Albert Einstein has certainly become, over the years, an immortal genius . His success worldwide and in mass popular culture has been staggering. His fame has become so high and recognized that his name is still synonymous with intelligence and genius.
Einstein’s greatness consists in having radically changed the methods of interpretation of the world of physics. What he has put in place, thanks to his Theory of Relativity, is a scientific revolution comparable to that accomplished by Newton.
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In addition to his extraordinary intelligence and farsightedness, in fact , his theories are still valid today and indeed, concrete evidence of his suppositions is coming , but his fame has been extraordinary. A fame that is completely unusual for a physicist.
But Einstein managed to strike in the collective imagination, with his perspicacity and originality.
His quotes and sentences have also become iconic. Who doesn’t know at least a couple of them?
We at Skuola.net want to offer you a small list of the not too well known phrases and quotes uttered by this brilliant mind.
Albert Einstein’s phrases
What really interests me is if God could have made the world in a different way , that is, if the need for logical simplicity leaves some freedom.
As long as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain , and as long as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
It is the theory that decides what we can observe.
The human being is a part of that whole which we call ” Universe “, a part limited in space and time . Man experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings separated from the rest – a sort of optical illusion of his own consciousness .
The effort to get rid of this illusion is the only purpose of an authentic religion . Not to fuel the illusion but to try to overcome it : this is the way to achieve that reachable measure of peace of mind.
When I wonder why it was I who elaborated the theory of relativity, the answer seems to be linked to this particular circumstance : a normal adult does not care about the problems of spacetime, all possible considerations regarding the question have already been made in the early childhood, in his opinion.
On the contrary, I developed so slowly that I only started to wonder about space and time after growing up and consequently I studied the problem more deeply than a normal child would have done.
Thoughts of a curious man
I now know the inconstancy of all human relationships and I have learned to isolate myself from the cold and heat in order to guarantee a good thermal balance.
Personally I felt the greatest pleasure in contact with the works of art . They give me a happiness that I can’t find elsewhere.
If it is proven that my theory of relativity is valid, Germany will say that I am German and France that I am a citizen of the world . If my theory is wrong, France will say that I am a German and Germany that I am a Jew.
To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate has made me an authority.
I never worry about the future, it always comes early enough.
I have no particular talents, I’m just passionately curious.
When I reflect on myself and on my intellectual methods, it almost seems to me that the gift of fantasy has served me more than the ability to seize absolute knowledge.
Scientific autobiography
What exactly is ” thought “? When, under the stimulus of sensory impressions, certain images emerge in the mind, this is not yet ” thought “. And when these images form sequences in which each term recalls another, this is not yet ” thought ” either.
But when a certain image recurs in many of these sequences, then – precisely through this interaction – it becomes an ordering element, since it connects sequences with each other that in themselves would not be connected. A similar element becomes a tool, a concept.
I believe that the passage from free association, or “dream”, to thought is characterized by the more or less dominant function that the “concept” assumes in the latter . It is not at all necessary for a concept to be connected with a reproducible and recognizable sign with the senses (a word); but when that happens, thought becomes communicable.
For me there is no doubt that our thinking proceeds for the most part without using signs (words), and indeed very often unconsciously. How else can it happen that we “marvel” at certain experiences so spontaneously? This “wonder” manifests itself when an experience comes into conflict with a world of concepts already sufficiently stable in us.
It is a real miracle that modern methods of education have not yet completely stifled the sacred curiosity of research : because this delicate little plant, in addition to stimulation, above all needs freedom, without which it inevitably corrupts and dies.
It is a very serious mistake to think that the joy of seeing and seeking can be aroused through coercion and a sense of duty.
A THEORY IS ALL THE MORE CONVINCING THE SIMPLER ITS PREMISES, THE MORE VARIED THE THINGS IT CONNECTS, THE WIDER ITS SCOPE.
Physics is an attempt to conceptually grasp reality , as it is conceived independently of being observed. In this sense we speak of ” physical reality “.
Before the advent of quantum physics, there was no doubt about it: in Newton’s theory, reality was represented by material points in space and time; in Maxwell’s theory, from the field to space and time. In quantum mechanics, the representation of reality is not so easy.
When asked whether a function ψ of quantum theory represents a real effective situation, in the sense valid for a system of material points or for an electromagnetic field, one hesitates to answer with a simple “yes” or “no”. Because?
