Albert Einstein had an amazing year in 1905. At the age of 26, he published three papers that changed the way humanity thinks about the universe. In fact, 1905 has been called the “Miracle Year” because of Einstein’s contributions.
Even now, 104 years later, scientists are still studying these papers and applying them to new breakthroughs and insights into the world of physical science.
Yesterday (June 30) was the anniversary of Einstein’s paper on “Special Relativity.” That sounds complicated, but we’ll be studying it this year and you’ll realize how much sense it makes!
Today in History : The Primate Diaries: “This was Einstein’s third of what have become known as the Annus Mirabilis papers (Latin for ‘extraordinary year’) and revolutionized the field of physics by reconciling Maxwell’s equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics. He was 26 years old. In this paper Einstein also dispelled with the concept of ‘luminiferous ether’ (proposed by Isaac Newton in 1704), a hypothetical medium that light waves were thought to travel through in the same way that sound waves travel through air or water. His first paper, on the photoelectric effect, earned him the Nobel Prize in physics.”
We’ll also be looking at the other two papers Einstein published during his “Miracle Year.” Maybe you’ll have a Miracle Year of your own!
