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Einstein's relationship with quantum physics, is quite remarkable. He was the first, even before Max Planck, the discoverer of the quantum, to say that quantum theory was revolutionary. His idea of light quanta showed the revolutionary break with the classical understanding of physics. In 1909, Einstein presented his first paper to a gathering of physicists and told them that they must find some way to understand waves and particles together. However, in the mid-1920's, as the original quantum theory was replaced with a new quantum mechanics, Einstein balked at the Copenhagen interpretation of the new equations because it settled for a probabilistic, non-visualizable account of physical behavior. Einstein agreed that the theory was the best available, but he looked for an explantion that would be more (in his terminology) "complete," i.e., deterministic. His belief that physics described the laws that govern "real things" had led to his successes with atoms, photons, and gravity. He was unwilling to abandon that faith. |
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Einstein's relationship with quantum physics, is quite remarkable. He was the first, even before Max Planck, the discoverer of the quantum, to say that quantum theory was revolutionary. His idea of light quanta showed the revolutionary break with the classical understanding of physics. In 1909, Einstein presented his first paper to a gathering of physicists and told them that they must find some way to understand waves and particles together. |
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Einstein's famous remark, "Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that he does not throw dice," appeared in a letter to [Max Born]? dated December 12, 1926. It was not a rejection of statistical theory. He had used statistical analysis in his work on Brownian motion and photoelectricity. In papers published before the miracle year of 1905 he even discovered [Gibbs ensembles]? on his own. But he did not believe that, at bottom, physical reality behaves randomly. |
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In the early 1920's, Einstein was the lead figure in a famous weekly physics colloquium at the University of Berlin. |
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In 1914, just before the start of World War I, Einstein settled in Berlin. His pacifism? and Jewish origins made him unpopular with German nationalists. After he became world famous (on November 7, 1919, when the [London Times]? reported the success of his gravitational theory) nationalist hatred of him grew even more ferocious. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler came to power, he settled in the United States and accepted a position at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He became an American citizen in 1940. He spent his last 20 years in an increasingly isolated and ultimately unsuccessful attempt at constructing a theory that would unify General Relativity and quantum mechanics. He died April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey. |
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However, in the mid-1920's, as the original quantum theory was replaced with a new quantum mechanics, Einstein balked at the Copenhagen interpretation of the new equations because it settled for a probabilistic, non-visualizable account of physical behavior. Einstein agreed that the theory was the best available, but he looked for an explantion that would be more "complete," i.e., deterministic. His belief that physics described the laws that govern "real things" had led to his successes with atoms, photons, and gravity. He was unwilling to abandon that faith. Einstein's famous remark, "Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that he does not throw dice," appeared in a 1926 letter to [Max Born]?. It was not a rejection of statistical theory. Einstein had used statistical analysis in his work on Brownian motion and photoelectricity. In papers published before the miracle year of 1905 he even discovered [Gibbs ensembles]? on his own. But he did not believe that, at bottom, physical reality behaves randomly. In 1914, just before the start of World War I, Einstein settled in Berlin. His pacifism? and Jewish origins outraged German nationalists. After he became world famous (on November 7, 1919, when the [London Times]? reported the success of his gravitational theory) nationalist hatred of him grew even more ferocious. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler came to power, he settled in the United States and accepted a position at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He became an American citizen in 1940. He spent his last 20 years in an increasingly isolated and ultimately unsuccessful attempt at constructing a theory that would unify General Relativity and quantum mechanics. He died April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey. |
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In an article in 1949, he described the "predatory phase of human development", exemplified by an anarchistic capitalist society, as a source of evil to be overcome. He disapproved of the totalitarian socialist regimes in the Soviet Union and elsewhere; nowadays, his position would probably be characterized as social democratic. He first favored construction of the atomic bomb in order to defeat Hitler, but after the war he lobbied for nuclear disarmament and a world government. |
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In a 1949 article, he described the "predatory phase of human development", exemplified by an anarchistic capitalist society, as a source of evil to be overcome. He disapproved of the totalitarian socialist regimes in the Soviet Union and elsewhere; nowadays, his position would probably be called social democratic. Einstein first favored construction of the atomic bomb in order to defeat Hitler, and even signed an important letter alerting President Roosevelt to the fact that an atomic bomb was possible. But after the war he lobbied for nuclear disarmament and a world government. |
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