John S. Rigden
Author & Historian of Science
Adjunct Professor of Physics
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO

Talk Title: Einstein, 1905, 1999: Legacy and Hope

Abstract
Over a six month period, from March to September 1905, Einstein sent five trail-breaking papers to Annalen der Physik. This singular performance established Einstein as the standard of greatness. Today, after a century of enormous advances in physics, Einstein�s 1905 papers remain foundational to the discipline. Einstein did more than write great papers. He thought deeply about physics and his reputation is prominent in contemporary minds because, in a profoundly human way, he found meaning not only in the pursuit of physical knowledge but also in the knowledge itself. Without the wonder and awe Einstein brought to his physics, 1999 would not have happened.

Biographical Sketch
John S. Rigden is currently Adjunct Professor of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his B. S. from Eastern Nazarene College and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He was a Post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University. After several academic positions, Rigden joined the American Institute of Physics in 1987 as Director of Physics Programs.

Rigden is the author of Physics and the Sound of Music (John Wiley), Rabi: Scientist and Citizen (Basic Books), and Hydrogen: The Essential Element (Harvard). The latter was named one of the 20 best science books of 2002 by Discover magazine. His latest book, Einstein, 1905: The Standard of Greatness (Harvard) will be published in the fall of 2004. He co-edited Most of the Good Stuff, Memories of Richard Feynman and served as Editor-in-Chief for the four-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics and Building Blocks of Matter: A Supplement to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics.

Rigden was editor of the American Journal of Physics from 1978 to 1988. Currently he is co-editor (with Roger Stuewer) of the scholarly journal, Physics in Perspective, published by Birkhäuser Publishing in Basel, Switzerland. Rigden is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Denison University