In the process of understanding the objective world, human beings have finally lit up the lamp of science through thousands of years of summary and exploration; on this road from darkness to light, there are countless things that shine in the world. There are stars, some of whom shine far brighter than others. Einstein is obviously one of them, and he has a well-known saying: Imagination is more important than knowledge.
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Why did he say that? Doesn't this contradict Edison's "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"? (Introducing a trivia fact, Edison never said that 1% of inspiration is more important. I don’t know who made this joke).
First of all, we need to know that Edison is not actually a scientist. He can only be regarded as an inventor at best. Perhaps by observing his use of money and power to suppress Tesla, we should call him a capitalist. Scientists, especially theoretical physicists like Einstein, are completely different from inventors. Inventors use known theories to develop unknown technologies, while theoretical physicists develop brand-new theories. They are A group of people at the forefront of understanding the world.
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So why did Einstein think imagination is more important? Because he is different from the stereotyped and boring impressions in most imaginations. He is a person with extremely rich imagination and high energy. His achievements are completely inseparable from his great imagination.
We must know that physicists in the past believed that the theoretical world of physics constructed with Newton’s view of space and time had reached perfection. William Thomson, Baron Kelvin, once said in a speech delivered by the Royal Society: The physics edifice was complete, all that remained was some cosmetic work; now its beautiful, clear sky was obscured by two dark clouds. (Aether drift is contrary to the experimental results of constant light speed; blackbody radiation theory cannot explain "ultraviolet catastrophe")
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2020 has been 120 years since this speech. Today's We can proudly say that there are dark clouds over the physics building now... (face covering)
Why is this? Because the two small dark clouds that everyone thought were not small at all, when you pull hard along them, what you get is not uprooting the whole building, but tilting the entire building. Only then did people realize that this building was just like waking up from a dream. The foundation was wrong from the beginning. This is like the great detective in a mystery film who made a perfect set of reasoning. When everyone thought that the mystery was about to be revealed, the suspect suddenly gave a perfect alibi, so no matter how perfect the previous reasoning was, No matter how flawless it is, it must be demolished and started all over again.
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So whoever can tear it down and start over and build a new building that can accommodate all currently known physical phenomena can take the crown of physics. Orb, became one of the greatest physicists in history. Einstein did it, so he became a god (of course he could not completely solve all problems, otherwise there would be no dark clouds. The more he explores, the further he gets from the truth. Recently, but there are more and more new problems emerging).
Why didn’t others do it? I would like to paraphrase a classic line from Sherlock Holmes: "When you have eliminated all impossibilities, no matter how unbelievable the remainder is, it is the truth."
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Yes, to solve the second physics crisis, we need to start from some common sense that others regard as "rock solid".
Here I will give a brief introduction. We all know that distance ÷ time = speed. However, in experiments, people found that there is an upper limit to the speed, and the speed of light cannot be superimposed by any means. Einstein started from the left side of the equal sign and realized that both distance and time are "elastic". Not only that, they are inherently related. When an object has a lot of energy or mass, it will affect time and space at the same time. cause impact. This is the content of the theory of relativity, and the internally related and unified time and distance are the brand-new integrated view of space and time constructed by Einstein.
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In the physics community at that time, everyone was trying to find a breakthrough in the problem through mathematical methods. Although occasionally someone wanted to attack time, everyone went from rationality to Instincts are all resistant, because it is too unreasonable for time to expand and contract (to this day, many opponents of the theory of relativity are still unable to accept non-Newtonian views of space and time).
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And one of the most interesting anecdotes about Einstein is that he was not very good at mathematics. In 1943, a little girl named Barbara wrote to him asking for advice about her difficulties in learning mathematics. In her reply, Einstein said: "Don't worry about mathematics. I assure you, my own The problem is even worse." This is no joke. When Einstein solved the equations of general relativity, he often needed to ask his friends and even students for help with mathematical problems.
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In Einstein’s public speeches, the great mathematician David Hilbert understood the essence of Einstein’s thoughts. He wanted to catch up with Einstein. Stan had previously given the equations of general relativity, and the two started racing around this pearl of physics. Although the publication time was extremely close, Einstein eventually won the competition. After the defeat, Hilbert commented on Einstein:
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Yes, this This is what makes Einstein great. His knowledge may not be as good as that of many unknown scholars, but as a physicist, his extremely keen intuition and imagination are unparalleled, so he can understand the brilliance of the stars in the universe. Mysterious.
Different from the "nerds" in the prejudice of most people, the greatest physicists are also the greatest imagineers. Their wild and active thinking is beyond the reach of ordinary people (especially civilians) in this life. height.
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Therefore, Einstein would say: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." There is no doubt that this sentence is correct. But I would like to remind ordinary people not to be complacent by applying Einstein's words casually. Think about what Jack Ma said: "I never take money with me when I go out, and I have no interest in money at all."
I am Chief Zhiyu, a... scientific author. Welcome to follow the Gongzhu account of the same name, which will be updated synchronously every day!