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| Tags: bohr, called, einstein, genius |
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Some defamers of Einstein wrongfully charge him with being a nitwit
pretender who stole his work from others. Einstein's own generation of physicists did not believe that. How is this contradiction to be resolved? Simple. The defamers are liars. Below is a testimony from Niels Bohr about Einstein's huge contributions to QM, including its philosophical import, found in DISCUSSION WITH EINSTEIN ON EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS, p201--241, Albert Einstein, Philosopher-Scientist, Vol 1. --- p201 --- When invited by the Editor of the series, "Living Philosophers," to write an article for this volume in which contemporary scientists are honouring the epoch-making contributions of Albert Einstein to the progress of natural philosophy and are acknowledging the indebtedness of our whole generation for the guidance his GENIUS has given us, I thought much of the best way of explaining how much I owe to him for inspiration. In this connection, the many occasions through the years on which I had the privilege to discuss with Einstein epistemological problems raised by the modern development of atomic physics have come back vividly to my mind and I have felt that I could hardly attempt anything better than to give an account of these discussions which, even if no complete concord has so far been obtained, have been of greatest value and stimulus to me. I hope also that the account may convey to wider circles an impression of how essential the open-minded exchange of ideas has been for the progress in a field where new experience has time after time demanded a reconsideration of our views. [emphasis mine] Patrick |
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#2
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"Patrick Reany" wrote in message om... Some defamers of Einstein wrongfully charge him with being a nitwit pretender who stole his work from others. Einstein's own generation of physicists did not believe that. How is this contradiction to be resolved? Simple. The defamers are liars. Below is a testimony from Niels Bohr about Einstein's huge contributions to QM, including its philosophical import, found in DISCUSSION WITH EINSTEIN ON EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS, p201--241, Albert Einstein, Philosopher-Scientist, Vol 1. --- p201 --- When invited by the Editor of the series, "Living Philosophers," to write an article for this volume in which contemporary scientists are honouring the epoch-making contributions of Albert Einstein to the progress of natural philosophy and are acknowledging the indebtedness of our whole generation for the guidance his GENIUS has given us, I thought much of the best way of explaining how much I owe to him for inspiration. In this connection, the many occasions through the years on which I had the privilege to discuss with Einstein epistemological problems raised by the modern development of atomic physics have come back vividly to my mind and I have felt that I could hardly attempt anything better than to give an account of these discussions which, even if no complete concord has so far been obtained, have been of greatest value and stimulus to me. I hope also that the account may convey to wider circles an impression of how essential the open-minded exchange of ideas has been for the progress in a field where new experience has time after time demanded a reconsideration of our views. [emphasis mine] Patrick If you read the letters that were exchanged between Bohr and Einstein, and see the frustration that Bohr had in trying to get Einstein to embrace quantum mechanics, you would consider that Bohr might have been using sarcasm. It appears that Bohr was eager to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. including the Uncertainty Principle because Einstein was an media icon, and was somewhat a drag on getting Q.M. the respectability Bohr felt it should have. As can be seen from the letters exchanged, and the public comments of Bohr and Einstein, Bohr was pushing Einstein, and Einstein was reacting by responding when his reputation was at stake, and ignoring Bohr's letters and challenges otherwise. Bohr used several tactics in his effort to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. He flattered him, gave him more credit than he deserved in exposing the quantum aspect of nature, and challenged him. The bottom line is, that Einstein was the media darling, and thus influenced public opinion, and Bohr was anxious to get him on the Copenhagen Q.M. team, so that Bohr and the creators of Q.M. would get the attention and respect they deserved. Of course, it could be that Bohr really wanted Einstein to reject Q.M. (So that Bohr and his team would be recognized by future generations as the founders of the new physics.) so he manipulated him into becoming an adversary. -- Tom Potter http://tompotter.us |
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Tom Potter wrote:
"Patrick Reany" wrote in message om... Some defamers of Einstein wrongfully charge him with being a nitwit pretender who stole his work from others. Einstein's own generation of physicists did not believe that. How is this contradiction to be resolved? Simple. The defamers are liars. Below is a testimony from Niels Bohr about Einstein's huge contributions to QM, including its philosophical import, found in DISCUSSION WITH EINSTEIN ON EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS, p201--241, Albert Einstein, Philosopher-Scientist, Vol 1. --- p201 --- When invited by the Editor of the series, "Living Philosophers," to write an article for this volume in which contemporary scientists are honouring the epoch-making contributions of Albert Einstein to the progress of natural philosophy and are acknowledging the indebtedness of our whole generation for the guidance his GENIUS has given us, I thought much of the best way of explaining how much I owe to him for inspiration. In this connection, the many occasions through the years on which I had the privilege to discuss with Einstein epistemological problems raised by the modern development of atomic physics have come back vividly to my mind and I have felt that I could hardly attempt anything better than to give an account of these discussions which, even if no complete concord has so far been obtained, have been of greatest value and stimulus to me. I hope also that the account may convey to wider circles an impression of how essential the open-minded exchange of ideas has been for the progress in a field where new experience has time after time demanded a reconsideration of our views. [emphasis mine] Patrick If you read the letters that were exchanged between Bohr and Einstein, and see the frustration that Bohr had in trying to get Einstein to embrace quantum mechanics, you would consider that Bohr might have been using sarcasm. It appears that Bohr was eager to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. including the Uncertainty Principle because Einstein was an media icon, and was somewhat a drag on getting Q.M. the respectability Bohr felt it should have. As can be seen from the letters exchanged, and the public comments of Bohr and Einstein, Bohr was pushing Einstein, and Einstein was reacting by responding when his reputation was at stake, and ignoring Bohr's letters and challenges otherwise. Bohr used several tactics in his effort to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. He flattered him, gave him more credit than he deserved in exposing the quantum aspect of nature, and challenged him. The bottom line is, that Einstein was the media darling, and thus influenced public opinion, and Bohr was anxious to get him on the Copenhagen Q.M. team, so that Bohr and the creators of Q.M. would get the attention and respect they deserved. Of course, it could be that Bohr really wanted Einstein to reject Q.M. (So that Bohr and his team would be recognized by future generations as the founders of the new physics.) so he manipulated him into becoming an adversary. -- Tom Potter http://tompotter.us Typical conspiracy thinking. Einstein was the number two man in getting QM started, after Max Planck. Planck worked out the correct formula for black bady radiation from the assumption that light is emitted in packets with wavelength proportional to energy (photons). Einstein explained the photoelectric effect by showing that all the phenomena followed from the assumption that light is absorbed in such packets. Bohr made his reputation by showing that photons plus atamic energy levels could explain the spectrum of hydrogen. Einstein had no problem with that. The problem came with the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle. Heisenberg pointed out, among other things, that Fourier analysis of a wave packet shows that position and frequency cannot simultaneously be definite bolew a certain limit. This fact is inherent to waves, and is not a special feature of QM. Einstein objected, and published his objections in the form of thought experiments and arguments about the effect on epistemology. Each ofjection was answered, frequently by carrying out the experiment and showing that the counterintuitive results predicted by Einstein were real, After each setback, Einstein tried again. This went on for years. It is this process that Bohr refers to. Einstein was never happy with the Heisenberg principle. But he remains the genius of Special and General Relativity, Brownian Motion, and the Photoelectric Effect, and the well-deserved winner of the Nobel Prize. He should have won at least twice, and perhaps three times. -- Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd. Computers for all of us http://www.simputerland.com, http://cherlin.blogspot.com |
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"Edward Cherlin" wrote in message . .. Tom Potter wrote: "Patrick Reany" wrote in message om... Some defamers of Einstein wrongfully charge him with being a nitwit pretender who stole his work from others. Einstein's own generation of physicists did not believe that. How is this contradiction to be resolved? Simple. The defamers are liars. Below is a testimony from Niels Bohr about Einstein's huge contributions to QM, including its philosophical import, found in DISCUSSION WITH EINSTEIN ON EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS, p201--241, Albert Einstein, Philosopher-Scientist, Vol 1. --- p201 --- When invited by the Editor of the series, "Living Philosophers," to write an article for this volume in which contemporary scientists are honouring the epoch-making contributions of Albert Einstein to the progress of natural philosophy and are acknowledging the indebtedness of our whole generation for the guidance his GENIUS has given us, I thought much of the best way of explaining how much I owe to him for inspiration. In this connection, the many occasions through the years on which I had the privilege to discuss with Einstein epistemological problems raised by the modern development of atomic physics have come back vividly to my mind and I have felt that I could hardly attempt anything better than to give an account of these discussions which, even if no complete concord has so far been obtained, have been of greatest value and stimulus to me. I hope also that the account may convey to wider circles an impression of how essential the open-minded exchange of ideas has been for the progress in a field where new experience has time after time demanded a reconsideration of our views. [emphasis mine] Patrick If you read the letters that were exchanged between Bohr and Einstein, and see the frustration that Bohr had in trying to get Einstein to embrace quantum mechanics, you would consider that Bohr might have been using sarcasm. It appears that Bohr was eager to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. including the Uncertainty Principle because Einstein was an media icon, and was somewhat a drag on getting Q.M. the respectability Bohr felt it should have. As can be seen from the letters exchanged, and the public comments of Bohr and Einstein, Bohr was pushing Einstein, and Einstein was reacting by responding when his reputation was at stake, and ignoring Bohr's letters and challenges otherwise. Bohr used several tactics in his effort to get Einstein to embrace Q.M. He flattered him, gave him more credit than he deserved in exposing the quantum aspect of nature, and challenged him. The bottom line is, that Einstein was the media darling, and thus influenced public opinion, and Bohr was anxious to get him on the Copenhagen Q.M. team, so that Bohr and the creators of Q.M. would get the attention and respect they deserved. Of course, it could be that Bohr really wanted Einstein to reject Q.M. (So that Bohr and his team would be recognized by future generations as the founders of the new physics.) so he manipulated him into becoming an adversary. -- Tom Potter http://tompotter.us Typical conspiracy thinking. Einstein was the number two man in getting QM started, after Max Planck. Planck worked out the correct formula for black bady radiation from the assumption that light is emitted in packets with wavelength proportional to energy (photons). Einstein explained the photoelectric effect by showing that all the phenomena followed from the assumption that light is absorbed in such packets. Bohr made his reputation by showing that photons plus atamic energy levels could explain the spectrum of hydrogen. Einstein had no problem with that. The problem came with the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle. Heisenberg pointed out, among other things, that Fourier analysis of a wave packet shows that position and frequency cannot simultaneously be definite bolew a certain limit. This fact is inherent to waves, and is not a special feature of QM. Einstein objected, and published his objections in the form of thought experiments and arguments about the effect on epistemology. Each ofjection was answered, frequently by carrying out the experiment and showing that the counterintuitive results predicted by Einstein were real, After each setback, Einstein tried again. This went on for years. It is this process that Bohr refers to. Einstein was never happy with the Heisenberg principle. But he remains the genius of Special and General Relativity, Brownian Motion, and the Photoelectric Effect, and the well-deserved winner of the Nobel Prize. He should have won at least twice, and perhaps three times. -- Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd. Computers for all of us http://www.simputerland.com, http://cherlin.blogspot.com There is a book that contains many of the letters exchanged between Bohr and Einstein, and I suggest that if you read the book, you will see that Bohr was pressing Einstein to come over to Q.M., and Einstein was ignoring or parrying Bohr's probes. The EPR paper by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen is Einstein's most famous response to Bohr's efforts to get him to embrace quantum mechanics. It seems to me, that Einstein was reluctant to do this, as it would enhance the reputation of Bohr and the Q.M. physicists at the expense of his reputation. In spite of the fact that his Brownian Motion and photoelectric effect equations used Planck's Constant, it is clear that Einstein held out as a believer that reality was continuous, rather than discrete, and he made a statement to the effect that his science was a house of cards if nature was not continuous and differentiable. Bohr and the Q.M. gang, tried to get Einstein on board, by suggesting that his Brownian Motion and photoelectric effect equations were central to Q.M. whereas, in fact, the were not central. -- Tom Potter http://tompotter.us |
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