Science: Einstein Made Easy

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Time—the Fourth Dimension of Einstein and Ouspensky (talented Russian author of Tertium Organum) is graphically illustrated in the former's " Relativity" film now exhibited at cinema houses.

The picture shows in the simplest manner that things are not always what they seem. What is apparently a sharply bent line may be actually a lead pencil resting in a glass of water, the refraction occurring at the surface of the water where the pencil emerges into a less dense medium, causing it to appear bent. A spot that appears to be white upon a black background is actually gray when seen on a white background. A projectile shot vertically upward from the earth really follows a curved course in space, due to the sidewise motion imparted to it by the rotation of the earth.

The film also explains Dr. Einstein's theory of how light rays from the stars are bent by the magnetic attraction of the sun as they pass it, and the verification of this theory by astronomers during an eclipse.

After showing that everything in the universe is relative as compared to something else and that the speed of light (186,000 miles a second) is the only standard that never varies, Dr. Einstein introduces time as the fourth dimension, and brings his picture to a whirlwind conclusion by shooting the spectator back through 431 years to 1492.

The onlooker is now back with Columbus discovering America. The 431 years to 1923 A. D. (which for us are the past) are for Columbus the the future. Time itself is relative.