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1905 Einstein sent to the Annalen   Special Theory of Relativity. For   Any one of these papers would
          der Physik the first of his five "revo-  many millennia mankind believed   have singled him out as a scientific
          lutionary" papers demonstrating a   that the Earth was the fixed centre of   genius, but then a fifth paper was
          new approach to solving problems   the Universe. We now know that the   published in November 2005. In it
          -- he was 26 years old.            Earth is nothing more than a tiny   Einstein says that energy of whate-
                                             itinerant dot lost in the vastness of   ver sort has mass. The faster an ob-
          He pointed out that theoretical    space. In 1687 Newton's laws speak   ject moves relative to an observer,
          physicists regarded matter and ra-  of objects at rest and motion taking   the greater will be its mass relative
          diation as fundamentally different:   place in absolute time and absolute   to him.
          matter was made of particles and   space. Einstein showed that no ex-
          radiation of waves. When matter    periment of any sort can detect ab-  If all energy has mass, it took
          and radiation were treated together,   solute rest or uniform motion. His   Einstein two years to realize that all
          there was an inevitable conflict. He   second statement is that in empty   mass must have energy - they are
          dared to suggest that light might   space a light wave travels at one de-  equivalent; they are the same thing!
          consist of particles—why?          finite speed independent of the mo-  Every crumb of earth, every blade
                                             tion of its source. Einstein said that   of grass, every speck of dust was a
          Using Wien's "black-body" formula,   the wave and particle theories were   prodigious reservoir of energy. In
          Einstein showed that radiation took   "only apparently irreconcilable".   the Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität
          a mathematical form typical                                                   in  1907 he formulated the
          of that of a gas—and there-                                                   equivalence of mass and
          fore of particles. If light did                                               energy epitomized in that
          consist of particles, this easily                                             famous equation E = mc2.
          explained Planck's quantum                                                    It took some twenty-five
          jumps and some other effects                                                  years to verify his equation.
          precisely. He put forward an                                                  It was impossible at this
          utterly simple formula that                                                   time to foresee the profound
          went beyond what was known                                                    implications for mankind.
          experimentally at that time.
                                                                                        From being a humble clerk
          This, in brief, was the content                                               in the Swiss bureaucracy,
          of Einstein's first paper of                                                  Einstein now found him-
          1905.  Einstein argued that                                                   self the master among the
          Planck's idea applied to all                                                  elite of scientific theorists.
          frequencies without excep-                                                    He was sought as a univer-
          tion, and slowly other physi-                                                 sity professor first in Berne,
          cists began to take the idea                                                  then in Zurich and then in
          seriously. The American Robert      He imagined two observers each in   Prague. In those days Einstein was
          Millikan spent ten years trying to   a vehicle travelling vast distances   not a particularly good lecturer and
          disprove Einstein's theory but, to his   at constant speeds through space   his appearance was—and remained
          surprise, his experiments showed    and trying to correlate each other's   —scruffy.
          that Einstein was perfectly cor-    measurements of space and time
          rect. The quantum of light became   by exchanging signals. He demons-  In 1911 during the recruitment pro-
          accepted and was even given its own   trated that space and time are of   cedure for a position at the German
          name: the photon—but that was       such a nature that the simultaneity   University of Prague, Einstein was
          some twenty years hence.            of separate events is "relative". The   asked to declare his religion; he
                                              special theory of "relativity", concer-  wrote "unaffiliated". However, Franz
           Einstein's second paper of  1905-  ned with high-speed travel, showed   Josef, ruler of the Austro-Hungarian
          which was also his thesis for a Ph.D.   that there is now a four-dimensio-  Empire (in which Prague was then
          degree from Zurich University—and   nal whole called space-time (don't   situated) required professors to de-
          his third paper concerned the deter-  try to imagine it; it's impossible).   clare a religion if they expected to
          mination of the sizes of molecules   This has important consequences   be appointed. So, fatefully, Einstein
          and the erratic zigzag motion of    for theoretical physics. As the    declared himself to be of the Jewish
          particles in a liquid called Brownian   mathematician Hermann Minkows-  faith. It would be wrong to think of
          motion. Einstein's statistical law   ki stated: "Henceforth, space by it-  him as an orthodox Jew. He was one
          of Brownian motion coupled with     self and time by itself are doomed   of the world's great religious mystics
           Planck's determination of molecular   and only a kind of union of the two   and believed in a "God who reveals
          size were the first proof of the mole-  will preserve an independent reali-  himself in all that exists, but not in a
          cular constitution of matter.       ty." The same could be said of elec-  God who concerns himself with the
                                              tricity and magnetism, since Eins-  fate and actions of men."
          With Einstein's fourth paper "On    tein's beautiful theory also hinted at
          the Electrodynamics of Moving       the laws that describe the behaviour   After a brief return to Zurich, in
          Bodies" we come at last to the      of the quantum theory of matter.   1914  Einstein was wooed to the


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