In Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer about the “father of the atomic bomb,” the figure of Albert Einstein plays an important supporting role. Several times and at crucial points in the film, J. Robert Oppenheimer seeks the advice of and exchanges ideas with Albert Einstein. Only about the first encounter between the two the film tells nothing.
Physics
The terror of frogs and the birth of the novel Frankenstein
Many thousands of frogs fell victim to Luigi Galvani’s scientific curiosity, and all because the anatomist observed how the leg of a dissected frog began to twitch as if from nowhere. This occurrence took place in Bologna in 1780 and led to one of the most important discourses in scientific history – and to the birth of the novel Frankenstein.
The threads of the aurora and isochasms
Few natural phenomena are as spectacular to the observer as the aurora with its arcs of light. While it was known in antiquity as band of fire, beam or opening, metaphorical expressions prevailed in the Middle Ages such as fiery lances or burning red. It is now
Drawing electricity out of the clouds: Benjamin Franklin’s ‘Letters about Electricity’
‘Eripuit caelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis’ (He snatched the thunderbolt from heaven and the sceptre from tyrants) is an epigram about Benjamin Franklin, coined by the French economist and minister Anne-Robert Jacques Turgot (Möhring 2010, p. 253). It shows that Franklin achieved fame in the eighteenth century not only as co-author and signatory of the American Declaration of Independence but also as researcher into electricity and inventor of the lightning conductor.
“Hallelujah!” – Albert Einstein’s cry of joy on 2nd February 1912
Undoubtedly, the exclamation was an expression of Albert Einstein’s joy regarding his return to his alma mater. He had studied mathematics and physics at the Federal Polytechnic School (now ETH Zurich) from 1896 to 1900, where he obtained a teaching diploma. However, it is fair to speculate that his appointment as a full professor of theoretical physics also triggered a sense of