Gedankens? Great gedankens?! Sounds like trained poodles that open
up for the Flying Walendas, doesn’t it? I always thought my
vocabulary was pretty good, at least equal to that of Goober’s
from the old Andy Griffith Show. Until researching this piece I
had never heard of a gedanken. Just curious, does anyone out there
know the term? You should. This spring and summer marks the 100th
anniversary of three great gedankens. Taken together they changed
our view of the world, our idea of reality and every year seems
more and more important and prescient to our very existence. By
comparison, if computers and the advances and changes they have
made in our lives are a grain of sand, then these three gedankens
are the entire beach.
 First,
the definition: A thought experiment using no materials, aids or
machines, just the mind. You think something through to an unknown
conclusion. At that point it is a theory until proven using advanced
methods. Most conclusions are surprisingly way off. Some are correct
but mundane, having little value. Some are correct and reveal astounding
results. Sound simple? It is because we all have our own mini-gedankens
daily such as – If I were to breed my poodle with 6 females
and claim half the litter as stud fee, I could . Or – if I
were to move out of San Miguel to any of the hundreds of other Mexican
paradises where the cost of living is half what it is here, how
much more enjoyment, side trips and joy could I have?
So a century ago an unknown Swiss patent office clerk with a curious
mind and time to think altered our lives immeasurably when he submitted
not one, not two, but three momentous discoveries which were all
published in the physics journal “Annalen Der Physik”.
Just a side note: Submissions to professional journals are almost
always done by professionals working within the field of study,
research academies involved with a staff and advanced technology
of the day or from students working together who get the Dean of
the institution to okay its submission. The fact that a citizen
working out of the field of study would get three papers published
is almost as unbelievable as the results these papers produced.
In March, 1905 in a paper titled “Light and Electricity”
Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect – UV light
striking a surface can create electricity. His thinking on this
led him to believe that light is composed of particles. We know
these as photons today, items that are both particle and wave. A
few years later his theory was proven. Though Einstein is best known
for his E=MC equation he did not win the Nobel Prize for it. He
won the Nobel Prize for Physics 16 years later for this first paper.
Today the photoelectric effect is used in solar cells and television
tubes.
Scarcely two months later the journal published Einstein’s
paper “The Nature of Atoms”. Before 1905 there was no
proof that matter was made up of atoms. Einstein watched a speck
of matter floating in fluid. It did not just sit still. Under a
microscope the speck moved in a jitterbug fashion. Einstein theorized
something in the fluid was bombarding the speck in a movement he
termed Brownian Motion. This motion is what gives matter heat. Heat
is just the movement (vibration) of atoms and molecules. The faster
the vibration or movement, the hotter the matter.
 In
June 1905 Einstein’s paper Special Theory of Relativity (Note:
not to be confused with his General Theory of Relativity, published
11 years later) was published. It is a three-part theory that examines
the relationships between relativity and time, space and mass. Some
of the “results” from this paper are: When viewed from
the Sun the Earth appears several inches thinner than our measurements
used on Earth. A phenomenon known as the “twin paradox”.
It showed that a form of time travel was possible, but only into
the future. As we approach near the speed of light time slows down.
After four years of traveling at that speed, the astronaut returning
home would have aged only four years but would be confronted by
a world decades into the future. Today items such as GPS systems
and atomic clocks must take into account relativitism for their
instruments to be correct. Other parts of the theory show the possibility
of time slowing down, space can change and mass can increase. Later
when thinking about his theory he added the addendum that included
his E=MC equation. This is the principle used in the manufacturing
of nuclear energy and weapons.
Some tragic side notes: 1) Six years before the start of WWII Einstein
warned of the Nazi threat and though a native of Ulm, Germany, he
stated publicly that he would take up arms against his homeland.
2) Einstein wrote FDR on two different occasions urging the exploration
of an atomic bomb. 3) Though sworn in as a U.S. citizen in 1939
he was not allowed to be involved in the top-secret nuclear experiments
being conducted. 4) Seeing the full effects of his equation in Nagasaki
and Hiroshima he became an outspoken critic of its use. The U.S.
government practically censored all his future findings and speeches.
The point is – gedanken experiments are something we all participate
in. We have infinite minds capable of contemplation, logic and solutions.
Most of us are entirely manifesting our thoughts on the here, now
and the ME. Imagine the accolades if one of us using a gedanken
experiment proved a solution to one of the following areas: 1) Ending
world hunger, 2) Making war unnecessary, 3) Ending racism, 4) Restoring
the world’s rain forests, 5) Fill in the blank.
You get the picture. Focus, thought, imagination and logic come
together to improve the world. And that is the genesis of a great
gedanken! That’s something we can all pray for and once done
we will all stand and salute.
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