Bob Dopf, age 14, of Des Poines Iowa, For his question:

What is Einstein’s theory of relativity?

Albert Einstein was a whizz in the field of mathematics. He also had unbounded curiosity and a mind with enough daring to probe the outer reaches of space and time. As a young man he started to put his theories into figures and the world of science was staggered as he wrote one brilliant paper after another.

The year was 1905 and the world of science was teeming with new ideas   the very ideas which made possible the Space Age in which we live. It was not, however, prepared for a scientific paper read by a young patent clerk of Zurich, Switzerland. He was Albert Einstein. His paper was called A Special Theory of Relativity and its staggering ideas forced the world of science to think of their ideas in relation to the vast universe.

At that time it was said that only a dozen experts were equipped to grasp and test Einstein’s ideas. In 1911, Einstein read a science paper he called General Theory of Relativity which expanded and clarified his original work. Throughout his life he was interested in such cosmic items as light, gravity, velocity, energy and time.

He tried to see these items from a cosmic point of view. On earth we tell time from the motions of our planet, Einstein probed to discover time in relation to the universe. This notion is relative time and it explains why his theories are called relativity.

His amazing figures have now been digested and some though not all of the theories he suggested have been tested. Some do and some do not check with the facts we now have. Most people think that his equation E = mc2 is his only theory, but it is actually only one of many of his staggering ideas . ...

Einstein showed that energy and mass were related and his famous equation shows the ratio between mass and energy. The E stands  for a unit, of energy called the erg. The m stands for one gram of mass. The C stands for the number of centimeters which light travels in one second.

Einstein suggested that matter is a form of energy and that matter can be converted into energy and energy converted into matter. We can translate his famous equation into the statement that one gram of mass is equal to 900 billion billion ergs. This is enough energy to keep a 100 watt light bulb burning for 28,500 years.

But Albert Einstein had far more to say than this one equation. His theories of relativity suggest that light curves around stars and that space itself may be curved. He suggested that speed makes time go more slowly and particles gain mass when they travel at terrific speeds. These and other Einstein theories will be tested when our ships voyage into the vast oceans of cosmic space.