How Simple Math Led Einstein to Relativity
Einstein turned the world on its head in November of 1919, when data collected during a solar eclipse matched the predictions of his Theory of General Relativity. But Einstein’s path to discovering his theory traces back much further, to when he was 12 years old and he first learned about an ancient mathematical method…
Special thank you to Professor @AlexKontorovichMath of Rutgers University and Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) for his help and participation.
Additional credits:
Giacomo Belletti - camera
Brandt Adams - newscaster voice
Kolja Gjoni - drum roll
Valentin Cazako - help with creating the “Pringle chip” model and 3D animations
Music from Epidemic Sound and Envato Elements.
Thank you to Joel Simser (@CreateSmarter) for valuable feedback on edits, and everybody else who gave me feedback and advice during this process.
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This video was originally inspired by a 2015 article by Steven Strogatz in The New Yorker Magazine about Einstein’s proof of the Pythagorean Theorem: www.newyorker.com/tech/annals...
“Einstein, His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson served as a primary source for the biographical details: amzn.to/3TxtJRS
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To learn more about Special Relativity and Minkowski space-time:
@Mahesh_Shenoy - The Triplet Paradox - • The complete intuitive...
'We all move at speed of light through spacetime'.. What does it really mean? - • 'We all move at speed ...
@MinutePhysics - SpaceTime Intervals: Not EVERYTHING is Relative | Special Relativity Ch. 7 - • Spacetime Intervals: N...
To learn more about General Relativity:
@veritasium - Why Gravity is NOT a Force - • How Gravity Actually W...
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*A Note about how I use AI generated images in my videos*
The emerging ability of artificial intelligence to generate compelling images from text prompts opens new possibilities for compelling storytelling. However, when mixed with real historical imagery, as is in my video, it has the potential to create confusion, or worse, if not handled properly.
I have set a few guidelines for my use of AI generated images in this video so that a viewer can easily understand which images are real photographs and which are synthetically generated:
ALL images that have been placed in a “frame” (eg a border that resembles an old photo print, etc) are REAL historical images.
ALL images that include Einstein's full face, as well as all World War I related images, are REAL historical images.
I have used Midjourney AI to create “stock” image elements including backgrounds, illustrations, and objects.
I have used Midjourney AI to create some images that are implied to be of Einstein. In these, Einstein’s face is FULLY OR PARTIALLY OBSCURED.
Please send me a message or drop a comment and I'll be happy to clarify any specific images.
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Items that Appear in the Video:
•“Notes for an Autobiography” by Albert Einstein - originally published in the Saturday Review of Literature, November 26, 1949
•Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws: Minutes from an Infinite Paradise - Manfred Schroeder - amzn.to/3viq1n6
•Documents from Einstein’s Studies at the Zurich Polytechnical Institute - tinyurl.com/33ds27xa
•On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies - Albert Einstein - tinyurl.com/42hmyftj
•Space and Time: Minkowski’s Papers on Relativity - Hermann Minkowski - tinyurl.com/5n79k9ef
•An Introduction to Riemannian Geometry - tinyurl.com/yc5x2ac7
•The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein - einsteinpapers.press.princeto...
•A Peek Into Einstein’s Zurich Notebook - John D. Norton - tinyurl.com/4w2df5xt
•Hilbert Paper - tinyurl.com/3mdcercw
•Solar Eclipse Maps from 1911 - 1920 - tinyurl.com/3p8pmx8b
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Additional Sources:
•Relativity: The Special and General Theory - Albert Einstein - amzn.to/43xh4Tx
•Richard Feynman’s lecture on the Special Theory of Relativity - www.feynmanlectures.caltech.e...
•Hermann Minkowski’s Spacetime: The Theory That Einstein Overlooked - David D. Nolte - tinyurl.com/27aa9nw5
•How Einstein Lost His Bearings, and with them, General Relativity - Kevin Hartnett - tinyurl.com/3zv5awwk
•The 1919 Eclipse Results that verified General Relativity and their later detractors: a story retold - Gerard Gilmore and Gudrun Tausch-Pebody - tinyurl.com/54p2e4kt
•Marcel Grossman and his contribution to the General Theory of Relativity - T. Sauer - tinyurl.com/5ate8m6r
•Einstein’s Pathway to General Relativity - John D. Norton - tinyurl.com/3mjajz4c
Photos:
•Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ma...
•Leo Baeck Institute - tinyurl.com/f6vt5uhk
Note: Amazon links are affiliate links which help support the channel at no additional cost to you.
Пікірлер: 494
Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed making it. I'm thinking about what story from the history of mathematics to tell in my next video, so please drop a comment if you have a suggestion!
Whether gravity is fictitious (just an artefact of accelerated frames) or real (contains tidal forces that cannot be co-ordinate transformed) is the same as asking whether geometry is flat or curved was Einstein's key insight! Riemann probably never thought in his wildest dreams that his math would be useful to model curved spacetime. That's incredibly insane. Thanks for this wonderful video, Ben. I loved how the video slowly put all the pieces together. Wow!
Wow Ben! This must've been a huge undertaking. Amazing video, full of wonderful visual explanations and put together extremely well. Great music choices, great story. Love the addition of the interview with Professor Alex K! You should be very proud of this.
If it had been Einsteins math, he would have got the Nobel Prize for the relativity theory, but he didn't.
I really appreciate you bringing up Einstein’s contemporaries that aren’t household names but we’re an integral part of Einstein’s work.
Suggestion - not criticism: PLEASE remove or at least tone down the music in the background from all your future videos - it does nothing but distract the viewer from what would be a good presentation. Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. Unfortunately, some KZread content providers are under the impression that background music somehow makes an instructional video more dramatic and/or professional. This is not true! It's bad enough that we have to crank up the volume on some videos because of a bad audio recording or a regional accent, only to have the music overpowering the vocals. KZread documentaries should not be created/treated or edited like a music video - Sorry for the rant.
Besides Minkowski and Grossman, Einstein also received help from Constantine Caratheodory, a Greek Mathematician considered one of the best of the 20th century. Caratheodory researched and wrote his PhD under the supervision of Minkowski at the University of Gottingen.
just imagine internet was a thing when Einstein was there
The math he lifted from others before him, like Hilbert. He didn't even understand it.
I need a five minute version that a five year old could understand.
"This was when Einstein came upon what he later called the happiest thought of his life. He imagined a painter falling from the side of a building-"
30:07
One of the greatest achievements of this short video is it allows me to see all these great historical figures in the overall context. We all know Riemann hypothesis, the Hilbert list of problems etc. But now I can directly connect all these geniuses and see them in the great spacetime of the cosmos.
I‘m so glad KZread recommended this incredible quality video after two months
I'm not a scientist. I have only a layman's grasp of the basics of all of this. But I too was baffled by the mysterious merging of Einstein's theory and the miraculous math that supports it. How on earth did this 'just happen'? This video really sheds light on the whole thing. Thanks Ben and Alex.
Stunning video! Always fun to learn about the history of physics. Especially with a production value like this. Impressive work
how is this channel so small? the quality of this video is amazing!
I remember reading about the history of mathematics and Archimedes use of infinitesimals. It gave me a much better understanding of calculus.
One of the best video I ever watched on this weird website... Great work guys!!! Thanks for making such a great video...
Overall, The video quality was great and the information presented is a brief summary of the history of physics and maths and how the latter provides the foundation for the former. I thank you and Mr Alex for separating some time from your busy schedules to make this well-produced and informative video. I hope to see more such collaborative videos by you.