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    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 283 - Fri 28th Jan 2005
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    Hi There,

    Another weekend rolls around, and I hope you are well.

    Last week I was talking about anniversaries, and particularly the
    60th year since the liberation of Auschwitz on the 27th.

    Another anniversary this year also ties in with the war, and this
    one shows what the human mind can achieve.

    It was 100 years ago that Albert Einstein published his most
    famous equation, probably the most well known in science,
    E=MC2

    'Yes, but what does it mean?' I hear you keenly ask.

    The equation states that energy (E) equals mass (M) times the
    speed of light (C) squared (2).

    The vastness of those numbers means that you can create huge
    amounts of energy from tiny amounts of mass.

    Unsurprisingly, the science world leapt on the possibility of
    creating atomic power on earth, which would come from splitting
    the atom.

    The same problem reared its' head time and again, namely that
    it took more energy to split the atom than the resulting energy
    produced, and even in 1935, Einsein was saying it was highly
    unlikely it would ever be done efficiently.

    An old colleague of Einstein's, Leo Szilard, came up with a new
    theory of how to split the atom, and what's more, he realised
    that if his theory could be proven, it would produce a self
    sustaining chain reaction.
    If this was harnessed into a bomb, it would be unlike any bomb
    that had gone before.

    In 1938, it was announced that scientists in Germany had
    successfully achieved the first part of the theory, while Szilard
    himself proved that the chan reaction would be a reality.

    He took his worries to Einstein, and persuaded him to write to
    President Roosevelt, warning that if the Germans were working to
    develop the bomb, America had to do the same.

    Roosevelt was persuaded, and so began a race to develop the
    bomb first.

    Of course in 1945 the Germans surrendered, so the threat was
    nullified.

    Roosevelt had spent so much money to develop the bomb
    though, and suspected it could be used to put a quick end to the
    war with Japan.
    The end result was Hiroshima in August 1945.

    Einstein alwyas said that writing that letter in 1939 was his
    biggest mistake, because if he hadn't, then the bomb would not
    have beeen ready to drop on Japan.

    I'm not so sure it was a mistake.
    If Einstein hadn't come up with E=MC2, then would someone
    else have done?
    Probably.
    Once Einstein realised the Germans were developing the bomb,
    did America have to do the same?
    Yes, I think so.
    Was it Einstein who decided to bomb Hiroshima?
    No, in fact he was a fierce lobbyist against it.

    The other side of Einstein's equation is that if you can create
    energy from mass, then you can also create mass from energy.
    That was a revelation that Einsen didn't live to see, the Big Bang
    theory.

    Lots of goal achievement examples there, plus knowledge being
    used for good and evil.

    E=MC2 was not the first ground breaking theory published by
    Einstein in 1905, and next week I'll be talking about his theories
    of relativity.

    OK, have a good weekend, and here's the thought - what chain
    reaction could you set in motion in your life?

    'Til Monday,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
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