Word: general
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...crowning glory, perhaps the most beautiful theory in all of science, was the general theory of relativity, published in 1916. Like the special theory, it was based on a thought experiment: imagine being in an enclosed lab accelerating through space. The effects you'd feel would be no different from the experience of gravity. Gravity, he figured, is a warping of space-time. Just as Einstein's earlier work paved the way to harnessing the smallest subatomic forces, the general theory opened up an understanding of the largest of all things, from the formative Big Bang of the universe...
Einstein also continued his contributions to quantum physics by raising questions that are still playing a pivotal role in the modern development of the theory. Shortly after devising general relativity, he showed that photons have momentum, and he came up with a quantum theory of radiation explaining that all subatomic particles, including electrons, exhibit characteristics of both wave and particle...
Even now scientists marvel at the daring of general relativity ("I still can't see how he thought of it," said the late Richard Feynman, no slouch himself). But the great physicist was also engagingly simple, trading ties and socks for mothy sweaters and sweatshirts. He tossed off pithy aphorisms ("Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it") and playful doggerel as easily as equations. Viewing the hoopla over him with humorous detachment, he variously referred to himself as the Jewish saint or artist's model. He was a cartoonist...
Sources: Good News--New England Journal of Medicine (12/16/99); Archives of General Psychiatry (12/99). Bad News--Archives of General Psychiatry (12/99); Medscape
Political theologians are discussing the unconstitutional takeover of Pakistan's democratically elected government by General Pervez Musharraf [WORLD, Dec. 6], ending a checkered era of government rule plagued by graft, corruption and sectarian strife. The takeover cannot be condoned, but it must be admitted that the general saved Pakistan from impending social disorder. For democracy to sustain itself there must be a sound socioeconomic base and political leaders with an unblemished background. To expect a Western-style democracy in the region is naive. What is needed now is a restructuring of Pakistan's economy, which is a shambles...