April 2007 Issue
COSI celebrates Einstein and all his theories.
Let's face it. Most of us are not on the same plane with Albert Einstein: We didn't quit school at age 15. We didn't marry our cousin. And we didn't win the Nobel Prize.
Thankfully, it doesn't take a genius to comprehend COSI Columbus' tribute to one of America's most famous physicists.
On exhibit through May 20, "Einstein" is billed as a look at the "man behind the mind â€¦ the most comprehensive exhibition ever presented on [his life and theories]." Text, video and hands-on demonstrations breathe life into the scientist's complex visions of the universe, ranging from time as the fourth dimension to space-time as a curved geometry. Einstein's crusades for social justice - which included taking stands against segregation, anti-Semitism, McCarthyism and nuclear armament - are also explored.
"The thing about Einstein that makes him so popular is that he never took himself seriously, he always laughed at himself," explains Steve Whitt, COSI's director of teaching and learning. "Einstein said that because of his disrespect for authority, fate decided to make him into an authority."
Although as a youth, Einstein became easily bored with subjects he was not interested in, his formative years laid the foundation for future investigations.
While recuperating from illness at age 5, Einstein was given a compass to play with.
"He became fascinated by the invisible world around him that caused the compass needle to move," says Whitt, describing the magnetic
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force that would serve as a catalyst for many of the physicist's experiments.
A decade later, after bidding adieu to school, Einstein was biking through Italy.
"Imagine a beautiful sunny day with light filtering through the trees and dappling the ground," Whitt says. "Einstein starts thinking what it would be like if he could ride his bicycle fast enough to keep up with the light. Even as a teen-ager, he knew enough about the theories of light to understand that it's impossible for light to stand still, that it always travels at a constant speed."
That set him on the path to his Special Theory of Relativity: e=mc2, in which e stands for energy, m for mass and c2 for the speed of light squared.
In 1907, the 28-year-old was working as a patent clerk, when yet another novel concept took hold.
"Einstein's sitting in the office one day daydreaming - he did that a lot," Whitt says with a laugh. "He suddenly thought, 'If I were painting a house and I were to fall off the roof, what would happen to me on the way down?' He realized that while he was falling he would be weightless, since a balanced force is created only when the gravity is pulling down and the ground is pushing up. Einstein said that was one of his most joyous moments. It led to his famous General Theory of Relativity."
Just as Einstein was excited about science, so, too, does Whitt want visitors to walk away with an appreciation for it.
"Science is amazing," he says. "Like fine art, it's something people engage in because they have to."