Einstein in motion

摘要

I admit, I cringed when I heard that the UK Institute of Physics (IOP) had commissioned a ballet to celebrate the World Year of Physics 2005, or 'Einstein Year'. Truly enlightening meetings of art and science are rare indeed. Einstein: The Ballet? Please, no. But the IOP had wisely put themselves in the hands of the Rambert Dance Company, and the results, revealed at a Sadler's Wells premiere on 24 May, are stunning. Constant Speed is inspired by Einstein's 1905 publications; the World Year of Physics celebrates their centenary. From the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, Einstein dashed off five papers, all of them seminal work, on three themes: brownian motion, the photoelectric effect and the special theory of relativity.