Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Albert Einstein
Summary
'Albert Einstein' (ˈaɪnstaɪn ; ˈalbɛʁt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, he also made important contributions to quantum mechanics, and was thus a central figure in the revolutionary reshaping of the scientific understanding of nature that modern physics accomplished in the first decades of the twentieth century. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from relativity theory, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect", a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory. His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World, Einstein was ranked the greatest physicist of all time. His intellectual achievements and originality have made Einstein synonymous with genius.
In 1905, a year sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (miracle year), Einstein published four groundbreaking papers. These outlined a theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced his special theory of relativity—a theory which addressed the inability of classical mechanics to account satisfactorily for the behavior of the electromagnetic field—and demonstrated that if the special theory is correct, mass and energy are equivalent to each other. In 1915, he proposed a general theory of relativity that extended his system of mechanics to incorporate gravitation. A cosmological paper that he published the following year laid out the implications of general relativity for the modeling of the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. The middle part of his career also saw him making important contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (1)
Insight into the Regulation of Telomerase Access to Telomeres by Shelterin Proteins
Recruitment to telomeres is a pivotal step in the function and regulation of human telomerase. Impaired telomerase function can lead to premature organismal aging, development of cancer and multisyste
EPFL2011Related concepts (444)
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science. Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales.
General relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General relativity generalizes special relativity and refines Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time or four-dimensional spacetime.
Albert Einstein
'Albert Einstein' (ˈaɪnstaɪn ; ˈalbɛʁt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, he also made important contributions to quantum mechanics, and was thus a central figure in the revolutionary reshaping of the scientific understanding of nature that modern physics accomplished in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Related courses (44)
PHYS-702: Advanced Quantum Field Theory
The course builds on the two previous courses on the subject. The main subject is the study of quantum field theories at the loop level. The course introduces the concept of loop divergences and renor
PHYS-422: Physics project II
L'étudiant.e applique les compétences acquises au cours de ses études dans une recherche effectuée dans l'un des laboratoires de la section de physique sous l'encadrement d'un.e enseignant.e de la sec
MATH-530: Introduction to general relativity
This course will serve as a basic introduction to the mathematical theory of general relativity. We will cover topics including the formalism of Lorentzian geometry, the formulation of the initial val
Related lectures (139)
Quantum Field Theory: Lecture 3
Covers the concept of party wavefunctions and the reduction formulae.
Euclidean Wormholes and Holography
Explores Euclidean wormholes, holography, scalar correlators, and toy QFT models.
Unsupervised Learning: PCA & K-means
Covers unsupervised learning with PCA and K-means for dimensionality reduction and data clustering.
Related MOOCs (9)
Newton's Mechanics
Ce cours de Physique générale – mécanique fourni les outils permettant de maîtriser la mécanique newtonienne du point matériel.
Point System Mechanics
Ce cours de Physique générale – mécanique fourni les outils permettant de maîtriser la mécanique newtonienne du point matériel.
Rigid Body Mechanics
Ce cours de Physique générale – mécanique fourni les outils permettant de maîtriser la mécanique newtonienne du point matériel.