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No other scientist can surpass the popularity
attained by the physicist Albert Einstein. He is popular even among
ordinary market vendors. It is commonplace to hear someone calling a
person with an ingenious solution to a simple day-to-day problem as
an “Einstein.” Despite this popularity, much information about
this man remains in the confines of a few biographies and is not
known to the wider public.
In the community of physicists,
Einstein’s century-old theory of special relativity—explaining
how a four-dimensional object can be viewed through our
three-dimensional eyes—is considered to be a work of a genius even
up to this day and is labeled by many of his contemporaries as a
radical shift of interpreting relative motion. His famous equation,
E=mc2, which relates the amount of energy in matter is the
cornerstone of our understanding of nuclear energy.
His general theory of relativity
which deals with gravity predicted that three-dimensional space can
be “curved” resulting in the bending of light passing through
it. This is now being used to get images of far away galaxies using
gravitational lenses.
The implications of his
Nobel-winning work on photoelectric effect which represents light as
a particle or a quantum of energy was so radical in his time that
even he himself had a hard time believing it later on. This work
would also helped usher in our quantum understanding of the universe
and would be the basis for solar energy panels and electronics.
Einstein’s radical mindset, a
characteristic noticeable in his physical theories, prompted him to
think out of the box and, in the process, contributed to his
discovery of several laws of nature. One of his biographers even
attributed “[Einstein’s] cocky contempt for authority” as one
big reason for the way he thought. This same radicalism is also
manifested in Einstein’s views on social issues of the day, views,
which earned him a label “left-wing scientist” by some
biographers.
Just how radical Einstein’s
thinking was in relation to social issues is less popular even among
physicists. How Einstein managed to focus on his scientific
endeavors despite many distractions around him—family problems,
war, and political upheaval—is not very much talked about even
within the scientific community.
During his first years as a
professor in Germany, Albert Einstein opposed World War I that was
raging within Europe in disagreement with the majority of German
scientists. His protest against the production and use of the
nuclear bomb during the Second World War is well-known.
Einstein showed his civil
libertarian and pro-human rights stance in 1940s through his
constant media warnings on the imminent danger to American liberty
brought about by the government-sponsored hysteria about the alleged
Red menace. The McCarthy hysteria resulted in the labeling as
“communist” of many scientists and reform advocates in the US
who voiced against certain government policies.
His support for socialist
economic policies and civil liberties was consistent throughout his
life. He befriended several socialist leaders and intellectuals in
British and America, and his 1949 article “Why Socialism?”
influenced many political figures and scientists across the globe.
At this time of surging economic
and political crisis worldwide, one wonders what Einstein would say
about the rising prices of oil and commodities, unemployment, and
global economic slowdown? In his 1949 essay, he pointed to the mode
of production motivated by profit as the one “responsible for an
instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital, which
leads to increasingly severe depressions.” His arguments resonate
with the argument that the current trend of monopoly globalization
is one of the major causes of our sufferings.
Albert Einstein is an epitome of
a socially conscious scientist. For AGHAM, Einstein’s image can be
seen in our many posters and T-shirts. Being a national organization
advocating science and technology for the people, AGHAM has been
organizing the ranks of Filipino science and technology
practitioners since 1999 for them to apply their talents and skill
in solving the social and economic problems of our people.
It might seem at first that
facing these challenges is less appealing than research work within
the laboratory but Einstein may have had the answer to why this is
so. In a 1949 article, he said that “one of the strongest motives
that lead men to art and sciences is escape from everyday life with
its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness,” to which he added
that “Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is,
only through devoting himself to society.”
Kim Gargar has a Master of
Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua
Institute of Technology. He has been active in AGHAM since 2001.
prom.bound@gmail.com
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