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Date: 8-1-01
EXPLORATIONS #1963 - ALBERT EINSTEIN
By CHRISTIANO/BEARDSLEYANNCR:
NOW THE VOA SPECIAL ENGLISH PROGRAM, EXPLORATIONS. TODAY LARRY
WEST AND FRANK OLIVER TELL ABOUT THE THE WORK OF THE GREAT
SCIENTIST, ALBERT EINSTEIN. HIS THEORIES CHANGED THE WAY WE
UNDERSTAND THE WORLD.
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
IN THE YEAR NINETEEN-OH-FIVE, ALBERT EINSTEIN PUBLISHED A
SCIENTIFIC PAPER. IT WAS ONLY THIRTY PAGES. BUT IT WAS ONE OF
THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS IN HISTORY. EINSTEIN'S
PAPER -- FILLED WITH MATHEMATICS -- EXPLAINED WHAT CAME TO BE
CALLED HIS "SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY."
UNDERSTANDING EINSTEIN'S IDEA OF RELATIVITY IS NOT EASY FOR
SOMEONE WHO IS NOT AN EXPERT IN MATHEMATICS. WE CAN UNDERSTAND
IT FULLY ONLY BY UNDERSTANDING THE MATHEMATICAL STATEMENTS THAT
EXPLAIN IT. PARTS OF THE THEORY SEEM IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE. BUT
EXPERIMENTS PROVED THEY ARE TRUE.
THE "SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY" IS ABOUT THE BASIC IDEAS THAT
WE USE TO DESCRIBE NATURAL HAPPENINGS. IT IS ABOUT TIME, SPACE,
MASS, MOVEMENT AND GRAVITY.
VOICE TWO:
ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS BORN IN ULM, GERMANY, IN
EIGHTEEN-SEVENTY-NINE. HIS FATHER WAS A BUSINESSMAN. HE OWNED A
FACTORY THAT MADE ELECTRICAL DEVICES.
ALBERT WAS A QUIET CHILD WHO SPENT MUCH OF HIS TIME ALONE. HE
WAS SLOW TO TALK AND HAD DIFFICULTY LEARNING TO READ. BUT HE WAS
INTERESTED IN HOW THINGS WORKED. AND HE ASKED A LOT OF
QUESTIONS.
WHEN ALBERT WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, HIS FATHER GAVE HIM A COMPASS.
THE CHILD WAS FILLED WITH WONDER WHEN HE DISCOVERED THAT THE
COMPASS NEEDLE ALWAYS POINTED TO THE NORTH. HE ASKED HIS FATHER
AND HIS UNCLE WHAT CAUSED THE NEEDLE TO MOVE.
THEIR ANSWERS ABOUT MAGNETISM AND GRAVITY WERE DIFFICULT FOR THE
BOY TO UNDERSTAND. BUT HE SPENT MUCH TIME THINKING ABOUT THEM.
VOICE ONE:
ALBERT DID NOT LIKE SCHOOL. THE GERMAN SCHOOLS OF THAT TIME WERE
NOT PLEASANT. STUDENTS COULD NOT ASK QUESTIONS. ALBERT SAID HE
FELT AS IF HE WERE IN PRISON.
ALBERT TOLD HIS UNCLE JACOB HOW MUCH HE HATED SCHOOL, ESPECIALLY
ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY. HIS UNCLE TOLD HIM TO SOLVE MATHEMATICAL
PROBLEMS BY PRETENDING TO BE A POLICEMAN. "YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
SOMEONE," HE SAID, "BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO. CALL HIM 'X'. FIND
HIM BY USING THE MATHEMATICAL TOOLS OF ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY."
VOICE TWO:
UNCLE JACOB'S GAME MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN ALBERT'S SCHOOL WORK.
HE LEARNED TO LOVE MATHEMATICS. ALBERT SOLVED ALL THE PROBLEMS
IN HIS ALGEBRA BOOK. HE WAS STUDYING CALCULUS WHEN ALL HIS
FRIENDS WERE STILL STUDYING SIMPLE MATHEMATICS. ALBERT EINSTEIN
DECIDED THAT HE WANTED TO TEACH MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS.
EINSTEIN ATTENDED THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE IN ZURICH,
SWITZERLAND. HE GRADUATED WITH HONORS. BUT HE COULD NOT GET A
TEACHING JOB. SO HE TOOK A JOB IN THE SWISS GOVERNMENT PATENT
OFFICE. THE JOB WAS EASY. HE HAD LOTS OF TIME TO WORK ON HIS
OWN IDEAS.
VOICE ONE:
SOME OF THOSE IDEAS WERE ABOUT RELATIVITY.
EINSTEIN HAD BEGUN TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE WAS
MOVING. EVERYTHING FROM THE SMALLEST ELECTRONS OF AN ATOM TO THE
GREATEST PLANETS AND STARS. MEASURING ANY OF THESE MOVEMENTS
DEPENDS ON WHERE THE MEASURER IS STANDING.
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT YOU ARE DRIVING A CAR.
YOUR SPEED, RELATIVE TO THE GROUND, IS FIFTY KILOMETERS AN HOUR.
AN INSECT INSIDE THE CAR WITH YOU FLIES FROM THE BACK OF THE CAR
TO THE FRONT. RELATIVE TO YOU, THE INSECT IS FLYING TEN
KILOMETERS AN HOUR. BUT TO SOMEONE STANDING AT THE SIDE OF THE
ROAD, THE INSECT'S SPEED WOULD BE SIXTY KILOMETERS AN HOUR.
WHILE YOU AND THE INSECT ARE TRAVELING, THE EARTH IS MOVING AT
THIRTY KILOMETERS A SECOND RELATIVE TO THE SUN. AND THE SUN IS
MOVING AT TWO-HUNDRED-FORTY KILOMETERS A SECOND RELATIVE TO THE
CENTER OF OUR MILKY WAY GALAXY.
VOICE TWO:
EINSTEIN SAID THAT THE SPEED OF LIGHT -- THREE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND
KILOMETERS A SECOND -- NEVER CHANGES. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE
THE LIGHT IS COMING FROM, OR WHO IS MEASURING ITS SPEED. IT IS
ALWAYS THE SAME. HOWEVER, TIME CAN CHANGE. AND MASS CAN CHANGE.
AND LENGTH CAN CHANGE.
LET US USE OUR IMAGINATION AGAIN.
IMAGINE TWO SPACESHIPS WITH A SCIENTIST IN EACH. ONE SPACESHIP
IS RED. ONE IS BLUE. EXCEPT FOR COLOR, BOTH SPACESHIPS ARE
EXACTLY ALIKE. THEY PASS EACH OTHER FAR OUT IN SPACE.
NEITHER SCIENTIST FEELS THAT HIS SHIP IS MOVING. TO EACH, IT
SEEMS THE OTHER SHIP IS MOVING, NOT HIS. AS THEY PASS AT HIGH
SPEED, THE SCIENTIST IN EACH SHIP MEASURES HOW LONG IT TAKES A
BEAM OF LIGHT TO TRAVEL FROM THE FLOOR TO THE TOP OF HIS
SPACESHIP, HIT A MIRROR, AND RETURN TO THE FLOOR. BOTH
SPACESHIPS HAVE A WINDOW THAT LETS EACH SCIENTIST WATCH THE
EXPERIMENT OF THE OTHER.
VOICE ONE:
AT EXACTLY THE SAME MOMENT, THEY BEGIN THEIR EXPERIMENTS. THE
SCIENTIST IN THE BLUE SHIP SEES HIS BEAM OF LIGHT GO STRAIGHT UP
AND COME STRAIGHT DOWN. BUT HE SEES THAT THE LIGHT BEAM IN THE
RED SHIP DOES NOT DO THIS.
BECAUSE THE RED SHIP IS MOVING SO FAST, THE BEAM DOES NOT APPEAR
TO GO STRAIGHT UP. IT GOES UP AT AN ANGLE AND COMES DOWN AT AN
ANGLE. IT FORMS A PATH THAT LOOKS LIKE AN UPSIDE DOWN "V".
THIS PATH IS LONGER THAN THE STRAIGHT UP-AND-DOWN PATH THAT THE
BLUE SCIENTIST SAW IN HIS OWN SHIP. BECAUSE LIGHT TRAVELS AT THE
SAME SPEED, TIME WOULD HAVE TO PASS MORE SLOWLY IN THE RED SHIP
TO LET THE LIGHT BEAM TRAVEL THE LONGER PATH.
VOICE TWO:
THE SCIENTIST IN THE RED SHIP WOULD SEE EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS
HE WATCHED THE EXPERIMENT BY THE BLUE SCIENTIST. HE WOULD SAY
THAT TIME PASSED MORE SLOWLY IN THE OTHER SHIP. EACH SCIENTIST
WOULD BE CORRECT, BECAUSE THE PASSING OF TIME IS RELATIVE. EACH
WOULD BE RIGHT IN SAYING THAT THE OTHER SHIP HAD SLOWER TIME.
EACH SCIENTIST ALSO WOULD SEE THAT THE OTHER SHIP WAS SHORTER
THAN HIS OWN. THE HIGHER THEIR SPEEDS, THE SHORTER THE OTHER
SHIP WOULD APPEAR. AND ALTHOUGH THE OTHER SHIP WOULD SEEM
SHORTER, ITS MASS WOULD INCREASE. IT WOULD SEEM TO GET HEAVIER.
THESE ARE DIFFICULT IDEAS TO ACCEPT. DOES TIME REALLY SLOW DOWN?
DO OBJECTS GET SHORTER AND BECOME HEAVIER AT HIGH SPEEDS?
EXPERIMENTS BY OTHER SCIENTISTS HAVE PROVED THAT EINSTEIN'S
"SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY" IS CORRECT. NO EXPERIMENTS HAVE
PROVED IT WRONG.
VOICE ONE:
TEN YEARS AFTER HIS PAPER ON THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY,
EINSTEIN PUBLISHED ANOTHER PAPER. IT DESCRIBED WHAT HE CALLED
HIS "GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY." IT OFFERED NEW IDEAS ABOUT
GRAVITY, AND ABOUT THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATTER AND
ENERGY.
EINSTEIN SAID MATTER COULD BE CHANGED INTO ENERGY. HE DEVELOPED
A SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL STATEMENT THAT MEASURED THE AMOUNT OF
ENERGY IN MATTER. IT IS: "E EQUALS MC SQUARED."
"E" IS THE ENERGY IN A PIECE OF MATTER. "M" IS THE MASS OF THE
MATTER. "C SQUARED" IS THE SPEED OF LIGHT, MULTIPLIED BY ITSELF.
THIS STATEMENT, OR FORMULA, SHOWED THE GREAT AMOUNT OF ENERGY
THAT COULD COME FROM A TINY PIECE OF MATTER. IT EXPLAINED HOW
THE SUN COULD GIVE OFF HEAT AND LIGHT FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS.
EINSTEIN'S FORMULA ALSO LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF ATOMIC ENERGY.
VOICE TWO:
EINSTEIN WON A NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS IN THE YEAR
NINETEEN-TWENTY-ONE. HE RECEIVED THE AWARD -- NOT FOR HIS
THEORIES OF RELATIVITY -- BUT FOR HIS DISCOVERY OF THE LAW OF THE
PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT. THIS LAW EXPLAINED HOW AND WHY SOME METALS
GIVE OFF ELECTRONS AFTER LIGHT FALLS ON THEIR SURFACES. THIS
DISCOVERY LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ELECTRONICS, INCLUDING
RADIO AND TELEVISION.
VOICE ONE:
EINSTEIN BECAME A FAMOUS MAN. BUT HE HAD FEW CLOSE FRIENDS."IT
IS STRANGE," HE WROTE, "TO BE KNOWN BY SO MANY AND YET TO BE SO
LONELY." HE WAS A MAN WHO SAW GOD IN NATURE. "WHAT I
SEE IN NATURE," SAID EINSTEIN, "IS SOMETHING MAGNIFICENT THAT WE
UNDERSTAND ONLY IMPERFECTLY."
EINSTEIN LEFT GERMANY WHEN ADOLPH HITLER CAME TO POWER IN
NINETEEN-THIRTY-THREE. HE SAID HE WOULD STAY IN A COUNTRY ONLY
WHERE THERE WAS POLITICAL LIBERTY, TOLERATION AND EQUALITY OF ALL
CITIZENS UNDER LAW.
EINSTEIN CAME TO THE UNITED STATES TO CONTINUE HIS RESEARCH. HE
WORKED AT THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN PRINCETON, NEW
JERSEY.
EINSTEIN SPENT THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF HIS LIFE WORKING ON
WHAT HE CALLED THE UNIFIED FIELD THEORY. HE HOPED TO FIND A
COMMON MATHEMATICAL STATEMENT THAT COULD TIE TOGETHER ALL THE
DIFFERENT FIELDS OF PHYSICS.
IT WAS WORK THAT EINSTEIN NEVER COMPLETED. IN
NINETEEN-FIFTY-FIVE, ALBERT EINSTEIN DIED. HE WAS SEVENTY-SIX
YEARS OLD.
(THEME)
ANNCR:
THIS SPECIAL ENGLISH PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY MARILYN CHRISTIANO
AND FRANK BEARDSLEY. YOUR NARRATORS WERE LARRY WEST AND FRANK
OLIVER. LISTEN AGAIN NEXT WEEK AT THIS TIME FOR EXPLORATIONS ON
THE VOICE OF AMERICA.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/