The name of Albert Einstein has become synonymous with genius. More than any other person, he is seen as the quintessential smart guy, and nearly everyone knows his name. There are other candidates for the greatest scientist in history, but nearly everyone would put Einstein on a short list. And why not? The man was brilliant. In particular, he’s associated with the famous equation “E = mc²,” later used to build atomic weapons and bring energy to the masses. There is brief coverage of that topic in this audiobook. But the main focus of this audiobook is on the theory of relativity, which may be the most astonishing breakthrough of the twentieth century.
But the roots of this theory go back to far before the twentieth century. Thus, more than half of this audiobook is about the various precursors of relativity. Some of them go back as far as antiquity. One prominent figure in the seventeenth century was Sir Isaac Newton, whom Einstein counted among his influences. Newton considered space and time to be “absolute.” But like Galileo before him, he did some important work on relative motion. If I’m laying down in bed doing nothing, some physicists (not to mention physiologists) would say that I’m “at rest.” But, in fact, I’m on an earth which is rotating about its axis every day – hence the cycle of day and night. That earth is revolving around the sun, which is in turn revolving around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. (And so on, and so forth.) Thus, some scientists have questioned whether there is really such a thing as being “at rest” – something which would have to be true, to support “absolute” notions of space and time.
Albert Einstein
This seems to be more than just a quibble. This was the central issue in the history discussed in this audiobook. Motion is always measured in relation to something else. In relation to my couch, I might be “at rest.” But in relation to the sun, I’d be moving pretty fast, even when I’m relaxing in my recliner. This posed a major problem for physicists, long before Einstein came on the scene. Thus, the audiobook spends more than half of its runtime going over the relevant history. In particular, the work of James Clerk Maxwell would be important to that of Einstein. But when they get around to discussing Einstein himself, they first give a short biography of their famous subject. And then, they begin to discuss his ideas.
Albert Einstein
Some of Einstein’s work involved the speed of light. Light is the fastest thing in the known universe. So far as we know, nothing travels faster than light, and nothing travels at the speed of light except for light itself. Why was this important to Einstein? Because, as he eventually showed, funny things have to happen when you approach the speed of light. For example, objects become shorter as you approach the speed of light. And, strangest of all, time passes more slowly as you approach the speed of light. Scientists refer to this as “time dilation,” although it is more popularly known as “time warp.” We might associate this with science fiction, but Einstein showed that it is actually a law of nature, which moves according to precise laws about one’s relative frame of reference. This was one of the most surprising aspects of the theory of relativity.
Albert Einstein
I could go on, but I don’t want this review to get overly technical. Suffice it to say that it is among the most important theories to come from Albert Einstein, and that this audiobook is right to cover it. Contrary to popular notions about relativity, Einstein did not say that “all truth is relative,” or that there are “no absolute truths” – a view associated with others, such as postmodernists. But he did show that some foundational natural concepts are relative, and that the laws of physics are consistent throughout every frame of reference – an idea that points towards some kind of absolute truth.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
Science & Discovery
Einstein’s Revolution
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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