Einstein's desk
Here's a photograph of Albert Einstein's Princeton desk taken only a few hours after he died in 1955.
It's from a slideshow of photos taken at the time of Einstein's death but never published before last week. (via clusterflock)
Einstein's 1905 chronology
In 1905, Einstein came up with the concept of special relativity, published his paper on the photoelectric effect, finished his doctoral dissertation, devised the E=mc^2 concept, published a paper on Brownian motion, was approved for his doctorate, and turned 26.
So......what have you guys been up to?
For sale: Albert Einstein's watch
Among the watches being auctioned at a sale in October is a watch once owned by Albert Einstein.
For the Einstein fan, we have a Longines that was owned by the scientist himself. It is a unique and historically important wristwatch, made in 1930.The watch was presented to Professor Albert Einstein on February 16, 1931 in Los Angeles. It is a fine, tonneau-shaped, 14K yellow gold wristwatch accompanied by various photos showing Prof. Einstein wearing the watch. Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000
You'd think that the price for timepiece once owned by the man who changed our conceptions about time and space would be substantial, but it's one of the lower priced featured watches. And the price is not even close to the world record:
In 2002, Antiquorum established the all-time world record price for a wristwatch at auction when it sold a platinum Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 1415 from 1939 for an astounding CHF 6,603,500 (US$ 4,026,524). This record-breaking price more than doubled the previous world record price for a wristwatch at auction. Another record price for a modern watch was achieved in 2004, the unique white gold Calibre 89, also by Patek Philippe, was sold for SFr. 6,603,500 (US$ 5,002,652).
(thx, sam)
A moving mass has been shown to
A moving mass has been shown to generate a gravitomagnetic field (just like a moving electrical charge creates a magnetic field) and "the measured field is a surprising one hundred million trillion times larger than Einstein's General Relativity predicts". (via rw)
Brian Greene on Einstein's most famous equation,
Brian Greene on Einstein's most famous equation, E =mc^2. When he finally gets around to it in the middle of the article, Greene's got a pretty good layman's explanation of what the formula actually means.
PBS has put up a companion web
PBS has put up a companion web site to the Nova program on Einstein airing in October. Features include audio clips of several physicists describing e=mc^2 to non-physicists.
The importance of narrative in science
The importance of narrative in science. "Science and stories are not only compatible, they're inseparable, as shown by Einstein's classic 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect".
A near perfect Einstein Ring found
A near perfect Einstein Ring found. Close galaxies can act as a lens for farther galaxies, focusing the distant light with an "Einstein Ring".