From StarTalk.
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Janna Levin explore the astonishing achievements of Albert Einstein during his annus mirabilis—the "miracle year" of 1905—when, at just 26 years old and working in a patent office, Einstein published four revolutionary scientific papers that reshaped the foundations of modern physics. They discuss how Einstein first shocked the world with the photoelectric effect, demonstrating that light can behave like a particle, not just a wave—an idea that later earned him a Nobel Prize. They move on to special relativity, where Einstein insisted on the constancy of the speed of light for all observers, even if they’re moving, forcing a radical rethinking of space and time itself. The conversation then turns to Brownian motion, which offered tangible evidence for the existence of atoms by explaining the jittery movement of particles suspended in fluids. Finally, they marvel at E = mc², Einstein’s elegant equation revealing the deep relationship between mass and energy—a result that changed the course of science and human history.
From ‘Unpacking Einstein’s Greatest Papers, with Janna Levin’: https://youtu.be/APzYtiAuhOk?si=WFzBfPkoAdYsE9VI
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