Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...
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Chapter 1<br />
Deal with the Devil<br />
Newton, forgive me. (Einstein)<br />
The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we<br />
suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat. (Einstein)<br />
1.1 Einstein: The Icon <strong>of</strong> <strong>Modern</strong> <strong>Physics</strong><br />
The relation between modern physics <strong>and</strong> Albert Einstein can summarized<br />
as:<br />
• Einstein initiated the development <strong>of</strong> modern physics as an (incompatible)<br />
combination <strong>of</strong> quantum mechanics <strong>and</strong> relativity theory, as<br />
patent clerk at the age <strong>of</strong> 25.<br />
• The physics community exploited Einstein as the icon <strong>of</strong> modern physics,<br />
while judging him at the age <strong>of</strong> 45 to be senile <strong>and</strong> unable to underst<strong>and</strong><br />
what Aladdin lamp he had touched.<br />
This is a classical Greek tragedy with success inseparable from failure, with<br />
failure ultimately taking the game. It is a true story about a Doctor <strong>Faustus</strong>,<br />
who sells his young soul to Lucifer the Devil to get access to the magics <strong>of</strong><br />
science <strong>and</strong> pays the price <strong>of</strong> facing Hell already in this world, when the<br />
science he values the most in life is taken away from him.<br />
This book analyzes the transformation <strong>of</strong> classical physics into modernity<br />
in the early 20th century formed by Einstein together with the following<br />
leading scientists, each one with his own Faustian story:<br />
7
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