Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Einstein (14 March (1879)–18 April (1955)) is the embodiment of the scientific genius, and sure enough, was a physicist. His main achievements are of course the special and general theory of relativity but he is also (or should be) famous for:

• his A and B coefficients,
• the Bose-Einstein condensation of the ideal gas,
• the Wiener-Khinchin theorem, etc.

ER = EPR

Einstein's main biographer, Abraham Pais, made the interesting comment that

In the remaining 30 years of his life he remained active in research but his fame would be undiminished, if not enhanced, had he gone fishing instead.

—A. Pais in Subtle is the Lord

The ER=EPR conjecture makes Einstein's fame much greater than even envisioned by someone who dedicated his life to the character. In the last 20 years of his life, Einstein put forward two shattering concepts of modern physics (together with his assistant Nathan Rosen).

1. Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? A. Einstein, B. Podolsky and N. Rosen in Phys. Rev. 47:777 (1935).
2. The Particle Problem in the General Theory of Relativity. A. Einstein and N. Rosen in Phys. Rev. 48:73 (1935).

Interestingly, they did not connect the one to the other: this was for Maldacena and Susskind to do. The first (EPR) paper criticizes correlations between distant but entangled particles. Such correlations have been since shown to exist. Although Einstein, Podolky and Rosen did not believe them, because they would connect distant objects in a way not compatible with locality in relativity, they are now named after them. The second paper (ER) describes the possibility of connecting distant regions of spacetime through a "wormhole". Ironically, they did not entertain the possibility that one idea was the solution to the other problem.

See also

• Einstein on the beach, an opera by Philip Glass.

Litterature

By Einstein

The CPAE (Collected Papers of Albert Einstein) attempts to make this list exhaustive. I have the following entries in my BibTeX file (meaning I have studied and probably cited these texts):

• Concerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light. A. Einstein in Annalen der Physik [ 17:132] (1905).
• On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in Stationary Liquids Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat. A. Einstein in Annalen der Physik [ 17:549] (1905).
• On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. A. Einstein in Annalen der Physik [ 17:] (1905).
• Does the Inertia of a Body Depend upon its Energy Content? A. Einstein in Annalen der Physik [ 18:639] (1905).
• Méthode pour la détermination de valeurs statistiques d'observations concernant des grandeurs soumises à des fluctuations irrégulières. A. Einstein in Arch. Sci. Phys. Nat. 37:254 (1914).
• Strahlungs-emission und absorption nach der Quantentheorie. A. Einstein in Verh. Deutsch. Phys. Gesell. [ 18:318] (1916).
• Quantentheorie des einatomigen idealen Gases. A. Einstein in Königliche Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Sitzungsberichte 261-267 (1924).
• Quantentheorie des einatomigen idealen Gases. A. Einstein in Sitzungsberichte der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1:3 (1925).
• Zur Quantentheorie des idealen Gases. A. Einstein in Sitzungsberichte der Preu\SSischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1:18 (1925).
• Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? A. Einstein, B. Podolsky and N. Rosen in Phys. Rev. 47:777 (1935).
• The Particle Problem in the General Theory of Relativity. A. Einstein and N. Rosen in Phys. Rev. 48:73 (1935).

Also of note:

• Mein Weltbild (The most famous translation being "The World as I see it", but better still, its extended version by his first biographer [Seelig]: "Ideas and Opinions").

On Einstein

• Abraham Pais' "Subtle is the Lord".
• Einstein studies series, including:
  • Einstein the Formative Years, 1879–1909.