Albert Einstein Essays (1529 words) - Albert Einstein, Mileva Mari

Albert Einstein Of all the scientists to emerge from the twentieth centuries there is one whose name is known by almost all living people. While most of these do not understand this man's work, everyone knows that its impact on the world of science is astonishing. Yes, many have heard of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, but few know about the intriguing life that led this scientist to discover what some have called, "The greatest single achievement of human thought." Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. Before his first birthday, his family had moved to Munich where Albert's father, Hermann Einstein, and uncle set up a small electro-chemical business. He was fortunate to have an excellent family with which he held a strong relationship. Albert's mother, Pauline Einstein, had an intense passion for music and literature, and it was she that first introduced her son to the violin in which he found much joy and relaxation. Also, he was very close with his younger sister, Maja, and they could often be found in the lakes that were scattered about the countryside near Munich. As a child, Einstein's sense of curiosity had already begun to stir. A favorite toy if his was his father's compass and he often marveled at his uncle's explanations of algebra. Although young Albert was intrigued by certain mysteries of science, he was considered a slow learner. His failure to become fluent in German until the age of nine even led some teachers to believe he was disabled. Einstein's post-basic education began at the Luitpold Gymnasium when he was ten. It was here that he first encountered the German spirit through the school's strict disciplinary policy. His disapproval of this method of teaching led to his reputation as a rebel. It was probably these differences that caused Einstein to search for knowledge at home. He began not with science, but with religion. He avidly studied the Bible seeking truth, but this religious fervor soon died down when he discovered the intrigue of science and math. To him, these seemed much more realistic than ancient stories. With this new knowledge he disliked class even more, and was eventually expelled from Luitpold Gymnasium, being considered a disruptive influence. Feeling that he could no longer deal with the German mentality, Einstein moved to Switzerland where he continued his education. At sixteen he attempted to enroll at the Federal Institute of Technology, but failed the entrance exam. This forced him to study locally for one year until he finally passed the school's evaluation. The Institute allowed Einstein to meet many other students that shared his curiosity, and it was here that his studies turned mainly to Physics. He quickly learned that while physicists had generally agreed on major principles in the past, there were modern scientists who were attempting to disprove outdated theories. Since most of Einstein's teachers ignored these new ideas, he was again forced to explore on his own. In 1900 he graduated from the Institute and then achieved citizenship to Switzerland. Einstein became a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in 1902. This job had little to do with physics, but he was able to satiate his curiosity by figuring out how new inventions worked. The most important part of Einstein's occupation was that it allowed him enough time to pursue his own line of research. As his ideas began to develop, he published them in specialist journals. Though he was still unknown to the scientific world, he began to attract a large circle of friends and admirers. A group of students that he tutored quickly transformed into a social club that shared a love of nature, music, and of course, science. In 1903, he married Mileva Maric, a mathematician friend. In 1905, Einstein published five separate papers in a journal, the Annals of Physics. The first was immediately acknowledged, and the University of Zurich awarded Einstein an additional degree. The other papers helped to develop modern physics and earned him the reputation of an artist. Many scientists have said that Einstein's work contained an imaginative spirit that was seen in most poetry. His work at this time dealt with molecules, and how their motion affected temperature, but he is most well known for his Special Theory of Relativity, which tackled motion and the speed of light. By far, the biggest year of Einstein's life was 1905. It is called his "Miracle Year." Perhaps the most important part of his discoveries was the equation E=mc2 (Energy equals mass times the velocity of light

Richard Nixons Rocky Road to Presidency essays

Richard Nixon's Rocky Road to Presidency essays Richard Milhous Nixon, America's thirty-seventh president, was the second of five sons of Frances Anthony and Hannah Milhous Nixon. He was born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California ("Richard Milhous Nixon"). The name, Nixon, means "he wins" or "he faileth not" (Ambrose 12). Hannah was a member of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers. Nixon's father was a Methodist but converted to Quakerism and became deeply committed when he was married (Ambrose 18). Frank taught Sunday school and at the age of five Nixon attended regularly, at the age of six or seven he participated in discussions and expressed his opinions (Hoyt 28). He was not a boy who enjoyed pranks but was very mature even when he was five or six years old and interested in things way beyond the usual grasp of a boy his age (Mazo 19). Nixon was hard-working and labeled a "helper" at home, but because he particularly hated washing dishes, he would pull down the window shade in the kitchen in case some outsider saw h im doing "women's work" (Mazo and Hess 37). Nixon would love to sit and read to his mother and just be around her. His father frightened him, but he never doubted his love and protection (Hoyt 30). Religion, family, and school were the center of Nixon's life. He attended a church where he learned tolerance, and not to show emotions or express his feelings physically (Mazo 18). Throughout his adult life, he would bottle up his emotions and sometimes even appear cold to his wife Patricia Ryan whom he married in 1940 ("Richard Milhous Nixon"). Some would say Nixon's "public indifference toward Pat bordered on cruelty [and he] almost brutally ignored her as she trotted along behind him" (Ambrose 585). The inability to trust anyone became one of Nixon's principal personality traits and later on he would comment on it in his speeches: "in my job [he was then Vice President] you can't enjoy the luxury of intimate personal relationships. You can't confide absolute...

Implementation of Balance Score Card (BSC) Essay

Implementation of Balance Score Card (BSC) - Essay Example Balance Score Card (BSC) is a framework for measuring performance on strategic level and accounts both financial and non financial measures (Banker, Chang, and Pizzini. 2011). BSC, since introduced by Kaplan and Norton in the early 1990s, has been adopted by large number of organizations. It is called BSC as it attempts to balance between short and long term goals while maintaining balance between financial and non financial variable (Kalpan, 2010). Proponents of BSC claim that it has many beneficial features that makes it preferred choice; such as connecting vision with strategy and activities down the hierarchy; cause and effect relationship of performance drivers with outcome etc (Chavan, 2009). Other feature that makes it most advocated is the fact of providing performance measurement and goal oriented guidance by combining variables or perspectives (2GC Limited, 2011). With agreement on benefits BSC offers to organization, fact remains that due benefit from BSC can only be avail ed based on appropriate and well thought implementation and there has been considerable debate on the implementation of BSC. This paper is also aimed to investigate and analyze success or failure of BSC that can be attributed to the appropriate implementation. Followed by introduction is the literature review of past academic studies done in the selected domain. Research methodology contains information related to method adopted to address the selected question. Analysis section provides analysis of the case studies selected to address the aim of this research. Finally, conclusion provides response to the question based on evidence collected in analysis section. LITERATURE REVIEW There is immense literature available on the BSC from various perspectives. This section will draw some relevant literature to BSC, its implementation with its proponents and critics. The section will also draw references related to implementation phase and cause implementation failure. Variation in studies are present that discussed increase in the adoption BSC due to the benefits it offers while others revealed firm’s decision of not adopting BSC due to less benefit it offers in proportion to the efforts required to implement it (Cardinaels, Paula, and Veen-Dirks. 2010). BSC has also undergone critical evaluation of assumptions on which it is built; such as managers’ capacity to link strategy to operational matrices in different departments and levels and issues related to designing BSC related to the respective organization etc (Geuser, Mooraj, and Oyon. 2009). Hence, discussion from various perspectives to explore possible deviation (Neely, 2005) while each aspect, directly or indirectly, referred to the factors that lead or hamper successful implementation of BSC. PEA, for instance, suggested complete procedure to develop balance score card to meet the challenges posed by other performance measurement in procurement organizations. It provided detailed guidance for a ll four perspectives including customer, financial, internal business processes and learning and growth perspective. It was also aimed to develop a model that allows comparability among various organizations along with providing a comprehensive performance measurement system (as given in image below (Procurement Executives’ Association, 2000). Hence, BSC shall be devised with adaptability to the nature and size of the firm (Rompho, 2011). Richardson (2004) provided six elements to be employed for the successful implementation of balance score card. These six elements include: first, development of strategy; second, involvement of strategic management and feedback from other management level of the new strategy; third, development of balance score card and its vision while both being aligned with vision of organization; fourth, implementation of balance score card performance measurement systems all around the organization and each level; fifth, communicating and educating the objective of BSC to employees and lastly