Comments on: Webcast on Relativity

Webcast on Relativity

Gyan — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:36:59 -0800

Beyond Einstein - "A 12-hour webcast on Einstein's Theory of Relativity... and beyond."

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:11:50 -0800

But if you can accelerate the wbcast to 99% of the speed of light, you (at rest relative to the webcast) can watch it for 85 hours:

t = t₀ / ( 1 - v²/c² )^(1/2)

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:14:55 -0800

The copy on the site is kind of wierd: Einstein's theories had a major impact on science in the 20th century and continue shape investigations in physics ad cosmology. Our special guest will be SLAC Theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander, who will join us with activities and conversations about the impact of Einstein's theories in the twentieth century and the way they continue to shape physics. This handsome and charismatic physicist will talk about the problem of reconciling the world Einstein described to the mysterious quantum world. Exploratorium Staff Scientist Paul Doherty explaining Einsteins theories in a way everyone can understand.

By: xinit

xinit — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:50:56 -0800

What's weird about being handsome and charismatic? People were known to describe Einstein in that way...

By: cleverusername

cleverusername — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:29:18 -0800

This handsome and charismatic physicist For the ladies... grrrrowl.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:09:45 -0800

I don't like the wording on the splash page; it makes it look like Einstein just came up with relativity out of thin air when he was working on the same thing a lot of people were working on at the time. Science is additive and collaborative, and the idea of the lone genius is detrimental to the development of future scientists.

By: nobody

nobody — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:42:18 -0800

Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps, a book by Peter Galison, offers a good historical approach to relativity's discovery. I had had no idea that the synchronicity thought experiments involving telling time through sending electrical pulses from a master clock and then accounting for the distance travelled had grounding in actual networks of synchronized clocks.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:28:53 -0800

Eideteker, I agree, this Einstein cult stuff has got to stop!