From Publishers Weekly
The year 2005 will be the centenary of Einstein's annus mirabilis, when he published the five papers that marked him as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Washington University professor Rigden (Hydrogen: The Essential Element) sits readers down in front of his white board and explains what Einstein said in each of these papers, what was significant in them and how the scientific community reacted (not very well, in most cases—for a while). Einstein started off with a bang: in March he proposed that light was not a continuous wave, but was made up of particles. In April he finished what became his dissertation, on how to determine the size of molecules in a liquid (that may not sound very exciting, but this is one of Einstein's most cited papers). In May he wrote his paper on Brownian motion, and then in June came the summit of his achievements that year: the paper proposing his principles of relativity and the consistency of the speed of light (commonly known as the Special Theory of Relativity). Finally, almost as an afterthought, in September came the three-page paper that unleashed his now-famous equation, e=mc2, upon an unsuspecting world. Rigden writes with a rare felicity, free of jargon and with everyday metaphors that Einstein himself would no doubt have appreciated. 7 b&w illus, 5 line illus.
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-An accessible, even page-turning, account of Einstein's new insights and the turmoil that they created. Five research papers published in 1905 by an unknown physicist working in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, revolutionized physics and provided knowledge that would transform the world. Readers will be particularly intrigued by the details of how the young man challenged, and then generally overcame, the scientific establishment, and how his ideas have themselves been challenged by others. Rigden shows that scientists have personal dimensions that are rarely mentioned in more formal textbooks. Significant insight is provided into the critical need for conflict in science, where advances are made when theories are tested by experiments that lead to new theories, and so on. Rich sources of information are given on Einstein's thoughts and those of his contemporaries on the nature of light, how atoms can be visualized in relatively simple experiments, the role of time as a fourth dimension, and, above all, how matter and energy are interrelated. Simple diagrams and reproductions of the front pages of the papers inform key aspects of the text. This book is strongly recommended for those wishing to understand the nature of the physical world, the creation of the universe, the origin of current scientific theories, and how simple experiments and concepts can successfully challenge long-held ideas.-Alexander Woodcock, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
