6 ms·

When Einstein Was Just Another Physicist

103 points by Hooke 7y ago

sytelus 7y ago
One of my enlightening experiences has been to visit the Einstein's house in Bern and walk on the same path that he did every day to get to the patent office. The question in my mind had always been how Einstein suddenly started thinking about synchronizing clocks using light signals out of nowhere? My walk had the answer: In Bern, you see clocks everywhere! Towers after towers, buildings after buildings have clocks of varying sizes and shapes and artwork. The city of Bern is crazy about having giant clocks all over. In 1905, all these clocks must be manually synchronized and people may have often noticed slight differences as they walked and you cannot not think about synchronization every day! Inventors in Bern were working on how to synchronize them automatically. One of those patents landed on Einstein's desk which started his thought process on synchronizing clocks using the fastest signals possible, i.e., light. But then things got weird when you think about light signal taking time to arrive. What if the clock is on the railway station and we need to synchronize the clock on the train? Now the train is moving away and the light signal is taking longer and longer. And so the relativity begins... It is very likely that these ideas would not have born if Einstein wasn't in Bern and working in that damn patent office!
- rburhum 7y ago
  thank you for this comment :) very interesting indeed
- mettamage 7y ago
  It's thoughts like these that I think: we don't have free will. Fortunately, we do have free choice.
  - selestify 7y ago
    What’s the difference?
    - throw1234651234 7y ago
      There is none.
    - chrisshroba 7y ago
      Perception, maybe?
- logicallee 7y ago
  This writeup is worth publishing somewhere.
- ackbar03 7y ago
  This is amazing. Thanks for choosing to share this
- lihaciudaniel 7y ago
  Einstein had autism.
- BenoitEssiambre 7y ago
  If I remember correctly, this intricate clock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zytglogge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zytglogge , is just outside Einstein's apartment.
- rytill 7y ago
  What a critical story that's not been propagated yet.
  - nitrogen 7y ago
    Is the patent part true?
    - rytill 7y ago
      It’s unlikely that the patent office part is critical.
- rrss 7y ago
  For those interested, Peter Galison has written a bit about his thoughts on how Einstein's work at the patent office influenced his work on physics. This interview is pretty interesting: https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-einsteins-time.htm https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-einsteins-ti...
  - rrss 7y ago
    There's also this NYTimes article (paywalled, unfortunately) discussing Galison's research for "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Map." > Einstein's relativity has long been regarded by scholars as a monument to the power of abstract thought. But if Dr. Peter Galison, 48 -- a Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker -- is right, physics and Einstein have flourished more in their connections to the world than in any ivory tower aloofness. And one clue to the origin of relativity can be found in something as mundane and practical as a 19th-century train schedule. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian-work-peter-galison-clocks-that-shaped-einstein-s-leap-time.html%20paywall https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian...
    - throwqwerty 7y ago
      > Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker lol why is this at all relevant to einstein
- redis_mlc 7y ago
  In that era, railroads were expanding across Europe and needed to sync time. Likely those patent application crossed his desk so he was forced to deeply think about "relative time" according to something I watched. But his Brownian motion and photoelectric effect papers ...
- stared 7y ago
  Your passage on Bern feels like if it were from the "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino. As far as I remember, it would fit in the "Cities & Signs" or "Cities & Eyes" line.
- airstrike 7y ago
  That's a great write up, thanks for sharing. I'd add that a genius like Einstein would have thought of fantastic things wherever he was – it just so happened that this was the experience he was exposed to which led him to think about time and light, per your story. I wonder what sort of amazing discoveries he would have made if he had been exposed to, say, biology and healthcare instead!
  - edmundsauto 7y ago
    > I'd add that a genius like Einstein would have thought of fantastic things wherever he was – it just so happened that this was the experience he was exposed to which led him to think about time and light, per your story. I don't think this is true. Because of survivor bias, we have no idea how many Einsteins never had the opportunity. It seems likely there have been a million people with similar cognitive capabilities, yet very few make such progress.
    - numtel 7y ago
      Credit to Stephen Jay Gould for this
      - edmundsauto 7y ago
        Can you say a little more about SJG? I've heard the name and been meaning to read something of his, but never got around to it. Would appreciate a good rec!
    - airstrike 7y ago
      > It seems likely there have been a million people with similar cognitive capabilities That not a valid counterpoint to my claim in that itdoesn't negate the fact that he could have been a genius in many other fields if he had touched them and assuming he "had the opportunity". Similar to how someone who's highly athletic is usually great in pretty much every sport across the board at a young age and then later specialize into one (or more!) to get to a professional level.
  - rowanG077 7y ago
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- milquetoastaf 7y ago
  You would love this book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Dreams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Dreams
mikekchar 7y ago
I just wanted to respond to "just another physicist". In university about a million years ago, I was very unhappy. I loved being a programmer, but I found my CS courses very limiting and actually boring. I decided to switch to honours physics. At my university, the school realised that there is no demand for a huge number of physicists. In the honours program, they simply gear the course for the top 2 or three students, with the intent on only graduating those few people after 4 years. Everybody else they expect to drop out of the honours program and do a general science degree. I always thought of myself as a pretty smart guy, but honours physics kicked my ass really badly. I remember getting assignments with differential equations before I had ever seen them before. I asked my prof what I should do. He indicated that there were several good books in the library on the topic. After spending virtually every night studying and only just barely able to keep my head above water, I realised. I am not going to get a PhD in physics. it was a valuable lesson. I went back to CS and ate it up (my god it was easy after that). Thinking about "just another physicist" reminds me of the 2 or 3 people who could actually make it through the programme and then go on to do a PhD. Well, in my case, the class I was in eventually graduated 5 people -- the most ever! It turns out they had to turn it up to 11 and still couldn't pare it down, so I don't feel that bad. But I still feel that the ordinary physics PhD is not really so ordinary ;-)
- sytelus 7y ago
  You are not alone! I've come across enough of CS folks who wanted to be a physicist but ended up "downgrading" to CS. Within physicists, there are enough folks who wanted to be mathematicians but ended up "downgrading" to physics :).
  - rochak 7y ago
    I am one of those people. I consider myself as above average but I don't think I have ever had the aptitude to make career as a physicist or something more involved for the matter. I like to learn but, sometimes, the stuff I'm trying to learn is just too much.
- scottlocklin 7y ago
  You're probably selling yourself short. Differential equations isn't a bad course if you did well in Calculus and have the patience to grind out a ton of examples. E&M, StatMech and/or Lagrangian Mechanics also ain't bad if it's taught well, but this is a case where you really have to do the diff eqs before you can do the physics piece. Diff Eqs is the language of most of physics; trying to wrap your brain around the other parts and differential equations at the same time is too big a lift even for a galaxy brain. It's like being asked to compile kernel modules without knowing how to use a mouse or keyboard. I've thought about trying to write something like Lenny Susskind's "theoretical minimum" book, assuming you have the prerequisites of differential equations and linear algebra. I mean, everyone struggles with the complicated problems, but more people should be able to appreciate the results. Meanwhile Susskind's book is pretty good!

103 points by Hooke 7y ago

One of my enlightening experiences has been to visit the Einstein's house in Bern and walk on the same path that he did every day to get to the patent office. The question in my mind had always been how Einstein suddenly started thinking about synchronizing clocks using light signals out of nowhere? My walk had the answer: In Bern, you see clocks everywhere! Towers after towers, buildings after buildings have clocks of varying sizes and shapes and artwork. The city of Bern is crazy about having giant clocks all over. In 1905, all these clocks must be manually synchronized and people may have often noticed slight differences as they walked and you cannot not think about synchronization every day! Inventors in Bern were working on how to synchronize them automatically. One of those patents landed on Einstein's desk which started his thought process on synchronizing clocks using the fastest signals possible, i.e., light. But then things got weird when you think about light signal taking time to arrive. What if the clock is on the railway station and we need to synchronize the clock on the train? Now the train is moving away and the light signal is taking longer and longer. And so the relativity begins... It is very likely that these ideas would not have born if Einstein wasn't in Bern and working in that damn patent office!

rburhum 7y ago
thank you for this comment :) very interesting indeed
mettamage 7y ago
It's thoughts like these that I think: we don't have free will. Fortunately, we do have free choice.
- selestify 7y ago
  What’s the difference?
  - throw1234651234 7y ago
    There is none.
  - chrisshroba 7y ago
    Perception, maybe?
logicallee 7y ago
This writeup is worth publishing somewhere.
ackbar03 7y ago
This is amazing. Thanks for choosing to share this
lihaciudaniel 7y ago
Einstein had autism.
BenoitEssiambre 7y ago
If I remember correctly, this intricate clock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zytglogge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zytglogge , is just outside Einstein's apartment.
rytill 7y ago
What a critical story that's not been propagated yet.
- nitrogen 7y ago
  Is the patent part true?
  - rytill 7y ago
    It’s unlikely that the patent office part is critical.
rrss 7y ago
For those interested, Peter Galison has written a bit about his thoughts on how Einstein's work at the patent office influenced his work on physics. This interview is pretty interesting: https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-einsteins-time.htm https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-einsteins-ti...
- rrss 7y ago
  There's also this NYTimes article (paywalled, unfortunately) discussing Galison's research for "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Map." > Einstein's relativity has long been regarded by scholars as a monument to the power of abstract thought. But if Dr. Peter Galison, 48 -- a Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker -- is right, physics and Einstein have flourished more in their connections to the world than in any ivory tower aloofness. And one clue to the origin of relativity can be found in something as mundane and practical as a 19th-century train schedule. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian-work-peter-galison-clocks-that-shaped-einstein-s-leap-time.html%20paywall https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian...
  - throwqwerty 7y ago
    > Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker lol why is this at all relevant to einstein
redis_mlc 7y ago
In that era, railroads were expanding across Europe and needed to sync time. Likely those patent application crossed his desk so he was forced to deeply think about "relative time" according to something I watched. But his Brownian motion and photoelectric effect papers ...
stared 7y ago
Your passage on Bern feels like if it were from the "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino. As far as I remember, it would fit in the "Cities & Signs" or "Cities & Eyes" line.
airstrike 7y ago
That's a great write up, thanks for sharing. I'd add that a genius like Einstein would have thought of fantastic things wherever he was – it just so happened that this was the experience he was exposed to which led him to think about time and light, per your story. I wonder what sort of amazing discoveries he would have made if he had been exposed to, say, biology and healthcare instead!
- edmundsauto 7y ago
  > I'd add that a genius like Einstein would have thought of fantastic things wherever he was – it just so happened that this was the experience he was exposed to which led him to think about time and light, per your story. I don't think this is true. Because of survivor bias, we have no idea how many Einsteins never had the opportunity. It seems likely there have been a million people with similar cognitive capabilities, yet very few make such progress.
  - numtel 7y ago
    Credit to Stephen Jay Gould for this
    - edmundsauto 7y ago
      Can you say a little more about SJG? I've heard the name and been meaning to read something of his, but never got around to it. Would appreciate a good rec!
  - airstrike 7y ago
    > It seems likely there have been a million people with similar cognitive capabilities That not a valid counterpoint to my claim in that itdoesn't negate the fact that he could have been a genius in many other fields if he had touched them and assuming he "had the opportunity". Similar to how someone who's highly athletic is usually great in pretty much every sport across the board at a young age and then later specialize into one (or more!) to get to a professional level.
- rowanG077 7y ago
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
milquetoastaf 7y ago
You would love this book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Dreams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Dreams

mikekchar 7y ago

I just wanted to respond to "just another physicist". In university about a million years ago, I was very unhappy. I loved being a programmer, but I found my CS courses very limiting and actually boring. I decided to switch to honours physics. At my university, the school realised that there is no demand for a huge number of physicists. In the honours program, they simply gear the course for the top 2 or three students, with the intent on only graduating those few people after 4 years. Everybody else they expect to drop out of the honours program and do a general science degree. I always thought of myself as a pretty smart guy, but honours physics kicked my ass really badly. I remember getting assignments with differential equations before I had ever seen them before. I asked my prof what I should do. He indicated that there were several good books in the library on the topic. After spending virtually every night studying and only just barely able to keep my head above water, I realised. I am not going to get a PhD in physics. it was a valuable lesson. I went back to CS and ate it up (my god it was easy after that). Thinking about "just another physicist" reminds me of the 2 or 3 people who could actually make it through the programme and then go on to do a PhD. Well, in my case, the class I was in eventually graduated 5 people -- the most ever! It turns out they had to turn it up to 11 and still couldn't pare it down, so I don't feel that bad. But I still feel that the ordinary physics PhD is not really so ordinary ;-)

sytelus 7y ago
You are not alone! I've come across enough of CS folks who wanted to be a physicist but ended up "downgrading" to CS. Within physicists, there are enough folks who wanted to be mathematicians but ended up "downgrading" to physics :).
- rochak 7y ago
  I am one of those people. I consider myself as above average but I don't think I have ever had the aptitude to make career as a physicist or something more involved for the matter. I like to learn but, sometimes, the stuff I'm trying to learn is just too much.
scottlocklin 7y ago
You're probably selling yourself short. Differential equations isn't a bad course if you did well in Calculus and have the patience to grind out a ton of examples. E&M, StatMech and/or Lagrangian Mechanics also ain't bad if it's taught well, but this is a case where you really have to do the diff eqs before you can do the physics piece. Diff Eqs is the language of most of physics; trying to wrap your brain around the other parts and differential equations at the same time is too big a lift even for a galaxy brain. It's like being asked to compile kernel modules without knowing how to use a mouse or keyboard. I've thought about trying to write something like Lenny Susskind's "theoretical minimum" book, assuming you have the prerequisites of differential equations and linear algebra. I mean, everyone struggles with the complicated problems, but more people should be able to appreciate the results. Meanwhile Susskind's book is pretty good!