Friday, September 16, 2005
Einstein lecture series
|
University of Southern Indiana will observe World Year of Physics with a fall lecture series based on Albert Einstein’s three groundbreaking publications. World Year of Physics coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Annus Mirabilis (miracle year) during which Einstein changed the landscape of science. Einstein’s work in 1905 helped foster scientific revolutions in our understanding of space and time, as well as matter and energy. “Einstein published four papers in 1905, three of which were revolutionary, and he did it at the age of 26,” said Kent Scheller, USI associate professor of physics. “He was working as a patent office clerk, studying physics on his own; he wasn’t working as an academician.” “Maybe Galileo and Newton are on the same plane with their revolutionary thought in the scientific world,” he added, “but certainly no one since then has done what he did in a single year, and that’s why physicists call it the miracle year.” USI physics professors will discuss the three 1905 publications, on the nature of light, relativity, and Brownian molecular motion. Each lecture will be held at 2 p.m. in Room 1101 in the Education Center. • September 23 — “Photoelectric Effect,” by Dr. Kent Scheller “The nature of light had been debated for a century before Einstein’s publications, and it was thought that light was a wave,” Scheller said. “With the photoelectric effect, Einstein showed that light could act like a particle. That ushered in a revolution in how scientists look at light.” Einstein eventually received the Nobel Prize for the photoelectric effect, but not until the 1920s. “It’s said that people didn’t understand relativity, but they could understand the photoelectric effect, so they gave him the Nobel Prize for that,” Scheller said. • October 28 — “Special Relativity,” by Dr. Shadow Robinson, assistant professor of physics “Relativity sweeps across everything that we study, from the smallest atom to the largest stars, and it has been well proven and documented in experiment after experiment that what Einstein formed in his mind was real,” Scheller said. “Now, my 7-year-old knows E = mc2. He doesn’t understand it, but he knows it. Everybody does. That’s the level to which Einstein has reached 50 years after his death. His genius has spanned the ages.” • November 18 — “Brownian Motion,” by Dr. Tom Pickett, associate professor of physics Brownian molecular motion wasn’t understood in 1905. It describes how molecules move through interactions and collisions. Each lecture also will feature biographical information about Einstein. The lecture series is sponsored by the Pott College of Science and Engineering. Refreshments will be served after each lecture. The public is welcome. For more information, contact Scheller at kschelle@usi.edu or 812/464-1903. |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.