Einstein in Berlin

• Einstein lived for 19 years from Berlin from 1914 to to 1933. Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in p hysics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.

• During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton. He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.

  Click here for Einstein's biography.

Planck and Einstein

• Einstein observed the energy-momentum relations are different for massive and massless particles. He then came up with a formula for the energy-momentum relation valid for all speed. This formula is known and Einstein's E = mc².

  You may click here for further contents of this formula.

• Max Planck saw two different radiation laws for low and high frequencies. He then derived the radiation law valid for all frequencies. In so doing, he came up with "Planck's" constant, which we routinely write as h. Without this constant, you cannot do quantum mechanics.

They were different from most of us. We are interested in how they were different from us. First of all, they used to look at the world differently. In order to tell the difference between them and us, physicists these days have developed the words "birds" and "frogs."

Frogs and Birds

Frog Bird Frog

Black body radiation Raleigh-Jeans Planck's formula Wien's law

Energy Momentum E=p2/2m Einstein's E=(m2 + p2)1/2 E=p

It was not until 1939 when Eugene Wigner formulated his little groups dictating internal space-time symmetries in the quantum world. We can summarize his work in the following table.

Massive/Slow between Massless/Fast

Energy Momentum E=p2/2m Einstein's E=(m2 + p2)1/2 E=p

Spin, Gauge, Helicity S3 S1 S2 Wigner's Little Group S3 Gauge Trans.

• Yes, Einstein is a big bird. On the other hand, did Einstein get his Nobel prize in 1921 his role as a bird. No. He was a frog when did his work on the photo-electric effect.

  These days, we talk about air attacks and foot soldiers. We know how important those foot soldiers are. In either case, it is not appropriate to say Gell-Mann and Feynman are frogs. Yet, we can still ask the following question.

Hillary Clinton in Russia (2009).

Frogs and Birds look at the Washington Monument differently.

Hillary Clinton went to Kazan as a bird, and I went there as a frog.

• Click here for photos from Kazan.

• Kant and Hegel for birds and frogs.

• The most prominent object in this city is the Washington monument, which is the tallest obelisk in the world. It is located between the
  1. Capitol Building (east) and the Lincoln Memorial (west), and between the

  2. White House (north) and the Jefferson Memorial (south).

  Let us see how the Monument looks to frogs and to birds.

• Frogs look at the Washington Monument.
  1. I look like a Frog at the bottom of the Monument.
  2. Independence Day Celebration on the 4th day of July every year.
  3. Frogs can look at the Sky during the night celebration of the Independence day.
  4. Old Tree. Frogs can appreciate the age and beauty of this tree.
  5. More Frog Photos.

• Birds look at the Washington Monument.
  1. The Monument with the City seen from an airplane.
  2. with the Capitol Building and the Reflection Pool.
  3. with the White House.
  4. with the Jefferson Memorial.
  5. with the Lincoln Memorial, seen from the top of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
  6. More Bird Photos.

  The frogs can see the Washington Monument and its vicinity in detail. The birds are forced to see at least one other object, in addition to the Monument. The birds are forced to figure out something that contains both of them.

• Click here for photos from Berlin.

How did I talk to Einstein?

• copyright@2023 by Y. S. Kim, unless otherwise specified.
  1. Click here for his home page.
     

  2. His Einstein page.

  3. World trevel page.

  4. Korean background

  5. His style page.

• The photo of Planck and Einstein is from Wikipedia for "fair use" according to U.S. copyright law. The photo of Einstein on bike is from the public domain.