Sep 3, 2005

September Maatham...


(Pic adopted from Frankfurt University)

This is september 2005.. (Ok guys, i am a bit late.. by 2 days, to be precise.. but, this is my first post this month.. so bear it). September 05 is really special.. Not because our Gapdon is gonna 'found' his new party, which will shake-up our TN politics before shaking the Indian politics, thus giving sleepless nights to all our leaders, in TN and elsewhere. Not because India will probably win its first 'away-from-subcontinent' victory in Zimbabwe after 19 long years, in another 20 days or less. Not because Ashes will belong to England after 18 years.

In september 05 (1905), a then-little-known German reported to the scientific world something that would eventually turn out to be the 'Invention of the century'... Yes, it was exactly 100 years ago that Einstein came up with his 'special' theory of relativity and his famous E=mc2. Discover magazine, a few months ago, released a 'special' version exclusively for the centennial year of Einstein's discoveries. Before the theory of relativity and the mass-energy equation, in March 1905, he commnicated about the 'photoelectric effect' which talks about 'quanta' or bundles of light energy. 2 months later, he discovered the 'Brownian motion' in liquids, which causes the suspended particles on a liquid to carry out a 'random jittering dance'.

Thus, he made 1905 be etched in the history of revolutionary physics forever.. People are still wondering how, within a period of 6 months, he came up with three different, literally 'earth-shaking' inventions, which covered from the tiniest (sub-atomic particles) to the largest (universe, galaxy, and beyond), from a non-academic position (he was working in a Swiss patent office in 1905). Truly amazing.. and he was all of 26 years then!! Those three inventions, as Discover pointed out in one if its articles, has its applications in every human's daily life, from the time he/she wakes up in the morning till he/she goes to bed.

Have a very good long weekend (for those in US) and a normal 2-day weekend (elsewhere), guys!!

14 comments:

tt_giant said...

unmayiliye peria aalu than einstein.

i cannot beleive why there are no more discoveries like that now.

Also, I cannot beleive I am not going anywhere for the long weekend!

Raju said...

Deepak, yeah.. romba periya aaludhaan.. Always there is something new to read about him..

In the Discover issue, there were mentions about ur concern "why no more like that..". All big scientists had admitted that he is 'once-in-centuries' kind of scientist.. After Newton, he was the next to revolutionize physics, even all science.

About ur not going anywhere, thaniya irundha appadithaan.. naanum engeyum pogalai..

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Thanks for the interesting note on Sept-5 and Einstein. Truly remarkable discoveries.!

Interesting how he came up with all this in 6 months.!!

Have a wonderful Weekend .!

Raju said...

Narayanan, welcome back.. Good to see u again.. Hope you had a great time at Atlanta

S.G.Ramkumar said...

It's great to remember great scientists while doing research. Motivating. Thanks for the post

Raju said...

Yeah surely, Ram... you are welcome..

Ram C said...

September is memorable to me as well, due to several personal days with happier moments celebrated every year.... of my life.

Raju said...

Ram, actually, for me too.. sept 13 is a very memorable day for me.. september is a month full of memories.. :-)

mitr_bayarea said...

Hi Gp,
thanks for that note on the Significance of September and for mentioning Einstein. Einstein was indeed a true scientist who brought forward wonderful physics.

Hope you had a nice long weekend.

Raju said...

Hi Mitr, u are welcome. Almost all physicists idolize him not without reason.. For all that he did and got famous before even 30 and got Nobel Prize, it was amusing to know that his last 20 years (yes.. that long time) was totally unproductive, even though he was trying hard to bring the 'General theory of relativity'.. but, there are a lot of physicists who have utilized his 'failures' of those years' work to bring up some stunning theoretical implications. Unique guy he was.. as the father of quantum physics, he had to abandon that baby so soon..

Weekend was just alright.. Didnt go out anywhere (alone, u can see)..

Me too said...

Great post! It is 100 years-a since the discoveries?!! Time is flying but don't know where we are heading!!

The 19th(and early 20th)century must have been something with people stumbling on/discovering new things, isn't it?

Raju said...

Thanks, Aparna.. Ur comment about time is apt for this post, since time flying, according to Einstein, is all relative.. :-)

Yeah.. the last century has been inventions galore.. the sort of inventions Edison and Einstein made have made the timeframe you mentioned a turning point for our mankind..

Manipal said...

I remember the quote-
Genius are not made, they are born....

Raju said...

Lalitha, very true.. scientifically proven by the analysis of the folds of his brain..