The Revolution in Science

The Revolution in Science

While Nietzsche and other philosophers questioned the ability of traditional science to provide timeless truths, scientific inquiry itself gained in prestige. Around the turn of the century, however, discoveries by pioneering researchers shook the foundations of scientific certainty. In 1896, French physicist Antoine Becquerel discovered radioactivity. He also suggested the mutability of elements by the rearrangement of their atoms. French chemist Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre Curie, isolated the elements polonium and radium, which are more radioactive than the uranium Becquerel used. From these and other discoveries, scientists concluded that atoms are not solid, as had long been believed, but are composed of subatomic particles moving about a core. In 1900, German physicist Max Planck announced his quantum theory, stating that energy is delivered not in a steady stream but in discrete packets, which he later called quanta.

In this atmosphere of discovery, physicist Albert Einstein (1879–1955) proclaimed his special theory of relativity in 1905. According to this theory, space and time are not absolute categories but instead vary according to the vantage point of the observer. Only the speed of light is constant. That same year, Einstein suggested that the solution to problems in Planck’s theory lay in considering light both as little packets and as waves. Einstein later proposed yet another blurring of two distinct physical properties, mass and energy. He expressed this equivalence in the equation E = mc2, or energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light. In 1916, Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which connected the force, or gravity, of an object with its mass and proposed a fourth mathematical dimension to the universe. Much more lay ahead once Einstein’s theories of energy were applied to technology: television, nuclear power, and, within forty years, nuclear bombs.

The findings of Planck, Einstein, and others were not readily accepted, because long-standing scientific truths were at stake. Additionally, Marie Curie faced such sexism from the scientific establishment that even after she became the first person ever to receive a second Nobel Prize (1911), the prestigious French Academy of Science turned down her candidacy for membership. The academy claimed that a woman simply could not have done such outstanding work. Acceptance of these scientists’ discoveries gradually came, and Einstein’s name became synonymous with genius. Scientists of the modern era achieved what historians call a paradigm shift—that is, despite resistance, they transformed the foundations of science as their theories came to replace those of earlier pioneers.