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Albert Einstein is regarded as the most famous genius in science. His best-known theories were relativity and the photoelectric effect, which won him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921, but Einstein did almost no experiments. In fact, most of his discoveries were based on bizarre but fascinating thought experiments.

Albert Einstein visited Paris in 1922, and the question arose: What were Einstein's principles? What makes it possible for him to solve some of the most important mysteries in the universe? In this article, I will illustrate some of Einstein's ideas about scientific thinking and imagination.

The statements and comments in this article were delivered by Albert Einstein himself at Max Planck's sixtieth birthday celebration at the Berlin Physical Society, and the text is included in Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag,1934.

Max Planck (1858-1947) was professor of theoretical physics at the University of Berlin for many years. His most outstanding contribution to physics was quantum theory. Planck proposed the theory of blackbody radiation in 1900, which is the basis for the development of modern quantum physics. Planck is considered one of the founders of quantum mechanics.

Following Planck, Einstein made pioneering work in this young field, most importantly his quantum theory of light or photons (1905) and specific heat theory (1907). Einstein's early contributions to quantum theory included his heuristic conjecture that light behaves the same as photons grouped together, and his exploration of the quantum structure of the mechanical energy of particles in matter. It was he who realized more profoundly than anyone else the fundamental and universal nature of quantum concepts in other branches.

Einstein began his speech by comparing science to a temple and comparing scientists to those who provided intellectual products solely for the development of the temple of science. He then assessed Max Planck as one of those men who must remain in the halls of science-one who had greatly advanced science.

There are many houses in the temple of science, inhabited by all manner of people, and motivated by all manner of reasons. Many people like science because it gives them the pleasure of being intellectually superior, science is their special form of entertainment, they find vivid experience and satisfaction in science; there are many others in the temple who dedicate their intellectual products to the altar of science for purely utilitarian purposes. If God sent an angel to drive both types of people out of the temple, there would be a lot fewer people here.

However, there are still some people who will stay in it, both historical and current figures. Our Planck is one of them, and that is why we love him. I am well aware that we have just dismissed, at random, in our imagination, many eminent persons who have contributed much, if not most, to the establishment of the Temple of Science. It is sometimes difficult for angels to decide which people to expel, but one thing I am sure of is that if only the two types of people we have just mentioned are left, the Temple of Science will never exist, and only a few weeds will remain. For these people, they can do anything when the time is right. Whether they become engineers, officials or businessmen depends entirely on environmental influences.

Einstein explained why some people are always kept in the Temple of Science and never expelled by God's angels. He then sets out an important philosophical point about what leads people to indulge in the world of scientific discovery and beauty and impression in art, that is, in the world of objective perception and thought.

Now let us look at those who are favored by angels.

Most of them are a bit eccentric, withdrawn, and withdrawn, and despite these commonalities, they are fundamentally very different. What brings them to the temple of science? This is a difficult question to answer because there is no uniform answer.

First of all, I believe in Schopenhauer's view that one of the strongest motives that leads men to art and science is to escape from the painful vulgarity and hopeless dreariness of everyday life, to free themselves from the bondage of their changing desires. Gentle people yearn to escape from personal life and enter the world of objective perception and thought. This desire is similar to the desire of city dwellers to escape from noisy, crowded urban environments and enter the quiet environment in the mountains. There the eye is free to observe in the quiet and clean air, indulging itself in an environment that seems designed for eternity.

Einstein explained the importance of personal traits when people try to describe the world and universe in which they live, whether painters, scientists, or philosophers-each trying to create his own understanding of the universe.

Behind all these interesting ideas, we may think of some very important questions: What place does the physicist's picture of the world occupy in everyone's picture? How is the scientific imagination of physicists constrained? What does the scientific mind need to consider in order to form a sophisticated and complete theory?

In addition to this negative motivation, there is a positive motivation.

Humans try to paint a simple picture of the world for themselves in the way that best suits them. He then tries to replace the world of experience with his own universe and then subjugate it. This is what painters, poets, philosophers and natural scientists do, each in his own style. Each man takes this universe and its structure as the fulcrum of his emotions, in order to find in this way the peace which is absent from his limited range of experience.

What place does the theoretical physicist's picture of the world occupy among all these possible pictures? It requires the highest possible precision in describing relationships, a requirement that can only be achieved through mathematical language. The physicist, on the other hand, must strictly limit himself to describing subjects: he must be content to describe the simplest events within our experience. All the more complex events are beyond the limits of human intelligence and cannot be reconstructed with the subtle accuracy and logical perfection demanded by theoretical physicists. Physicists need to achieve the highest purity, clarity, and certainty at the expense of partial integrity.

But what is the attraction of delving into such a tiny part of nature when one is careful to ignore the complexity of the world? Does such careful effort produce results worthy of the name of a theory of the universe?

Einstein, 1952-1955 Einstein described the main method of constructing scientific principles and physical theories-deductive method-to form complete, understandable and completely different theories. He further explained that these principles and laws could not be formed by logical methods, but only by intuition based on personal experience. This approach does provide multiple explanations for a single theory and multiple interpretations of the same phenomenon. However, there is always one (principle or theory) that is better than the other.

I believe the name is appropriate. For the general laws upon which the structure of theoretical physics is based claim to be valid for any natural phenomenon. With them it should be possible to describe every natural process, including life, by pure deduction, if that deduction is not far beyond the power of human intelligence. Therefore, it is not a matter of principle for physicists to renounce the integrity of their universe.

The ultimate goal of physicists is to find universal fundamental laws so that a complete system of the world can be constructed deductively. To find these fundamental laws, rigorous logical methods do not work. These laws can only be obtained by intuition based on experience. The uncertainty of this approach allows one to assume that there are many reasonable theoretical physics systems. But the process of scientific development has repeatedly shown that, among the many options available at the same time, one option is clearly superior to the others.

Anyone who really studies the problem will believe that real-world phenomena directly determine which theory is optimal, despite the fact that there is no logical correspondence between phenomena and their theoretical principles. This is Leibniz's pre-established harmony. Physicists often accuse epistemologists of not paying enough attention to this fact.

Einstein concluded his lecture with some kind remarks about Max Planck and his contributions to science, especially physics, which were crucial in the scientific sense. Speaking of Planck, Einstein mentioned that he (Planck) had played an important role in exploring and solving some of the most important scientific problems, and hoped that he would succeed in his attempt to combine quantum theory with electrodynamics.

Planck's infinite patience and perseverance stemmed from his desire to see this pre-determined harmony, and as we have seen, Planck devoted himself to the most universal problems of our science, refusing to divert himself to more accessible goals.

I often hear colleagues try to attribute this attitude to extraordinary willpower and discipline, which in my opinion is wrong. The mentality that enables one to do this work is similar to that of a believer or lover: the daily effort is not deliberate or planned, but comes from the heart. Our beloved Planck, sitting there, smiled and watched me play with Diogenes 'lantern (the ancient Greek philosophers used to carry lanterns in the daytime to find "honest" people).

Simple words cannot explain our love for him. May his love of science continue to illuminate his future path, guide him to solve the most important problems in physics today, and may he unify quantum theory with electrodynamics and mechanics in the same logical system.

Albert Einstein receives the Max Planck Medal from the German Physical Society in Berlin. Original link:

https://www.cantorsparadise.com/einsteins-scientific-imagination-and-principles-of-research-959acd8958e8

This article comes from Weixin Official Accounts: Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ID: cas-iop), author: Sunnylabh, A.Einstein, translation: Nothing, revision: Nuor

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