Porter 1Drew PorterDr. Goben History of the United States March 3, 2014 Albert Einstein Why is the sky blue? Many people know the correct answer to this question: there are millions of particles in the sky, and the visible length of the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by these particles (Rosenberg). The only particles coming out are blue. Today this information is readily available, but before around 1900 it remained unanswered. Not only did the question of the color of the sky remain unanswered, but many other questions about the then rare subject of physics had not even been asked. What was the breakthrough? America was forever changed by the discoveries of the father of the new physics, Albert Einstein. Before most people were intelligent enough to ask the most difficult physics questions, Einstein had already calculated, tested, and published the answers in his theories of general relativity and special relativity. Einstein's theories weren't just new things to put in a physics textbook; he actually developed some very useful inventions and ideas for America. Albert Einstein changed, altered or affected the history of the United States. Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. He moved to Switzerland to attend the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and teach physics and mathematics. After college, he tried several times to find a teaching job, but was turned down! He returned to school to obtain his doctorate while working as a technical assistant at the Swiss Patent Office. During his free time at work, he developed some of the equations which he later published. After recognizing his talent, Polytechnique offered him a position as a physics professor. Einstein went to a few different places (where) ...... middle of paper ......sion earlier than the one in the back. Who is right? Did the bolts hit at the same time, or did the bolt hit the front of the gear first? Einstein argues that they are both right in his Theory of Simultaneity (Bergson). Another interesting concept made possible in the 4th dimension in space is another theory of time travel. If scientists can find a way around the mass and energy equivalence problem of accelerating a particle to the speed of light, then time travel might be possible. Einstein developed a formula that equates time to distance and speed. In the 4th dimension, if matter was capable of reaching the speed of light, Einstein concluded that it could actually travel in negative time (Hawking). Albert Einstein's contributions to American progress in physics and thought in general. He was instrumental in the development of an atomic bomb.