who cares about Einstein?!

Actually, I want it back. These electric ones are blasted noisy. I was heartened by Liana's tale of silent wind generators - can't they do the same with fridges. I reckon I'm from a long line of night feeders - not just that I get hungriest in the evening but also that my hearing gets progressively sharper toward the early hours (opposite to the heavy drinkers). I'm convinced it's from thousands of years of evolution: my ancestors nipped out for a late night bite and had to rely on their ears in the dark because Einstein hadn't been born to invent street lights - wot, it wasn't him, well he had something to do with light didn't he?

I keep my beer in the snow back out the back door, next to the hot tub. The snow is quiet.

Precisely, Denver. Lots of technological wizardry is a step in the wrong direction - still, couldn't do without fridges, computers and microwaves...

what else to say? jasper,tell me are you interested in these kind of things?

Yes. Einstein was OK for a Dyslexic. He struggled in education and was crap at calculus. He made up for it in later years though. He's acclaimed for general relativity, but the foundations for relativity were around before Einstein put it forward. Hats of to him for special relativity though. And who would have thought to suggest that time and space are related? What a man. As for the fridge. Well how else was he going to keep his bear cool?

jasper,tell me are you interested in these kind of things?

Co-incedently, John, I've just mentioned you in dispatches (on a different thread).

I think his wife did most of the math, John.

maybe the radiation infect his mind.John!

I hear rumours that fresh evidence suggest that the Michelson-Morley expeiment wasn't precise enough and there has since been evidence that there is an ether. You still convinced that space and time are joined at the hip then John?

I'd say empty space and time seem to be joined at your lips though.

I hope you mentioned my pleasant disposition Smiley? As for the math, as you are probably aware of Smiley, It was not the sole work of Einstein.

When did Einstein start his correspondence with Planc I wonder. I always though Planc was at least as bright as Einstein, John.

Smiley. Out of interest. Do you support the idea for a singularity for the origin of the Universe? If so, what about the brake down of classical general relativity near the point of singularity? What about when we take in to account quantum gravitational effects? Seems to me that what the singularity theorems imply, is the Universe has a quantum origin. Perhaps the answer is a theory of quantum cosmology? Problem is, at this point in time Cosmology is not very hot in providing proofs.

I like Terry Pratchett's joke "In the beginning there was nothing which exploded" :) Never made much sense to me but i suppose it is possible John.

I think the thing that really get's me is these "Killer Bubbles From Space" theories. Oh, there's a black hole waiting to suck you in - it'll make you tall but very thin...

Hmmm... Except for the Little mater of pre singularity entropy. No fires without sparks..

we seem to be cross threading Smiley. Sorry about the pun.

Without time I can't see how anything can happen - what does it happen in? This is why you end up with 13 or 14 dimensions so that something can happen in a higer one to trigger the explosion.

Higs Boson. Supersymitry. We will know more soon. I hope.

It remains to be seen, John. I remember a prediction that we would blow up the planet seaching for the Higgs Boson...

That or a Vogun space fleet.

Blow up the Universe Smiley!! Luckily, its not possible.

Love there poetry ~:

Hahahaha

Actually, I have always been impressed with Einstein, particularly that the man was slow. He was very different to all the other mathematicians in respect to the fact he could not grasp things quickly, yet with a lot of thought and immersing himself in the problems he came out on top. Famously, Oppenhiem once went to him with a problem he had, expecting the great man to solve it for him there and then, or at least understand the nature of his problem. Einstein had to apologose as he couldn't follow Oppenhein's equations, saying 'give me time to think about it' But typically, 3 days later, he had sorted it all out. A Giant amongst men.

I had heard stories about Oppenheim's team being bloody quick at cracking equations and doing calculations and I think Einstein (being a theoretical physicist) did take longer to work things out; but this story is a little unfair on Einstein. Let's face it, if a problem with equations was troubling Oppenheim it must have been quite a tricky one and no doubt he wouldn't have gone elsewhere for help if he hadn't worried away at it himself for a few days. I actually think this makes Einstein look like quite a quick worker. Without Einstein, we'd have had to wait a lot longer for fridges. But if we're talking physicists, give me Feynman every time.

Havent heard that one before, what did Einstein have to do with fridges?

That would be a miracle birth, Einstein must have been born with a refridgerator in his hands.

Dan, Einstein did some very ground-breaking work on coolant systems. Knowing how space-time curves is all very well, but it doesn't actually touch people's lives in the same way as being able to drink cold beer without poisoning themselves. Aside: The Einstein-Szilard Refrigeration Company Two of the great thinkers of the twentieth century also made a significant, but rarely appreciated, contribution to refrigeration technology. Sparked by a news story where the refrigerant (ammonia) leaked from a home refrigerator and killed a family, Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein thought that their knowledge of thermodynamics ought to be useful in making these machines more robust. They quickly discovered that the weak link was the mechanical compressor; building robust fittings to moving parts was a difficult engineering problem. The two scientists sat down and decided to look for ways to build a refrigerator with no moving parts. They developed three different cooling technologies that were unlike anything currently available. None of the devices had moving parts so that the refrigerant could be hermetically sealed without the danger of bearings or seals becoming leaky. One machine used an absorption design, another used an electromagnetic pump, and the third depended on evaporation and the pressure available from tap water. There are absolutely truckloads of Einstein / refridgerator hits on Google. I thought this was fairly well-known. Just like Engels and Marx owing a factory...

What did they owe to the factory?

I think the refridgerator was patented before Einstein was born. We'd probably still have cold beer without him.

Sorry for the typo. And having written and rewritten a response to Gary, I find that I simply just don't care. Yes, you are right Gary. Well done.

Well done what? I didn't invent the thing...I do like cold beer though.

If you're going to credit the fridge to any physisist I'd definitely chooseCarnot. I have to admit, I thought fridges (except for the little portable ones) still worked on mechanical pumps.

Do gas ones, Dan?

what are going on people????? einstein is getting angry now,i must go to saturn its safe out there.

Come to think of it do they still make gas ones? I had one for years and it always seemed ironic that you could freeze things with a flame.