December 14, 2005
American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Abstract

This year marks the centennial of Albert Einstein's decas mirabilis. This decade made his place in the scientific pantheon secure. In addition, no other scientist has caught the popular imagination like the (later) tousled-haired Einstein. I will look at some of the ideas that followed in Einstein's wake, as scientists and amateurs alike had their imaginations fired by his work and his popularity, and contrast this with the reaction accorded Isaac Newton.

Biography

Rolf Sinclair received his primary training in the physical sciences at CalTech and Rice University. He has held positions at the Westinghouse Laboratories, the University of Hamburg, the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris), Princeton University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and (most recently) the US National Science Foundation from which he retired in 1998. He is currently an advisor to the Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile.