Tracking Einstein’s ghost

Every theoretician’s fantasy is to approximate the life of Albert Einstein. Some fancy becoming a patent clerk somewhere; he was that when he published his annus mirabilis papers in 1905. Others simply marvel at his originality. I am one of the latter. But 2005 is the Einstein Centennial and I indulged myself.

The first Einstein celebration I attended was at the New England Section Meeting of the American Physical Society. I read a paper on the role of molecules in turbulence. I thought people would find it curious that after Einstein’s paper on Brownian Motion which settled the debate between Ernst Mach and Ludwig Boltzmann in favor of the existence of molecules, my paper would offer some historic significance, as I now advocate that turbulence could not be explained without the use of molecules. It is a very unpopular idea – nearly one hundred percent of engineers and turbulence researchers do not think they need quantum mechanics to explain turbulence. I apply Einstein’s ideas two ways: first with the molecules of Brownian Motion, and second with photons, of the Photoelectric Effect. My attendance of the MIT meeting simply yielded dinner that is best forgotten.

The second Einstein celebration was sponsored by the European Physical Society in Bern, held from July 11 to 15. Bern went all out for Einstein, on placards, on souvenirs (I bought Einstein T-shirts so my grandchildren can sleep in them) and an Einstein exhibit at the Bern Historical Museum. At the museum, the Swiss had no hesitation displaying pictures of Einstein’s women. Einstein’s day bed was in display; yes, I know that it is really good to lie down and fall asleep if ideas do not come so quickly. On the second day of the meeting, my poster was scheduled. Why my talk became a poster escaped me, then I read that to allow young physicists to present new ideas; poster sessions were scheduled. How a 65-year-old Filipino physicist could become a youngster escaped me, until I realized that I am not a member of the European Physical Society, and that I must be a young physicist who could not afford the membership fee. I have this thing about posters; they remind me of women on display in some streets of Amsterdam between the railway and the university – my mentor Max Dresden told me that sometimes students did not make it to class from the railway station. Anyway, I simply displayed copies of our latest papers in lieu of my prepared PowerPoint presentation.

So did my molecules have an impact? Maybe, since I was invited to the University of Oldenburg in Germany to give a talk and explore a visiting position. The turbulence group wants to repeat all our experiments to date.

Apart from the new scientific contacts, Gloria (my spouse) and I enjoyed a most interesting dinner with an Australian far-infrared astronomer, two Heidelberg nuclear physicists (obligatory Rizal conversation), and surprise, a connection with Mileva Einstein, the Serbian wife of Einstein who got all of Einstein’s Nobel prize, by a divorce agreement that the two signed. Several years ago, I met a Serbian woman by the name of Milena, whose name triggered the following conversation:

"Hi, I am Milena from Serbia."

In jest, I asked, "Did you know Mileva?

"Mileva who?|"

"Mileva Einstein."

"Of course, we grew up in the same street, at different times. We Serbians believe that Mileva is not fully credited with her assistance to Albert Einstein."

"We will have some time to discuss that. But do you know what happened to Lieserl, the love child?"

"No, we don’t know about that."

That conversation inspired a plan to visit Novi Sad to speak with Milena’s father, a student of Mileva’s life, and debate the role of Mileva in Einstein’s papers. As it turned out, my mentor was a member of an American Physical Society committee to investigate the role of Mileva; he looked at all the academic records of Mileva at the Zurich Polytechnique, to convince himself that Mileva was not involved in any of Einstein’s works.

This time, at the dinner table were three Serbian professors of physics who were surprised about my readings on Mileva and Albert, who then invited me to lecture at the University of Belgrade and finally visit Novi Sad, which was mercilessly spared from American bombing. The Serbians explained to me that when a child is put for adoption, as Lieserl might have been, all records of pedigree are sometimes erased, which could explain why there is no more record of this would-be centenarian woman, who would certainly share part of the Einstein estate. We have arranged to visit Novi Sad. Something tells me that my world line will intersect with Einstein’s ghost once again.

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Amador Muriel, a corresponding member of the National Academy of Science and Technology, has officially retired as president of Data Transport Systems, and is now freer to visit academic institutions upon his departure from a visiting appointment at CERN. He may still be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]. <