At 7pm last night, Taipei 101 was lit up with the most famous mathematical formula in the history of science -- Albert Einstein's E=mc2 -- in commemoration of the extraordinary physicist's death.
That lighting ceremony was also carried out in nine other locations across the country as part of a global relay of light, "Physics Enlightens the World," to promote physics and pay respects to one of the 20th century's geniuses.
Other lighting events took place in eastern Hualien County, southern Taiwan and even on Yushan, the nation's highest mountain.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday in Kaohsiung, participants wearing Einstein masks held flashlights to light up the formula.
The worldwide campaign produced an intercontinental relay of light that circled the globe in one night and united countries under the banner of physics.
According to Chang Ching-ray (張慶瑞), a physics professor at National Taiwan University and director-general of the Physical Society of ROC, the idea of a global lighting campaign was put forward by Max Lippitsch and Sonja Draxler, physicists at the University of Graz in Austria, three years ago at a conference held by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in Berlin.
"We hope to raise public awareness that not only physics but also other basic science subjects deserve more attention," Chang said. "Because of the foundation of knowledge built by scientists in the early 20th century, people nowadays enjoy many applications."
Chang said that the lighting campaign serves as a tribute to Einstein's many contributions.
In 1905, Einstein explained the photoelectric effect, which refers to the emission of electrons from the surface of a metal in response to incident light. Because of this and his contributions to theoretical physics, Einstein received the Nobel prize in physics in 1921.
Campaign organizers believe that science -- like sports or music -- is a universal language that crosses political and ideological borders.
Physicists and Albert Einstein buffs flipped light switches and dialed phones in the worldwide relay.
It got under way at 8:45pm on Monday with the illumination of the football stadium and two towers on the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. From there, about 140 groups illuminated everything from campus structures to private homes, one right after another, in a relay across the US.
Organizers then took the relay around the world, using the telephone on some legs, said Claire Gmachl, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Princeton who was organizing the start of the relay. She said phone calls travel over fiber-optic cables, which make them lights, in a sense.
"For a scientist or engineer like myself," she said, "light is light."
The event drew criticism, however, from some astronomers concerned about light pollution.
Chang said this year is also the World Year of Physics, endorsed by the UN as an international celebration of physics. Events throughout the year will highlight the vitality of physics and commemorate the pioneering contributions of Einstein in 1905. Einstein, who lived and worked in Princeton from 1933 until his death on April 18, 1955, published three groundbreaking papers on physics in 1905. One of them laid out what is now known as the Theory of Relativity, which deals with the nature of light.
Einstein was then a 26-year-old Swiss patent clerk, working on physics problems in his spare time.
"The 21st century has just begun," Chang told the Taipei Times. "It's time for us to dig further into basic scientific subjects to create a more solid foundation of knowledge for future generations."
Chang said the government should invest more to encourage research in the basic sciences.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS