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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (71319)	1/26/2005 9:26:09 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 89467

Germany celebrates 'Einstein Year' AP January 20, 2005 BERLIN: Germany kicked off celebrations Wednesday of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and the 50th anniversary of his death, honoring the legendary native son whose books were once burned by the Nazis. The so-called "Einstein Year" of 2005, is being marked with tours, a scientific conference and a major exhibition about Einstein, whose theories about space, time and relativity revolutionised science and also helped make him a pop icon. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder began the celebration Wednesday evening at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, calling on his fellow Germans and scientists to embrace innovation and political debate as Einstein would. "He revolutionised science and changed the world through his thinking. He has become a cult figure for the youth of the world through his moral incorruptibility," Schroeder said. "And to the end, Einstein - who again and again set himself against the most evil anti-Semitic hatemongering - fought against the strengthening of the Nazis and for the defense of democracy." Einstein, who was Jewish, was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He left Germany one month before Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, never to return. From the beginning, he was a forceful critic of Hitler's dictatorship. In a letter to a friend in 1936, for instance, he wrote: "The only good thing appears to be that Hitler in the awareness of his power will commit enough stupidities to bring the world against him." Einstein's special theory of relativity makes the point that a large amount of energy could be released from a tiny amount of matter, as expressed in the equation E=mc2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). The theory changed the face of physics, allowing scientists to make predictions about space and paving the way for nuclear power and the atomic bomb - deeply ironic, considering Einstein's inclination to pacifism. Although he didn't work on the bomb, Einstein signed a crucial 1939 letter urging US President Franklin Roosevelt to speed work on nuclear weapons, warning the Germans appeared to doing the same - an action he later said he regretted. His scientific legacy prompted Time magazine to name him its Person of the 20th Century, and his musings on science, war and peace, and God helped make him a name known worldwide, iconised on coffee mugs and dorm room posters with his mass of unkempt white hair and in a famous photograph with his tongue sticking out. Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 18, 1955. Germans have taken that iconic status as a chance to ponder Germany's own scientific innovations, and wonder how to keep its brightest lights from leaving. On Wednesday, Schroeder urged Germans to embrace change and to use Einstein's example. "That means to me to emphasize much stronger in the future the enormous opportunities in scientific and technical advancement, without losing sight of the risks," he said. The country has long prided itself on being the homeland of some of the world's greatest philosophers and scientists, but it has agonised in recent years about the strength of its education system and the "brain drain" that draws its scientists to elite universities in the United States. "Einstein finally stands for much that this country has needed bitterly: the desire to puzzle over and discover things," the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily commented. "The cult of Einstein could have positive effects. The humorous physicist would certainly not be displeased if he fired up research in Germany 50 years after his death.'" theaustralian.news.com.au

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (71319)	1/26/2005 9:36:55 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Report: Global Warming at Critical Point Tue Jan 25, 7:24 AM ET Science - AP By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer LONDON - Global warming (news - web sites) is approaching the point of no return, after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible, an international climate change task force warned Monday. It called on the Group of 8 leading industrial nations to cut carbon emissions, double their research spending on technology and work with India and China to build on the Kyoto Protocol (news - web sites) for cuttings emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming. The independent report was made by the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain, the Center for American Progress in the United States and the Australia Institute. "An ecological time bomb is ticking away," said Stephen Byers, who was co-chairman of the task force with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine. "World leaders need to recognize that climate change is the single most important long-term issue that the planet faces." Byers is a close confidant of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), and the report was timed to coincide with Blair's commitment to advance international climate change policy during Britain's presidency of the G-8 this year. Byers said it is vital that Blair secure U.S. cooperation in tackling climate change. President Bush (news - web sites) has rejected the Kyoto accord, arguing that the carbon emission cuts it demands would damage the U.S. economy and that it leaves out emerging polluters like China and India. "What we have got to do then is get the Americans as part of the G-8 to engage in international concerted effort to tackle global warming," said Byers. "If they refuse to do that then other countries will be reluctant to take any steps." According to the report, urgent action is needed to stop the global average temperature rising by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the level of 1750 — the approximate start of the Industrial Revolution when mankind first started significantly adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Beyond such a rise, "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly," the report said, adding that there would be a danger of "abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change." It warned of "climatic tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down. No accurate temperature readings were available for 1750, the report said, but since 1860 the global average temperature has risen by 0.8 percent to 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). The report said a 2-degree Celsius rise in the average temperature could be avoided by keeping the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 400 parts per million. Current concentrations of 379 parts per million "are likely to rise above 400 parts per million in coming decades and could rise far higher under a business-as-usual scenario," it said. The task force urged G-8 countries to agree to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and shift agricultural subsidies from food crops to biofuels. The task force of senior politicians, scientists and business figures was formed last March. Its chief scientific adviser was Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations (news - web sites)' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The British government welcomed the report, which mirrors many of the suggestions already floated by Blair in the leadup to Britain's G-8 presidency. Blair has acknowledged the importance of U.S. cooperation, but concedes Washington is unlikely to sign on for the Kyoto Protocol and is instead pursuing international commitment to developing new environmentally friendly technology story.news.yahoo.com