• DocumentCode
    42739
  • Title

    Was Einstein an Engineer?

  • Author

    Drake, Samuel Picton

  • Author_Institution
    Cyber & Electron. Warfare Div., Defence Sci. Technol. Organ., Edinburgh, SA, Australia
  • Volume
    102
  • Issue
    12
  • fYear
    2014
  • fDate
    Dec. 2014
  • Firstpage
    1870
  • Lastpage
    1872
  • Abstract
    Referring to the very epitome of physics as an engineer may appear humorous. However, there is a serious case for it. What would you call somebody who worked in a patent office as a technical expert for seven years, held a number of patents himself on refrigeration, self-adjusting cameras, and electric motors, and explained the photoelectric effect, i.e., the principle now behind photodiodes ? Also, Einstein´s father was an engineer-I am not suggesting that engineering is a genetic disease, but engineering was in the family; moreover, Albert Einstein took-and failed-an entrance exam to study electrical engineering in Zurich. Despite being renowned as one of the most abstract thinkers of the 20th century, Einstein was also very interested in the application of ideas, and it could be argued that he was more of an engineer than a physicist, especially in his early career.
  • Keywords
    electric motors; photoelectricity; Albert Einstein; electric motors; photodiodes; photoelectric effect; refrigeration; self-adjusting cameras; Engineering profession; Global positioning system; Patents; Physics; Research and development;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Proceedings of the IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    0018-9219
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/JPROC.2014.2366208
  • Filename
    6957008