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Einstein's Miraculous Year

Five Papers That Changed the Face of Physics
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Einstein's Miraculous Year is a collection that highlights five pivotal papers written by Albert Einstein in 1905. These works lay the foundation for revolutionary concepts in physics, including the special theory of relativity and the photoelectric effect, greatly influencing modern science. The book not only presents Einstein's groundbreaking ideas but also offers insights into his thought processes and the historical context of his discoveries.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$13500

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're fascinated by the foundational works that revolutionised physics. It presents Albert Einstein's groundbreaking papers from 1905, which introduced concepts like relativity and quantum theory, explained in an accessible way. Ideal for anyone interested in the history of science or in understanding how these concepts shaped modern physics.

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In twelve months after the year 1905, Einstein shattered many scientific beliefs with five papers that established him as the world's leading physicist. This book brings those papers including the papers that founded special relativity: "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" and "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content?"

It is particularly remarkable that a single physicist--Albert Einstein--has such extraordinarily deep perceptions of the workings of Nature that he laid foundation stones of ...[the] twentieth-century revolutions [in physics] in the single year of 1905. -- From the foreword by Roger Penrose, Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

After 1905, Einstein's miraculous year, physics would never be the same again. In those twelve months, Einstein shattered many cherished scientific beliefs with five extraordinary papers that would establish him as the world's leading physicist. Einstein's Miraculous Year brings those papers together in an accessible format.

The best-known papers are the two that founded special relativity: On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies and Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content? In the former, Einstein showed that absolute time had to be replaced by a new absolute: the speed of light. In the second, he asserted the equivalence of mass and energy, which would lead to the famous formula E = mcΒ².

The book also includes On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light, in which Einstein challenged the wave theory of light, suggesting that light could also be regarded as a collection of particles. This helped to open the door to a whole new worldβ€”that of quantum physics. For ideas in this paper, he won the Nobel Prize in 1921.

The fourth paper also led to a Nobel Prize, although for another scientist, Jean Perrin. On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in Stationary Liquids Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat concerns the Brownian motion of such particles. With profound insight, Einstein blended ideas from kinetic theory and classical hydrodynamics to derive an equation for the mean free path of such particles as a function of the time, which Perrin confirmed experimentally.

The fifth paper, A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions, was Einstein's doctoral dissertation, and remains among his most cited articles. It shows how to calculate Avogadro's number and the size of molecules. These papers, presented in a modern English translation, are essential reading for any physicist, mathematician, or astrophysicist.

Far more than just a collection of scientific articles, Einstein's Miraculous Year presents work that is among the high points of human achievement and marks a watershed in the history of science. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the miraculous year, this new paperback edition includes an introduction by John Stachel, which focuses on the personal aspects of Einstein's youth that facilitated and led up to the miraculous year.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Einstein's Miraculous Year receives high praise for its excellent translation and the insight it provides into Einstein's original thought processes. Critics appreciate the dramatic impact of the papers from 1905, which are seen as pivotal in physics history. The book is celebrated for offering an intimate glimpse into Einstein's genius and his solitary intellectual journey, with the essays revealing the remarkable originality of Einstein's ideas, free from external influences or collaborations.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691122281

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 April 2005

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Edition: Revised edition

Illustration: 5 halftones

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Roger Penrose
  • Edited by John Stachel
  • Foreword by Roger Penrose

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 28g

Pages: 272

About the Author

John Stachel is Professor of Physics Emeritus at Boston University, where he directs the Center for Einstein Studies. Roger Penrose is a Nobel Prizewinning physicist and the bestselling author, with Stephen Hawking, of The Nature of Space and Time (Princeton). He is the Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics Emeritus at the University of Oxford.

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