The formula that rocked the world is 100 years old this year. In 1905 Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity was published and his equation which represented energy being equal to mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light — E=mc2 — went on to revolutionise modern physics.
The centenary of Einstein’s annus mirabilis is an auspicious one. To mark the occasion, this year has been declared World Year of Physics. It is a theme that has led South Africa’s annual national festival of science, engineering and technology to dedicate this year’s Sasol SciFest to the celebration of science.
The festival takes place in Grahamstown from March 16 to 22 and aims to promote the sciences in South Africa with more than 600 events, including lectures, workshops, exhibitions, discussions and interactive educational experiences. This year it will also be playing host to the launch of the South African World Year of Physics programme, which is marked by a special lecture by respected South African astronomer Dr Thebe Rodney Medupe.
The lecture is titled Looking for Earths Around Other Stars. Only in the past 10 years have astronomers been able to locate any planets at all around other stars. Now, more than 100 of them are known, but almost none of them resemble the planets we are used to in our solar system.
Medupe will talk about the search for other worlds, particularly other worlds like our Earth.
It is just becoming possible that we may find out how many stars in our galaxy are likely to have worlds similar in size and temperature to our own.
Medupe grew up in a village outside Mafikeng, North West Province. He is a research astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory and has published several scientific papers on the subject of stellar seismology. He also presented a lecture at Sasol SciFest 2004 titled, Seismology of Stars.
Medupe’s lecture and the launch of the South African programme of the World Year of Physics forms part of Sasol SciFest’s official opening ceremony at the Monument Guy Butler Theatre on March 18.
The official opening of the festival will be performed by Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena and the keynote speaker will be one of South Africa’s leading women in science — Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan.
A prominent palaeobiologist, Chinsamy-Turan is vice-president of the Academy of Science of South Africa and president of the Association of South African Women in Science and Engineering. She will be giving a talk on unravelling the biology of dinosaurs and other extinct animals using bone microstructure.
The festival’s programme this year mirrors three important aspects of celebrating science.
‘Firstly, we celebrate the achievements of the scientific superstars, such as Einstein, whose momentous publications in 1905 form a major component of the Unesco World Year of Physics programme,” says Dr Bob Day, chairperson of the Sasol SciFest National Advisory Committee.
‘Secondly, we celebrate science as a truly global enterprise, where the breakthroughs of the superstars would not have been possible without the preceding work over the centuries by thousands of scientists across the planet.
‘And thirdly, we celebrate the unique link between science and humanity, since every normal infant is born with natural mathematical and scientific abilities,” says Day.
In its nine years of existence, Sasol SciFest has done much to boost the popularity and celebration of science in South Africa.
‘There is a good reason to try to do this,” explains Pieter Cox, CEO of Sasol SciFest’s sponsor, Sasol Limited.
‘Our country’s future ability to compete in challenging world markets will depend greatly on our shared efforts to continue promoting innovative scientific and technological skills based on the power of imagination,” says Cox, adding that the celebrations at this year’s SciFest will not be restricted to science alone. Indeed, the festival itself has been an award-winner, clinching last year’s National Science and Technology Forum’s Science, Engineering and Technology Award in the category of non-profit organisation. And Sasol SciFest National Advisory Committee vice-chairperson, Professor Tebello Nyokong, won the 2004 SABC2/ Shoprite Checkers Woman of the Year Award in the science and technology category for her work on the study of how red light affects cancer.
This year it also celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Albany Science Museum and St Andrews College, the predecessor of Rhodes University.
Genius upstaged
Einstein features prominently at this year’s SciFest, and in some innovative ways too. Actor David Muller (left), who honed his thespian skills in classical theatre but is now making a huge impact with his science theatre productions, has made the physicist the subject of a serious but entertaining piece of educational theatre, produced through the MTNScienCentre in Cape Town.
Entitled Imagining Einstein, the play looks at the life of Einstein, from his miserable days as a below-average student to his meteoric rise to fame as one of the greatest scientists on the planet, ending with his campaigns for world peace.
Imagining Einstein runs at the Monument Guy Butler Theatre on March 17, 19 and 22 from 2pm to 3pm. Entrance is R7,50.