Talk:Albert Einstein

Sasse photo

A couple of people have tried to add the Sasse tongue photo to this article. This photo cannot be used here because NFCC#10c requires a non-free use rationale for each article where a non-free image is used.

So could a rationale be created for this article? No, WP:CSD#F7, WP:NFCC#2, WP:NFCC#8, and WP:NFC#UUI#8 allow use of a UPI image only if it is the subject of sourced commentary.

So could the commentary be copied from Albert Einstein in popular culture? Not a good idea: The popular culture article actually was split off as a home for the tongue photo as a result of comments at a WP:GA discussion on the biography. Besides that, at 94,130 bytes the biography is already too long. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TEB728 (talk • contribs) 20:16, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I find it a distasteful photo, so just don't bother, please. - DVdm (talk) 20:30, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

from http://lalitkumar.in/blog/einsteins-tongue-famous-photograph/ "Einstein liked this photo a lot and requested UPI to give him nine copies for personal use. Only one of these nine photos is known to be signed by the great scientist. Einstein gave this signed copy to his reporter friend Howard K. Smith. On this photo Einstein wrote an inscription in German whose English translation is: “This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare.” ... That was the time, when in America, there was a fear that communists forces are trying to take America’s freedom away. In response the USA had begun anti-communist pursuits. In such troublesome times Einstein’s message and gesture in this photo carried a strong message of non-conformity. The signed photograph was auctioned on June 19, 2009 for $74,324. Out of nine, this is the only photograph that has ever been sold." AvocadosTheorem (talk) 17:23, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

His opinion of the photo has no bearing on it's inclusion here. OhNoitsJamie ^Talk 17:28, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Residence

I refer to the recent additions by Wester to Einstein's places of residence: Belgium, England, Austria. It is in my opinion rather pedantic (if not inaccurate) to so describe Einstein's two very short stays in England in 1933 while he was sorting out the post he would be taking up in the States later that year. I'm inclined to say much the same thing about Belgium, where he spent a few months when he returned to Europe in early 1933 but could not go back to his home in Germany. As for Austria, I'm hard put to find any time he spent in that country.

The trouble with putting in such fine details is that they present Belgium, England and Austria(?) as places of residence on a par with Germany, Switzerland and the United States, which is simply not the case. Esterson (talk) 11:29, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

I've just checked the date for the purported residence in Austria, and see that it is 1911-1912, which is the period of Einstein's stay in Prague. So Austria is definitely wrong, and should be replaced by Czechoslovakia. I see also that Austria is also given for Einstein's citizenship in the years 1911-1912, which is definitely wrong.Esterson (talk) 14:09, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Correction on Austria: Czechoslovakia was not formed until 1918, so I should have written Bohemia. While the latter was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I'm not sure that Austria correctly describes Einstein's place of residence in that period. Possibly it does, though it would be misleading for modern readers. I think Bohemia would be better.Esterson (talk) 14:27, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Pronunciation

Why is there an "American pronunciation" of Albert Einstein after his name? There is only one correct way to pronounce his name, the German way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.233.174.38 (talk) 14:53, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Einstein in Italy 1895

DAGwyn has deleted the statement that in the period from January to September 1895 Einstein did not have formal schooling, with the explanation that "Einstein did have formal schooling". As any major biography will confirm, Einstein left Munich at the end of 1894 to join his parents who had emigrated to Italy, and he did not attend school until after he had taken the Zurich Polytechnic entrance examinations in October. See, for instance, Fölsing 1997, pp. 32-36: During this period "Einstein seems to have done various jobs in the factory [of his father and uncle] and occasionally even to have helped in his Uncl Jakob's design office." He did not attend school in Italy. I shall revert the change. Esterson (talk) 06:54, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

But there is a problem with the wording, which makes it sound as if Einstein had had no formal schooling anywhere, not limited to schooling only within Italy. Actually the sentence in question is better without any mention of schooling, which is not really relevant anyway. — DAGwyn (talk) 10:30, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Quote: "which makes it sound as if Einstein had had no formal schooling anywhere."

Only if you read the sentence in isolation. Just above is written:

Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of five for three years. Later, at the age of eight, Einstein was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left Germany seven years later.

That he had no schooling for some eight months in Italy is, I suggest, relevant to the very next passage which reports his failure to pass the Zurich Polytechnic entrance examinations. Esterson (talk) 09:49, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Correction: Given that his school history before 1895 is spelled out in the article, clearly I've misunderstood what DAGwyn has written above. Anyway, I've just checked the phrase deleted. It comprises the italicized words here: "It was during his time in Italy in 1895 without formal schooling that he wrote...". The sentence clearly refers to his time in Italy, so I'm at a loss to understand how this could be misinterpreted. (The next paragraph goes on to describe his education after he failed the Polytechnic entrance exams and attended school in Switzerland in 1895-96.) Esterson (talk) 10:16, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

1905 - Annus Mirabilis papers

DAGwyn has modified a paragraph in the "1905 - Annus Mirabilis papers" section, in the process changing

Reconciled Maxwell's equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics by introducing major changes to mechanics close to the speed of light. Hypothesized the speed of light as being independent of the frame of reference and an "upper limit" on velocity and information transmission in non-esoteric situations,

to

Reconciled Maxwell's equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics by introducing major changes to mechanics close to the speed of light, resulting from analysis based on empirical evidence that the speed of light is independent of the motion of the observer.

The statement that Einstein's analysis in the 1905 paper was based on empirical evidence that the speed of light is independent of the observer is not consistent with the contents of that paper. Einstein makes no mention of the Michelson-Morley experiment. His analysis, for reasons he gives, has as a premise that the speed of light is independent of the motion of the observer, as the original wording above indicates. See the Collected Papers, volume 2 (English language), p. 143, where Einstein states that the independence of the velocity of light is one of two principles on which he is basing the analysis that follows. There is no mention of empirical evidence. Esterson (talk) 07:26, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Einstein, like other theoretical physicists of the time, was aware of the experimental evidence that the observed speed of light did not depend on the motion of the observer. That is why he was justified in adopting that premise for the paper. It wasn't a "hypothesis" in the usual sense of a yet-to-be-tested assumption. Also, the upper limit results from the theory and is not hypothesized at all. Also, the upper limit is on speed, not velocity (which is a vector, not a scalar), and the "non-esoteric stiuations" remark was not expressed by Einstein and is not clear. — DAGwyn (talk) 10:39, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

That is not the place to put presumptions about Einstein's awareness. The description should be cut to half the size, and stick to a simple and uncontroversial statement of fact.

The Significance column should just have very short 1-sentence descriptions, leaving the reader to find more info at Annus Mirabilis papers. But it refers to "unsolved puzzle", "empirical evidence", "gravity", and other matters that are not explained. As the above discussion shows, some of the terms are questionable. Roger (talk) 22:07, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Table looks good to me, specially the significance column. The other matters are explained elsewhere and properly sourced. - DVdm (talk) 08:30, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 14 April 2012

See Also

• Einstein

Shubhammangal (talk) 08:02, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, but Facebook is not an appropriate external link. See WP:FACEBOOK. —teb728 t c 10:08, 14 April 2012 (UTC)