Discovery

As is frequently the case our little band of pilgrims stopped at a library in Canada. When traveling The Commander always has carefully chosen books to read, however His Lordship who suffers from attention deficit disorder cannot concentrate long enough to read more than the back of a cereal box. In light of this situation a stop at the library for a pile of old magazines works well. The pile happened to be old Discovery Magazines. Of the ten I looked through my favorite was one devoted to Albert Einstein. Einstein truly was a remarkable person. Every time I read about Einstein I find something new. One of his unique abilities was to think like a child. He was able to see things more clearly that way. For example: A famous question he asked himself was "If you were driving along at the speed of light, and looked out your window at the light you were driving beside what would it look like?". The whole thing helped him resolve the question of whether light was a particle, or just a wave.

It had never occurred to me until I read the article that Einstein made so many things possible. Einstein did not invent the laser, or the GPS, but his theories were crucial in enabling these inventions to take place. The GPS would not work properly without the theory of relativity. Since a GPS involves an atomic clock in space, and one on earth, the time of the two clocks is not the same because of relativity. If you do not correct for the theory of relativity, the GPS would not work.

Einstein's love life was also interesting. Albert could not manage to stay married. He finally married his cousin as a matter of convenience. She told him he could have a girl friend, but only one at a time. This seems to be a whole new theory of relativity, that may point the way to a new kind of atomic bomb.