Reflection
on the Miracle Year
Kevin T. Kilty
LCCC Math/Physics/Engineering Departments
1 Introduction
As many of you know, 1905 was the centennial
of Einstein's so-called miracle year. The U.N. designated
1905 as the World Physics Year (WPY), a year to promote
science and science literacy. Scads of American Universities
have followed along. There were countless symposia,
magazine articles, and even several TV specials, including
one on NOVA.
Many of you know Einstein's most famous
formula, E = mc2, but some of you may be
unsure of what it means; even more of you, I dare say
all of you, recognize Einstein's face on sight. He is
the prototype mathematician/scientist. I would say,
in fact, that he has become the caricature of one. On
the other hand, I'd guess that very few in this audience
know what Einstein's miracle year is about, know what
are the subjects of his papers of 1905, what are the
impacts on physics of the time, and what are the legacy
of those papers. My purpose here is to clarify this.
2 Einstein in myth
The typical story of the miracle year
is that physics was a science in deep trouble in 1905.
Allegedly, the most complete branches of physics, electromagnetism,
mechanics, optics, and thermodynamics were at odds with
one another and unable to deal with a bevy of new experimental
results. Then a young physicist working the lowly and
undeserved job of clerk in the Swiss Patent Office found
a way forward. In fact, he found two ways forward, one
for the large scale universe and one for the small scale.
Well, physics was repaired and revolutionized at this
point, and Einstein was henceforth considered the world's
smartest person and responsible for just about anything
good in the modern world (refrigerators to microwaves).
As proof of this a major university produced a web site
that implicitly credited Einstein with making possible
almost everything. As another example, consider the
endless uses of Einstein's image to promote science
(selling Science magazine and AAAS memberships,
for example).
3 Einstein in fact
Einstein was in 1905 an unknown, even
with a few publications a so-far unaccomplished, but
self-absorbed young man who had finished a mediocre
career as a student at a Swiss institute of technology
in he nether-regions of physics. Being self-absorbed
should have aided his career, of course, and it eventually
did, but being a mediocre student in a mediocre institute
holds the most self-interested person back for a time.
He also had ethical lapses and dilemmas to contend with.
He had already abandoned his illegitimate daughter,
manipulated a vulnerable woman four years his senior,
who he would marry and then eventually divorce and go
on to marry his cousin, but only after being rejected
by his cousin's daughter first, and carry on other affairs
as well. He was a political naif, with the world-wide
scientific stature to leave a troubled Germany in 1933,
without providing aid for trapped colleagues and kin.
He miscredited the work of his adversaries{perhaps unintentionally
in the case of Heaviside, for example. It is a common
irony that he would eventually become a world-renowned
teacher, ethicist, and spokesperson for human rights.
But that is another story.
As you may see, I am not a fan of
Albert Einstein as a person. However, in preparing for
this I read the five papers of 1905, and I came away
with one firm conclusion. Einstein deserves every bit
of his reputation as a scientific genius. His written
work is concise, insightful, and clear of purpose. I
have enormous, renewed respect for him. Yet, the 1905
myth remains. What parts of it are not true?
Please click here
to read Kevin Kilty's entire paper about Albert
Einstein. The Citizen Scientist thanks Kevin
for providing this article about a scientist who was
arguably more amateur than professional when he did
his most significant work. Editor. 
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