In our final episode of the biographical series on Albert Einstein, we look at the last twenty years of his life in the United States. We consider his conversations with the mathematician Kurt Godel, the letters to Franklin Delano Roosevelt that helped initiate what would become the Manhattan Project, his post-war efforts to promote peace and his principled defiance of McCarthyism.
In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey, we delve more deeply into Einstein's religious views and recap the months up to his emigration to the United States to take a position at the Institute of Advanced Study.
In 1930, Albert Einstein wrote,
“I believe that the most important mission of the state is to protect the individual and to make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality.”
This concise statement of his political philosophy would guide his actions through much of the 1920's and early 30's as he used his fame and celebrity to advance causes important to him.
In this episode, we'll examine those actions and causes.
In the words of physicist John Wheeler,
“In all the history of human thought, there is no greater dialogue than that which took place over the years between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein about the meaning of the quantum.”
In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey we explore the relationship between the two men that began through journal articles on light quantum and the atom, was further entwined through Nobel Prizes awarded together and continued through debates shared in letters, papers and at scientific meetings.
This week we look at the period of Albert Einstein's life from 1905-1913 as he moved from one position to another on his rise among the European physics community
In the second half of 1905, Albert Einstein published tow papers that refined humanity's understanding of space and time as well as the relationship between mass and energy. In this episode, we examine the factors that led to these discoveries.
In 1905, Albert Einstein published five papers that changed the course of physics and the modern world. In this episode, we look at the first three of those works including his paper on the photoelectric effect, his derivation of Avogardo's number and his analysis of Brownian motion that more or less proved the existence of atoms.
In this second part of our examination of Einstein's life before the Miracle Year of 1905, we examine the period between his graduation from the Zurich Polytechnic and his being hired at the Swiss patent office. We discuss his scientific work as well as his relationship with Mileva Maric and the issues surround that.
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In 1896, Albert Einstein enrolled in the teacher preparation program for physics and mathematics at the Zurich Polytechnic. We look at the events that brought him to that point and what transpired while he was a student there, including the beginning of his romantic relationship with Mileva Maric.
In this first episode of our biographical series on Albert Einstein, we look at his childhood growing up in Munich and the various influences that would shape him in many ways.
In this episode, we look at the dispute between British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington and Indian prodigy Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar over white dwarf objects and the fate of higher mass stars.
In our final narrative episode of this series, we encounter the last piece of the cosmological puzzle-dark energy. We look at the way in which is was discovered and what it means for the ultimate fate of our universe. In this, The final piece of the λ-CDM model of the universe is put in place
This week we look at the work of Vera Rubin and Fritz Zwicky that led to the idea that roughly 85% of the matter in the universe can't be detected except by the gravitational influence on the matter we can see. We also consider alternative explanations such as MOND theories as well as consider candidates for dark matter including WHIM, MACHOs and WIMPs (including axions). Finally, examine the evidence in favor of dark matter being a new type of matter using what can be thought of as a "complex inference from best explanation" argument.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, several problems arose with the Big Bang Theory's attempt to explain certain aspects of the early universe. In 1979, Alan Guth worked out a solution to those known as the Inflationary Model that added a new layer of understanding of the physical processes that governed the earliest moments of the cosmos.
Wherein we discuss the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
This week we look at the work of a number of astrophysicists including Cecilia Payne, Arthur Eddington, Hans Bethe and Charles Critchfield, and Fred Hoyle and Willie Fowler to better understand how the elements are made within the cores of stars.
Special introduction by Stephen Guerra of the History of the Papacy and the Beyond the Big Screen podcasts.
Steven Guerra's A to Z History Page
In 1948, one of the most important papers in the history of science was published in the pages of the Physical Review. In it, authors Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe (in absentia) and George Gamow not only perpetrated one of the greatest plays on words in the annals of science, they also put forward the physical calculations in support that the universe as we see it today began from a small, hot, dense state known as the Primeval Fireball.
In this episode, we trace the development of that idea.
In the decade between 1890 and 1900, George Hale went from being a promising graduate of MIT to the world famous director of the Yerkes Observatory. In this episode, we follow his life and work during this critical time.
This week we begin a biographical series on George Ellery Hale by covering his life from his childhood in Chicago up through his graduation and marriage.
In 1927 Fr. Georges Lemaire published a paper in a little known Belgian scientific journal that described an expanding universe. Two years later, Milton Humason and Edwin Hubble presented evidence to support support this model. In this episode, we look at the development of the idea of a universe that was not static or steady.
On November 25th of 1915, Albert Einstein presented a paper on his General Theory of Relativity that by its end had conclusively shown that the Vulcan hypothesis was not necessary to explain the precession of the perihelion of the orbit of Mercury. It also completely reimagined the structure of space and time and remade the universe. In this episode of the podcast, we follow Einstein's journey of discovery from the work of James Clerk Maxwell to the eclipse observations of Arthur Stanley Eddington.
In the years between 1905 and 1911, the astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Russell Norris developed a way of representing the accumulating astronomical and astrophysical data on stars that revealed the presence of a relationship between a stars brightness and its temperature. This Hertzsprung-Russell or H-R Diagram would come to revolutionize our understanding of stellar evolution.
This week, with the help of steampunk attired lady and gentleman bugs, we take a look at the Doppler effect. We use water waves, sound and light to examine the consequences of what happens with the observer of a wave is moving with respect to the wave's source. We also look at the history of the idea from the work of Christian Doppler to the applications suggested by Ernst Mach.
Doppler effect simulator from the Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project (Flash Required)
In this week's episode we look at the early work of the Harvard College Observatory under the direction of Edward Charles Pickering. We discuss his three big research initiatives: the visual photometric survey of stars, the All-Sky Survey and Catalogue and the Draper Memorial Catalogue that catalogued and classified the spectra of over 10,000 individual stars. Instrumental in this last effort was Williamina Fleming: Pickering's one time housekeeper turned lead calculator in the project.
This week we look at the earlier career of astronomer, mathematician and natural philosopher Edmond Halley. We look at the first part of his career but through about 1693 including his trips to St. Helena, Danzig and Paris. We also look at his ideas on measuring the size of the solar system, terrestrial magnetism, ocean salinity and the cause of the Biblical flood.
In this impromptu and unscripted episode, I talk about the recent announcement of the discovery of seven earth-like worlds orbiting a nearby class M star now named TRAPPIST-1 after the telescope used to make the initial discovery. I look at how exoplanets are discovered, the specifics of this discovery, what we know and why it is important. Also discussed are the ideas of scientific collaboration and the concept of universality.
In 1687, Issac Newton, through the hard work and auspices of Edmund Halley, published the greatest scientific work of all time. In this episode we examine the events that led to the book's creation including Newton's correspondences with Robert Hooke and John Flamsteed. We also spend a bit of time considering the work's content.
In this episode we look at the emergence of Isaac Newton onto the public stage with the publication of his first work on Optics in the pages of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1672. We then examine the growing conflict between Newton and Robert Hooke and consider the work of the Society's secretary, Henry Oldenburg in fostering scientific communication during the turmoil.
In part 1 of our multipart biography of the father of physics, we look at the life of Isaac Newton from his early years in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire through his grammar school days to his time at Trinity College, Cambridge. We take some time to specifically look at the cultural and religious background that influenced his upbringing as well as his work on vision, color, light and optics.
In this episode we look at the work in mathematics and physics of Isaac Newton from his time at the University of Cambridge to the publication of the Philosophae Naturalis Principia Naturalis or "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy". Specifically we look at the development of fluxional calculus, the Universal Law of Gravitation and Newton's Three Laws of Motion.
In this episode, we look at the work of four men who bridge the period between Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton: Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Rene Descartes, Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke. In this discussion we pay particular attention to each man's work in physics that will set the stage for Newton's great synthesis.
This week we dock in Venice for a question and answer episode wherein I talk about podcasting, understanding quantum mechanics, the origin of the universe, and the evidence for human activity causing climate change. I also address questions about how doing the podcast has affected my teaching and where some of the strange things in academia come from. Then there's the story of the time I ran out of food but was saved by a do-it-yourself carwash in the middle of nowhere.
A discussion of the astronomical observation of Galileo Galilei and the escalating conflict with the Aristotelian Scholastics that dominated the Italian universities in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Specifically, we discuss the 1604 nova and Galileo's telescopic observations of 1609 including those of the Moon, Jupiter and the phases of Venus.
NAAP Ptolemaic Phases of Venus Simulation
NAAP Copernican Phases of Venus Simulation
This week we take a look at the early life and work of Tuscan natural philosopher and engineer, Galileo Galilei. We examine his investigations on motion, specifically falling bodies, that will lead him into the initial stages of conflict with the Aristotelian natural philosophers of the Scholastic universities of Italy. We will also examine the steps of scientific inquiry he developed as a part of his work.
This episode takes a look at the rise of the European university in the 12th century, the development of Scholasticism, the impact on the translations of Aristotle's works and the accompanying commentaries on it and the effects of the Condemnations of 1270 and 1277. From this, the challenges to Aristotle's formulation of physics and the terrestrial motion of objects are considered.
The contributions of Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Bardwardine and the Oxford Calculators, Jean Buridan and Nicole Oresme during this period are all covered.
A brief scientific biography of the Islamic physicist, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen). We look at his work in optics, mathematics, astronomy and the development of a method of scientific inquiry.
A look at Greek astronomy from the time of Hesiod and Homer to the spherical model of Aristotle. The writings of Thales, Empedocles, the Pythagoreans and Plato are considered before moving to the sphere's of Eudoxus and Callipus and the synthesis of physics and astronomy by the tutor of Alexander the Great.
Link to Eudoxus' Spheres Animation
In this episode we look at the practice of Babylonian astronomy and the tools that made it possible: cuneiform writing and arithmetical mathematics. We discuss the circular star calendars of the MUL.Apin as well as the Enuma Elish.
Some unscripted thoughts about the detection of gravitational waves via direct observation by LIGO. We briefly discuss some aspects of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, how interferometers work and what the significance of the detection is. We also look at how experimental science is done and communicated.
In this last episode on Richard Feynman, we cover his work in condensed matter physics on superfluidity and superconductivity, the development of V-A meson theory and parton theory. We also discuss his work with the presidential commission investigation the Challenger explosion.
In this continuation of our biography of the life and scientific work of Richard Feynman, we look at the work for which he would win his Nobel prize. Beginning with his move to Cornell after the end of the Manhattan Project, we cover his full development of the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, it's application to renormalization of quantum electrodynamics and the development of his Feynman Diagram. We also consider the contributions of Julian Schwinger and Freeman Dyson.
A discussion of the development of renormalization to save quantum field theory from the problem of the various infinties that arise in it. Particular focus is devoted to the work of Hans Bethe, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard Feynman, Freeman Dyson and Ernst Stueckelberg.
A biographical sketch of Wolfgang Pauli and his contributions to quantum physics.
A few quotes by or about Pauli:
In this episode, we begin with the wave mechanics approach of Erwin Schrodinger and work through the Fifth Solvay Conference held in October of 1927. We discuss the crisis that arose in the atomic physics community and the debate between the matrix mechanics of Werner Heisenberg and the wave mechanics of Schrodinger, concluding with the development of the Uncertainty Principle and the Copenhagen Interpretation.
In this episode we address the crisis in atomic physics, the work of Louis de Broglie and the matrix mechanics of Werner Heisenberg. Also discussed are Wolfgang Pauli, John Slater, Hans Kramers and Max Born.
A discussion of the life and influence of Niels Bohr.
In this podcast, we look at the development of a theoretical model of electron behavior for Rutherford's nuclear model of the atom by Niels Bohr. We begin with a brief introduction to light and spectra before considering the groundbreaking work of Max Planck and Albert Einstein and then finally to Bohr's radical solution to electron behavior around a nucleus. This is the first episode in the series where things get really strange.
Also discussed are the three spectral laws of Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchoff, the ultraviolet catastrophe and the photoelectric effect.