Straight From the Page Einstein's 23 Biggest Mistakes
A new book explores the mistakes of the legendary genius.
The man with the big ideas wasn't so good with the details. In Einstein's Mistakes: The Human Failings of Genius (W.W. Norton, $24.95, excerpted below), Hans Ohanian writes that Albert often let his intuition overrule flawed proofs and shaky math. Maybe you'll feel a little better about your own flubs.
(See this earlier DISCOVER story for more detail on Einstein's biggest flubs: thinking black holes were impossible, believing the universe was static, and that "God does not play dice." Also see DISCOVER's recent special issue on Einstein.)
Chronology of Einstein’s Mistakes
- 1905 Mistake in clock synchronization procedure on which Einstein based special relativity
- 1905 Failure to consider Michelson-Morley experiment
- 1905 Mistake in transverse mass of high-speed particles
- 1905 Multiple mistakes in the mathematics and physics used in calculation of viscosity of liquids, from which Einstein deduced size of molecules
- 1905 Mistakes in the relationship between thermal radiation and quanta of light
- 1905 Mistake in the first proof of E = mc2
- 1906 Mistakes in the second, third, and fourth proofs of E = mc2
- 1907 Mistake in the synchronization procedure for accelerated clocks
- 1907 Mistakes in the Principle of Equivalence of gravitation and acceleration
- 1911 Mistake in the first calculation of the bending of light
- 1913 Mistake in the first attempt at a theory of general relativity
- 1914 Mistake in the fifth proof of E = mc2
- 1915 Mistake in the Einstein-de Haas experiment
- 1915 Mistakes in several attempts at theories of general relativity
- 1916 Mistake in the interpretation of Mach’s principle
- 1917 Mistake in the introduction of the cosmological constant (the “biggest blunder”)
- 1919 Mistakes in two attempts to modify general relativity
- 1925 Mistakes and more mistakes in the attempts to formulate a unified theory
- 1927 Mistakes in discussions with Bohr on quantum uncertainties
- 1933 Mistakes in interpretation of quantum mechanics (Does God play dice?)
- 1934 Mistake in the sixth proof of E = mc2
- 1939 Mistake in the interpretation of the Schwarzschild singularity and gravitational collapse (the “black hole”)
- 1946 Mistake in the seventh proof of E = mc2
Currently have 0 comments: