Get an in-depth look at the life and work of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein: Physicist, Philosopher, Humanitarian
Peer into the mind of a great genius of history with this deep and informative course that explores the scientist we know, as well as the thinker and social activist we may be unfamiliar with.
01: The Precocious Young Einstein
The aim of these lectures is to explore Einstein the whole person and the whole thinker. You begin with an overview of the course. Then you look at important events in Einstein's life up to the beginning of his university studies in 1896.
32 min
02: The Development of the Young Physicist
This lecture follows Einstein's early life up to his "miracle year" of 1905, covering his university training, his love for fellow student Mileva Maric, their marriage following the birth of their daughter, his fruitless search for an academic job, and his employment by the Swiss patent office.
29 min
03: The Birth of the Quantum Hypothesis
By his own account, Einstein's most revolutionary idea of 1905 was that light is made of discrete chunks of electromagnetic energy called light quanta, or photons. You examine the background to this radical idea, most importantly, Max Planck's proposal in 1900 of the quantum hypothesis.
32 min
04: Background to Special Relativity
The most celebrated of Einstein's 1905 achievements is his special theory of relativity. You survey the classical physics that relativity overturned, particularly Newton's concept of absolute space, which even before Einstein had critics such as the physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach.
30 min
05: Essentials of Special Relativity
You take a guided tour of the special theory of relativity, which holds that a system's location and speed is well defined only with respect to a specific frame of reference or state of motion of an observer. This simple change of perspective led to Einstein's signature equation, "E=mc2."
32 min
06: From Bern to Berlin
Between 1905 and 1914, Einstein went from being an obscure clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern to being one of the most prominent scientists in the world. You follow this remarkable transformation and the toll it took on Einstein's marriage to Mileva.
30 min
07: Background to General Relativity
Special relativity is "special" in the sense that it is restricted to observers moving with constant relative velocity. Einstein wanted to extend the theory to include accelerated motion. His great insight was that such a "general" theory would incorporate the phenomenon of gravity.
30 min
08: Essentials of General Relativity
According to general relativity, gravity is caused by the curvature of space-time, with surprising implications such as the slowing of clocks in strong gravitational fields and the bending of light passing near a massive object like the sun. The latter prediction led to a famous confirmation of general relativity and made Einstein a world figure.
30 min
09: From Berlin to Princeton
Einstein worked in Berlin from 1914 to 1933, arriving in triumph but leaving as a refugee from Nazism. The Berlin years saw the publication and confirmation of general relativity, the receipt of a Nobel Prize, and world travel, including visits to the United States, to which Einstein immigrated in 1933.
29 min
10: Philosophical Challenge of the New Physics
Relativity and quantum mechanics presented deep challenges to traditional philosophy. You explore responses by philosophers and the logical positivists, along with Einstein's philosophical objection to the randomness of quantum theory.
33 min
11: Einstein's Philosophy of Science
Einstein stressed the crucial role of philosophy in physics, arguing that philosophy gives physicists the independence of judgment needed to make revolutionary innovations. In his own work, Einstein combined a deep respect for experimental evidence with a search for simplicity and beauty.
32 min
12: Zionism, Pacifism, and Internationalism
As Einstein's growing physics reputation drew him onto a larger public stage, his social and political involvements expanded, encompassing a lonely protest against German war aims during World War I, an embrace of the Zionist cause, and strident advocacy of pacifism throughout the 1920s.
30 min
13: Einstein the Inventor and Musician
Einstein was an avid inventor of devices from airfoils to refrigerators. He consulted with industry about gyrocompasses and with the U.S. Navy about undersea mines. Playing the violin was another passion. Both activities shed light on his work as a theoretical physicist.
29 min
14: On the Road to the New Quantum Mechanics
Einstein made many contributions to the development of quantum theory. You focus on his efforts to understand the curious way in which two identical quantum systems, such as two photons, lose their separate identities in a phenomenon called quantum entanglement.
30 min
15: Quantum Mechanics and Controversy
Einstein was one of the discoverers of quantum theory, but after the mid-1920s he became its most forceful critic. You examine Einstein's objections and his confrontations with fellow physicist Niels Bohr over what Einstein considered to be fundamental flaws in quantum mechanics.
31 min
16: Einstein in Princeton—The Lonely Quest
From 1933 until his death in 1955, Einstein lived in Princeton as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study. His research focused on the lonely and ultimately fruitless quest for a unified field theory that would unite electromagnetism and gravitation.
30 min
17: Is Quantum Mechanics Complete?
In 1935, Einstein and two collaborators, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, published what has since become the most frequently cited paper in the history of physics. You explore this celebrated thought experiment, known as the EPR paradox, in nontechnical terms.
33 min
18: The Expanding Universe
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the theoretical framework for all contemporary work in cosmology. Black holes, the big bang, an expanding universe all are implicit in the equations of general relativity. Ironically, Einstein at first mistrusted some of the most dramatic predictions of his own theory.
31 min
19: Einstein and the Bomb—Science Politicized
In 1939, Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt that launched the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. Scientists had long advised governments, but this effort represented a fundamental shift in the relationship between science and the state.
30 min
20: From the Manhattan Project to the Cold War
Einstein came to regret his role in the development of atomic weapons and spent the last decade of his life trying to rein in the ensuing arms race. One of his last public acts, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, was arguably the first step toward international cooperation in arms limitation.
33 min
21: A Lifelong Commitment to Social Justice
Settling into his new American home in the mid-1930s, Einstein found a new challenge in the fight for racial justice. He took up this and other social causes to such an extent that in the early 1950s FBI director J. Edgar Hoover considered having him deported.
29 min
22: Cosmic Religion and Jewish Identity
Einstein wrote often about what he termed "cosmic religion," by which he meant the view that the rational order of nature itself inspires awe and humility akin to the religious spirit. He was strongly influenced in these views by the philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Arthur Schopenhauer.
31 min
23: Einstein and Modernity
This lecture explores the larger cultural world that responded so strongly to Einstein and his physics. The spirit of Einstein's reformulation of physical reality is reflected in the artistic experiments of painters such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and novelists such as Lawrence Durrell.
32 min
24: The Sage of Princeton—Einstein the Icon
The sheer intellectual brilliance called genius is central to Einstein's iconic status, but the 20th century was populated with many brilliant scientists. Why did Einstein come to mean so much more? The course concludes by trying to capture the essence that made him unique.
28 min
Overview Course No. 8122
About
Dr. Don Howard is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and Director of Notre Dame's Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science. A graduate of Michigan State University's Honors College and its Lyman Briggs College with a B.Sc. in Physical Science, he earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy with a specialization in the philosophy of science from Boston University. Professor Howard has served as an assistant editor and a contributing editor for the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, and he is a founding coeditor of the Einstein Studies series. The author of many papers exploring diverse aspects of Einstein's philosophy of science and his physics, he is preparing a book on Einstein for Blackwell's Great Minds series, designed to explain Einstein's ideas to the general reader. Among his many honors, Professor Howard is a recipient of Notre Dame's Kaneb Teaching Award, recognizing faculty who have consistently demonstrated outstanding teaching. He is now a Fellow of the Center for Einstein Studies at Boston University; a Reilly Fellow in Notre Dame's Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values; and a Faculty Fellow in Notre Dame's Nanovic Institute for European Studies. In 2007, Professor Howard was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
