Great Minds :

Father of Modern Physicsa

Albert EINSTEIN

Most of us did not believe it would happen. To our delight we were proved right. The world did not end on December 21st as some people thought it would. Who knows when the world would end? When a child asked the father of modern physics, Albert Einstein, this question, he explained “There has been an earth for a little more than a billion years. As for the question of the end of it, I advice: wait and see.”

Albert Einstein, probably the greatest scientist of the 20th century, is well known for his Theory of Relativity. This theory changed much in the way scientists look at the world and set the foundation for many modern inventions, including the nuclear bomb. His most famous formula is E=Mc2. (E stands for energy, m for mass and c for the speed of light in a vacuum (ca. 300,000 km/s).

What does this mean? When a reporter asked Einstein to explain the theory of relativity in one sentence, he replied it would take him three days to give a short description of relativity. Scholars say even if he had given such a short definition only those who know mathematics and physics would have understood what he is explaining.

Yet, the whole world stands in awe of this scientist whose thoughts belong to heights far beyond the range of most of us, and whose achievements can be appreciated only by those who can understand what he is explaining. For all this, it is easy to love Albert Einstein because he was a simple, sincere person who did not pay any attention to making money, or being famous or receiving awards for his work.

Born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany, Albert Einstein grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. His father, Hermann Einstein, was a salesman and engineer who, with his brother, founded a company that manufactured electrical equipment in Munich, Germany.

In 1882 the Einstein family moved to Munich where Albert first attended elementary school and subsequently Luitpold grammar school. He was an “average” pupil but already deeply interested in science and mathematics. When he turned 15 he left school and followed his family to Milan.

To make up for the classes he missed he attended a school in Aarau (Switzerland) from 1895 to 1896. After he passed out of school he started to study in Zurich. His ambition was to obtain the diploma of a subject teacher for mathematics and physics. He successfully finished his studies in July 1900.

The following year saw Einstein struggling to find a job. He started tutoring children, but was unable to hold on to any of his posts. A turning point came in 1902, when the father of his lifelong friend, Marcel Grossman, recommended him for a position as a clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern, Switzerland.

About this time, Einstein’s father became seriously ill and just before he died, gave his blessings for Einstein to marry his colleague Mileva Maric. With a small but steady income, Einstein married Maric on Jan. 6, 1903. In May, 1904 they had their first son, Hans Albert. Their second son, Eduard, was born in 1910.

In 1905—often called Einstein’s “miracle year”—he submitted a paper for his doctorate and had four papers published in the Annalen der Physik, one of the best known physics journals. The four papers would alter the course of modern physics and bring him to the attention of the academic world.

In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics. When his 12-year-old son, Eduard asked his father why he was so famous he got this answer: “When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a curved branch, it does not notice that the track it has covered is indeed curved. I was lucky enough to notice what the beetle did not notice.”

Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his major achievements as mere stepping-stones for the next discovery.

From 1933 Einstein and his family lived in Princeton, USA. On his deathbed in 1955, he worked on a speech he was scheduled to give for Israeli Independence Day. “I speak to you today not as an American citizen and not as a Jew, but as a human being,” it began. He put it aside on that final night to pick up a notebook that was filled with scribbled calculations. To the very end, he struggled to find his next theory. The last thing he wrote, right before the pain overwhelmed him, was one more line of symbols and numbers that he hoped might help him, and the rest of us, to understand a bit more clearly, the laws of the universe.

For all his achievements Albert Einstein remained a simple, sincere scientist. A student wrote to him once, saying she was weak in mathematics, and had to work hard at it to keep up with her friends. “Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics,” he replied. “ I can assure you mine are still greater.”

-Aditha ([email protected])

Squirrel happiness!

Dear children,

I have talked to you about hobbies some time ago.

Each of you may have different hobbies. How many of you enjoy maintaining a feeding table in your garden for squirrels and birds?

Some of you who reside in urban areas may not have enough space for these animals to move around freely. Anyway maintaining a feeding table is surely an interesting hobby from which you can gain a great deal of satisfaction.

You can get your parents’ or guardians’ help to make a suitable and safe place for these animals to feed on. You can get a discarded margarine or ice cream container or even coconut shells and have them hanging from wires tied to branches of a tree in your garden. Then you can put rice or bread crumbs and anything else that is edible into the container.

Do not hang around this area until they get used to your presence.During the first few days squirrels will look a little scared when reaching the feeding table, but once they understand that the place is safe they will make it a habit to come there when they feel hungry.

As days pass by birds too will start to visit the feeding table. It is indeed a pleasure to watch how squirrels nibble their meals. They will always consider the birds as intruders, but will accept the birds on the table just the same. I am sure all of you will enjoy the sight.

Trees are being cut down to build houses and other buildings. As a result animals too have to undergo difficulties when finding their daily meals and safe habitats. We have to help them survive as each living being has a right to live on this earth.

But remember that being kind to animals does not mean keeping them in cages restricting their freedom. You can give them meals and let them go back to the wild to spend the rest of the day where they belong!

Hope you too will start maintaining a feeding table for squirrels and birds in your gardens. I am sure you will draw a sketch showing how a cute little squirrel takes meals seated on the feeding table and send it to me in near future!!!

Bye for now, Sanju ([email protected])