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Einstein: Reshaping Space, Time, and Energy
October 2, 2005
John S. Rigden professor, physics, Washington University

John S. Rigden discusses the two groundbreaking papers that Einstein published in June and September of 1905.

Few, if any, papers have attracted as much attention as Einstein's June 1905 paper on "The Special Theory of Relativity" and no equation of physics has become part of common discourse except for the equation Einstein presented in his September 1905 paper, "E = mc2". The concepts of space and time are ubiquitous in physics and, since "The Special Theory of Relativity" fundamentally altered these concepts, the impact of the June 1905 paper on physics has been pervasive. With the assertion, made in this paper, that the speed of light is a constant for all observers, time and space immediately became relative. From his theory of relativity, Einstein produced his September 1905 surprise: ponderable mass and incorporeal energy are equivalent. Humans distinguish between mass and energy, but nature does not.

This lecture is part of Einstein Fest at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada.

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Albert Einstein | Authors | Einstein | energy | mass | Theory of Relativity | Profiles | Mathematics | Physics
WGBH
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Image of Hydrogen: The Essential Element
Author: John S. Rigden
Publisher: Harvard University Press (2003)
Binding: Paperback, 288 pages
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