Features

• The Search for Relativity Violations

  To uncover evidence for an ultimate theory, scientists are looking for infractions of Einstein's once sacrosanct physical principle

  Alan Kostelecký   | September 1, 2004  | 9

• The Patent Clerk's Legacy

  In 1905 the musings of a functionary in the Swiss patent office changed the world forever. His intellectual bequest remains for a new generation of physicists vying to concoct a theory of everything

  Gary Stix   | September 1, 2004  |

• Einstein's Compass

  What was it about the magnetism of an iron bar that could divert Einstein from perfecting his celebrated theory of general relativity?

  Peter Galison   | September 1, 2004  | 1

• The String Theory Landscape

  The theory of strings predicts that the universe might occupy one random "valley" out of a virtually infinite selection of valleys in a vast landscape of possibilities

  Raphael Bousso and Joseph Polchinski   | September 1, 2004  |

• Forces of the World, Unite!

  In a 1950 Scientific American article, Einstein outlined his unified theory of physics. Too bad it was wrong

  George Musser   | September 1, 2004  |

• Atomic Spin-offs for the 21st Century

  A new generation of technologies aims to put Einstein's theories to work in computers, hospitals--even submarines

  W. Wayt Gibbs   | September 1, 2004  | 1

• A Century of Einstein

  Scientific American has covered Einstein's theories--and the refinements and reactions to them--ever since scientists began to grasp the import of his landmark 1905 papers. Read on for a sampling of our reports, some by leading physicists of their times

  Daniel C. Schlenoff   | September 1, 2004  |

• Was Einstein Right?

  Unlike nearly all his contemporaries, Albert Einstein thought quantum mechanics would give way to a classical theory. Some researchers nowadays are inclined to agree

  George Musser   | September 1, 2004  | 1

• Einstein and Newton: Genius Compared

  The two scientific giants were alike in intellect and temperament

  Alan Lightman   | September 1, 2004  | 1

• A Cosmic Conundrum

  A new incarnation of Einstein's cosmological constant may point the way beyond general relativity

  Lawrence M. Krauss and Michael S. Turner   | September 1, 2004  |

• Everyday Einstein

  Finding your way out of the woods with GPS? Hanging a picture frame with a laser level? Making photocopies? Better thank Einstein

  Philip Yam   | September 1, 2004  |