waves 23–5, 71, 75
electron, -s
as particles 93, 98
as waves 93, 198
behaviour 33, 75–8, 93, 160, 185
discovery 29
in cathode rays 75, 82
‘jumping’ between energy levels in atoms 185
energy
and mass, relationship between 94
dark 182–3
h 88, 114
quanta 84–8, 113
thermonuclear sources of 158
entropy 78–9, 85–6
EPr paradox 203–4
Epstein, Lewis 106fn equilibrium, thermodynamic 78
ETH, see Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich
ether, the 23–5, 71, 95–107
Everitt, Francis 167
Faraday, Michael 101
first postulate, see postulates
First World War 134, 138, 183, 185, 197
Fitzgerald, George 96–8
Flamm, Ludwig 160
Flexner, Abraham 200–1
frame dragging 167–8
Fresnel, Augustin 69
Freundlich, Erwin 137, 149
Friedman, Alexander 179–81
‘closed’ cosmological models 179
‘flat’ cosmological models 179, 181
‘open’ cosmological models 179
Frösch, Hans 36
Galilei, Galileo 102
gamma rays 163–4
Gamow, George 178, 180
gas, molecular 196
Gassendi, Pierre 18
Gauss, Carl Friedrich 140–3
Geneva 14, 108, 120, 122, 205
geometry, non-Euclidean 37–8, 138–40, 144–5
geometry, spherical 140–2
Germany, Allied blockade of 185, 188
Gibbs, Josiah Willard 41
Gilbert Lewis 91
Göttingen, University of 114, 117, 141–2, 149
gravitation, theory of 118, 148, 193
gravity
accelerated motion and 118, 176
general theory of motion and 135
gravitational blueshift 166, 167
gravitational field 119, 139, 147–8, 162, 164, 173
gravitational redshift 162–6, 173
gravitational time dilation 165
Probe A 166
Probe B 167, 169
Green Bank Telescope 175
Grossmann, Marcel 15, 20–2, 26, 31, 35, 37fn, 119, 125, 139, 145, 148, 152
gyroscopes 167–8
Habicht, Conrad 37, 40, 42, 46, 68
Hafele, Joseph 165
Haller, Friedrich 31
harmonic oscillators 77–8, 81, 86
Harvard University 163–6
Hawking, Stephen 189, 192
heat
absorbed by an object 114
as form of energy 109
conduction 30
infrared 72
Molecular Kinetic Theory of 57, 66
molecular theory of 46, 60
of sun and stars 63
specific 129
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle 204
Helmholtz, Hermann von 19
Hertz, Heinrich 25
Herzog, Albin 10
Hilbert, David 149–54
Hitler, Adolf 201, 206
Hubble, Edwin 180
Hubble’s Law 182
Hulse, Russell 170–1
Humason, Milton 180
Hume, David 37
Huygens, Christiaan 69
hydrodynamics 53
hydrogen 18, 49, 60, 207
bomb 207
inertial frame 102, 108
inflation 181, 194
ions, charged particles 98
iron-57 163
Japan, lecture tour 94fn, 117, 194
Jaumann, Gustav 126–7
Jeans, James 76fn
Jefferson Tower 163
Jewishness, Einstein’s 4–7, 39, 121, 126–8
Keating, Richard 165
Kirchoff, Gustav Robert 72
Kleiner, Alfred 34–5, 53, 120–1
Koch, Robert 11
Kollros, Louis 15–16
Landau, Lev 157
Langevin, Paul 196–8
lasers 136, 162–3, 186
Leiden, University of 97, 127–8
Lemaître, Georges 180–1
Lenard, Philipp 33, 82, 84, 87–9, 113
Lense, Josef 167
Lense-Thirring effect 167
Levine, Martin 166
light
as continuous wave 80–1
as both wave and particle 89, 92, 122–3, 130
no different to matter 86, 186
quanta 43, 47, 82, 85, 89, 91–2, 110, 113, 120, 186, 196–8
rays, bending of 38, 152, 161, 189
speed of 12, 23–4, 43, 71, 95–6, 98–100, 104–5, 108, 110, 162, 169, 171, 173
ultraviolet 33, 72, 82, 87–9
wave model 69, 80–1, 84–5, 88, 92–3
Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich 140
Lodge, Oliver 97
Lorentz transformations 99, 107
Lorentz, Hendrik 97–107, 111, 127–8, 130, 133
Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction 97–8
Loschmidt, Johann 50–3
Luitpold Gymnasium 7
Mach, Ernst 17, 20, 37
magnetic field 101, 109, 139, 168
Manhattan Project 206
Maric, Mileva
death 207
divorce and separation 134, 187
illnesses 124, 130–2, 187
marriage to Einstein 26–7, 39–40
pregnancies, 32–5, 42, 82, 124–6
Maric, Mileva (continued)
role in Einstein’s work 30–1, 43, 45, 94, 124
scientific study 15, 22–3, 26, 28–31, 34, 45
mass
and energy, relationship between 94, 110, 146, 153
of a body 110
Massachusetts, University of 170
matter
causes curvature in spacetime 146
contains particles 75, 160, 178
dark 181–3
gravitational influence of 178, 182
interaction with light 84, 86, 186
ordinary 181–3
smooth and continuous nature of 75, 160, 178
wave theory of 196–8
Maxwell, James Clerk 19, 23–5, 41, 75, 78, 86, 103, 141, 199
Maxwell’s equations 24, 71, 75, 77, 84, 86, 92–5, 100, 103–4, 109, 130, 139
Mercury 149–55, 162, 172, 177
perihelion of 149, 152, 162, 172
Milky Way 159, 177, 180
Millikan, Robert 90–2
Minkowski, Hermann 16, 114–18, 139, 146
molecule, -s
behaviour 78
forces between 34
hydrogen 49
idea of 19
nitrogen 53
oxygen 53
reality of 60–1, 67
size of 48–51
speed of 20
sugar 51–3, 61, 63
water 18, 51–2, 61–3
molecular gas 196
molecular physics 193
molecular theory of heat 46
momentum 147, 186, 198, 204
monochromatic radiation 85–6
Moszkowski, Alexander 206
Munich 3–9, 17, 29
negative charge 98
Nernst, Walther 114, 133
neutron stars 157–9, 170–7
New York Times, The 191
Newton, Isaac 1–2, 19, 69–71, 102–3, 122, 147–8, 152, 190–1
Opticks 70
theory of gravity 190–1
emission theory 122
Nobel Prize
awarded to de Broglie 198
awarded to Einstein 33, 47, 91, 193–4, 197
awarded to George Thomson 93fn
awarded to Jean Baptiste Perrin 67
awarded to J.J. Thomso
n 93fn
awarded to Marie and Pierre Currie 43
awarded to Robert Millikan 91
awarded to Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor 170
non-Euclidean geometries 37–8, 138–40, 144–5
nuclear arms race 111, 207–8
nuclear energy 206
Olympia Academy 37, 40, 43
Oppenheimer, Robert 158
‘Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit’ 158
osmosis 62
osmotic pressure 52–3, 61–3
oxygen 18, 50, 53, 60
Pais, Abraham 127
particles
charged 75, 98
of light 68–93, 186, 195–8. See also light
of matter 18–9, 41, 46, 49–51, 56–61, 64–7, 97–8, 108, 160, 178, 195–8, 203–4. See also matter
vertical distribution of 67
Perrin, Jean Baptiste 67–8
photoelectric effect 81, 84, 87–9, 90–3
photons 47, 69, 85–6, 91–2, 186, 197. See also atom and quanta
Physical Review Letters 168
Physics Today 94
physics
‘classical’ 123, 147
laser 186
molecular 193
quantum 30, 57, 68, 93, 122, 129, 135, 182, 185, 194, 204. See also quantum
Physikalische Zeitschrift 186
Planck, Max 30, 43, 74–81, 85–92, 107, 110–13, 120–2, 126, 186, 196–8
Planck’s constant 77, 85, 91, 198
Planck’s equation 76–7, 81, 85, 88, 91, 107, 186, 198
‘Planck’ satellite 182
Plesch, Janos 187
Podolsky, Boris 203
Poincaré, Henri 37–9, 99–101, 104, 107, 111, 132, 139
Science and Hypothesis 37
postulates 101–6
Pound, Robert 163
Prague 126–33, 137
Princeton University 3, 160, 200–5
Prussian Academy of Sciences 133–4, 150–5
pulsars 159, 171–6
binary 170–2, 176, 191
orbital period 171–4
Pythagoras’ Theorem 6, 100
quanta 30, 43, 80–2, 84–6, 88–9, 91–2, 110–14, 120, 130, 186, 196–8
light 43, 47, 82, 85, 89, 91–2, 110, 113, 12–3, 186, 196–8
quantum
codes 205
computing 205
gas 195–6
physics 30, 57, 68, 93, 122, 129, 135, 182, 185, 194, 204
radiation 25, 30, 46, 71–5, 110
and mass 158
background 181
black-body 73, 76, 79, 84, 107, 186, 195–6, 199
cavity 73, 77, 79, 84
electromagnetic 71, 75, 77, 80, 86, 88, 91, 199
gravitational 169, 174–5
monochromatic 85–6
short-wavelength 85
wavelength of 90, 163–4
radio
noise 159, 181
waves 25, 72, 105
radium 109
rainbows 69, 74
Rathenau, Walther 194
Rayleigh, Lord 76
Rayleigh-Jeans law 76fn
Rebstein, Jakob 32
redshift 162–4, 166, 171, 179–81, 186
Relativity, General Theory of 94fn, 117, 153–6, 153, 167, 176, 183, 189
relativity, principle of 99, 104, 108
Relativity, Special Theory of 25, 47–8, 55, 68, 94, 99–100, 113, 173, 193
Reviews of Modern Physics 91
Riemann, Bernhard 140–6
‘On the hypotheses which lie at the foundations of geometry’ 142
Riemannian geometry 146
Riemannian space 146
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 205–6
Rosen, Nathan 160, 203
Royal Astronomical Society 190
Royal Society 190
Russell, Bertrand 194
Rutherford, Ernest 206
satellite 167–8, 182
Savic, Helene 40, 42
Schenk, Heinrich 38
Schrödinger, Erwin 198
Schwarzschild, Karl 156–7
Schwarzschild radius 156–7
Schwarzschild singularities 156
Science 96–7
second postulate, see postulates
Seelig, Carl 11, 40, 54, 101fn
semi-permeable membrane 62, 79
short-wavelength radiation 85
Siedentopf, Henry 66
Sitter, Willem de 178
Slipher, Vesto 180
solar eclipse 137–8, 152, 190
Solar System 159, 172, 191
Solovine, Maurice 36–7, 40, 42
Solvay, Ernest 129
Solvay Conference (or Congress) 129, 197
space and time
nature of 94, 100
theory of 47, 191
space, curvature of 142–7
spacetime 116, 145–7, 155, 159–61, 167–9, 174, 177–8
and effect on rotation of the earth 167
and matter 169
cosmological models of 177
curved 146–7, 160, 189
dents in 145
fabric of 174
flat 146, 177, 179, 181–2
four-dimensional 116, 146
stationary 178
tunnel through 161
specific heat, theory of 129
spectroscopy 72, 197
spectrum 69, 72–6, 179
spherical geometry 140–2
star, -s
binary 169–70
collapsed 158
companion 172
neutron 157–9, 170–7
white dwarf 157, 170, 175
statistical mechanics 19–20, 41, 185
string theory 160fn
Sun, the
as energy source 79, 111
circumference of 171
Earth’s orbit of 95
mass of 137, 157–9, 172, 174–5
solar eclipse 137, 152, 161, 189–90
Solar System 159, 172, 191
spectrum 74
temperature 63, 74
superdense state 181
superfluidity 196
supermassive black holes 159. See also black holes
suspended particles 46, 56–61, 64–7, 168
Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH) 2, 10–16, 21–32, 81, 114, 121, 125, 131–2, 199, 205
Swiss Patent Office 2, 31–42, 112, 117–21, 136, 206–7
symmetry 107
Talmey, Max 6, 17, 36
Taylor, Joseph 170–1, 174
tensor theory 148
tensors 146–8, 150
thermodynamic equilibrium 78
thermodynamics 19, 28, 41, 63, 71, 75, 78–9, 111, 114, 196
second law of 63
thermonuclear sources of energy 158
Thirring, Hans 167
Thomson, George 93, 198fn
Thomson, J.J. 75, 92, 93fn
time machine 161
time stretches 116, 160
Times, The 190
ultraviolet light 33, 72, 82, 87–9
uncertainty principle 204
unified theory 199
Universe
age of 183
curved 144
description of 177–8, 181
expanding 179–82, 186
irregularities of 63
nature of 100, 161, 177
Utrecht, University of 131–2
vectors 146
velocity 88, 95, 102–6, 110, 135, 145
constant 102–6, 135
Vessot, Robert 166
Vienna 14, 126
Volkoff, George 158
wave model, see light
wave theory 122, 196–8
wavelengths of electrons 198
wavelengths of radiation 85, 90, 163–4
wave-particle duality of light 89, 92, 122–3, 130
waves, electromagnetic 23, 25, 71, 76
Weber, Wilhelm 141
Wheeler, John 159
white dwa
rf 157, 170, 175. See also star
Wien, Wilhelm 76, 85–6
Winteler, Jost 11–12
Winteler, Marie 21, 38
Winteler, Paul 12, 36, 205
wormhole 160–1
X-ray telescopes 159
Young, Thomas 69–71, 81, 84, 93
Zangger, Heinrich 133
Zeitschrift für Physik 195
Zurich, University of 28, 34, 47–8, 53–4