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Inspired by Scientific American’s terrific September issue, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s theory of general relativity [see Addendum], I’ve dusted off an essay I wrote for The New York Times a decade ago. Here is an edited, updated version. —John Horgan

When Stevens Institute of Technology hired me a decade ago, it installed me for several months in the department of physics, which had a spare office. Down the hall from me, Albert Einstein's electric-haired visage beamed from a poster for the "World Year of Physics 2005." The poster celebrated the centennial of the "miraculous year" when a young patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, revolutionized physics with five papers on relativity, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. "Help make 2005 another Miraculous Year!" the poster exclaimed.

 

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