Why did Einstein's scientific discoveries bring him so much acclaim?
1 Answer
Probably because of the Theory of Relativity.
Explanation:
This theory is as much important as it is difficult to understand and certainly represents one of the highest achievements of human ingenuity of all times. On top of it this was achieved almost single handedly by Einstein!
This theory changed our way to see at the entire universe by challenging our idea of time, mass and space/gravity!
Now we know that time....can flow differently according to the velocity with which our clock is travelling!!! The faster it goes the more slowly the time flows!!!! Mass also can change and it can even bend light!!!
You can imagine the "trauma" that this new ideas about time and mass had and still have on everyone!
For some strange reason somebody will even connect him to the Atom Bomb although he probably wasn't really the chief operator in the project. This idea probably comes from his famous equation:
relating mass and energy through the speed of light and showing the interchangeability of energy into mass or vice-versa (huge amounts of energy are released from "disintegration" of mass in an A Bomb).
When you ask about scientists of the past few people will know about Galileo, maybe some more about Newton (unless they think about the famous photographer!), very few about Planck or Niels Bohr but everybody will know about Albert Einstein!
