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E=mc2 - Contacted People with their Answers (in alphabetical
order) When they answered back, their answer is in the right
column The ones in Green
knew Einstein and are still alive today The ones in Blue are
worthy of attention The ones in Grey
should not be contacted anymore The ones in
Yellow have not been contacted yet |
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Albrecht, Andreas |
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Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni Giovanni.Amelino-Camelia@cern.ch University of Rome |
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Barrow,
J.D. (works with Dr. João Magueijo) |
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Bethe, Hans (Cornell)- nuclear theorist,
worked on Manhattan project, |
not sent yet |
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Coleman,
Sidney R. |
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Duff,
Michael the University of Michigan |
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Dürr, H. P. Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich Suggested by Jurgen Ehlers |
This is what Mr Ehlers told me about Dürr
(for contacting the wife of Heisenberg): As to the possibility of contacting Mrs. Heisenberg, I propose
that you contact Prof. H. P. Dürr, Max Planck
Institute for Physics, Munich. I am sure Prof. Dürr
will be able to help you. With regards, Jürgen Ehlers |
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Ehlers,
Jurgen Via him we could reach the
wife of Heisenberg in Munich who might still be alive. (suggested by Rovelli) I think that the wife of
Heisenberg is still alive in Munich, but I am not sure. You can ask Jurgen
Ehelers who is a friend of her. |
-----Original Message----- Dear Mr. Tremblay, I could say a lot of things concerning your many questions, but I
do not see why I should take my time for doing so. I think it is the matter
for you and your collaborators to do the work for your project. As to the
possibility of contacting Mrs. Heisenberg, I propose that you contact Prof. H. P. Dürr, Max Planck Institute for
Physics, Munich. I am sure Prof. Dürr will be able
to help you. With regards, Jürgen Ehlers |
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Ellis, John |
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Glashow, Sheldon L. |
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Greene, Brian Author, Professor He is already doing something with PBS about his book The Elegant
Universe |
-----Original Message----- Dear Roland, Only back for a night, and then leaving again for two weeks. Happy
to talk about the questions below--would rather do by phone as typing answers
will take me forever. If that works, try me at 212 854 3349 or 851 1236, or
this week Monday/Tuesday I'll be at NOVA in Boston 9 617 300 4251). Best, Brian Greene |
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Jacobson, Theodore jacobson@katherine.physics.umd.edu tajac@physics.umd.edu (Tajac appears to be someone
he copied) (suggested by Rovelli) Department of Physics |
-----Original
Message----- Dear Mr. Tremblay, -----Original
Message----- Hello Mr. Jacobson, Thank you very much for your answer, it will be very helpful. “If you want the outcome to be more than a
repeat of past popular vaguaries and cliches,” ----For example, if you know what are these clichés, please let us know so we can keep at a
distance. “I think you need to have a qualified
physicist (or two) as a formal consultant on the project, and the time
required may mean that you have to pay somebody. I also think you need to
have a historian of science.” ----At the moment we are at the research
stage, but when the whole project takes off in September, I am sure we will
have more consultants in the kind you mentioned. ----Please, do you have the e-mail addresses
of the following persons? Neil De Grasse
Tyson, Astrophysicist Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden
Planetarium Hans Bethe
(Cornell)- nuclear theorist, worked on Manhattan project, Abraham Pais... -----Original
Message----- HI Mr, Tremblay,
----Please, do you have the e-mail addresses of the following
persons?
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Janssen,
Michel Another former editor,
Michel Janssen, now at the University of Minnesota, has done some of the best
work on the history of Einstein's work on E=mc2 and its relationship to
earlier work in electrodynamics. |
not sent yet |
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Kolb,
Rocky (Univ. Chicago)-
cosmologist and popular lecturer and author |
not sent yet |
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Kaku,
Michio 001 (212) 650-8448 (NY) Well know author of HyperSpace and soon
a biography by Einstein. Theoretical Physicist in NY working on Superstrings |
-----Original Message----- You ask many informative and sharp questions, which would take me
hours to explain if I were to write out the answers. It would be much simpler if you called me on the phone to discuss
all of this. My telephone number is (212) 650-8448. You can call me tomorrow (Thursday) at 11:00 am (NY time) or 4pm London time. Prof. Michio Kaku www.mkaku.org Some answers to your questions are found on my web page www.mkaku.org. Also, next winter of 2004, Atlas books will publish my new
"updated" biography of Einstein. -----Original Message----- Ok Mr. Kaku, I will call you tomorrow at 4 pm London time. It will be a pleasure to talk to you. I have three of your books here, I
suppose you are talking about an updated version of Beyond Einstein? I felt
you were talking more about Einstein in HyperSpace,
do you intend to add more info about Einstein in Beyond Einstein? Or have you
written a biography of Einstein that I am unaware of? You can answer me
tomorrow. We can also talk about your possible appearance in the
documentary. I will have the time to review your website before calling, I
read it some years ago but I guess it has changed a lot since then. Regards, Roland Michel Tremblay -----Original
Message----- Thanks for the reply. Yes, the web
page has changed and grown. We now have over 20 million hits (many of them
repeats, of course). |
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Kalamara, Fotini Markopoulou Ms |
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Kostelecky, V. Alan |
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Krauss, Lawrence M. |
-----Original Message----- many thanks for your note, and good luck
with your project. I am afraid that I get a great number of requests to
assist in these projects, and I simply do not have time to do this for all of
them. I have consulted and appeared in
many similar productions, and I certainly would be willing to talk to you or
your producer/director about this, but I am afraid I can only justify the
expenditure of time if I am reimbursed for my efforts. I realize this may
seem arbitrary, but it is one way of limiting the demands on my time. I hope you understand. best, Lawrence Krauss -----Original Message----- Hello Mr. Krauss, I think at this stage there would be no possible budget for this.
After the research is done and the project presented to the producers, in
about two months, we will get the go ahead. At that point the situation will
be different and we will have more budget. I am aware of your participation to other documentaries and I
have already mentioned to Kevin MacDonald, the director,
that you might be willing to appear in the documentary. Is this
something you might consider? In which case, could you tell me at least what
you might wish to cover? I know usually the amounts Mr MacDonald is willing to pay are not
astronomical, but I don't think he worked on such a large scale project
before. If I can justify to him that you might bring something interesting to
the documentary, I guess everything is possible. I have read many of your books and they have inspired me a lot. Regards, Roland Michel Tremblay -----Original Message----- hi.. thanks for
understanding. Actually, there are a
tremendous number of areas where I could contribute there, from scientific
explanations, to explaining the context of various developments. At this point, regarding TV things, I am
usually more interested in a presenter role than a talking head, but am
willing to discuss different possibilities.
My normal rate now for such integral involvement in things is usually
around 2.5-5K/ day of filming/consulting, although for large scale
involvement obviously some package can be worked out. The amounts above involve days where I would
be traveling for filming etc.. work done in cleveland is
obviously less... LMK -----Original Message----- Hello Mr Krauss, I will pass along the info to the director and we will contact
you again when the project gets off the ground (probably about two months). Regards, RM -----Original Message----- sounds good..
Thanks, and good luck with things. LMK |
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Levy-Leblond,
Jean-Marc (suggested
by Rovelli) This is always difficult to say. The French Philosopher Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond has written a paper
"What is Einstein had not been there". My opinion is that something would have
been found by others but our understanding of the world would be lesser. |
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Lightman, Alan (MIT)- former general
relativity theorist and author of (suggested by Jacobson) |
not sent yet |
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Magueijo, João Author of the book Faster than the Speed of Light (VSL, Variable
Speed of Light) Among the serious people whi study
possible modifications of Einstein theory, you may talk with Ted Jacobson
(Maryland), who has recently surveied this
possibility, and is fully trustable on this topic. A portuguese physicist based in London
(his name is something like Marjuleyo, I do not rememeber the exact spelling) has recently published a
book on this, which has reaise much debate. Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada) knows
everything about that and is trustable on this topic. |
-----Original Message----- That's quite a long set of questions... I've written on a few of them in my recent book Faster than the speed of light,
describing how we came up with the varying speed of light theory (surely you can see how this relates to
E!) Having written a book on it I'm reluctant to repeat the
answers by email..... Sorry , I know I'm beng
lazy, but I think it's better this way. Cheers Joao -----Original Message----- Hello Joao, I bought your book today, so it is a nice coincidence that I have
a message from you now (only hardback though, it costs a fortune!). I will be reading your book in the next few days, so perhaps I
will get the answers I am looking for. Yes, there are many questions and there is no need to answer them
all. If some of them inspire you more, then please go ahead. I know the director Kevin MacDonald is keen on your ideas and we
might want you to appear in the documentary. Is this something you might
consider? And though I have a good idea about what you could say, please let
me know if you have any ideas of your own. Regards, Roland Michel Tremblay |
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Maldacena, Juan |
-----Original Message----- Dear Roland, I am afraid I don't know much about the history of physics. So I
think you should contact a historian of physics to get accurate
responses to your questions. Regards, Juan Maldacena |
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Moffat, John (works with João Magueijo) |
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Myers,
Robert Associate Professor of Physics at McGill |
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Narayan, Ramesh (suggested
by Rovelli) Dramatic exemples of mass becoming
energy are now seen in the black holes in the sky (another prediction by an
Einstein's theory). In the last years, indeed, black holes, previously seen as exotic objects, are now considered rather well
understood objects that we see in the sky. The person to contact on this is Ramesh Narayan, in Harvard. He
has also beautiful pictures and films and immages. Black
holes that convert mass in energy.... |
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Norton, John D. (suggested by Rovelli) If you want to check anything about Einstein, especially his
work, the scholar references are John Stachel, in
Boston, who deals with the Einstein archives, and John Norton, in Pittsburgh. I think they still meet in a group to go through the Einstein notebooks, page by
page, projected on a screen, and
discuss on what Einstein was preciely doing in that
page... This could even be nice immage in the documentary, perhaps ... |
-----Original Message----- You ask a lot of questions that would take a lot of time to answer--especially for someone like me who
has specialized in history of relativity. If you want to find more details of Einstein's human side, the
best source is Robert Shulmann, who is one of the
editors of the Einstein Papers. Another former editor, Michel Janssen, now at the University of
Minnesota, has done some of the best work on the history of Einstein's work
on E=mc2 and its relationship to earlier work in electrodynamics. Good luck with the documentary! John Norton -----Original Message----- Thank you Mr Norton, do you have their email addresses? Eventually I might want to call you sometimes next week to get
some information, since you are an historian of relativity. Would that be possible? Regards, Roland Michel Tremblay Tel: +44 (0)20 8847 5586 -----Original Message----- I don't have their email addresses at hand. Google
will find them fast. Robert Schulmann is mostly in
Maryland, but sometimes works at the Einstein Papers at Caltech (an obvious
rich source in its own right). Next week I will be out of town at a conference in Germany, but I
will be back after that. John N. |
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Pais, Abraham No longer alive Author of the famous book
Subtle is the Lord, a scientific bio of Einstein |
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Piran, Tsvi the Hebrew University in Jerusalem |
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Rose,
Frederick P. Director of the Hayden Planetarium
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not sent yet |
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Rovelli, Carlo Centre de
physique théorique de Marseille |
-----Original Message----- Dear Roland, it is a pleasure to answer your questions. > Question 1: Do you know anything interesting concerning the
topics and the people that will be discussed in this documentary? As you probably know, one of the very few surviving figures of
this fantastic story is John Wheeler, an absolutely fascinating
character that you cannot miss, a close friend of
Bohr, Einstein, Feynman... But John is *very* old and week. I'd go talk to him as soon as possible. Here is my memory of my encounter with him: The first day I
visited Princeton, John came fetch me at my hotel in the early morning and
walked me to the Institute. On the
way, he stopped and mourmured: "There is
another man I received in Princeton the day of his arrival from Europe and
walked along these step: it was Albert Einstein." He then took me to a room and explained
that in that room he and his two collaborators first realized that the bomb was
possible. I asked him how he felt
about the millions the bomb killed and the long shade of fear it cast on
humanity. He replied: "Mothers of
many young Americans that did *not* die in the invasion of Japan, still write
to me to thank. The bomb has saved
lives." > Question 2: Is there anyone or anything missing from what we
intend to cover? Seems to me that the list is even to long as it is ... > Question 3: Do you know any relevant books or articles about
these topics that I could use for my research? If you want to check anything about Einstein, especially his
work, the scholar references are John Stachel, in
Boston, who deals with the Einstein archives, and John Norton, in Pittsburgh. I think they still meet in a group to go through the Einstein notebooks, page by
page, projected on a screen, and
discuss on what Einstein was preciely doing in that
page... This could even be nice immage in the documentary, perhaps ... > Question 4: Would you have any ideas of interesting people
who could appear in the documentary and to which topic do you think they
could contribute? I think the greatest of Einstein legacies is that it changed in
depth what we understand "space" and
"time" are. This is a
fascinating subject.
Lee Smolin, for instance, could talk on that
in a solid way and a way people can relate to. > Question 5: We are going to dramatize many elements of Einstein's > life. Which parts of his life or
which anecdotes do you feel would > do nicely in the documentary and where could I find details
about > those anecdotes? I am sure you are aware of the many biographies (I am reading a
good one by Dennis Overbie). The classic is of course "Subtle is
the Lord". I think John
Norton and John Stachel could answer this in
detail. > Question 6: How is E=mc2 relevant and important today to
you, to > others and to your work? Like for many people the car to go to work. It is a basic tool that a scientist uses continuously. > Where and on what are we using it? In all instances in which there is high speed, or high energy: particle accelerators, astrophysics, nuclear physics ... > And particularly, how are we using it exactly? For instance: a ray coming is detected by a detector on a
satellite. We study it, and want to understand if it comes from outer
space. We compute its speed, energy,
and all that, and use this equation at on any step. Of course, this equation is really one piece of a more complex machinery, which is the entire
formalism of special relativity. > (We would like to show on the screen how E=mc2 is used today,
what technology … does in order to apply the equation.) If I can picture some nice iummage or situatio, I'll send it to you. > Question 7: Why do you feel Einstein and particularly E=mc2
are so popular with the public and have reached this celebrity status? Do you have any anecdotes about how popular they
are? Well, first of all, the point is that Einstein's immense
celebrity *is* completely deserved.
I do not think humanity has had another scientific thinker of his depth,
and that has obtained his results. A large part of the modern way of understanding the physical world
is *his* way of understanding the world. Next, of course, there are all these charming aspects of his personality: the political engagement, his pacifism, his low key style, is dressing and hair style... There are T-shirts in Italy with the phrase: "I do not
have special talents: I am only immensly curious" Albert Einstein I do not know where it came from, but it has all the fascination
of the character. > Question 8: Do you think this popularity is justified? Absolutely yes. He did not
do one thing. He did an incredible
list of different things in physics. > Considering what Einstein discovered, was it truly amazing
or was it just built on others' research? Both. It is truly
amazing. But it is also built on
other people reserach, of course. he is not isolated, he is part of a common
path of knowledge, and used in depth what was
understood before him and by his contemporaries. But he pushed the understanding far more
ahead than anybody else. > Was Einstein just a part, an element of the Relativity or
was he truly the essential and central part of these revolutions in physics? Both. And in different degrees for his different contributions: Special relativity: This
is disputed. Most of the equations had
already been written by Poincare' and by Lorentz.
The dominant view (and mine as well), is that Einstein had the key
understanding. Some people say that
his contribution has been overemphasized. General Relativity: It is Einstein's greatest contribution. And he did it virtually alone, with a
little help of a few friend mathematicians (Grossmann...) Quantum Theory: It is definitely a collective success, where the
initial contribution by Einstein was enormously impportant
(there is abook by Kuhn on this, that shows that EInstein is the one who understood that Newton mechanics
had to be changed). Specific heats, photoelectric effect, cosmology..... and many many other
contributions, some alone, some part of a research line. >If he had not discovered it, who else might have? This is always difficult to say. The French Philosopher Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond has written a paper
"What is Einstein had not been there". My opinion is that something would have
been found by others but our understanding of the world would be lesser. > Question 9: Do you know anyone knowledgeable I should
contact, like perhaps some physicists who worked on the nuclear weapons in
Germany or in America? John Wheeler. I think that
the wife of Heisenberg is still alive in Munich, but I am not sure.
You can ask Jurgen Ehelers
who is a friend of her (let me know if you need email addresses). > Question 10: Do you know of anything classified about the
nuclear > weapon programs in the US and in
Germany that could have become available now that it has been 50 years? I am sure you know that there are books and books on this
topic... I remember meeting a Danish scholar that spent his life studying
this, and in particular the superfamous meeting
Bohr-Heisenberg, but I cannot remember his name ... > Question 11: What scenes or which parts of the story about
the > making of the atomic bomb should we show in the documentary?
If you want to fictionize something,
why not the way the British Secret secret contacted Bohr, in
occupied Copenhagen (the story goes that a man hit the professor in a parc, and a penn was dropped
and given to him by the man, and the pen, broken revealed a note hand written
by churchil ... and then bohr
was taken away in the night with a small boat ... I do not rememeber of Enrico Fermi was
in your list. he was a major figure in the story. He escaped fascist Italy and went to
Chicago, where he did the first controlled nuclear
reaction, a very key step. The moment when they started the reaction in the water pool, and
were afraid that this would explode, and perhaps blow the Earth apart, was quite
a dramatic moment as well... > Question 12: Is there any other equation or anyone else who
had more impact or deserved as much attention as Einstein and E=mc2? Who and what
would be next in line? The bomb is a result of the entire physics of the early XXth century, of which E=mc2, that is, the theory of special relativity, is
only ONE component. The other essential
component for the making of the bomb was quantum theory. The second greatest physicist of the XXth century is probabaly Paul Audrien Maurice Dirac.
A very different personality that Einstein, reserved, dry ... > Question 13: We are looking for nice analogies to represent
on the > screen what are E=mc2, energy, mass, nuclear weapons, etc.
Do you have ideas about how we could show nice images and analogies to help
the audience visualize what it is all about? E=mc2 means that mass can be transformed in energy. The equation says how much mass gives how much energy. A good artist should't have much
difficulty putting this in cartoon or in other immages. Dramatic exemples of mass becoming
energy are now seen in the black holes in the sky (another prediction by an
Einstein's theory). In the last years, indeed, black holes, previously seen as exotic objects, are now considered rather well
understood objects that we see in the sky. The person to contact on this is Ramesh Narayan, in Harvard. He
has also beautiful pictures and films and images. Black holes that convert
mass in energy.... > Question 14: In this quest for the Theory of Everything, is
there > any chance that E=mc2 might be
replaced by something better or more accurate? Of course yes. Nothing ios sure with certainty forever. > Even, do you have any reason to believe that there could > be something wrong with E=mc2 and that it does not exactly
explain everything? For the moement, nothing really points
to that, althought many physicists speculates about
alternative theories. This is their
job. > Any idea why or what these problems are? So many things are not yet known about the world. In particular, we do not have a quantum theory of gravity, and nobody knows for
sure what this quantum theory of gravity wil look like. The
two major tenative theories are String
Theory and Loop Gravity. They are alternative theories and in competition one with the other (with fierce spporters on
each side). The real continuation of
Einstein's struggle is today the developement
of this quantum theiory of gravity. > Do you know anyone who truly believes that Einstein was
wrong...? hundred of people !!! I receive almost every
week a letter or an email by some crackpot that "has proven Einstein
wrong". I used to read everything (just in case...) and aswer politely, but it was too time consuming, and now I
have a standard reply. I have boxes full of "proves that Einstein was
wrong". For some reason, this excites the people who think they are geniuses... >
that I could contact? Of course there are serious people that study the possibility
that Einstein's theory be modified. It is
silly to present this as "Einstein was wrong". All scientific theories are
"wrong" at some point. The
first person that proved Einstein wrong was Einstein himself, when he wrote
is theory of General Relativity, that shows that his
theory of Special Relativity is "wrong" in the sense that it is
just an approximation. Even his theory of general relativity is *certainly*
"wrong" in this sense, because it has not yet put together with
quantum mechanics. Among the serious people whi study
possible modifications of Einstein theory, you may talk with Ted Jacobson (Maryland), who has
recently surveied this possibility, and
is fully trustable on this topic. A portuguese physicist based in London
(his name is something like Marjuleyo, I do not rememeber the exact spelling) has recently published a
book on this, which has reaise much debate. Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada) knows
everything about that and is trustable on this topic. > Question 15: Do you know any anecdotes about how
narcissistic and egocentric some scientists have been in the past, stories of > betrayals or hiding the truth in
order to save one's reputation? We > are looking for specific events that could be reconstructed
in the > documentary. I know a beautiful story of the opposite: Chandrasekar
(the only nobel prize in relativity besides
Einstein), as a young man developed a theory of star collapse, based on
Einstein's theory, that predicted a maximal mass for a star. He presented his theory at a conference and
was immediatly ridiculized
by his mentor, Eddington, a major scientific figure of the
time. So the Channdrasekkar
limit was forgotten. Only long later it came out that he was
right and he got the Nobel prize: well, Chandrasekkar *never* has a single world of complain or negative agaisnt
Eddington.
Some physicists are true gentlemen. > Question 16: What are the main problems in science today
that > existed in the past: do you feel it could be better? (Like
perhaps > the sharing of information.) Do you know anyone who
specifically > talked about these issues? Science is a complex human enterprise, with all the weakness and
the glory of any other major human enterprises. I think that what is wrong today is that
some scientific results are sold to the public as if they were already
established, even when they are only tentative. This weackens
science, and is a bad habit of popularization. For instance, String Theory is an hypothetical theory, too often presented for established
facts. > I wish to present an unbiased research, so anything positive
about > the German scientists and the
"German Side" would be beneficial. The closest we are to the
reality the better it will be for science in > the long run. The debate on the role of Heisenberg in the fact that Germany did
not have the bomb is very interesting.
The story is that the German scientist community (and especially Heisenberg) decided not to
not build the bomb, while the allied did. I would talk to Heisenberg wife, if she is still alive, on this. > This documentary will probably have a big impact on how the
public view the world of physics and especially theoretical physics. Here is what I think is most important: Science is a continuous exploration of novel ways of thinking the world.
This is what Einstein did best:
Finding new ways of thinking reality.
E=mc2 is important because it changes the basics ingredients of reality: not Energy and Matter, but a single entity. Einstein played this trick repeatedly, changing repeatedly the
basic ingredients we use to think
reality. There are many ways in which this contiuous
evolution happens, but there is no a priori method. It is the free scientist's immagination that "creates new worlds" and
test the dreams against reality. Some dreams work wonderfully, and become the
"new scientific image of the world". It is an anarchic process, based on
imagination, courage, humility. What
we change is our own thoughts. This change of the way *we* think is the fascinanting
aspect of science. If I had to do a documentary on
E=mc2, I would center on this.
On the continuum modification of the way we think the world, which is the core of science at its best. Best wishes for your documentary, Carlo Rovelli Centre de Physique Theorique home: +33 (0) 4 42 01 93
91 CNRS Luminy, Case 907 office: +33 (0) 4 91 26 96 44 F-13288 Marseille, France cell: +33 (0) 6 14 59 38 85 fax: +33
(0) 4 91 26 95 53 -----Original Message----- Thank you very much Mr. Rovelli for
your insight, it is of tremendous help. I am actually reading the book from Dennis Overbye and it is
really interesting. I found you in his article that passed in the NY Times. Yes, if you have any e-mail addresses for the people you
mentioned, it would be of great help: John Wheeler, John Stachel, John Norton,
Jurgen Ehelers, Ramesh Narayan, Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond, Ted Jacobson If you know anyone else who knew Einstein and who is still alive,
that would also be helpful. "Like for many people the car to go to work. It is a basic tool that a scientist uses
continuously." ---But do we use the equation at all when it comes to a car? We
are looking for day to day technology where E=mc2 is actually applied. Do you
have any idea? For example, GPS and satellites are a good one. Thank you again, Roland Michel Tremblay -----Original Message----- > Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond Jean-Marc
Livy-Leblond <jmll@math.unice.fr> > Ted Jacobson jacobson@katherine.physics.umd.edu > Ramesh Narayan rnarayan@cfa.harvard.edu > John Norton "John D.
Norton" <jdnorton+@pitt.edu> > Jurgen Ehelers Jurgen Ehlers <ehlers@aei-potsdam.mpg.de> > John Stachel John Stachel <stachel@buphyc.bu.edu> > John Wheeler jawheeler@pupgg.Princeton.EDU matrhorn@Princeton.EDU > If you know anyone else who knew Einstein and who is still
alive, that would also be helpful. I'll ask my older friends, and let you know. > "Like for many people the car to go to work. It is a basic tool that a scientist uses
continuously." > > ---But do we use the equation at all when it comes to a car?
No, it would be useless. Newtonian mechanics is good enough. > We are looking for day to day technology where E=mc2 is
actually applied. Do you have any idea? For example, GPS and satellites are a
good one. I understand ... nothing comes to my mind in day to day technology. I'll think about this. c -----Original Message----- Merci beaucoup pour votre précieuse aide. Je
suppose que vous parlez français? Je suis Québécois. :) Cordialement, Roland Michel Tremblay -----Original Message----- > Je suppose que vous parlez français? Oui, en effet, je me debrouille
pour parler, vue que j'einseigne maintenant a
Marseille, mais mon francais ecrit
c'est un desastre (je suis Italien...) |
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Schulmann, Robert If you want to find more
details of Einstein's human side, the best source is Robert Shulmann, who is one of the editors of the Einstein
Papers. Robert Schulmann
is mostly in Maryland, but sometimes works at the Einstein Papers at Caltech
(an obvious rich source in its own right). (Suggested by Norton) |
not sent yet |
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Smith,
Peter D Author of the book called Einstein |
-----Original
Message----- Dear Roland Thanks for your email - it sounds a
very interesting documentary & I look forward to seeing it when it's
made. I am currently researching this area
myself for a new book & can't really share what I've found until the work
is published. However I'd be happy to help with the research on a consultancy
basis if you or your company are interested. In the first instance perhaps
you could talk to my agent, James Gill at PFD (jgill@pfd.co.uk ,
tel: 020 7344 1000). Glad you found my book on Einstein
helpful. Best of luck! Peter |
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Smolin, Lee (suggested by Rovelli) I think the greatest of Einstein legacies is that it changed in
depth what we understand "space" and
"time" are. This is a
fascinating subject.
Lee Smolin, for instance, could talk on that
in a solid way and a way people can relate to. Among the serious people whi study
possible modifications of Einstein theory, you may talk with Ted Jacobson
(Maryland), who has recently surveied this
possibility, and is fully trustable on this topic. A portuguese physicist based in London
(his name is something like Marjuleyo, I do not rememeber the exact spelling) has recently published a
book on this, which has reaise much debate. Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada) knows everything
about that and is trustable on this topic. |
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Stachel, John (Emeritus, Boston University) If you want to check anything about Einstein, especially his
work, the scholar references are John Stachel, in
Boston, who deals with the Einstein archives, and John Norton, in Pittsburgh. I think they still meet in a group to go through the Einstein notebooks, page by
page, projected on a screen, and discuss on what Einstein was preciely doing in that page...
This could even be nice immage in the
documentary, perhaps... Among the serious people whi study
possible modifications of Einstein theory, you may talk with Ted Jacobson (Maryland), who has
recently surveied this possibility, and
is fully trustable on this topic. A portuguese physicist based in London
(his name is something like Marjuleyo, I do not rememeber the exact spelling) has recently published a book on this, which has reaise much debate. Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada) knows
everything about that and is trustable on this topic. |
-----Original Message----- Dear Mr. Tremblay, I don't see how I can
begin to answer all your questions without writing my own book. If you can
set some priorities, and list a few questions about Einstein and closely ralated topics perhaps I can help. Best wishes, John Stachel |
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Strominger, Andrew strominger@physics.harvard.edu |
|
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Thorne,
Kip S. Phone: +1 626 395-4598 Fax: +1 626 796-5675 130-33 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 Kip Thorne (Caltech)- gravitation
theorist and author of Black Holes and TIme
Warps--an excellent book for you to peruse. |
-----Original Message----- Dear Roland, I am afraid that Kip Thorne is at present much too tied up with teaching and administrative responsibilities to be of help with
your questions. He wishes you all the best of luck with your film and is sorry he
cannot be of further help right now! Yours, on Kip's behalf, J Formichelli J L Formichelli Numerical Relativity/TAPIR Post: 130-33 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA Phone: +1 626 395 4280 Fax: +1 626 796 5675 Email: jlf24@tapir.caltech.edu |
|
Tyson,
Neil De Grasse Astrophysicist (and
Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium) (he was involved with
the Einstein exhibit they put together last year) |
not sent yet |
|
Wheeler, John Princeton celebrated theoretical physicist, knew Einstein a bit and worked on
the Manhattan project, developed nuclear theory and theory of gravitational
collapse and black holes, teacher of many important students, not fully
coherent anymore. |
-----Original
Message----- Dear Mr. Tremblay: Ken
Ford________kwford@verizon.net_____ _____ Mr Carlo Rovelli said this about
Wheeler: As you probably know, one of the very few surviving figures of this fantastic story is John Wheeler, an absolutely fascinating
character that you cannot miss, a close friend of
Bohr, Einstein, Feynman... But John is *very* old and week. I'd go talk to him as soon as possible. Here is my memory of my encounter with him: The first day I
visited Princeton, John came fetch me at my hotel in the early morning and
walked me to the Institute. On the
way, he stopped and mourmured: "There is
another man I received in Princeton the day of his arrival from Europe and
walked along these step: it was Albert Einstein." He then took me to a room and explained
that in that room he and his two collaborators first realized that the bomb was
possible. I asked him how he felt
about the millions the bomb killed and the long shade of fear it cast on
humanity. He replied: "Mothers of
many young Americans that did *not* die in the invasion of Japan, still write
to me to thank. The bomb has saved
lives." |
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Witten, Edward Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
-----Original Message----- Dear Mr. Tremblay, I don't have much to contribute here, and won't try to answer all
your questions. I'll just make one remark:
fire is an example of an E=mc^2 reaction. Thus,
if you want to explain the significance of E=mc^2, you should explain that in
a fire, some of the mass of the wood plus oxygen that combine in the fire is
converted into energy. (Likewise
E=mc^2 is involved in any other chemical reaction, like the one that occurs
when you add sugar to your tea and it dissolves.) - Edward Witten |