Public Library Talk: Einstein and the Atom

I'm giving a talk tomorrow (Wednesday, October 28), at the Central Branch of the London Public Library, (251 Dundas Street), 7 PM, Stevenson & Hunt Room.   The talk will be non-technical, and accessible to all.  Please join me, if you can!

Einstein and the Atom.

 Abstract:
Einstein’s name is widely associated with the “atom bomb,” via the formula E = mc². Less widely known is that he played a key role in providing evidence that atoms exist at all. One of Einstein’s early papers was an analysis of Brownian motion, the ceaseless dance of tiny particles, such as pollen grains, suspended in a fluid. The dance of pollen grains, Einstein realized, was evidence that they are being buffeted by smaller particles, beyond microscopic resolution. This talk will be about the ingenuity required to turn the visible into evidence about the invisible.