Space-Time
Dimensions: 18” H X 24” W X 1.5” D. Landscape orientation.
Acrylic paint, open-sourced printed materials overlaid with high gloss varnish.
Original Artwork $750 + shipping.
Contact artist for purchase.
Albert Einstein
This collage celebrates the discoveries of Albert Einstein. He was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany. Einstein became famous throughout the world as a genius of unparalleled magnitude. His general theory of relativity transformed the science of physics and revolutionized our understanding of the universe, space, time, gravity, predicted the existence of black holes and gravitational waves. This collage is predominately red, symbolizing Einstein's theories are the "life-force" of modern-day physics. The repeating numbers represent how his theories continue to be relevant today and will continue to be in the future. The digits of Pi (3.141592653) and the speed of light (186,000 miles/second) are generally significant in Einstein's work and science. The formula shown in white is Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity introduced in 1915. It is the most significant contribution to physics since Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. The illustration in the middle shows how a massive object bends or distorts space-time according to Einstein's theory of general relativity. His image looks outward to the viewer, hidden yet compelling us to join him in his scientific quest. The keys signify how we will use Einstein's theories to unlock our future.
Einstein was educated at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich and later the University of Zurich, where he studied physics and mathematics. Einstein excelled at mathematics at a young age, teaching himself algebra, geometry and mastering integral and differential calculus by fourteen. Philosophy was also of great interest and gave him a vehicle for creatively solving the puzzle of space and time. In 1905 he published four groundbreaking papers that described the photoelectric effect (Nobel Prize in Physics 1921), Brownian motion, special relativity, and the famous mass-energy equivalence formula E=mc^2. He extended his special relativity theory to include gravitational fields and published his seminal paper on general relativity in 1915. His theories led to successful space travel, the construction of atom bombs, nuclear energy, a better understanding of atomic theory, molecules, and light. He passed away on April 18, 1955, in Princeton, New Jersey. To find out more about the elements used in this collage, please see an explanation below.
Elements of Art
Picture of Albert Einstein
The formula of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity
Series of numbers
3.1415926535
186000
Space-time distortion
Illustration of the bending of space-time due to mass
Relativity
Keys
Explanations of Elements
Picture of Albert Einstein, 1947, in Princeton, N.J.
The formula of Albert Einstein's general theory of Relativity. 1916. This formula and its derivations show that mass-energy curves space-time.
Rab : Ricci tensor curvature
R : Ricci scalar curvature
Gab : metric tensor
π (Pi) : 3.14
G : Universal gravitational constant
c : speed of light in a vacuum
Tab : stress-energy tensor
3.141592653 is the value of Pi to 9 digits
186000 miles/second is the speed of light in a vacuum. If you could travel the speed of light, you could circumnavigate the Earth 7.5 times in one second.
Space-Time distortion: In the theory of general relativity, massive objects distort space-time and are felt as gravity.
The Space-Time diagram is a graphic illustration of the properties of space and time in the special theory of relativity. It illustrates the bending of space-time qualitatively due to the mass of an object, such as the Sun or a black hole.
Relativity: The basic idea of general relativity is that instead of being an invisible force that attracts objects to one another, gravity is a curving or warping of space. The more massive an object, the more it warps the space around it.
The keys represent how critical his work was in unlocking and ushering in the modern scientific era.
Picture of Albert Einstein from Wikipedia
References:
“Albert Einstein.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein.
Isaacson, Walter. His Life and Universe. Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2007.
“Oxford Languages and Google - English.” Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/.