FOSTER THAN LIGHT 199
position Einstein would launch the greatest revolution in modern history. He would quickly analyze the patents on his desk and then spend
hours contemplating problems in physics that had puzzled him since
he was a child.
What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius
was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g., moving
trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics. Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a
child, the theory was probably useless; that is, the essence of a theory
has to be captured by a physical picture. So many physicists get lost in
a thicket of mathematics that lead nowhere. But like Newton before
him, Einstein was obsessed by the physical picture; the mathematics
would come later. For Newton the physical picture was the falling apple and the moon. Were the forces that made an apple fall identical to
the forces that guided the moon in its orbit? When Newton decided that
the answer was yes, he created a mathematical architecture for the
universe that suddenly unveiled the greatest secret of the heavens, the
motion of celestial bodies themselves.
EINSTEIN AND RELATIVITY
Albert Einstein proposed his celebrated special theory of relativity in
1905.
At the heart of his theory was a picture that even children can
understand. His theory was the culmination of a dream he had had
since the age of sixteen, when he asked the fateful question: what happens if you outrace a light beam? As a youth, he knew that Newtonian
mechanics described the motion of objects on the Earth and in the
heavens, and that Maxwell's theory described light. These were the
two pillars of physics.
The essence of Einstein's genius was that he recognized that these
two pillars were in contradiction. One of them must fall.
According to Newton, you could always outrace a light beam, since
there was nothing special about the speed of light. This meant that the
light beam must remain stationary as you raced alongside. But as a
position Einstein would launch the greatest revolution in modern history. He would quickly analyze the patents on his desk and then spend
hours contemplating problems in physics that had puzzled him since
he was a child.
What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius
was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g., moving
trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics. Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a
child, the theory was probably useless; that is, the essence of a theory
has to be captured by a physical picture. So many physicists get lost in
a thicket of mathematics that lead nowhere. But like Newton before
him, Einstein was obsessed by the physical picture; the mathematics
would come later. For Newton the physical picture was the falling apple and the moon. Were the forces that made an apple fall identical to
the forces that guided the moon in its orbit? When Newton decided that
the answer was yes, he created a mathematical architecture for the
universe that suddenly unveiled the greatest secret of the heavens, the
motion of celestial bodies themselves.
EINSTEIN AND RELATIVITY
Albert Einstein proposed his celebrated special theory of relativity in
1905.
At the heart of his theory was a picture that even children can
understand. His theory was the culmination of a dream he had had
since the age of sixteen, when he asked the fateful question: what happens if you outrace a light beam? As a youth, he knew that Newtonian
mechanics described the motion of objects on the Earth and in the
heavens, and that Maxwell's theory described light. These were the
two pillars of physics.
The essence of Einstein's genius was that he recognized that these
two pillars were in contradiction. One of them must fall.
According to Newton, you could always outrace a light beam, since
there was nothing special about the speed of light. This meant that the
light beam must remain stationary as you raced alongside. But as a