well like Calculus, algebra, etc.., but he wasn't a genius mathematician
That's why he said:
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater" - Einstein
That's why the mathematician Hilbert said:
"Every boy in the streets of Gottingen understands more about four-dimensional geometry than Einstein. Yet, in spite of that, Einstein did the work and not the mathematicians" - Hilbert |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| icewendigo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 637
|
I too was quite suprized to see Einstein was oversold to some extent and many other contributors were eclypsed
There may be several factors to explain this, one of which might be the Hero narrative, 'in a world where .... "one man"...', forget the fact that hundreds of scientists, engineers, technicians, managers, workers all made it possible "Neil Armstrong" walked on the moon. The Hero Cult culture paints a perspective that does not reflect reality imo. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Mooned |
| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 11:38 pm Post subject: BOOK: The Manufacture and Sale of Saint Einstein |
|
|
Forum Freshman
Joined: 31 May 2010
Posts: 11
|
There is a free 1200+ page biography of Einstein available on the net. It is very well documented and not at all flattering. This biography reads like a way overdue expose'. Within this book, you will find:
1) Einstein was a plagiarist (which he openly admitted throughout his life).
2) Einstein was promoted because of his political views, not his science. Einstein was a Jewish Zionist and promoter of Israel.
3) Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize despite the fact that he was ineligible. Nobel clearly spelled out that his Prize was only for pragmatic discoveries which can be experimentally demonstrated. It is not possible to receive a Nobel Prize for anything theoretical. Einstein was awarded the Prize for theoretical work that had nothing to do with relativity. Further, Einstein did not invent the theory of relativity, he only plagiarised work that had been published before. However, a requirement of the Nobel Prize is that the recipient give a talk on the subject of the Prize awarded. Einstein gave his Nobel Prize speech on relativity, as if he had won the prize for theoretical work on relativity... which he clearly did not.
4) Although Einstein was known to be frugal, he gave all of the Nobel Prize money to his then ex-wife. It is believed that his ex-wife was sole creator of the mathematics supporting his Nobel Prize. Einstein went to great trouble make sure the money transfer to his ex-wife was kept secret.
Here is the link to the PDF book. Enjoy!
I cannot get the link to work. You should still be able to find it. The book is by Christopher Jon Bjerknes, title is The Manufacture and Sale of Saint Einstein |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| MigL |
| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Forum Freshman
Joined: 21 May 2010
Posts: 50
|
Don't think that the Lorentz transformations are the totality of relativity, and yes they are called the lorentz transformations to give him credit for them. These transformations are the result of relativity, not the other way around.
The 1905 special theory, based solely on thought experiments, estabilished the variability of space and time depending on frames of reference with c, the speed of light, as the only universal invariant.
The general theory expanded on this by considering accelerated frames of reference, not static or uniformly moving, and tied together gravitational mass and inertial mass with their effects on space/time.
And I believe it was Grossmann (spelling ??) who helped Einstein with the higher dimensional math to handle the space/time metrics of the general theory. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Mooned |
| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:41 pm Post subject: Nobel Prize Worthy? |
|
|
Forum Freshman
Joined: 31 May 2010
Posts: 11
|
| I fail to see your point. Einstein was a theoretical scientist ergo he did not qualify for the prize (even if he was responsible for his own work). Evidence suggests he was not behind the math proofs for what he was credited for. Therefore, exactly where should we give Einstein his deserved credit? Einstein was promoted for Zionist Jew propaganda to prove to the world that Jews are brilliant. In fact, Einstein was closer to goofy than he was brilliant. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Halliday |
| Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:06 am Post subject: Re: Nobel Prize Worthy? |
|
|
Forum Junior
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 265
|
| Mooned wrote: |
| Therefore, exactly where should we give Einstein his deserved credit? Einstein was promoted for Zionist Jew propaganda to prove to the world that Jews are brilliant. In fact, Einstein was closer to goofy than he was brilliant. |
What insight!
I have a particularly high regard for the term "closer to goofy". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Ophiolite |
| Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:38 am Post subject: Re: Nobel Prize Worthy? |
|
|
Time Lord
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 6193
Location: Scotland
|
| Mooned wrote: |
| I fail to see your point. Einstein was a theoretical scientist ergo he did not qualify for the prize (even if he was responsible for his own work). Evidence suggests he was not behind the math proofs for what he was credited for. Therefore, exactly where should we give Einstein his deserved credit? Einstein was promoted for Zionist Jew propaganda to prove to the world that Jews are brilliant. In fact, Einstein was closer to goofy than he was brilliant. |
Is that an agenda sticking out of your crotch, or are you just pleased to see me?
_________________
The Universe is not only weirder than we imagine it is weirder than we can imagine. J.B.S.Haldane. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
