He developed his special theory of relativity and the famous equation, E=mc2 (energy=mass times the speed of light squared), established the matter-energy equivalence, in which all matter is energy. He was the theoretician who succeeded in synthesizing the discoveries in physics up until and including his own work. Einstein was first a German national, then, after a period of statelessness, became a Swiss citizen in 1901, and eventually acquired dual Swiss-American citizenship in 1940. The latter, born in Ulm on March 14, 1879, specialized in theoretical physics. However, with Walther Nernst, he organized the first Solvay Conference in Brussels in 1911, which brought together the most eminent physicists of the era.īoth Max Planck and Albert Einstein were active at the time of the Great War. At the end of 1900, the summary of his research, presented to the German Physical Society in Berlin, marked the birth of quantum theory, although Planck himself would not contribute significantly to this specific subject after this time. In 1894, he formulated the law on blackbody radiation, and in 1899, introduced the Planck constant and the notion of quanta (photons).
Max Planck, already a renowned scientific pioneer at the beginning of the 20th century, carried out important work in thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and statistical physics. Most of the research was carried out at the University of Toronto and McGill University, with a flurry of proposals of a military nature being submitted to the research fellows, who contributed much to innovation in combat. The members of the Council quickly concluded that scientific research in Canada was underdeveloped, and the first measures they took aimed to correct this situation, including the granting of scholarships. In Great Britain, the Board of Inventions and Research was established for this purpose in Canada, an Order in Council in June 1916 created the Honorary Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the basis for the National Research Council (1925). Scientists in Canada, as elsewhere, were mobilized for combat, but more often to carry out research that would be useful in fighting the war. When the Great War broke out, both government and industry in Canada became acutely aware of their dependence on German products and know-how in the domains of optics and chemical processes.
From the very beginning of the war, academics and scientists were mobilized by the various governments of the belligerent countries, like the rest of the population, and many of them participated actively in the conflict, to the extent that “even contemporaries realized they had entered the era of scientific war, according to Ernst Junger.” The large number of famous scientists at this time is indicative of the progress made in the 19th century and in the First World War. In addition to medicine and surgery (see the 10 Lives file on this subject), the physical sciences, chemistry, and mathematics were revolutionized at the beginning of the 20th century. The Great War was a period of great advances in scientific knowledge.