9 November 23

Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on 9 November 1921, for his discoveries related to the photoelectric effect (how electrons are released when light hits surfaces). Due to technicalities with Alfred Nobel's will, Einstein received the award in 1922. His more famous work on relativity was not recognized in this Nobel Prize, and that omission is now seen as very controversial due to prejudice against "German science" and the quality of experimental evidence available at that time.

27 September 22

Happy Mass-Energy Equivalence Day! On this date in 1905, Albert Einstein submitted his paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" to Annalen der Physik. This paper explained the mathematical derivation of the famous equation E = mc², stating that the total energy of any object is equal to its mass times the square of the speed of light. Prior to Einstein's theories of relativity, the mass of an object was generally considered to be just solid stuff that interacted with other objects according to the mechanical principles of Newton's "laws of motion." But the basic concept from Einstein's most famous equation is that "mass is just a super-concentrated form of energy and, moreover, these things can turn from one form to the other and back again." And so began completely new understandings of our whole universe and how it holds together!

27 September 21

 On this date in 1905, Albert Einstein's first paper containing the equation E = mc² was published.

28 September 20

115 years ago yesterday, Albert Einstein's paper including the equation E=mc² was published. 1905 became known as the "miracle year" for his four major publications on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity and mass-energy equivalence.

 

29 May 19

100 years ago today was the "great" solar eclipse of 1919. "Few eclipses have had more impact on modern history than the one that occurred on May 29, 1919, more than six minutes of darkness sweeping across South America and across the Atlantic to Africa." Its impact came through photographs taken by British astronomer Arthur Eddington, proving that gravity bends light -- which was a crucial prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity! The context for this discovery is presented gloriously in the 2008 film "Einstein and Eddington," which is available through HBO and Amazon Prime (but not free).

28-30 June 18

Honoring the anniversary on 30 June of the 1905 publication of Einstein's paper that introduced Special Relativity.

27 September 16

E = mc². The equation expressing the equivalence of mass and energy was first published on this date in 1905. It's so simple!

1 July 15

Yesterday (30 June) marked the 110th anniversary of Einstein's publication regarding special relativity (the equivalence of mass and energy).

10 March 15

Today's tie anticipates the celebration of Albert Einstein's birthday (#136) on Saturday.

21 April 14

To help celebrate comrade Mandy Eppley's birthday I'm wearing a tie she gave me some years ago. Albert Einstein is always relatively appropriate.

22 April 13

Yesterday was Mandy Eppley's birthday, a very special comrade in Information Technology @ EKU. She gave me this wonderful Einstein tie and I have enjoyed wearing it 10 times over the last five years!

27 September 12

It's Energy/Mass Equivalence Day! On this date in 1905, the journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein's paper containing the most famous equation in modern physics, E = mc².

24 May 11

Robert Frederick Louis Wollenweber was born 86 years ago today! He and his wife Wilma (Beth's parents) are with us for a few days while they check out their new home in Richmond, KY. They anticipate moving from North Carolina over the summer. Dad chose one of my Einstein ties for me to wear on his special day.

20 April 11

Mandy Eppley's birthday is April 21, but we're celebrating with lunch today. Mandy worked with me and Blackboard for several years, and now she manages one of our campus computing centers. She gave me this Einstein tie and says it is her favorite! I wore it in March and there may be more great occasions for it later this year . . .

16 March 11

Albert Einstein's birthday was March 14, 1879. On Tuesday I celebrated Pi Day, and then yesterday I was at home tiling the kitchen floor. So when I returned to work today I thought it was relatively appropriate, in the grand scheme of things, to honor Albert today. Have some happy thought experiments about traveling near the speed of light!

27 September 10

September 27, 1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².

29 April 10

Mandy Eppley helps me support Blackboard at EKU. She gave me this Einstein tie several years ago. We thought that today might be a good day to celebrate with lunch (but it didn't turn out that way).

09 November 09

November 9, 1921 is the date when Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect. See last year's entry for this date to read more details.

09 November 08

Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics on November 9, 1921, for his work explaining the photoelectric effect: light striking a metal surface must be of a certain threshold energy before any electrons are emitted, because (as Einstein theorized in 1905) the energies involved are "quantized," packaged in whole units rather than continuously varying.

16 June 08

I searched for a reason to wear this Albert Einstein tie today, but, as the saying goes, "no dice." (That's an offhand--or maybe off-neck--homage to Einstein's famous quotation, "God does not play dice with the universe.")