Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYeven a doctoral dissertation on a climatological subject that I read withreal passion. The contents of that dissertation remain embedded in mymemory to this day.In the upper level of my College prep school I spent my afternoonspare time in elective school-sponsored study groups on conventionaland alternative energy sources and energy production. Apparently theinformation provided during normal class time instruction was notenough to satisfy my appetite.Since an occupational advisor discouraged me from studying meteorologyat the university, calling it a “gateway to unemployment,” andbecause my school performance in chemistry was outstanding, I decidedto choose this as my major subject at university. From the very beginningof my university studies, I noticed that in comparison with themajority of beginning students I was better prepared and more highlymotivated. Symptomatic for this was an event that occurred during thephysics lab course after the second semester. In one of the experimentswe had to measure the speed of an electron beam on the basis of theknown strength of a magnetic field. This field forced the electrons into acircular path whose radius was easy to measure with reference to a gasthat was excited to fluoresce by the electrons.As I was evaluating the results, it became evident that the electronshad achieved a velocity that was a significant percentage of the speed oflight. This led me to check on my own initiative whether it would benecessary to carry out relativistic corrections. Within the limits of thestatistic accuracy of our method, however, it turned out that this was notnecessary. As we were discussing our evaluations during the seminar,the physics professor asked if anyone had verified whether there was arelativistic effect in this experiment. I was the only one who respondedand presented my results. When the professor asked what equation I hadused to carry out the calculations, I swiftly recited it from memory,whereupon the whole roomful of students stared at me as though I werea creature from another world. Beginning students of chemistry are notsupposed to be able to carry out calculations in relativistic physics,much less to carry the equation around in their head. Thanks to my interestin astronomy, however, I had read a great deal about relativityalready in my senior year at high school and had carried out calculationssuch as the amount of time a space ship would need in order toreach the star Proxima Centauri at constant acceleration and decelera-54