Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity Essay

Albert Einstein was a man who had such a great mind. He has altered the way man perceives the world armed with a pen and a paper. He saw farther behind nature’s drape than anyone else has ever done besides Newton, and from then on, he lived the rest of his life pulling the drape down for his humility (Pellegrini 1). Today, when the word genius is being uttered, no one else’s face come to mind than his. An exceptional trait appears to radiate in that gloomy and wrinkled exterior, with its tangled white hair that resembles a halo and its expressive brown eyes. The trait was that of a genius, a combination of extraordinary intelligence and thorough imagination that transported him beyond the limits of man’s long – standing scientific convictions and penetrated further into the material uncertainties of the cosmos than any man who came before him (Pellegrini 1; White 96). If there is one thing common in all things in the world, it is relativity. Time, mass, and speed are relative. Light is not weightless, space has bends, and â€Å"coiled with a pound of water,† any substance, is the volatile force of 14 million tons of trinitrotoluene (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen). By the end of the twentieth century, these things have been scientifically proven, 100% because of the man with a great mind (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 98). Man is likely not to condemn the man for the atomic bomb, to any further extent than they condemn Noble for the dynamite (Pellegrini 2; White 98). For it was not the quiet scientist rather the generals the world over who falsified his equation into the most horrible dagger in the history of humanity (Pellegrini 2). At that point in time, the rest of the world has already made him into an icon, the most celebrated prophet since Newton and science’s profound soul. He is genius personified. In a hardly any stroke of sophistication he confined man’s world into that of the universe in a similar equation, and altered forever the manner man perceive the cosmos as well as themselves. It was in the year 1905 when he, the extraordinarily confident and constantly unkempt 26 year old scientist forwarded three papers, written in his free time, to the leading publication, Annalen der Physik to be made available in print if there was space (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org). All three of the papers have been published, and they did just what he expected they would: altered the way man perceives the world. The genius behind such breakthrough would remain anonymous for quite some time though. He turned his Theory of Special Relativity into the Theory of General Relativity which states that light has weight, and that space and time were basically space – time (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 100). The Fundamentals of Einstein’s theory Einstein’s theory is one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of all time. Though he established the Theory of Relativity, his main contribution to the advances of science was the identification that in a vacuum, light speed is constant (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 103). Vacuum is a definite physical border for motion (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 103). This is not so significant in an individual’s daily activities because man travel at a speed much slower than that of light (AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen). Nevertheless, in reference to the Theory of Relativity, objects moving closer to the speed of light will move at a slower speed and would seem to be shorter in length from the view of a person observing from the planet Earth (White 105). He also derived the formula, E = mc2, which shows the relationship of mass and energy (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen). For the success of his concepts on the subjects of relativity, photoelectric effect, as well as blackbody radiation, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in the year 1921 (AllAboutScience. org). The Inherent Limitations of Einstein’s theory Over the years, scientists have carried out several experiments to validate the implications of the Einstein’s theory and develop certain fields as Cosmology and Particle Physics (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org). Yet, some doubt the capacity of the theory to explain as many physical events as has been previously postulated, with several scientists disputing in opposition to it completely (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org). Despite the consequences, just like any other scientific theories, it is not the absolute, complete, and ultimate explanation of the cosmos. Being a scientific theory as it is, it has postulations and estimates of nature and in the end, can not explain some phenomena on the whole (AllAboutScience. org). Einstein’s theory, similar to the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin, was popularized as a â€Å"scientific truth† since it presents a basic description to the complexity examined in the natural cosmos (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org). Earlier than 1920 until the time of his death in the year 1955, he attempted to discover laws of Physics much more broad that what has been known since he came (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 102). With regards to his theory, the gravity had been an example of the geometry of both time and space. Other forces present in nature, primarily the force of electromagnetism is yet to be explained in like terms (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen). However, it appeared that as far as he is concerned, the concepts of electromagnetism and gravity could be described as expressions of certain broader mathematical configuration. The search for a description for a unified field theory which would reconcile the two concepts as well as that of time and space, generally consumed a large portion of his life than any other pursuit (AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen). In point of fact, for the most part his life was devoted in an attempt to formulate a Unified Theory of Physics to unite the concept of electromagnetism to that of relativity (AllAboutScience. org). He has failed and up to this day, no one had ever reconciled such concepts (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 105). The Use and Abuse of Einstein’s theory Besides being misused as an indisputable fact, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity has been abused in subjects further than gravitational phenomenon even within the scientific community. His theory was the foundation of the Big Bang Theory which suggests the origin of the cosmos (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 96). Similarly, the Theory of Evolution centered on the origin of the species and, eventually, on that of man. Still both theories are frequently discussed as if they are in themselves two ends of a bigger combined theory. In point of fact, both are not theories in continuity, rather distinct theories concerning two entirely dissimilar physical phenomena (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org; Trefil & Hazen; White 105). Moreover, the purpose of his theory is to explain physical laws of the cosmos alone, not that of philosophy, faith or even the Almighty (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org). For example, the Theory of Relativity as well as the theoretical principle of moral relativism has nothing in common aside from the word relative, still others consider the two ideas to be synonymous (AllAboutScience. org). Others may possibly claim that moral relativity, the principle that fact and lies, right and wrong, the Almighty and other gods are decided and validated by one’s character, genetics, and upbringing, is an effect of the work of Einstein. It was on April 28, 1955 when one of the preeminent natural theorist who ever lived, breathed his last, handing over a legacy of challenging scientific premises (AllAboutScience. org). To date, scientists continue to investigate the premises formulated by this genius mind. He struggled to find in science what artists strive to find in art (Pellegrini 1; AllAboutScience. org). He tried to escape from the darkness and horrors of the world by connecting with the entire cosmos. He sought logic and beauty of the natural world. In finding out the fundamental principles of the natural world, it appears that he hoped to discover a secret design which would one way or another restore confidence in him about the beauty and creativity of the world into which he is born. His intellectual aptitude as well as his curious mind embodied the spirit of analytical thinking. By means of skilled and constant inquiry they altered man’s idea of the natural world as well as the cosmos. He was only armed with a pen and a paper (Pellegrini 2; AllAboutScience. org). In spite of that he saw beyond what a telescope can reach, deeper than what a microscope can recognize. He went on a lonely grandeur to where the worlds of the visible and invisible met. He articulated each in the language of the other (Pellegrini 3; AllAboutScience. org). If he was ever a success in discovering the secret he has spent most of his life searching for, it lies in the legacy of his observations yet to be examined by sophisticated technology. Does the average man only grasp so little of the vast universe of is it that Einstein only did assume to a great deal? Man has all the advances Einstein has left to civilization. These are the advances which have tapped practically each and every respect of the sciences. For one, civilization has the atomic bomb. Then again, perhaps primarily, in the minds of those he has left behind, his vision is kept no matter how unclearly. The harmony in the world is the very thing man has kept searching for. That one great mind drew man nearer to the facts of life than anyone who has ever existed done for civilization.And Albert Einstein was also well aware of how much more questions he had left under the clouds of uncertainty. Works Cited Pellegrini, Frank. â€Å"Albert Einstein. † Time Magazine 29 March 1999: 1 – 3. â€Å"Theory of Relativity. † 2008. AllAboutScience. org. 3 July 2008 http://www. allaboutscience. org/theory-of-relativity. htm. Trefil, James and Robert M. Hazen. The Sciences: An Integrated Approach. Location: Wiley, 2006. White, Nicholas E. â€Å"Beyond Einstein: scientific goals and missions. † Advances in Space Research 35 (2005): 96 – 105.