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Einstein: His Life and Universe

Book by Walter Isaacson · 3 quotes · Physics, Should, Wonder

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Einstein: His Life and Universe Quotes

“But this result [that light would travel faster towards a moving observer] comes into conflict with the principle of relativity [the laws of physics are the same for all observers]", Einstein added. "For, like every other general law of nature, the law of the transmission of light must, according to the principle of relativity, be the same when the railway carriage is the reference body as it is when the enbamkment is the refernece body". [...] There should be no experiment you can do, including measuring the speed of light, to distinguish which inertial frame of refence is "at rest" and which is moving at a constant velocity.”

“A popular feel for scientific endeavors should, if possible, be restored given the needs of the twenty-first century. This does not mean that every literature major should take a watered-down physics course or that a corporate lawyer should stay abreast of quantum mechanics. Rather, it means that an appreciation for the methods of science is a useful asset for a responsible citizenry. What science teaches us, very significantly, is the correlation between factual evidence and general theories, something well illustrated in Einstein's life.”