Albert Einstein, Analogizer Extraordinaire
Video - : Where does deep insight in physics come from? It is tempting to think that it comes from the purest and most precise of reasoning, following ironclad laws of thought that compel the clear mind completely rigidly. And yet the truth is quite otherwise. One finds, when one looks closely at any major discovery, that the greatest of physicists are, in some sense, the most crazily daring and irrational of all physicists. Albert Einstein exemplifies this thesis in spades. In this talk I will describe the key role, throughout Albert Einstein's fabulously creative life, played by wild guesses made by analogy lacking any basis whatsoever in pure reasoning. In particular, in this year of 2007, the centenary of 1907, I will describe how over the course of two years (1905 through 1907) of pondering, Einstein slowly came, via analogy, to understand the full, radical consequences of the equation that he had first discovered and published in 1905, arguably the most famous equation of all time: E = mc2.
Date: 2007
Language: eng
Language: eng
Series: CERN Colloquium
CERN, Geneva, 05 Jul 2007
The video was digitized from its original recording as part of the CERN Digital Memory project
The video was reviewed and enriched with additional information.
Title: CERN Colloquium : Albert Einstein, Analogizer Extraordinaire
Type: Conference Speech
Keywords: Analyse,Geneva,History,Friendship,PHD,Language,Left Physics,Einstein,Analogies,Theoretical,Egypt,Outward Slippage,RP,SRP,Blackbody,Cavity,Radiation,Wien,Beltimaan,Gas,Parallel,Hypothesis,Photonization,Light,Wave,Matter,Specific Heat,Molecules,Photons,Phonons,Empty Space,Compton Effect,Scatters,Doppler Shift,Kinetic Energy,Mass,E=MC2,Wiggles,Lumps,Hydrogen,Magnetism,Oscillations,Beam distribution,Planck's theory
category: Portraits of science
Date: 2007-07-05
Filmed people: Hofstadter, Douglas R
Description (eng): Describing the key role, throughout Albert Einstein's fabulously creative life, played by wild guesses made by analogy lacking any basis whatsoever in pure reasoning. In particular, in this year of 2007, the centenary of 1907, I will describe how over the course of two years (1905 through 1907) of pondering, Einstein slowly came, via analogy, to understand the full, radical consequences of the equation that he had first discovered and published in 1905, arguably the most famous equation of all time: E = mc2.
Internal comment: Audio only plays through left headphone, squeaking sound intermittent
Physical medium: Source is paper
Record created 2007-12-21, last modified 2023-10-07
Talk 05 Jul 2007