Einstein Documentary Reflection- Ashley Walker

Einstein is treated as a great genius by most people today, but he was still a human and had human characteristics. Einstein's main purpose was not to prove his intelligence or ability to solve complex problems but to find the answers to his questions. He once said, "I want to know God's thoughts in a mathematical way." This shows that he was not doing what he did to outsmart others but to simply gain knowledge. In fact, in college, he was considered a goofball and often skipped class and because of this could not get a job after college. Finally, he moved and was able to find a job as a patent clerk. The job of analyzing patents came easily to Einstein and he had lots of extra time on his hands which he did not waste. In 1985, Einstein's "miracle year," he published four scientific papers in his spare time. His most famous equation, e=mc2, was thought of during this year. This equation stated that matter can become energy and energy can become matter. Another famous idea, The Special Theory of Relativity, was also published in 1905. The Special Theory of Relativity was a theory of Einstein's that stated that time and space are very closely related, even the same thing (space-time). Einstein thought of this theory when he was riding a bus. He looked back at a clock tower behind the bus and imagined the bus going at the speed of light. In his imagination, he looked back and saw that it appeared that the clock was frozen. No one accepted this theory at first, but then Max Planck recognized Einstein's importance. At this time, Einstein was still not an official scientist. Einstein got married and settled down, but continued his work. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity started to become accepted by some, but when he looked at the equation again, Einstein realized that his equation only worked when applied to objects moving in a constant direction at a constant speed and did not allow for change in direction or acceleration. He soon began working to expand his Special Theory of Relativity into a General Theory of Relativity. In the meantime, Einstein went to work to prove that there was no such thing as gravitational pull. He knew that objects moved when they were pushed, not when they were pulled, so there could not be such a thing as gravitational pull. Einstein went on to explain that, rather than gravity pulling you down, malleable layers of space are pushing us down. Finally, in 1911, Einstein was offered a position as a scientist. From there, Einstein was offered- and accepted- a job as a professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Then, Einstein's plans to prove his Theory of Relativity were interrupted by World War One and poor weather. Einstein was terribly disappointed but did not give up and helped some with the war effort. Though all these theories were invented by Einstein around one hundred years ago, he and his discoveries still continue to amaze us. The fact that Einstein was able to figure out such things while simply thinking is amazing. It is difficult for people today to go through and work out Einstein's theories, let alone figure them out without working with math for days, or even weeks.