In order to discuss masculinity, I include the “who” of masculinity and discuss famous men. One is particular was Albert Einstein. In particular about how he tackled scientific problems.
There is the story of how he developed the General Theory of Relativity (1915). This is one of the most famous and illustrative examples of Einstein’s process, combining thought experiments, mathematical rigour, and persistence over years of work.
Einstein and the Problem of Gravity: The Road to General Relativity
The Problem: Newton’s Incomplete View of Gravity
In the early 20th century, Einstein was dissatisfied with Newton’s description of gravity. Newton’s theory explained gravity as a force acting at a distance between two masses, but it didn’t explain how this force was transmitted through space. Einstein felt this explanation was incomplete, especially when considering the implications of his own Special Theory of Relativity (1905), which showed that nothing, including information, could travel faster than the speed of light.
Einstein wanted to create a new theory of gravity that accounted for how mass and energy interact with space and time.
The Breakthrough Thought Experiment
Einstein’s first major insight came in 1907, while he was working at the Swiss Patent Office. He later referred to it as “the happiest thought of my life.”
He imagined a man falling freely in an elevator. Inside the elevator, the man would feel weightless because both he and the elevator would be accelerating at the same rate. Einstein realised that the effects of free fall were indistinguishable from being in a gravity-free environment. This led him to the principle of equivalence:
Gravity and acceleration are fundamentally the same.This insight laid the foundation for his work on General Relativity.
The Struggle: Mathematics and Curved Spacetime
Einstein now needed to describe gravity as the curvature of spacetime caused by massive objects like stars and planets. However, he lacked the mathematical tools to express this idea. Between 1907 and 1912, he struggled to find the right framework.
In 1912, Einstein turned to Riemannian geometry, a branch of mathematics developed by Bernhard Riemann. Riemannian geometry describes curved surfaces and was perfect for modelling spacetime curvature. However, Einstein was not a mathematician, so he enlisted the help of his friend Marcel Grossmann, a mathematician at ETH Zurich.
Grossmann introduced Einstein to tensor calculus, a complex mathematical system that could describe how matter and energy distort spacetime. Einstein spent the next three years refining his equations, often making mistakes and backtracking before moving forward.
Testing and Refining the Theory
By 1915, Einstein had formulated most of the equations for General Relativity, but there was still a problem: his equations did not align with the orbit of Mercury. Mercury’s orbit had puzzled astronomers for decades because it deviated slightly from predictions made using Newtonian gravity.
In November 1915, after intense work and revisions, Einstein corrected his equations. When he applied them to Mercury’s orbit, the results matched observations perfectly. This was the first major confirmation of his theory.
The Eclipse of 1919: Public Validation
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity proposed that massive objects, like the Sun, bend the fabric of spacetime. This bending would cause light from distant stars to curve as it passed near a massive object. Einstein predicted that this effect could be observed during a solar eclipse when the Sun’s light would be blocked, allowing scientists to see the shifted position of stars near the Sun.
In 1919, British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington led an expedition to observe a solar eclipse. The data confirmed Einstein’s prediction, proving that massive objects indeed bend spacetime. This discovery catapulted Einstein to worldwide fame.
Einstein’s Process
1. Curiosity: Einstein began with a dissatisfaction with existing theories and asked fundamental questions about gravity and motion.
2. Thought Experiments: His free-falling elevator scenario helped him understand the equivalence of gravity and acceleration.
3. Collaboration: Einstein worked with Marcel Grossmann to master the mathematics needed to describe his ideas.
4. Persistence: Einstein spent nearly a decade refining his equations, testing them against real-world problems like Mercury’s orbit.
5. Validation: The 1919 eclipse confirmed his predictions, solidifying General Relativity as a cornerstone of modern physics.
This story demonstrates Einstein’s ability to combine creativity, collaboration, and persistence to tackle one of the most profound questions in science. It is a shining example of how Einstein approached problems with both imagination and rigour.
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