Albert Einstein and 100 Years of Relativity Christopher M. Johns-Krull Rice University, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy October 10, 2016

Einstein Born 1879, Ulm, Kingdon of Würtmburg, German Empire BA 1900, Swiss Federal Polytechnic, physics & math 1902 marries Mileva Maric 1902-1909 Swiss Patent Office 1905 Miraculous Year: photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity, equivalence of mass & energy PhD 1905, Univ. of Zurich, Molecular Dimensions 1915 General Relativity 1921 Nobel Prize, chiefly for photoelectric effect 1933 Emigrated to US 1940 US Citizen Died 1955, Princeton, NJ

History of Light

Olaus Romer and the Speed of Light He actually first tried an offset circle. 1676: Method is sound but the size of an AU was not well known 4

Fizeau-Foucault Method He actually first tried an offset circle. 1850: Accurate value determined - c = 299,792.458 km/s 5

What is Light? Where does the color come from? He actually first tried an offset circle. Where does the color come from? 6

Color is an Intrinsic Property He actually first tried an offset circle. Where does the color come from? 7

Interference & Particles He actually first tried an offset circle. 8

What if Light Was a Wave? He actually first tried an offset circle. 9

Waves Suffer Interference He actually first tried an offset circle. 10

Young’s Double Slit Experiment 1801 He actually first tried an offset circle. 11

Young’s Double Slit Experiment 1801 He actually first tried an offset circle. 12

Young’s Double Slit Experiment He actually first tried an offset circle. 13

Photoelectric Effect He actually first tried an offset circle. 14

The Photon He actually first tried an offset circle. 15

The Electromagnetic Wave He actually first tried an offset circle. 16

The Spectrum of Radiation He actually first tried an offset circle. 17

The Wavelength of Particles He actually first tried an offset circle. 18

The Blackbody Spectrum He actually first tried an offset circle. 19

Brownian Motion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xscn-QSmFo4 He actually first tried an offset circle. 20

Brownian Motion Proved that atoms & molecules exist Nature is not continuous Gave estimates of their number & mass Ph.D. Thesis research He actually first tried an offset circle. 21

The Theory of Special Relativity He actually first tried an offset circle. 22

The Setting He actually first tried an offset circle. 23

The Gravitational Field He actually first tried an offset circle. 24

The Electric Field He actually first tried an offset circle. 25

When the Charge Moves He actually first tried an offset circle. 26

When the Charge Moves: Light! He actually first tried an offset circle. 27

What About Gravity? He actually first tried an offset circle. 28

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Mountains on the Moon The Milky Way He actually first tried an offset circle. Mountains on the Moon The Milky Way Sunspots Rings of Saturn Phases of Venus Moons of Jupiter

Father of Experimental Physics He actually first tried an offset circle.

The Moon and Sun He actually first tried an offset circle.

Phases of Venus He actually first tried an offset circle.

Phases of Venus He actually first tried an offset circle.

Moons of Jupiter He actually first tried an offset circle.

Velocities at the Speed of Life He actually first tried an offset circle.

Galilean Transformations He actually first tried an offset circle. 36

The laws of physics are the same for all observers Special Relativity’s Postulates The laws of physics are the same for all observers The speed of light is the same for all observes He actually first tried an offset circle. 37

The Laws of Physics He actually first tried an offset circle. 38

The Speed of Light He actually first tried an offset circle. 39 By The original uploader was Stigmatella aurantiaca at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22446309 39

Relative Speeds Change How They Add He actually first tried an offset circle. 40

Faster than Light Travel – NO! He actually first tried an offset circle. 41