What did Einstein ever do for us?
Published: 03 Jun 2005 12:00 BST
One consequence of this theory is that there is no single universal clock ticking in lockstep across the entire universe. Rather, time passes differently for different clocks moving at different speeds.
In September, Einstein submitted a follow-up paper that introduced another notion: Mass and energy are equivalent, and a change in a particle's mass is associated with a change in its energy. The paper didn't include the famed equation E=mc2, but it laid the groundwork, Stachel said.
It wasn't until 1932, Stachel said, that physicists observed that a tiny amount of mass disappeared in radioactive decay — mass that was converted into the energy of emitted gamma rays or beta particles. A more notable illustration came at the end of World War II, when the mass lost from fissioning atoms became the energy of the explosions over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Einstein's relativity work wasn't done with the debut of special relativity in 1905. A decade later, the broader general relativity theory emerged, complete with its predictions that gravity could bend the path of light through an effect called gravitational lensing.
Where Einstein's rubber hits the road
Einstein's work remade science, but most of its effects on today's technology industry have been indirect.
"It's a stretch to talk about Einstein's contributions to computing," said Tom Theis, director of physical sciences for IBM's research group. But Einstein's work has been relevant to the field, and more need to follow in his footsteps, Theis said: "Continued support of basic research is necessary to lay the foundations for tomorrow's technology."
Robert Chau, director of transistor research and nanotechnology at Intel, deals with Einstein's legacy daily as he tries to create ever-smaller transistors.
"It laid down the foundation for modern physics, for what we do today for nanodevice study," Chau said. Quantum mechanical constraints arrived in microprocessor design in about 1990, when electron behaviour called tunnelling began affecting the thinnest transistor components. This quantum mechanical effect leads to wasted power and heating problems and now is a dominant concern.
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