MetaFilter posts tagged with Einstein

The twentieth century started here

Gilgongo — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:42:24 -0800

When Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud and Stalin all lived in the same place.

A Number of Notable Business Cards

gilrain — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:53:34 -0800

"This week, we discovered an utterly charming card used by Isaac Asimov ('natural resource' is right) and, inspired, began hunting for more famous peoples' business cards, whether boilerplate or highly designed, staid or comical."

Black Hole Gobbles Up A Star

holdkris99 — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:52:49 -0800

Two Billion years ago a black hole swallowed a star.

Now that you are here

growabrain — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:44:50 -0800

Arik Einstein is probably the greatest singer that Israel ever had. Since 1959, his voice & melodies embodied the best that Israel ever produced. His songs are nostalgic to the core, and listening to them always rekindles in most Israelis the sad, beautiful promises of their childhood. Today he released a new song, called ‘Now that you are here’, to mark the release of soldier Gilad Shalit. (Previously)

Einstein Wept.

VikingSword — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:01:41 -0800

Neutrinos discovered to be faster than light at CERN. If confirmed, these results will overturn a century of one of the most basic assumptions in modern physics. 'Thousands of experiments have been undertaken to measure' the speed of light 'ever more precisely, and no result has ever spotted a particle breaking the limit. But Antonio Ereditato of the Orion collaboration and his colleagues have been carrying out an experiment for the last three years that seems to suggest neutrinos have done just that.' 'The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 15,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery. But because the result is so unexpected and would wreak such havoc with our understanding of the Universe, the group is being particularly cautious. They have opted to put a report their measurements online to subject them to wider scrutiny, and will hold a seminar at Cern on Friday to discuss the result.'

Einstein was right

leslies — Wed, 04 May 2011 11:39:06 -0800

"There is a space-time vortex around Earth, and its shape precisely matches the predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity." NASA announces result of elaborate experiment to prove Einstein's inferences about space time. The engineering involved in this blows me away. More links within the article...

1927 Solvay Conference

kmz — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:28:52 -0800

The Fifth Solvay Conference, where the leading physicists of the time gathered to discuss quantum theory, produced an iconic photo of the participants. 17 of the 29 pictured either already were or would be Nobel prize winners, including Marie Curie who was badass enough to have two. But did you know there is film footage of the conference as well? This is the conference where Einstein famously said "God does not play dice" in opposition to quantum physics. Bonus famous scientists video: Einstein, Gödel, Erdős, and Dirac (among others) in a family movie recorded on a visit to Princeton.

Leci n'est pas une pipe

nzero — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:41:09 -0800

Ever wanted to start smoking a tobacco pipe? Begin by selecting from the many types of pipes available. Next, choose a tobacco type and flavor. Pipe smoking has a long and storied history- many a famous man, woman, or fictional character would not be parted from his or her pipe (link slightly NSFW). Pipes in art. Books about pipes. And of course, there is widely varying opinion on just how healthy pipe smoking isn't.

The Cake Felt 'Round the World

filthy light thief — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:54:29 -0800

Less than a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States detonated the fourth and fifth nuclear weapons under the name Operation Crossroads in July 1946. Beyond testing the capabilities of nuclear bombs, the Navy said it wanted the Bikini tests treated like "the story of the year, maybe of the decade, and possibly of a lifetime." Only two of the three bombs were detonated, and the project was shut down over the next months. To celebrate the efforts of Operation Crossroads, a cake in the shape of a mushroom cloud was featured at a publicized event on November 5, 1946. In response to this display, Reverend Arthur Powell Davies, the minister of the Unitarian All Souls Church in Washington, D.C., gave a sermon on the "utterly loathsome picture" and the message it sent to other nations. That sermon set off a flurry of replies and reactions, that extended around the world, including a connection formed between Reverend Davies' All Souls Unitarian Church and school children in Hiroshima. World War II was over, but the US military was not done with the atomic bomb. Testing continued, and The Bomb was new grounds for what some called "the war between the Army and the Navy." A joint task force, JTF 1, was organized on 11 January 1946, as an effort between Army, Navy, and civilian scientific personnel. Time Magazine ran an extended article on the operation, atomic weapons, and Albert Einstein, and there were a radio presentations were broadcast before and the day of the events. More than 100 members of various news agencies were allowed to watch the events, including three members of the British press, one each from Russia and nine other nations, and three artists to record the project (prev). After the events, Joint Task Force One even published the official pictorial record. The celebration following the official end to JTF 1, including the notable cake, made national news, and Time Magazine provided a good summary of the concern:

These were probably the harshest words ever spoken of a dessert. But a lot of non-Americans (notably Britons) had long regarded the U.S. public's attitude toward The Bomb as callous to the point of idiocy. Although this interpretation did the U.S. an injustice, it had a certain justification. Some Americans, for instance, missed the point of Davies' tirade. Said L. K. Stephens, bakery supply salesman, who helped design and bake the cake: "We intended the cake as something to eat."

The concern of public image reached as far as the Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal, who agreed that the display was less than positive, and wrote "people were becoming bored with such adolescent competitive publicity." The publicity traveled to Japan, where Dr. Howard Bell, an official with General Douglas MacArthur's provisional government, read an article and contacted Reverend Davies. Dr. Bell wrote and described the plight of the Japanese children, who were without school supplies. The children of All Souls Church gathered half a ton of pencils, crayons, paper, erasers, paste, and paper clips, and shipped them to to Japan. In return, the Japanese children sent 48 paintings and drawings. The pictures toured the United States and were shown in Japan this year, when some of the former students saw their artwork for the first time in over 60 years. There is a documentary in the making (early trailer) that tells the story of the connection between the children in two countries.

It's the end of space-time as we know it, and I feel fine.

oneswellfoop — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:20:25 -0800

Those wacky New Scientists are reporting on a "new challenge" to part of Einstein's theory of special relativity that changes the relationship of Space to Time. No, this has nothing to do with Conservapedia's laughable challenge to the theory*. Petr Hořava** won't replace Einstein*** in scientific importance in this new Century, but maybe Hendrik Lorentz whose theories on symmetry apparently take a beating****. Remember kiddies, Science (especially Physics) doesn't have Absolute Truths, it just keeps getting closer to them. And even ol' Albert E. can and WILL be improved upon. *though I'm sure Conjobapedia will probably link to it with a gross intentional misinterpretation. **of notorious Liberal Haven UCBerkeley. ***cartoon by MeFi's Own lore. ****disclaimer: I don't quite understand all this stuff myself, but if it cuts down the amount of unexplainable Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe AND makes much of string theory irrelevent, I'm all for it.

102 Alternatives to the Default Facebook Profile Picture

WCityMike — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:55:23 -0800

102 Alternatives to the Default Facebook Profile Picture.

The Day Einstein Died

Effigy2000 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:57:42 -0800

Albert Einstein died 55 years ago, on April 18, 1955, of heart failure at the age of 76. His funeral and cremation were intensely private affairs. Only one person, LIFE photographer Ralph Morse, managed to capture the events of the day Einstein died.

Wolfgang Pauli was a Gargoyle?

lenny70 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:49:09 -0800

The Bohr-Einstein Debates, With Puppets

Common Sense

nola — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:36:36 -0800

C0nc0rdance [sytl] asks; How far should we trust common sense? A less than 9 min video on Common Sense as it relates to Science. Enjoy.

Time paradoxes and alternate universes

ember — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:19:21 -0800

These subjects still fascinate me after a lifetime of interest: faster-than-light speed, alternate time streams, parallel universes, time travel, antiparticles moving backward in time, time loops, and the recurring themes of paradox -- all serious but astonishing ideas of science. Something about them inspires infinite possibilities. Am I not alone?

Einstein's Hands

puckish — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:33:57 -0800

The lost art of palm reading., brought to you by The Illustrated Textbook of Psychodiagnostic Chirology. "As seen here, we cannot point to anything in these prints which establishes genius. Nevertheless, what very markedly differentiates Einstein's hands from what we normally find in any general population is the length of the fingers relative to the size of the palm. The fingers, considered collectively, are short to an extreme.Short fingers speak of marked intuitive faculties and the tendency to visualize reality as an extention of subjectively defined probabilities. In its worst expression we would find the damaging effects of prejudices and most every other manner of cognitive dissonance. In its best expression we would find a vital inventiveness, critical insights and a very creative expansion of meaning of acquired information."

Bye Bye Blackboard

Fizz — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:37:06 -0800

Blackboards were wiped after use: they were meant for immediate communication, not for record. Even as they were being used, their messages were continuously revised, erased and renewed. But when Einstein came to Oxford in 1931, he was already an international celebrity. After one of his lectures a blackboard was preserved and has become a kind of relic. It is the most famous object in this Museum. This exhibition marks the centenary of the Special Theory of Relativity by inviting a number of well-known people in Britain today to chalk on blackboards the same size as Einstein’s. All these guest blackboards have been prepared in the early months of 2005. The result is an exhibition about science, art, celebrity and nostalgia. The blackboard is fast disappearing from meetings, classes and lectures: ‘bye-bye blackboard’.

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses"

homunculus — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:55:26 -0800

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear.

New Trade Theory

grobstein — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:38:50 -0800

Where no economist had gone before . Paul Krugman posts a type-written paper on interstellar trade which he wrote as "an oppressed assistant professor" in the '70s. I do not propose to develop a theory which is universally valid, but it may at least have some galactic relevance. [pdf link]

Relativity in Four Letters or Less

Citizen Premier — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:33:16 -0800

Relativity "Lite."

Your random audio links of the day.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:24:15 -0800

Today's post of tenuously related audio brings you ten historic radio broadcasts, 529 eternal questions in popular music, and one mildly amusing black metal band prank call.

'We have broken speed of light'

hermitosis — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:51:39 -0800

"We have broken speed of light." So say Dr. Gunter Nimtz and Dr. Alfons Stahlhofen of the University of Koblenz, in this article from New Scientist. Dr. Nimtz's work has been cited on MeFi before.

So you think you're smart?

Vamier — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:38:25 -0800

The Einstein Puzzle by Flowix Games is based on an old DOS game called Sherlock, which, in turn, was based on Einstein's (Supposed) Puzzle (Previously). No, it's not Friday yet, and no, it's not Flash. It's a really logical game, and it's really damn hard. I've only won once, and that was within the first few times of playing. If you find it hard to figure out what's going on, read THIS... It helped me to figure out EXACTLY what the hell was going on. The authors are Russian, and the help in the game may only serve to confuse you. ;) It's free, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I'm hooked on it, Dammit. :D

"Einsteinbrain!"

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 09:59:59 -0800

Japanese professor Kenji Sugimoto has a long-standing fascination with the brain of Albert Einstein. In the early nineties he travelled to the United States in search of it. This bizarre 1994 documentary (YouTube, multiple parts) by Kevin Hull (UK) chronicles his quest. Fake or real? [more inside]

Click-and-frame-drag

nervestaple — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:20:05 -0800

An experiment recently performed by the AET RaDAL group shows that the gravitomagnetic field produced by a rapidly-spinning superconductor can cause a 1.117 times increase over the Earth's gravity. Gravitomagnetism, a phenomenon predicted by General Relativity, is a poorly understood but promising topic in modern physics. Speculation about harnessing the bizarre, space-warping and gravity-altering effects of gravitomagnetism has already begun. Reactionless space propulsion [PDF] is the most apparent use (previously discussed), with the potential applications far-reaching and nearly inconcievable. The earlier experiment by the European Space Agency involving another rapidly-spinning superconductor earlier this year found a massive increase in strength over the predicted values, but still miniscule by our standards. Things could become very interesting if the results from this latest experiment pan out.