“Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)” Exhibition for the centenary of the Theory of relativity:the new doctrine of time according to Einstein.
The exhibition is the most comprehensive and expensive event devoted to Albert Einstein ever staged. It is running from June 16, 2005 to April 17, 2006 at the Historisches Museum in Switzerland’s capital city of Bern. Named “person of the century” by Time Magazine, Albert Einstein lived in Bern from 1902 to 1909 – the most scientifically fruitful period of his life. His Longines pocket watch is being displayed for the first time at this exhibition as an eloquent reminder that with his theory of relativity Einstein changed forever our perception of the nature of Time.
In view of Albert Einstein’s universal significance, the exhibition is aimed at an international audience. A general picture of Einstein’s person and personality is presented on more than 2,500 sq. m. covering two floors of the building. This eminent physicist was a citizen of the world of Jewish extraction and Swabian roots who held a Swiss passport. The first part of the exhibition focuses on the biographical aspects of the man and describes his journey from Ulm to Munich, Zurich, Bern, Berlin and finally to Princeton against the background of world history. More than anyone else in his day, Einstein reflects the most momentous events and critical movements of the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition features rooms that recreate the spirit of the period with the aid of original artifacts, newsreel clips, documents and facsimiles.
The second part of the exhibition provides clear, easy-to-grasp explanations of Einstein’s theories. Hard-to-conceive phenomena such as the curvature of space and the dilation of time are explained step by step. The exhibition’s highlights include a specially designed interactive installation providing a virtual bicycle ride through the city of Bern at up to 99% of the speed of light. Today’s computer technology reveals what Einstein could indeed visualize but not see. The route from Einstein’s former home to his workplace, the Swiss Patent Office, is reproduced as a 3D model and projected on a movie screen. The itinerary allows viewers to perceive the distortions that occur the closer one gets to the speed of light.
Pride of place to Einstein’s Longines timepiece
The Longines pocket watch that was once Einstein’s is still in perfect working order, its movement ticking as steadily as ever. It occupies pride of place at the Einstein exhibition as it symbolizes the fact that his Theory of relativity revolutionized our understanding of the nature of time. For Einstein, time is not an absolute dimension since it behaves relative to the speed of light, slowing perceptibly the closer we come to the speed of light. But in his day-to-day life, Einstein must have appreciated the dependable beat of his Longines.
Since every timepiece that leaves its workshops is entered in Longines’ production registers, it has been determined that Einstein’s pocket watch was finished on September 6, 1943 at the Longines factory in Saint-Imier and invoiced to Stahel Jewelers in Zurich on January 29, 1946.
Einstein is known to have bequeathed his watch to his elder son Hans Albert. The latter’s widow, Elizabeth Einstein Roboz, in turn presented it to a Swiss diplomat, Henry E. Bovay, as a token of her gratitude for his services to the memory of her father-in-law. Bovay immediately made known his intention to donate this invaluable object to a museum and recently presented it to the Historisches Museum in Bern.
The exhibition’s cosmological theater provides memorable visual sensations, with the universe traversed in both its temporal and spatial dimensions. A camera explores the beauty of the cosmos, going back in time and space right to the Big Bang.
Source: Longines
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