Re: Langevin's paradox again

Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com> wrote:

On 2024-07-14 08:22:56 +0000, Thomas Heger said:
 

 
[ … ]

 

 

Not only his age was a problem.
 
Einstein had a number of other problem, he had to overcome, to become a
genius:
 
he worked in the 'Patentamt' (patent office) of Bern for six days a
week with ten hours each.
 
This is a lot of time, but those were the conditions of work in the
early 20th century.
 
He had also a young family with a beautiful wife and a small kid, who
would certainly occupy a few of the few hours left.
 
In these few remaining hours he wrote in 1905 alone four
ground-breaking papers, of which one won him a Nobel prize.
 
Besides of that he also nwrote twenty reviews for 'Annalen der Physik'
in the same year.
(I wonder how he had managed to get at least some sleep).
 
But there a few more problems to overcome:
 
computers were not invented then, nor xerox copiers.
 
Therefore, he had to have all books in physical form in his own posession.
 
This was expensive and also a lot to read.

 
Have you ever written and published a scientific paper? OK, if you're
the Thomas Heger that wrote
 
Thomas Heger and Madhukar C. Pandit "Optical wear assessment system for
grinding tools," Journal of Electronic Imaging 13(3), (2004)
 
and
 
T. Heger and M. Pandit, "Automatisierte Verschleißbeurteilung von
Schleifscheiben mit Mitteln der digitalen Bildverarbeitung," in
Automat. Praxis 4, 50–56 (2002).
 
then maybe you have, though that's not exactly physics, or even science
at all (technology, rather).
 
Anyway, in 50 years of research I have frequently cited work in books
and jounals of which  I don't own personal copies. Research would be
impossible otherwise. The thing is, though, that unlike you I know
about libraries and how to use them. That was surely true of Einstein
as well. If you belong to an appropriate institution that's not
expensive, it's free.
 
I have never worked in a patent office, but I feel sure that the work
would include studying what had already been described. For that,
access to a library would be essential.

Of course, patent offices have huge libraries.
Patent examiners must examine feasability and prior art.
Merely understanding the patent may already require library work.

It was also a lot to write, but without any kind of aid. Usual tools
were pens (or ocasionally feathers and ink).
 
Since only nights were left over for free thinking, he had to write his
masterpieces at the kitchen table, lit by candle light

 
Are you serious? Electric lighting was widespread by the beginning of
the 20th century, and had probably reached Switzerland by then.

We have had this discussion about this particular fantasy of TH
several times already.
As a matter of fact Bern, and all other major European towns,
had gas light, both in the street and in the houses.
The Einstein house in Bern, nowadays a museum with period furniture,
still has gas lamps in place. [1] (but converted for elecricity)

Jan

[1] In the museum they are hung too high, against the public touching.
Einstein would have had a central gas lamp not too high above the table,
for lighting it and turning it off.
BTW, th standard thread for electrical fittings is still the 19th
century British standard gas pipe.