| EINSTEIN CONNECTS WITH GEARS AND DOTS |
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in Germany on March 14, 1879. His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein (née Koch). In 1880, Albert’s family moved to Munich, where his father and his uncle founded a company, Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie that manufactured electrical equipment based on Direct current.
Introduction to Science
At five-years of age, his father showed him how to use a pocket compass. Einstein realized that something must have been in the space, previously thought to be empty--that was moving the needle and later stated that this experience made "a deep and lasting impression". Einstein was introduced to science, mathematics, and philosophy texts, including Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and Euclid’s Elements (Einstein called it the”holy little geometry book”) by Max Talmud, a medical student who also was a friend of the family. It was from the Euclid’s Elements that Einstein began to understand deductive reasoning, Euclidean geometry, and began to investigate infinitesimal calculus.
Music and Models Einstein built models and mechanical devices for fun, and began to show a talent for mathematics. Einstein’s disliked music, but because of his mother’s insistence, he took violin lessons starting at age six, and although he disliked them and eventually quit, he later took great pleasure in Mozart's violin sonatas.
Becoming A Scientist
In 1894, when Einstein was fifteen, his father's business failed, as DC had lost the War of Currents to alternating current (AC). In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and then, after a few months, to Pavia. During this time, Einstein wrote his first scientific work, "The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields". Einstein had been left behind in Munich to finish high school, but in the spring of 1895, he withdrew to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a doctor's note.
Rather than completing high school, Einstein decided to apply directly to the Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule (later Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH)) in Zürich, Switzerland. Lacking a school certificate, he was required to take an entrance examination, which he did not pass, although he got exceptional marks in mathematics and physics. Einstein wrote that it was in that same year, at age 16, that he first performed his famous thought experiment visualizing traveling alongside a beam of light (Einstein 1979).
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| EINSTEIN CONNECTS WITH GEARS, DOTS, AND STUDENTS |
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The Power of Tiny Dots
Einstein's most famous equation, E = mc2, indicates the calculation is straightforward: the energy released would be equivalent to the mass times the speed of light squared. Yet the answer is far from intuitive because, for one thing, the speed of light is immense—670 million mph—making the speed of light squared almost inconceivable.
Our 2011 Summer GIS and the War of 1812 Connects Dots Across Historical Maps
BHS 2011 GIS and Historical Maps Summer Institute connects tiny dots across community lines, and historical buildings and re-creating interactive historical maps. Students will learn about the global energy of archaeology digs, historical maps, and cultural resources using GIS and Google, using their geography, engineering, archaeological, reading and their scientific method skills to analyze historical maps, drawings, property data, surveys, studies, and to search for cultural resources and unknown treasurers beneath the surface in supporting the District of Columbia’s and the Washington, D.C. War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission’s efforts to commemorate the War of 1812 and the role that our citizens played in that important war.
Students will also create maps connecting dots across community lines along the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary War National Historic Trail in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Students applications deadline is April 1, 2011. All applicants will be notified no later than May 2, 2011. Housing is not provided to out of town students.
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