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In 1905, while working as a technical expert at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern, Albert Einstein, then 26, published four papers that changed physics: on the photoelectric effect, on Brownian motion, on special relativity and on the link between mass and energy, E = mc². Physicists call it his miracle year.

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Einstein had failed to find a university post after graduating, and in 1902 he joined the patent office in Bern, helped by the father of his friend Marcel Grossmann. His job was to assess patent applications, many of them for electrical and mechanical devices. In his spare time he debated physics and philosophy with friends in a small reading group they jokingly called the Olympia Academy, and he talked his ideas through with a colleague, Michele Besso, the only person thanked in the relativity paper. Alongside the four papers he completed a doctoral thesis on measuring the size of molecules. His paper on Brownian motion, the jittery movement of tiny particles suspended in a liquid, gave strong evidence that atoms really exist. He stayed at the patent office until 1909, when he became an associate professor at the University of Zurich.

Türkçe oku
Albert Einstein, fiziği değiştiren dört makalesini 1905'te, Bern'deki İsviçre Patent Ofisi'nde teknik uzman olarak çalışırken yayımladı. Makaleler fotoelektrik olay, Brown hareketi, özel görelilik ve kütle ile enerjinin eşdeğerliği, yani E = mc² üzerineydi. Fizikçiler, 26 yaşındaki Einstein'ın bu yılına “mucize yılı” der.

Einstein mezun olduktan sonra üniversitede iş bulamamıştı. 1902'de, arkadaşı Marcel Grossmann'ın babasının yardımıyla Bern'deki patent ofisine girdi. Görevi, çoğu elektrikli ve mekanik aygıtlarla ilgili patent başvurularını değerlendirmekti. Boş zamanlarında arkadaşlarıyla, şaka yollu “Olympia Akademisi” adını verdikleri küçük bir okuma grubunda fizik ve felsefe tartışıyordu. Fikirlerini en çok iş arkadaşı Michele Besso ile konuşurdu; görelilik makalesinde teşekkür ettiği tek kişi de Besso'dur. Dört makalenin yanı sıra moleküllerin büyüklüğünü ölçmek üzerine doktora tezini de tamamladı. Brown hareketi, sıvı içinde asılı duran küçük parçacıkların gelişigüzel kıpırdanmasıdır; Einstein'ın bu konudaki makalesi, atomların gerçekten var olduğuna dair güçlü bir kanıt sundu. Einstein, 1909'da Zürih Üniversitesi'nde doçent olana kadar patent ofisinde çalıştı.

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Background reading: Albert Einstein
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