Einstein
His Life and Universe
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CHAPTER ONE
THE LIGHT-BEAM RIDER
"I promise you four papers," the young patent examiner wrote his friend.
The letter would turn out to bear some of the most significant tidings
in the history of science, but its momentous nature was masked by an
impish tone that was typical of its author. He had, after all, just
addressed his friend as "you frozen whale" and apologized for writing a
letter that was "inconsequential babble." Only when he got around to
describing the papers, which he had produced during his spare time, did
he give some indication that he sensed their significance.
"The first deals with radiation and the energy properties of light and
is very revolutionary," he explained. Yes, it was indeed revolutionary.
It argued that light could be regarded not just as a wave but also as a
stream of tiny particles called quanta. The implications that would
eventually arise from this theory -- a cosmos without strict causality
or certainty -- would spook him for the rest of his life.
"The second paper is a determination of the t ... read full excerpt from: Einstein: His Life and Universe ebook
