R O L L   M O D E L S   O F   P H Y S I C S 

Albert Einstien

Some of the famous teachers of the world have set them as a role model by living the life of a whiz kid and making unparalleled contributions to the prosperity of humankind. Albert Einstein is one such great personality, who is remembered for his works in the field of physical science. The German-born theoretical physicist is the inspiration to many aspiring teachers in the world. The mastermind of special relativity and general relativity, Einstein is not just the role model for teachers, but also an inspiring personality for students of science.

 

Early Life and Education
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany. At school, he was the top student, even though he had speech difficulties. His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesperson and engineer, while his mother was Pauline Einstein. As Albert grew older, he experimented by making models, mechanical devices and showed keen interest in mathematics. Though his family moved to Italy to find business, he stayed at Munich, to pursue his studies at Luitpold Gymnasium.

Career
In 1901, Albert Einstein assumed the position of a technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905, he received his doctorate. In 1908, he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909, he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich. In 1911, he became Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague. In 1914, he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. In 1933, he took served as a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton. After World War II, Einstein was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he turned down. He partnered with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, in order to establish the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Theory Of Relativity
Albert Einstein's special Theory Of Relativity stemmed from an attempt to bring together the laws of mechanics, with the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory. This led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He also indulged himself in the investigation of the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density. His observations laid the foundation of the creation of the photon theory of light.

Publications And Theories
In 1916, Albert Einstein reached another milestone in the field of physical science, by publishing his paper on the general theory of relativity. His contributions to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics, during the time, are still remembered. In the 1920's, Einstein carried on his research on the construction of unified field theories. The development of quantum theory of a monatomic gas helped a great deal in understanding the nuances of statistical mechanics. He also accomplished valuable work in connection with the atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.

Awards And Recognitions
Albert Einstein was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1921. In 1925, he received the prestigious Royal Society Copley Medal. In 1927, he was elected the Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his entire lifetime, he received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. The leading scientific academies throughout the world considered it a privilege to award fellowships and memberships of their respective institutes, to Einstein. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work, some of the most prominent being the Nobel Prize in 1921, Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.

Important Works, Retirement And Demise
After his retirement, Albert Einstein continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of physics. His most important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, the most important ones are- About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950). Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey.

W H A T    I S    P H Y S I C S

 Hi Guys this is my new blog and its all about one of the most significant things about science PHYSICS.So before we go in to deeper ends of this vast arena lets talk about what we are dealing with or in other words what is physics.

Physics is more  generally described as the study of matter and energy. It is concerned with how matter and energy relate to each other, and how they affect each other over time and through space. Physicists ask the  more fundamental questions how did the universe begin? how and of what is it made? how does it change? what rules govern its behavior?

Physicists may be roughly divided into two camps: experimental physicists and theoretical physicists. Experimental physicists design and run careful investigations on a broad range of phenomena in nature, often under conditions which are atypical of our everyday lives. They may, for example, investigate what happens to the electrical properties of materials at temperatures very near absolute zero or measure the characteristics of energy emitted by very hot gases. Theoretical physicists propose and develop models and theories to explain mathematically the results of experimental observations. Experiment and theory therefore have a broad overlap. Accordingly, an experimental physicist remains keenly aware of the current theoretical work in his or her field, while the theoretical physicist must know the experimenter's results and the context in which the results need be interpreted.

It is also useful to distinguish classical physics and modern physics. Classical physics has its origins approximately four hundred years ago in the studies of Galileo and Newton on mechanics, and similarly, in the work of Ampere, Faraday, Maxwell and Oersted one hundred fifty years ago in the fields of electricity and magnetism. This physics handles objects which are neither too large nor too small, which move at relatively slow speeds (at least compared to the speed of light: 186,000 miles per second!).
The emergence of modern physics at the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by three achievements. The first, in 1905, was Einstein's brilliant model of light as a stream of particles (photons). The second, which followed a few months later, was his revolutionary theory of relativity which described objects moving at speeds close to the speed of light. The third breakthrough came in 1910 with Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus of the atom.Rutherford's work was followed by Bohr's model of the atom, which in turn stimulated the work of de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Born, Pauli, Dirac and others on the quantum theory. The avalanche of exciting discoveries in modern physics continues today.

Given these distinctions within the field of physics experimental and theoretical, classical and modern it is useful to further subdivide physics into various disciplines, including astrophysics, atomic and molecular physics, biophysics, solid state physics, optical and laser physics, fluid and plasma physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. 

Below you can find references to recent representative articles from Scientific American on major branches of physics.