Our world has seen a tremendous amount of geniuses for its existence! The list of them from around the world can be continued indefinitely. There are a huge number of axioms, theories and hypotheses on which modern science is based. Great minds of all times and peoples built the foundation of physics in a brick. These include Einstein's postulates, the Lorentz transformations, the axiom of Archimedes, the Pythagorean theorem, the Heron formula, and many others. Each new discovery entailed a storm of excitement and symbolized a breakthrough in a certain area. In this article, all attention will be directed to Einstein's postulates.
Einstein's biography
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in the city of Ulm (Germany), in a family of Jews. His father and his comrade were co-owners of a small plant for the production of feather packing for pillows and mattresses.
The mother of the scientist was a native of a fairly wealthy dynasty that traded corn. Already a family man, Albert's father opened a company selling electrical appliances.
In the fall of 1896, at the Polytechnic in Switzerland, Einstein met with a student from Serbia, Mileva Maric, who would later become his wife.
The future scientist so wanted to obtain Swiss citizenship that for this he abandoned German. In the end, he was able to achieve this in 1901.
Despite his talent and extraordinary abilities, he rushed about for two years in search of work, even starved of hopelessness, but did not stop working in the physical sciences.
The attitude of others to the works of Einstein
Many scientists of that time considered Einstein's work too innovative, as they crossed out some fundamental knowledge in this area. Some great minds of that century nevertheless decided to adhere to classical theories, while trying to derive alternatives that refute Enschein's postulates, but were faced with the fact that they are not applicable in practice.
The postulates of the theory of relativity Einstein more than once became the reason for his nomination for the Nobel Prize. But such a revolutionary theory a little scared the Nobel Committee, so they did not give him this award for a long time. But in 1922, he still was awarded it for work on the photoelectric effect.
Personal qualities of a scientist
Albert was an open, friendly, charming, optimistic and responsive person. His friends noted in him a wonderful sense of humor.
He especially loved the music of the 18th century. He knew how to play the violin, which he always kept with him.
Einstein was self-critical of his work, always admitted his mistakes, even publicly. I was never ashamed of what could be wrong, respectfully took into account the works of other scientists, did not tolerate lies and injustice.
Albert Einstein was awarded a huge number of awards and distinctions, including posthumously.
In his honor are named photon measurement units, chemical element No. 99, a small asteroid discovered in 1973, a gymnasium, an observatory, an institute, medical organizations, streets and, of course, awards - medals and prizes.
Interesting facts from life
- The most grandiose contribution of Einstein is considered to be the theory of relativity. Few people know, but along the way, a scientist (German by nationality) David Hilbert worked with him on it . You could even say that they worked in tandem, as they constantly kept in touch and exchanged information during research. They presented the final equations of the theory of relativity almost simultaneously, but they did it in completely different ways. Initially, many were sure that Hilbert was able to achieve the same result almost a week earlier, but introduced the public later to Albert, who received all the laurels and honors. Despite this, at the end of the 20th century, rough calculations and notes by D. Hilbert were found, thanks to which it became clear that he could bring his theory to the end without already published data. Although the scientists themselves were completely uninterested in these disputes.
- Einstein was able to develop such a refrigerator, which does not require electricity, working exclusively on heaters of low power. In 1930, a patent for it was sold to Electrolux, but, unfortunately, they did not start producing such equipment.
- The FBI of the United States of America considered Einstein a Soviet spy, therefore everything related to him was treated with extreme concern. Towards the end of his life, the dossier on him consisted of 1,500 sheets.
- The pacifist Einstein asked Roosevelt to disassemble the atomic bomb. He was categorically against, considering this a too dangerous undertaking.
- Before his death, A. Einstein worked very hard to implement the theory of the Unified Field. Which consists in the fact that with the help of one main and unambiguous equation to formulate and put together the interaction of 3 main forces: electromagnetic, gravitational and nuclear. Einstein may have been able to make an amazing discovery, but, alas, he burned these works. Now the descendants can only speculate on what he could then come to.
The main contribution to the development of physics
Einstein's postulates are the main key to explaining many physical phenomena. The scientist's works gave a tremendous start to the further development of science and changed the approach to the study of space and time. They are divided into two types: the postulates of Einstein's theory of relativity and the principle of the constancy of the speed of light. These are completely new and hitherto unmatched concepts in physics.
Einstein's first postulate
It states the constancy of natural laws and the equations characterizing them when a certain inertial system of a report changes to another.
The laws of deformation of the state of a physical system are not at all burdened by such a fact as which of the 2 coordinate systems moving relative to each other, these deformations belong.
In simple words, he explained the movement of different inertial reference frames or the movement of physical bodies moving with respect to each other at a constant speed. When one body (system) changes the trajectory or the speed of movement, then GR is applied (general theory of relativity), and neither one nor the other body (system) can be considered as a reporting system.
Second postulate
Einstein came up with the following postulate: the speed of light in the presence of vacuum is unambiguous in all directions and will not change when the speed of the light source deviates from the original value. Based on this, the conclusion suggests itself that the speed of light is ultimate and constant regardless of the inertial reporting system.
This amazing theory that the speed of light for everyone around, no matter how they move, is exactly the same (subject to certain auxiliary conditions), leads to the transformation of H. Lorentz’s coordinates and time developed before that at the moment of transition from the original inertial reference frame to the new which is changeable in relation to the first.
Unlike Lorentz, who considered his formulas as unrealistic and fictitious, Albert Einstein brought them into action in reality.
This served as a source for obtaining the most important equation for science that relates the mass M, energy E, and momentum P: E 2 = M 2 × c 4 + P 2 × s 2 .
Where c = speed of light. And the equation itself can be called one of the first prerequisites for the use of intranuclear energy.
Einstein's special theory of relativity
Special relativity is the most important physical theory of space and time. The postulates of the Einstein SRT serve as the main base of modern physicists and technicians. Many subsequent discoveries of scientists from around the world are based on them. Elements of the special theory of relativity (Einstein's postulates) are often called the relativistic theory, and the phenomena that it describes are called the relativistic effect. This is best seen when the bodies move at a speed close to the speed of light in vacuum with = 3 · 108 m / s. These postulates of Einstein were created in 1905.
The special theory of relativity is applicable only when the speed of objects remains unchanged and the movement occurs uniformly. At the moment of deviation of either the speed or the path of movement, the laws of the SRT simply simply stop working. In such a case, the general theory of relativity is applicable.
Albert Einstein - a catalyst for the development of science of his time
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the science of physics was in a critical situation. The way out of it was Einstein's refusal from the classical view of space and time. What used to seem understandable and obvious is actually changeable! Einstein's postulates prove that quantities and concepts, which were considered constants in nonrelativistic physics, in this theory are adjacent to the category of relative ones.
All the above postulates of Einstein gave a tremendous impetus to the development of physics as a science. He absolutely deservedly received the Nobel Prize and worldwide recognition!