General description:
In this course we will take a look at the fascinating personality of Albert Einstein. We will look at both his private life and his scientific achievements. We will follow him on his journey from Bern, where he worked out his scientific theories while working as an office clerk, to the USA, where he wrote his famous letter to President Roosevelt that triggered off the Manhattan Project (the program for the development of the nuclear bomb). We will look at the research that A. Einstein did in the course of his life, its foundations and its consequences.
learning objectives:
After this course students can…
• understand how Albert Einstein’s life reflects the turmoils of the first half of the 20th century
• understand some fundamental aspects of the special theory of relativity like time dilation and length contraction
• appreciate the value of formally correct derivation in theoretical physics
• understand the derivation of E=mc²
forms of assessment:
presentation, participation
