On Einstein's New Theory

1905, when our century was still young, Einstein was twentysix and a clerk in the Swiss patent office. In that year, he wrote a paper that changed the face of science. It contained the basic ideas of Special Relativity Theory, and revolutionized the concepts of space and time. Einstein was the first man on our planet to deduce the relation between mass and energy a simple but fundamental relation that, forty years later, led to the discovery and utilization of atomic energy. Thus, forty-five years ago, the first Einstein revolution in science was accomplished. If Einstein had done nothing since then, his name would live for centuries in the history of science. Yet only ten years later, around 191 5, Einstein finished his work on General Relativity Theory. Here, for the first time since Newton, a new theory of gravitation was formulated. This theory explains how the earth attracts the moon, how the planets move around each other; it explains the structure of our universe. As a logical system, Einstein's theory of gravitation is superior to Newton's old theory. Whenever the conclusions of Newton's and Einstein's theories differ, observation the supreme judge of all physical theories seems to favor Einstein's. Thus, thirty-five years ago, the second Einstein revolution in science was accomplished. The characteristic feature of Einstein's genius is his complete independence of mind. He accepts no man's dogma; he thinks for himself, always and about everything. From 191 8 to 1949, for over thirty years, he has worked on one of the deepest and most difficult problems in science: to find a theory that would embrace the largescale phenomena (as his old theory of gravitation did) and, at the