EinsteinFest - 2005

The most important scientist of the twentieth century, and its most important artist, went through their periods of greatest creativity almost simultaneously and in remarkably similar circumstances: Einstein\'s special theory of relativity and Picasso\'s Les Demoiselles d\'Avignon. It turns out they were both working on the same problem: the nature of space and time and, more particularly, simultaneity. When they produced these astonishing works, Einstein and Picasso were not the distinguished elderly figures that later became so familiar: they were in their twenties, unknown, feisty, dirt-poor, and prone to getting into trouble - their personal and creative beauty caused havoc. Arthur Miller, Einstein, Picasso, Les Demoisselle D\'Avignon, Arts, science, biography, special relativity, space, time, simultaneity,

Howard Burton, the Executive Director and chief architect of Perimeter Institute, describes the process and pitfalls of constructing a home for budding Einsteins from scratch in Waterloo. Einstein factory, Howard Burton, Perimeter Institute, Einstein, sociological factors, Mike Lazardis, IAS, research, culture, making a difference, government support,

Could the laws of physics change? The laws of physics are usually meant to be set in stone; variability is not usually part of physics. Yet contradicting Einstein\'s tenet of the constancy of the speed of light raises nothing less than that possibility. I will discuss some of the more dramatic implications of a varying speed of light. Joao Magueijo, Theory of Relativity, speed of light, VSL, varying speed of light, Dirac, cosmology, geometry, dimensional, dimensionless, Bekenstein, Brans-Dicke, varying constant, Einstein, time dilation, length contraction, horizons, Big Bang, grand-unified theory, Planck length, Planck time, gravity, space, time, quantum gravity, varying alpha, Kelvin, quasar, laws of physics

It is well known that Einstein worked to develop a unified field theory that would encompass all of physics including (he hoped) all quantum phenomena. It is not so well known that there was \'another Einstein,\' who from 1916 on was skeptical about the continuum as a foundational element in physics, especially because of the existence of quantum phenomena. This talk will discuss the evidence for the existence of \'the other Einstein\' and his efforts to find what he called \'a purely algebraic physics.\' John Stachel, Einstein, quantum phenomena, other Einstein, unity nature, field theory, variable contra field theory, space, time, quantum gravity, biography, continuous, discrete

Howard Burton, John Stachel, Artur Ekert, Gary Horowitz, unifying, quantum field theory, superstring theory, unification, symmetry of nature, electromagnetism, gravity, Einstein, quantum, many worlds, quantum mechanics, Higgs particle,supersymmetry, quantum computers

In honour of the hundredth anniversary of Einstein\'s \'miraculous year\', I will describe the modern view of space and time. I will start with special relativity, then describe how space and time are modified in Einstein\'s general theory of relativity, and end with recent ideas coming out of string theory. In all cases, the view of space and time arising from modern physics is radically different from our everyday experience, yet many of their strange properties have already been confirmed by experiment. Einstein, space, time, general relativity, special relativity, string theory, dimension, simultaneity, gravity, black hole, singularity, big bang, space-time