Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (b.1879-d.1955) is undoubtedly among the most infamous scientists of all time. The German-born scientist’s infamy stems from his ground-breaking and paradigm-shifting discoveries. Of his contributions, the most infamous one is the development of the special and general theories of relativity – we are all too familiar with the equation E=mc2 even though we might not know what it actually means (Calaprice and Lipscombe 57). Contrary to what one might expect, his most infamous discovery did not win him the Nobel Prize, he won the award for the explanation of the photoelectric effect.
Einstein’s discoveries, starting with his 1905 paper, describing the photoelectric effect and light quanta, would influence the development of quantum mechanical physics. While his work on the interactions between light and atoms made unprecedented developments to the understanding of quantum mechanics, he would later have objections to the very theory whose development he influenced (Weinberg, Steven). It is something of a paradox. This new theory of quantum mechanics taking the scientific world by storm, was at odds with the older classical mechanics. This quantum theory, theorized that matter exists as a particle and wave simultaneously. This theory was championed by scientists such as Bohr, Louis De Broglie, Schrodinger, Max Born and Heisenberg (Bernstein 1004). Einstein objected to this theory due to its reliance on probabilities (Weinberg, Steven). In all this, Einstein would be on the ‘wrong’ side of the debate. Einstein was famously quoted saying about the quantum theory:
“Quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings us closer to the secret of the Old One. I am at all events convinced that [He] does not play dice (Weinberg, Steven).”
While the consequent successes in the development of quantum mechanics have proven Einstein wrong, no one, for one moment takes the slightest sneer at the man whose discoveries would change the world forever. His discoveries have influenced technologies we have come to be accustomed to like solar power, stock market forecasts, GPS and lasers (Kiger, Patrick). Einstein influence cannot be overstated in and out of the scientific community (Calaprice and Lipscombe 21). His genius and out of the box thinking resulted in his idolization as a beacon of human excellence that one cannot do wrong to look up to.