What is the Universe expanding into..

Do you think there was anything before the big bang?

  • I don't think there was anything before the Big Bang

    Votes: 56 12.5%
  • I think something existed before the Big Bang

    Votes: 200 44.7%
  • I don't think the big bang happened

    Votes: 54 12.1%
  • I think the universe is part of a mutiverse

    Votes: 201 45.0%

  • Total voters
    447
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Einstein's most revolutionary contribution to Physics was realising that light was not a wave, but a collection of "light quanta". It was the one thing that was specifically referred to in his 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics citation.

Einstein's important contribution to quantum theory is often overlooked as he found the probabalistic nature of quantum theory a step too far for him.

Translated from the German, here's what Einstein said to Max Born in 1926:

Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the ‘Old One.’ I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.

This is often shortened to, "God does not play dice with the universe".

We tend to remember Einstein for the theory he liked best - the one on relativity. However relativity was very much a part of the ongoing work being undertaken by the scientific community. His work on the quantisation of light was the truly radical innovation.
 
It's interesting to note that Einstein actually applied probabilities when describing the absorption and emission of light quanta by atoms.

He introduced the previously unconsidered process of stimulated emission where an excited atom which is exposed to light will be stimulated to emit more light of the same frequency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_coefficients

This planted the seeds that led to the invention of the LASER (Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

Even on departing from the field, Einstein left us with the 1935 "EPR" paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_paradox which provided one of the first clear examples of what is now known as "quantum entanglement". This provided the foundation for revolutionary work on quantum theory and quantum information technology.

So Einstein may not have been entirely convinced by quantum theory, but he was highly influential in the quantum physics field.
 
I don't know why I'm sticking up for Einstein.

After all, what did he ever do for me! 😉
 

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