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Notes on video lecture:
Events, Clocks, and Observers
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on June 25, 2015 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
accuracy, origin, observe, three, event, fourth, granted, trivial, photo, when, special, far, while, time, lattice, profound, problem
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concepts that are fundamental to the                theory of relativity
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events, clocks, and observers
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this concept is almost                in a sense
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part of Einstein's genius was to look at these concepts that many people took for               
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what does it mean to                something?
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where something happened
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         something happened
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e.g. a flash occurring at a specific place and time
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           dimensional coordinate system
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x, y, z axis
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any given event would have an x,y,z coordinate
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measuring system
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an            happens at x,y,z
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but we need a          as well
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so we need a system of time keeping
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so time is the              dimension
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not really as                  as it seems to be
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three spacial coordinates and time as well
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we assume we have an             , e.g. (0,0,0,0)
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we say this is the observer at time 0
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gets to the question how we measure time
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there is a                with that, which is that time does not move at infinite speed, but a finite speed
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light from the flash takes a            to get to the origin where the observer is
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you could figure out how        away the light is by how long it took to get to the observer
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we could also put clocks at all points
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the "photo clock principle"
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every single point in time has a clock associated with it
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we'll assume when the flash goes off, there is a            taken recording the x/y/z/t coordinates
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a                of clocks
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a grid of clocks
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issue: there is an infinite number of points
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resolution: depending on the                  we want, we add or subtract the number of clocks

Ideas and Concepts:

Classical adage of the day via this morning's Understanding Einstein class: "Festina lente. The original form of this saying, σπεῦδε βραδέως, is Classical Greek, of which festina lente is the Latin translation, which mean "make haste slowly". The intent of the phrase is that activities should be performed with a proper balance of urgency and diligence. If tasks are overly rushed, mistakes are made and good long-term results are not achieved. Work is best done in a state of flow in which one is fully engaged by the task and there is no sense of time passing. Perhaps Nicolas Boileau expressed it best in his 1674 poem Art poétique:"Hâtez-vous lentement, et sans perdre courage, vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage, polissez-le sans cesse, et le repolissez, ajoutez quelquefois, et souvent effacez. ("Slowly make haste, of labor not afraid, a hundred times consider what you've said, polish, repolish, every color lay, and sometimes add, but oftener take away.")"
Pre-Einstein Physics up to 1905
Einstein's Life Up To 1905
The Annus Mirabilis Papers of 1905
Dirac, Einstein, and Mathematical Beauty
Events, Clocks, and Observers