It's easy to think that science is very remote from us, but in today's western society we're surrounded by its consequences and rely heavily on its results. Even living on a farm in the middle of fenland, I'm using a computer to type this; I can switch on light or heating, press a button to wash my clothes or cook my food; I can even get into a car and drive to find some hills. I could continue on for pages, but you understand what I mean. So much of what we take for granted is based on the results of modern physics.
Einstein, though, one of the greatest physicists of all time, is best known for his two theories of relativity (special and general) and for the equation which links the destruction of matter with the creation of energy:
That means that for every kilogram of matter destroyed, 81,000,000,000,000,000 joules of energy is created. That's a vast quantity of energy from a very small amount of matter. This equation is fundamental in atomic energy used for the production of electricity and powering nuclear submarines, as well as the manufacture of atomic bombs. So we're all familiar with the concept to some extent.
However, the ideas around the space-time continuum and curved space, central to the special and general theories of relativity, are probably only known to most people through sci-fi books and films, or other tangential contexts. They do have some bearing on us: for example, magnetism is related to the special theory of relativity, and the curvature of space that arises from the general theory explains why conkers fall on my head as I walk through the woods in the autumn. However, we had magnets and bruises before Einstein and they seemed to be pretty similar then to what they are now.
Of course, what these theories, which have been thoroughly tested, do allow is many highly sophisticated physics experiments and engineering projects to be carried out successfully. Although in my university work I have at times benefited directly from such applications of the special theory of relatively, my personal life remains pretty much unaffected - except that my wonder and amazment have increased by knowing about Einstein's theories.
The more we understand about the way the universe works, the more wonderful it seems - and the more it makes me worship the God who created it.
Yesterday the car went wrong. I started to fix it before dinner, but things happened elsewhere and I was drawn away. So when it got round to half past ten at night I suddenly remembered that I needed to finish the job and pack away. So I did that and in so doing looked up at the sky. It was completely clear and the stars were bright. It's the time of year when Orion dominates the the southern sky in the late England evening. Sirius was burning as brightly as ever, along with Rigel; the red giants Aldebaran and Betelgeuse were there too, along with Orion's belt, and his sword containing the highly colourful M42 nebula. The moon was half full in the west, bright enough to glint on the river, but not enough to hide the stars - even part of the milky way was visible to the naked eye.
I went down to the river bank and stared. Having come from the city just over a year ago, living in the country now the stars on a clear night seem really bright, almost at touching distance. With the big players out there last night it was a truly awesome sight. There were these seemingly reachable stars, actually millions and millions of miles away, moving about in the curved space of general relatively, with so much of what I was seeing charging around at vast speeds where the nature of the space-time of special relatively is extremely important as well. And I just wondered. It's all so complicated, and the equations that we have to use to calculate what's going on take a lot of learning. But it's all just happening there, in front of my eyes, without any help! I can see it because each star is constantly turning relatively small amounts of matter into 81 thousand trillion times as much energy. It was Einstein who enabled us to understand all this, and I'm very grateful to him.
Some people say that understanding modern physics means that they don't believe in God, or that they don't have to believe in God because the equations explain everything, so they choose not to. Yet, for me, that's just a crazy idea. The wonder of all these incredible objects whirling around, obeying the most complicated and bizarre of physcial rules, makes me have to worship the God who created it: made up the laws of physics, invented the protons, neutrons and electrons, etc, turned all that into stars and galaxies and planets,and plants and animals, and, yes, us. Who wants to miss out on being able to know him? The good things is that you don't have to.
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