ANNCR:
NOW THE VOA SPECIAL ENGLISH PROGRAM, EXPLORATIONS. TODAY LARRYWEST AND FRANK OLIVER TELL ABOUT THE THE WORK OF THE GREATSCIENTIST, ALBERT EINSTEIN. HIS THEORIES CHANGED THE WAY WEUNDERSTAND THE WORLD.
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VOICE ONE:
IN THE YEAR NINETEEN-OH-FIVE, ALBERT EINSTEIN PUBLISHED ASCIENTIFIC PAPER. IT WAS ONLY THIRTY PAGES. BUT IT WAS ONE OF THEMOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS IN HISTORY. EINSTEIN’S PAPER –FILLED WITH MATHEMATICS — EXPLAINED WHAT CAME TO BE CALLED HIS”SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.”
UNDERSTANDING EINSTEIN’S IDEA OF RELATIVITY IS NOT EASY FORSOMEONE WHO IS NOT AN EXPERT IN MATHEMATICS. WE CAN UNDERSTAND ITFULLY ONLY BY UNDERSTANDING THE MATHEMATICAL STATEMENTS THAT EXPLAINIT. PARTS OF THE THEORY SEEM IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE. BUT EXPERIMENTSPROVED THEY ARE TRUE.
THE “SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY” IS ABOUT THE BASIC IDEAS THATWE USE TO DESCRIBE NATURAL HAPPENINGS. IT IS ABOUT TIME, SPACE,MASS, MOVEMENT AND GRAVITY.
VOICE TWO:
ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS BORN IN ULM, GERMANY, INEIGHTEEN-SEVENTY-NINE. HIS FATHER WAS A BUSINESSMAN. HE OWNED AFACTORY THAT MADE ELECTRICAL DEVICES.
ALBERT WAS A QUIET CHILD WHO SPENT MUCH OF HIS TIME ALONE. HE WASSLOW TO TALK AND HAD DIFFICULTY LEARNING TO READ. BUT HE WASINTERESTED IN HOW THINGS WORKED. AND HE ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS.
WHEN ALBERT WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, HIS FATHER GAVE HIM A COMPASS.THE CHILD WAS FILLED WITH WONDER WHEN HE DISCOVERED THAT THE COMPASSNEEDLE ALWAYS POINTED TO THE NORTH. HE ASKED HIS FATHER AND HISUNCLE WHAT CAUSED THE NEEDLE TO MOVE.
THEIR ANSWERS ABOUT MAGNETISM AND GRAVITY WERE DIFFICULT FOR THEBOY TO UNDERSTAND. BUT HE SPENT MUCH TIME THINKING ABOUT THEM.
VOICE ONE:
ALBERT DID NOT LIKE SCHOOL. THE GERMAN SCHOOLS OF THAT TIME WERENOT PLEASANT. STUDENTS COULD NOT ASK QUESTIONS. ALBERT SAID HE FELTAS IF HE WERE IN PRISON.
ALBERT TOLD HIS UNCLE JACOB HOW MUCH HE HATED SCHOOL, ESPECIALLYALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY. HIS UNCLE TOLD HIM TO SOLVE MATHEMATICALPROBLEMS BY PRETENDING TO BE A POLICEMAN. “YOU ARE LOOKING FORSOMEONE,” HE SAID, “BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO. CALL HIM ‘X’. FIND HIMBY USING THE MATHEMATICAL TOOLS OF ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY.”
VOICE TWO:
UNCLE JACOB’S GAME MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN ALBERT’S SCHOOL WORK.HE LEARNED TO LOVE MATHEMATICS. ALBERT SOLVED ALL THE PROBLEMS INHIS ALGEBRA BOOK. HE WAS STUDYING CALCULUS WHEN ALL HIS FRIENDS WERESTILL STUDYING SIMPLE MATHEMATICS. ALBERT EINSTEIN DECIDED THAT HEWANTED TO TEACH MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS.
EINSTEIN ATTENDED THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE IN ZURICH,SWITZERLAND. HE GRADUATED WITH HONORS. BUT HE COULD NOT GET ATEACHING JOB. SO HE TOOK A JOB IN THE SWISS GOVERNMENT PATENTOFFICE. THE JOB WAS EASY. HE HAD LOTS OF TIME TO WORK ON HIS OWNIDEAS.
VOICE ONE:
SOME OF THOSE IDEAS WERE ABOUT RELATIVITY.
EINSTEIN HAD BEGUN TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE WASMOVING. EVERYTHING FROM THE SMALLEST ELECTRONS OF AN ATOM TO THEGREATEST PLANETS AND STARS. MEASURING ANY OF THESE MOVEMENTS DEPENDSON WHERE THE MEASURER IS STANDING.
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT YOU ARE DRIVING A CAR.
YOUR SPEED, RELATIVE TO THE GROUND, IS FIFTY KILOMETERS AN HOUR.AN INSECT INSIDE THE CAR WITH YOU FLIES FROM THE BACK OF THE CAR TOTHE FRONT. RELATIVE TO YOU, THE INSECT IS FLYING TEN KILOMETERS ANHOUR. BUT TO SOMEONE STANDING AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, THE INSECT’SSPEED WOULD BE SIXTY KILOMETERS AN HOUR.
WHILE YOU AND THE INSECT ARE TRAVELING, THE EARTH IS MOVING ATTHIRTY KILOMETERS A SECOND RELATIVE TO THE SUN. AND THE SUN ISMOVING AT TWO-HUNDRED-FORTY KILOMETERS A SECOND RELATIVE TO THECENTER OF OUR MILKY WAY GALAXY.
VOICE TWO:
EINSTEIN SAID THAT THE SPEED OF LIGHT — THREE-HUNDRED-THOUSANDKILOMETERS A SECOND — NEVER CHANGES. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE THELIGHT IS COMING FROM, OR WHO IS MEASURING ITS SPEED. IT IS ALWAYSTHE SAME. HOWEVER, TIME CAN CHANGE. AND MASS CAN CHANGE. AND LENGTHCAN CHANGE.
LET US USE OUR IMAGINATION AGAIN.
IMAGINE TWO SPACESHIPS WITH A SCIENTIST IN EACH. ONE SPACESHIP ISRED. ONE IS BLUE. EXCEPT FOR COLOR, BOTH SPACESHIPS ARE EXACTLYALIKE. THEY PASS EACH OTHER FAR OUT IN SPACE.
NEITHER SCIENTIST FEELS THAT HIS SHIP IS MOVING. TO EACH, ITSEEMS THE OTHER SHIP IS MOVING, NOT HIS. AS THEY PASS AT HIGH SPEED,THE SCIENTIST IN EACH SHIP MEASURES HOW LONG IT TAKES A BEAM OFLIGHT TO TRAVEL FROM THE FLOOR TO THE TOP OF HIS SPACESHIP, HIT AMIRROR, AND RETURN TO THE FLOOR. BOTH SPACESHIPS HAVE A WINDOW THATLETS EACH SCIENTIST WATCH THE EXPERIMENT OF THE OTHER.
VOICE ONE:
AT EXACTLY THE SAME MOMENT, THEY BEGIN THEIR EXPERIMENTS. THESCIENTIST IN THE BLUE SHIP SEES HIS BEAM OF LIGHT GO STRAIGHT UP ANDCOME STRAIGHT DOWN. BUT HE SEES THAT THE LIGHT BEAM IN THE RED SHIPDOES NOT DO THIS.
BECAUSE THE RED SHIP IS MOVING SO FAST, THE BEAM DOES NOT APPEARTO GO STRAIGHT UP. IT GOES UP AT AN ANGLE AND COMES DOWN AT ANANGLE. IT FORMS A PATH THAT LOOKS LIKE AN UPSIDE DOWN “V”.
THIS PATH IS LONGER THAN THE STRAIGHT UP-AND-DOWN PATH THAT THEBLUE SCIENTIST SAW IN HIS OWN SHIP. BECAUSE LIGHT TRAVELS AT THESAME SPEED, TIME WOULD HAVE TO PASS MORE SLOWLY IN THE RED SHIP TOLET THE LIGHT BEAM TRAVEL THE LONGER PATH.
VOICE TWO:
THE SCIENTIST IN THE RED SHIP WOULD SEE EXACTLY THE SAME THING ASHE WATCHED THE EXPERIMENT BY THE BLUE SCIENTIST. HE WOULD SAY THATTIME PASSED MORE SLOWLY IN THE OTHER SHIP. EACH SCIENTIST WOULD BECORRECT, BECAUSE THE PASSING OF TIME IS RELATIVE. EACH WOULD BERIGHT IN SAYING THAT THE OTHER SHIP HAD SLOWER TIME.
EACH SCIENTIST ALSO WOULD SEE THAT THE OTHER SHIP WAS SHORTERTHAN HIS OWN. THE HIGHER THEIR SPEEDS, THE SHORTER THE OTHER SHIPWOULD APPEAR. AND ALTHOUGH THE OTHER SHIP WOULD SEEM SHORTER, ITSMASS WOULD INCREASE. IT WOULD SEEM TO GET HEAVIER.
THESE ARE DIFFICULT IDEAS TO ACCEPT. DOES TIME REALLY SLOW DOWN?DO OBJECTS GET SHORTER AND BECOME HEAVIER AT HIGH SPEEDS?EXPERIMENTS BY OTHER SCIENTISTS HAVE PROVED THAT EINSTEIN’S “SPECIALTHEORY OF RELATIVITY” IS CORRECT. NO EXPERIMENTS HAVE PROVED ITWRONG.
VOICE ONE:
TEN YEARS AFTER HIS PAPER ON THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY,EINSTEIN PUBLISHED ANOTHER PAPER. IT DESCRIBED WHAT HE CALLED HIS”GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.” IT OFFERED NEW IDEAS ABOUT GRAVITY,AND ABOUT THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATTER AND ENERGY.
EINSTEIN SAID MATTER COULD BE CHANGED INTO ENERGY. HE DEVELOPED ASIMPLE MATHEMATICAL STATEMENT THAT MEASURED THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY INMATTER. IT IS: “E EQUALS MC SQUARED.”
“E” IS THE ENERGY IN A PIECE OF MATTER. “M” IS THE MASS OF THEMATTER. “C SQUARED” IS THE SPEED OF LIGHT, MULTIPLIED BY ITSELF.
THIS STATEMENT, OR FORMULA, SHOWED THE GREAT AMOUNT OF ENERGYTHAT COULD COME FROM A TINY PIECE OF MATTER. IT EXPLAINED HOW THESUN COULD GIVE OFF HEAT AND LIGHT FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS. EINSTEIN’SFORMULA ALSO LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF ATOMIC ENERGY.
VOICE TWO:
EINSTEIN WON A NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS IN THE YEARNINETEEN-TWENTY-ONE. HE RECEIVED THE AWARD — NOT FOR HIS THEORIESOF RELATIVITY — BUT FOR HIS DISCOVERY OF THE LAW OF THEPHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT. THIS LAW EXPLAINED HOW AND WHY SOME METALSGIVE OFF ELECTRONS AFTER LIGHT FALLS ON THEIR SURFACES. THISDISCOVERY LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ELECTRONICS, INCLUDINGRADIO AND TELEVISION.
VOICE ONE:
EINSTEIN BECAME A FAMOUS MAN. BUT HE HAD FEW CLOSE FRIENDS. “ITIS STRANGE,” HE WROTE, “TO BE KNOWN BY SO MANY AND YET TO BE SOLONELY.” HE WAS A MAN WHO SAW GOD IN NATURE. “WHAT I SEE IN NATURE,”SAID EINSTEIN, “IS SOMETHING MAGNIFICENT THAT WE UNDERSTAND ONLYIMPERFECTLY.”
EINSTEIN LEFT GERMANY WHEN ADOLPH HITLER CAME TO POWER INNINETEEN-THIRTY-THREE. HE SAID HE WOULD STAY IN A COUNTRY ONLY WHERETHERE WAS POLITICAL LIBERTY, TOLERATION AND EQUALITY OF ALL CITIZENSUNDER LAW.
EINSTEIN CAME TO THE UNITED STATES TO CONTINUE HIS RESEARCH. HEWORKED AT THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.
EINSTEIN SPENT THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF HIS LIFE WORKING ONWHAT HE CALLED THE UNIFIED FIELD THEORY. HE HOPED TO FIND A COMMONMATHEMATICAL STATEMENT THAT COULD TIE TOGETHER ALL THE DIFFERENTFIELDS OF PHYSICS.
IT WAS WORK THAT EINSTEIN NEVER COMPLETED. INNINETEEN-FIFTY-FIVE, ALBERT EINSTEIN DIED. HE WAS SEVENTY-SIX YEARSOLD.
(THEME)
ANNCR:
THIS SPECIAL ENGLISH PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY MARILYN CHRISTIANOAND FRANK BEARDSLEY. YOUR NARRATORS WERE LARRY WEST AND FRANKOLIVER. LISTEN AGAIN NEXT WEEK AT THIS TIME FOR EXPLORATIONS ON THEVOICE OF AMERICA.