The Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences is presenting its annual series of lectures aimed at a general audience.
The talks, which will focus on a series of papers published in 1905 by Albert Einstein, will be held at 10 a.m. each Saturday in October in Crow Hall, Room 201.
The schedule is as follows:
• Oct. 2: “1905 — The Wonder Year,” by John Rigden, Ph.D., visiting professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. Einstein’s role in physics was unique. What was the state of physics in 1905? What were the puzzles that confronted physicists? What was so unusual about Einstein’s style and achievements?
• Oct. 9: “Special Relativity,” by Michael W. Friedlander, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. What motivated Einstein to explore the nature of time, and how did this lead him to deduce the equation E=mc2, probably the most famous formula in all of science? What, indeed, does the special theory describe?
• Oct. 16: “General Relativity,” by Clifford M. Will, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. Einstein went beyond special relativity to consider the nature of gravity and its relationship to other forces in nature. This is still a puzzle and is one of the most important areas of astrophysical research.
• Oct. 23: “Einstein Sheds Light on Light,” by Carl M. Bender, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. Using Max Planck’s new concept of the quantum of radiant energy, Einstein was the first to combine the ideas of waves and particles to explain the way in which light can eject electrons from some surfaces. It was for this that Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics.
• Oct. 30: “Brownian Motion,” by Anders E. Carlsson, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. In 1827, botanist Robert Brown discovered that pollen grains on the surface of a pond move in irregular ways. Einstein showed how this Brownian motion was the result of buffeting by water molecules, and his theory provided the first clear demonstration of the reality of molecules and their movements.
The lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, go online to physics.wustl.edu.