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International Year of Physics
Public Lecture 2005
In 1905, when he was 26 years old and working as a clerk in a Swiss patent
office, Albert Einstein published several revolutionary ideas that changed
the way we look at the world forever. To commemorate the 100th anniversary
of Einstein's miraculous year, the United Nations has declared 2005 to be
the World Year of Physics.
While the lecture is free, registration of your interest in
advance is essential since seats are limited.
Einstein's theory of Special Relativity: light, time and space
Presented by: Professor David Jamieson
The strange mutability of light, time and space comes out of
Einstein's June 30 1905 paper titled "On the electrodynamics of moving
bodies". Taking ideas from Galileo, the electromagnetism of Maxwell
and abolishing Newton.s idea of universal celestial clockwork, Einstein shows
how space and time mix and match depending on your point of view. This strange
new view of the cosmos arises from the most important and revolutionary idea
in the paper which is Einstein's postulate that the speed of light is the
same in all reference frames, regardless of their state of motion. This idea
abolished the concept of the universal reference frame, known as the Aether,
which 19th C physicists, including Oliver Heaviside, had invented in an unsuccessful
attempt to understand electromagnetism which seemed to have a special status
in the laws of physics. The Aether was needed to explain the velocity dependent
magnetic force which seemed to be inconsistent with the known laws of mechanics.
It appears that the 26 years old patent clerk Einstein, while assessing patents
for synchronising distant clocks by means of telegraph signals, came up with
the idea that simultaneity was relative and not an absolute concept. As a
consequence, magnetic forces arise from an electric charge imbalance in neutral
matter due to a slight warping of space and time caused by electric currents.
This lecture looks at this and more startling consequences of these ideas
for the real world.
Date: Thursday 1st September 2005
Science Centre Exhibit Viewing Time: 5:30PM - 6:30PM
Lecture Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Venue: Wollongong
Science Centre, Squires Way, Wollongong.
Parking: Parking is available at the Science Centre at
no cost.
Reserve a seat: Due to limited seating, bookings are essential.
Entry on the night is not guaranteed
Contact Kim Noble, Wollongong Science Centre
Phone (02) 42865000
Email Kim_Noble@uow.edu.au
The map below shows the location
of the Wollongong Science Centre.
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