Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2005 APS March Meeting
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2005; Los Angeles, CA
Session B5: Einstein and Friends I |
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Sponsoring Units: FHP Chair: Virginia Trimble, University of California-Irvine Room: LACC 502B |
Monday, March 21, 2005 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
B5.00001: Einstein and Millikan Invited Speaker: Albert Einstein traveled to America by boat during the great depression to consult with scientists at the California Institute of Technology. He was a theoretical physicist, a Nobel Prize winner, and a 20th century folk hero. Few members of the general public understood his theories, but they idolized him all the same. The invitation came from physicist Robert Millikan, who had initiated a visiting-scholars program at Caltech shortly after he became head of the school in 1921. Einstein's visits to the campus in 1931, 1932, and 1933 capped Millikan's campaign to make Caltech one of the physics capitals of the world. Mount Wilson astronomer Edwin Hubble's discovery that redshifts are proportional to their distances from the observer challenged Einstein's cosmological picture of a static universe. The big question at Caltech in 1931 was whether Einstein would give up his cosmological constant and accept the idea of an expanding universe. By day, Einstein discussed his theory and its interpretation at length with Richard Tolman, Hubble, and the other scientists on the campus. By night, Einstein filled his travel diary with his personal impressions. During his third visit, Einstein sidestepped as long as possible the question of whether conditions in Germany might prevent his return there. After the January 30 announcement that Hitler had become chancellor of Germany, the question could no longer be evaded. He postponed his return trip for a few weeks and then went to Belgium for several months instead of to Berlin. In the fall of 1933, Albert Einstein returned to the United States as an emigre and became a charter member of Abraham Flexner's new Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Why did Einstein go to Princeton and not Pasadena? [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 21, 2005 11:51AM - 12:27PM |
B5.00002: Einstein and Lorentz (The Robert H. Dicke Lecture) Invited Speaker: Einstein and H.A. Lorentz were linked with close ties of friendship. Einstein called Lorentz a ``living work of art'' and Lorentz had deep admiration for Einstein's genius. In my talk I will further analyse the personal relationship between the two men. I will also discuss the historical relation between H.A. Lorentz's electron theory and special relativity, especially the question to what extent Lorentz can be considered a forerunner to Einstein. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 21, 2005 12:27PM - 1:03PM |
B5.00003: Einstein and Hilbert Invited Speaker: I will discuss the origins of their friendship, the strain put upon it in 1915 when Einstein felt that Hilbert was ``nostrifying'' [i.e., taking over and presenting as his own] some of Einstein's ideas about the general theory of relativity, and their ultimate reconciliation and lasting friendship. The nature of Hilbert's work on his own unified field theory program and its relation to Einstein's general relativity program will be considered, as will be Einstein's role in the curious ``battle of the frogs and mice,'' as he dubbed the controversy between Hilbert and Brouwer over the foundations of mathematics. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 21, 2005 1:03PM - 1:39PM |
B5.00004: Emmy Noether on Conservation of Energy in the General Theory Invited Speaker: Emmy Noether proved two deep theorems, and their converses, on the connection between symmetries and conservation laws. The work was done following Hilbert's discovery of the Hilbert-Einstein lagrangian and his derivation of the general theory from Hamilton's principle .The failure of local energy conservation in the general theory was a problem that concerned many at that time. Noether proved theorems which solved the problem. With her characteristically deep insight and thorough analysis, she proved very general theorems that have profoundly influenced modern physics. Einstein wrote to Hilbert ``Yesterday I received from Miss Noether a very interesting paper on invariant forms. I am impressed that one can comprehend these matters from so general a viewpoint. It would not have done the old guard at G\"{o}ttingen any harm had they picked up a thing or two from her..." [Preview Abstract] |
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