Presumably, everyone has heard the story that Einstein, a great physicist, got very poor grades in primary school, especially in physics and mathematics. He even got 1 in mathematics, but in the end he became an epoch-making physicist. ?

Rumors:

Einstein is the greatest scientist in the twentieth century and one of the greatest scientists in human history. His independent theory of relativity is one of the two branches of physics. At the same time, Einstein also made great contributions to another branch of quantum mechanics. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of photoelectric effect.

Einstein got only one point in mathematics when he was a child, which is often talked about by many people. Some people console themselves by saying that no wonder they are poor at math. Some people are daydreaming that their poor math skills will be the seeds of great scientists in the future. But as we all know, Einstein's poor math is a complete rumor. Einstein did get a score in math when he was a child, but that doesn't mean he was poor at math. Instead, it is a good performance of Einstein's mathematics. When he was in elementary school, the school adopted a six-level scoring system, which was divided into six grades, with one point for each grade, and Einstein's score happened to be the highest grade, which means Einstein was a child prodigy and often got full marks in mathematics.

Einstein taught himself calculus at the age of 1895. This laid a solid mathematical foundation for his future work in relativity. In addition, Einstein published in the top international mathematical magazine "Mathematical Yearbook". Mathematics) published more than 10 articles, which also shows that his mathematics is very good.

In June, Einstein gave a speech at Herbert Spencer's lecture in Oxford University. In the process of expounding "the method of theoretical physics", he said: "Assuming that some of the most basic principles of theoretical physics cannot be obtained from experience, but must be created by us freely, is it possible for us to find the right path? ..... I will not hesitate to answer, at least in my opinion, the right path exists and we have the ability to find it. So far, our experience has convinced us that various phenomena in nature are realized by some of the most obvious mathematical principles. Therefore, I believe that the basic physical concepts that can explain natural phenomena and the physical laws that link these concepts can be found by pure mathematical methods.

Of course, actual observation is still the only criterion to test the physical efficacy of those mathematical models. But those creative principles are still rooted in mathematics. For Einstein, this statement is not just talk. This passage is actually a true portrayal of the methods used in his physical research at that time. From 1922 to the end of his life, Einstein has been trying to find a grand unified field theory that can establish the whole physics foundation. Einstein's exploration stems from the belief expressed in the last paragraph, that is, he believes in the creativity of mathematics and its basic position in the process of exploring nature.

Rumor expert: Liu Xin, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Expert: Chen Yifei, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Mathematics and System Science, China Academy of Sciences.

Producer: Cop China-Scientific Refutation