GALILEO GALILEI
How was Galileo’s early life?
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. His father was Vinzenzo Galilei, a musician and his mother was Guilia Ammannati. He was the eldest of six children but only three of his siblings survived. He went to the Camaldolese Monastery for his early studies.
How did Galileo become a scientist?
Initially, Galileo studied at the University of Pisa in order to become a physician. However, he was not able to finish his medical degree. Instead, he studied mathematics and fine arts. In 1588, he became an instructor of arts in Florence. During this time, he became good friends with the painter Cigoli, who eventually painted one of Galileo’s scientific observations.
Galileo became the chair of Mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589. From 1592 to 1610, he served as a professor in the University of Padua, where he taught astronomy, geometry and mechanics. This was the period where he made his great scientific discoveries covering astronomy, applied sciences and mathematics.
What were Galileo’s discoveries?
- The Law of Pendulum: When he was twenty years old, Galileo was in the Cathedral of Pisa and he noticed a lamp swing to and fro. Curious, he wanted to find out how long it would take for each swing to be completed. He observed that the time it took for each swing was the same. This law of pendulum was eventually used to regulate the time shown by clocks.
- Law of Gravity: According to history, Galileo’s experiment on falling bodies largely contributed to Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity. In Galileo’s experiment, he is said to have dropped balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The balls were made of the same material but had different masses. Galileo set out to prove that the time it took for these objects to reach the ground would be the same. Galileo proved that objects reached the ground at the same time, independent of their masses.
- Basic Principle of Relativity: Galileo stated that in any system moving in a straight line, at a constant speed, the laws of physics would be the same. This principle became the basis of the Newtonian laws of motion and Einstein’s special relativity theory.
- Jupiter’s moons: With the use of his telescope, Galileo was able to see three of Jupiter’s moons. He saw these for the first time on January 7, 1610. These moons or satellites are now known as Io, Europa and Ganymede. Three days later, on January 10, Galileo saw another moon, which was later named Callisto. Galileo named them the “Medicean stars”. Later on, they were named “Galillean satellites” to give credit to Galileo.
- Heliocentric Theory: The Heliocentric Theory, which was first developed by Nicolaus Copernicus, was the basis of Galileo’s writings. This theory simply means that the Sun is the center of the solar system, and not the Earth. Due to his telescopic observations, Galileo was able to prove that the Earth and the other planets revolved around the Sun, not the other way around.
- Sunspots: Galileo was also able to observe sunspots, which appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun and which occur due to magnetic activity.
- The Milky Way: In his telescopic observations, Galileo was also able to see that the Milky Way actually consisted of many stars, not clouds or nebulae. In his writing entitled “Starry Messenger”, Galileo stated that brighter stars were closer to the Earth and fainter stars were more distant.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Who is Albert Einstein?
Albert Einstein is a scientist of German-Swiss ancestry, who later on became an American citizen. He was a physicist, a philosopher and an author. During his lifetime, he published over 300 scientific papers and 150 non-scientific ones. Because he was very talented, creative and innovative, many people now associate “Einstein” with the word genius.
What happened during Einstein’s childhood?
Einstein was born in the German territory called Ulm on March 14, 1879. His parents were Hermann Einstein and Pauline Einstein. His father was an engineer who, together with his uncle, owned a company that sold electrical equipment using direct current. It is said that during his early years, Einstein had a difficult time speaking and probably had a condition called “dyslexia”. However, this did not prevent him from becoming the top student in his elementary school.
When Einstein was 10 years old, he met Max Talmud, a Jewish medical student who came from Poland. Talmud ate meals at the Einstein’s home every week. Every time Talmud visited, he would show his science, mathematics and philosophy books to Einstein. It is probably during this time that Einstein became interested not only in science but in philosophy and the other social sciences.
What happened during Einstein’s schooling?
Initially, his father wanted him to take electrical engineering at Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich, Germany. However, he did not like the school because he felt that he was not given enough freedom to learn. So he quit this school! Later on, he applied to the Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule (ETH), a school in Zurich, Switzerland. You might have heard that Albert Einstein once failed an entrance examination. This is true. When he took the entrance test at EHT, he failed, even though he got excellent marks in physics and mathematics.
He then went to Aarau, a place in northern Switzerland to finish high school. It was there he studied the Electromagnetic Theory. This gave rise to the foundation of his ideas in his adult years. He graduated when he was seventeen years old. After graduation, he studied for four years in Zurich, Switzerland to become a mathematics and physics teacher.
Why did Einstein change citizenship?
Being stateless means having no citizenship. Albert Einstein was a German citizen because his parents were German and he was born in Germany. However, in 1896, after graduating from high school, he renounced or gave up his German citizenship and became stateless. He did this in order to avoid being forced into military service. It was only in 1899 that he applied for Swiss citizenship, which was finally granted in 1901. However, he was still required to render military service. This time around though, he was able to show that he had varicose veins and his feet were flat in order to avoid going to the military. In 1940, Einstein officially became an American citizen, after being forced to immigrate to the United States during World War II.
What happened during the professional life of Einstein?
Although he planned on becoming a professor at EHT, Einstein was not accepted. Instead, he worked at a patent office and evaluated patent applications. A patent is given to a new invention, and gives several exclusive rights to the inventor, in exchange for the inventor disclosing public knowledge of that invention. Einstein worked as a patent officer from 1902 to 1909.
During this period, Einstein wrote many scientific papers. In 1905 he was given a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) by the University of Zurich after submitting his work entitled “On a new determination of molecular dimensions”. He was able to publish three papers during this year. These papers included discussions on electromagnetic radiation, special theory of relativity and statistical mechanics. These were based on the works of the well-known physicists Max Planck, James Clerk Maxwell, Josiah Gibbs, and Ludwig Boltzmann.
In 1911, Einstein finally became a full-time professor of the Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague. During this year, he was able to find evidence for his special theory of relativity. His proof stated that the light from another star would bend when it passes near the Sun because of the Sun’s gravity. This was witnessed in May 29, 1919, during a solar eclipse. In 1914, Einstein became the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin. He served this post until 1932. He also became a professor of the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1916 to 1918, he served as the president of the German Physical Society. In 1933 he moved to the United States to escape the Nazis in Germany. He spent the remaining 22 years of his life at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton N.J. until in 1955.
What were the awards received by Einstein?
Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. Some people believe that he received this award because of his special theory of relativity. However, because many people were not yet convinced during that time, he was officially awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect. In 1925, he received the Copley Medal, an award from the Royal Society of London for his outstanding achievements in physics.
What is the relationship of Einstein and the atomic bomb?
Several months before World War II began, Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt to warn him about the development of an atomic bomb. Einstein recommended that the US should begin nuclear research. This started what is called the Manhattan Project, where the US became the first country to develop and use nuclear weapons. Before his death on April 18, 1955, it is said that Albert Einstein eventually regretted writing the letter and assisting in the Manhattan Project, calling it his “one great mistake.”
