European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Deflating the Einstein myth by William Booth Washington Post Albert Einstein the rumpled Little German with the Halo of White hair who came to symbolize Genius is widely thought of As the greatest mind in 20th Century science. But according to a renegade group of historians who Are challenging the traditional View of the Young Einstein the Genius May have gotten his Best ideas including his strange and wonderful theories about space and time from none other than his first wife. The Einstein establishment remains unmoved by this thesis and most Einstein biographers have dismissed his first wife Mileva Marie Einstein As a bit player in the drama of Albert s life. A popular Einstein biography portrayed her As a untidy peasant loathed by Einstein s Bourgeois family Quot a gloomy laconic and distrustful character Quot who had enough learning to listen to her Brilliant husband but not enough brains to contribute to his revolutionary theories. In fact Mileva was a mathematician and physicist in her own right who studied with Einstein As a fellow student at the prestigious Swiss Federal pol technical Institute in Zurich. Indeed she passed the Entrance exam to Swiss pol tech which Albert himself flunked. According to one Reading of letters recently published after a 30-year delay and Legal tangling Albert Einstein regarded his spouse As an equal and a Collaborator. During a spirited seminar last month several science historians presented excerpts of correspondence from Albert to Mileva in which Albert repeatedly refers to Quot our theory Quot and Quot our one letter from Albert written in 1901, states Quot How Happy and proud i will be when the two of us together will have brought our work on the relative motion to a victorious conclusion Quot historians believe the phrase Quot relative motion Quot refers to the beginning of what would become Einstein s special theory on relativity a Paramount notion in physics that describes How space and time Are not absolute but vary with circumstances such that time slows Down for a moving body. Einstein published the theory on relativity under his alone in 1905. In that same year he presented theories on How to prove the existence of atoms and How Energy is transferred in Little bundles called Quanta which along with the ideas of Max Planck became the foundation of modern quantum mechanics. If this were not enough Albert that year also introduced his famous and elegant equation e equals my squared which essentially Means that Energy and matter Are interchangeable forms of the same thing. The origin of Einstein s remarkable ideas has Long been shrouded in mystery. The Young Einstein appears to be an unlikely candidate for scientific greatness. As a Young child he showed signs of mental retardation and did not speak until he was 3. His academic career was Check ered. He flunked exams one year and did Brilliant work the next. Upon graduation from College he took a Crummy Job examining patents. Some physicists have speculated that it was Einstein s ability to do Quot thought experiments Quot in which he imagined himself following beams of Light through space that gave him critical insight into hidden Laws of nature. But in later life Einstein himself often gave contradictory answers about How he came up with his ideas and what experiments influenced him. Einstein died in 1955. Now his correspondence has come Back to complicate the image of Einstein As Saint and Sage. The leading revisionist of the Einstein legacy is Evan Harris Walker a research physicist at the . Army ballistic research Laboratory at the Aberdeen proving ground in Maryland. Walker said he became suspicious about the True role of Einstein s first wife after Reading Ronald Clark s 1971 Einstein biography which downplayed Mileva s scientific prowess while noting that Albert did agree to give Mileva the proceeds of any Nobel prize he might eventually win. Walker thought he smelled a rat. When the first volume of Young einsteins a correspondence was translated and finally published in 1987 by the Princeton University press Walker read through the letters Between husband and wife and concluded that at the very least Mileva was a binary Star a puckish pose by Albert Einstein in 1952. As it turns out the scientific Genius May have gotten his Best ideas from his first wife. Collaborator with Albert if not the real brains in the family. Last month along with other Einstein scholars Walker presented a paper detailing his claims at the annual meeting of the american association for the advancement of science in new Orleans. It was a Lively session. Quot i wished i had been carrying a .357 magnum Quot said Walker. Since then the fax machines have been spitting out new versions of papers addenda and counterclaims by All sides. Walker s claims for Mileva have not found wide acceptance among mainstream Einstein scholars. Quot this is All pure fantasy Quot said John Stachel director of the Center for Einstein studies at Boston University and the editor of the recently published volume that contains Einstein s Early correspondence. Stachel who was also in new Orleans Points out that there Are a Large number of letters from Einstein in which Albert refers to Quot my work and Quot my Quot if we Are going to attach great significance to one use of a a our in this context Quot said Stachel Quot i insist that we attach similar significance to his Many uses of singular first person pronouns in the same As for Albert s use of the words Quot our Quot and a we Quot Stachel believes these references were written by a Man crazy in love who hoped to bolster his wife s sagging spirits during Long absences. Quot for a Man deeply in love the ego boundaries dissolve Quot Stachel said. To which Walker responds Quot i done to buy Walker then accuses Stachel and others of having fallen for fantasies of their own in interpreting the relationship Between Albert and Mileva. It is agreed by All sides that Albert and Mileva entered the Swiss Federal pol technical Institute together in 1896. She passed the Entrance exam. He did not but eventually was allowed to enter the Institute which to this Day is considered the Mit the Massachusetts Institute of technology of Europe. At Swiss pol technical the pair were rather closely matched As students with her grades Only slightly lower than his. The two who were by this time lovers were the Only physics students to take the final exam in 1900. Einstein passed his final examination though just barely while Mileva never did. Mileva took the exam twice and failed both times though her advocates Point out that she was pregnant with Albert s baby the second time she took the test. Her thesis has been lost and Mileva never published a scientific article. Albert and Mileva had an illegitimate child in 1902, a baby girl who is lost to history. They married the next year and went on to have two son both now deceased. Their relationship showed strains by 1909, when Albert began to woo a Cousin of his. In 1914, Mileva and Albert separated and by 1919 their divorce was final. Albert later paid Mileva Alimony and child support. He also gave her the proceeds of his 1921 Nobel prize. She died in 1943. Finding Gravil Waves by William Broad new York times scientists plan to embark on their most ambitious Effort yet to find and exploit one of the most elusive of the predicted Phenomena of nature gravitational Waves. As Long ago As 1915, Albert Einstein predicted in his general theory of relativity that the violent birth and death of stars in the universe would give off gravitational Waves bathing the Earth in a unique kind of radiation. But so far after decades of searching with increasingly sensitive detectors scientists have not found one such wave. Even so agreement that they exist has grown steadily in recent years and now the Bush administration has called for construction of a Large Observatory with outposts on both coasts to detect them for the first time. The facility known As the laser interferometer gravitational wave Observatory is in the proposed budget for the National science foundation for fiscal 1991. If approved it would be completed by 1995 at a Cost of $192 million. The discovery of gravitational Waves would rank As one of the most important observational feats in modern physics and astronomy. It would provide a new confirmation of Einstein s general theory of Rel a Cibij exp ail tool j Migaj View Forit the r belie Al Chart an it of Viola Rippl All do was trans Obj asm Wall Ini Mosij Earl dist Nuci Wou these Coli Quot i univ Direl How Kepler said he backed up theory to support his theory that the planets moved in ellipses Kepler cited calculations used to fix the distance and position of Mars. The calculations were based on triangulation which relies on the fact that if two angles of a Triangle and the length of one of its sides Are known the lengths of the other sides can be derived. Mara Kepler determined the Angle at the Earth the Angle at the Sun and the distance Between the Sun and the Earth. He said he repeatedly calculated the distance Between the Sun and Mars confirming the shape of the orbit. In fact the calculations were based Only on his theory. A new York times w a i \ i \ i \ Johannes Kepler a fakery is one of the earliest known examples of the a use of false data by a giant of science. I foundation of modern ise Validity is difficult to prove provide a powerful new Onomy. Gravitational Waves a scientists to get their first Clear lapse of exploding stars the mysterious Black holes and if the big bang that is have started the universe general theory of relativity i concept of space from that of id into that of a curving fabric j time. A collapse or make other ions the theory suggests e space time fabric move off in s at the Speed of Light. These lot the mechanism that e Force of Gravity Between 1 Are distortions in that Force phenomenon that can Gravity much As Calm water in lean suddenly be churned into storm. Gravity Waves from Distant its should move objects on Ini Tesimale amount measured in Pat Are much smaller than the in atom. The new Observatory ins Tive enough to measure is and help pinpoint their Lin. J a totally new window on the Laid Rochus Robbie e. Vogt he project and a physics professor at the California Institute of technology Cal tech in Pasadena. Quot a very Large part of astronomic objects Are obscured Quot he said. Quot gravitational Waves penetrate things with impunity. So with gravitational Waves you can look behind obscuration behind the dust into the cores of stars where matter behaves in very strange if built the Observatory would allow scientists to peer into the heart of celestial physics observing gravitational Waves from some of the most spectacular events in the universe including supernovas or exploding stars. Their Waves would shed Light on the earliest moments of Supernova violence when most of the explosive process is shielded from View by debris. Supernovas Are rare occurring in the Milky Way Galaxy once every 20 or 30 years. But the new Observatory s sensitivity should allow it to sense Gravity Waves from supernovas in Distant galaxies which might be detected As often As once a month. The device should also be Able to catch the first direct glimpses of Black holes dense stars with such Strong gravitational Fields that Light cannot escape. Black holes have Long been postulated but have yet to be detected unambiguously. Gravity is one of the Central mysteries of science. It is the Force that draws together All masses and particles of matter in the universe but exactly How it works is still an Enigma. Sources of the unseen Waves according to Einstein the curving fabric of space time can be distorted by the Gravity of Large objects. Perturbations from celestial events should flood the universe with gravitational Waves rippling in All directions at the Speed of Light. The Waves should have enough Force to cause objects quadrillion of Miles away to move Ever so slightly. No such wave has yet been detected. But scientists suspect that cataclysmic cosmic events like the final collision of binary Neutron stars at left produce Waves Strong enough to Register on an instrument designed to catch that infinitesimal motion. Cosmic events like the explosion of stars or collisions of binary Neutron stars Are believed to produce Gravity Waves that Ripple through space distorting the fabric of space time As described by the general theory of relativity. New York times a giant device to catch a wave in the proposed Detector a laser beam is split and aimed at pairs of suspended weights with mirrored surfaces. On each Arm the beams pass through the Back of one weight reflect Back and Forth and return through the first partly transmitting Mirror to the beam splitter and a Detector. If a Gravity wave makes the weights move slightly the distance Between each pair oscillates causing a difference in Light intensity at the Detector. Fudging scientific data by William j. Broad new York times j Ohannes Kepler the father of modern j astronomy fabricated data in presenting his theory of How the planets move around the Sun apparently to bolster acceptance of the insight by sceptics a scholar has found. The scholar William h. Donahue said the evidence of Kepler a scientific fakery is contained in an elaborate Chart he presented to support his theory. Kepler showed that the planets move in elliptical orbits rather than in circles As Copernicus suggested. In his Book describing the insight he said it was confirmed by Independent calculations of the plants positions. In fact Donahue says Kepler derived the data by calculations based on the theory itself. Kepler anticipated stiff criticism of his theory. From Antiquity the Circle had been considered the Only geometrical shape perfect enough to describe the movement of heavenly bodies. Done in 1609, Kepler s fakery is one of the earliest known examples of the use of false data by a giant of science. The discovery was made by Donahue a science historian while translating Kepler a astronomic Nova or the new astronomy . Donahue who lives in Santa be n.m., described his discovery in the journal of the history of astronomy. The fabricated data is in calculated positions for the planet Mars which Kepler used As a Case study for planetary motion. Kepler claimed the calculations gave his elliptical theory an Independent Check. But in fact they did nothing of the kind. Quot he fudged things Quot Donahue said adding the Kepler was never challenged by a contemporary. Experts nearly unanimous in defending the great astronomer say Kepler s act May be less reprehensible than it seems. For instance methods of investigation and reporting at the Start of the scientific revolution were often quite rudimentary. Quot Kepler was one of the people who invented modern science a said Walter w. Stewart a researcher with the National institutes of health who is helping Congress investigate cases of scientific fraud. Quot it s not Clear his standards were the same As Kepler was born in 1571 in the German City of Weil Der Stadt to a thin garrulous woman who was later tried for witchcraft and a mercenary Soldier who eventually abandoned his family. Kepler was moving toward a theological career when a death left a vacancy at the lutheran school in Graz which led him into teaching and astronomy. In the fashion of the Day he also devoted much time to astrology drawing up at least 800 horoscopes. Kepler a destiny was to make sense out of the work of Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543the Man who put the Sun rather than Earth at the Center of planetary motions. Although Correct this Conception was flawed in predicting the position of planets because Copernicus used Only circles to describe their paths although they actually move in somewhat flattened circles known As ellipses. To increase the predictive accuracy of his system Copernicus had the planets move in a series of smaller circles about the Orbital paths. These so called Epicycles were quite numerous. And in the end his forecasts came out no better than those made with the methods of ancient astronomers. Kepler s breakthrough gave the concept of the solar system a physical basis and made planetary predictions 100 times More accurate than those of Copernicus. The Opportunity for the breakthrough came in 1600 when Tycho Brahe the danish astronomer welcomed the 28-year-old Kepler to his Castle Observatory outside Prague Czechoslovakia. Brahe a Rich Nobleman set Kepler to work to explain the orbit of Mars. This led Kepler to embark on writing the new astronomy which aimed at documenting his work with Mars and attempted to establish How the planet really moved and by Extension the other planets. Previous astronomers in devising methods to predict planetary movements were not unduly concerned if their theoretical constructs had Little or no basis in physical reality. By Early 1605, Kepler had completed at least 51 of the 70 chapters without discovering that the orbit was an Ellipse. The insight came in april 1605. In addition to hitting upon the real shape of the orbits Kepler discovered that the Ellipse jibe beautifully with his earlier observation that a line from the Sun to a moving planet sweeps Over equal areas in equal intervals of time meaning the planet moves fastest when closest to the Sun. He used this area Law and the elliptical shape to generate very accurate calculations of past planetary movements using Tycho s observations to show the actual positions. After various delays the new astronomy was published in 1609 in Heidelberg Germany to mixed reviews. Donahue s detective work started As he read the Book in latin and redid Kepler s calculations. 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