IF you want to book an Einstein lookalike for your bar mitzvah, school f锚te or corporate event this year, forget it. Every actor with a white frizzy wig, droopy moustache and puppy-dog eyes has been snapped up faster than you can say 鈥渟peed of light鈥�, by the organisers of the International Year of Physics.
The iconic physicist is the face of a UN-backed campaign designed to raise awareness of the subject. The International Year of Physics promises a barrage of physics-themed parties, pageants and performances: an Einstein treasure hunt, poetry and poster competitions, Einstein birthday parties, and re-enactments of his most famous lectures. Physicists all over the world been cajoled into sharing their vision and passion with politicians, schoolchildren and the public at large. Italian tyre company Pirelli is offering a 鈧�25,000 prize to the person who can best explain relativity to a lay audience in 5 minutes.
There is also an opportunity to join a cutting-edge research project. Einstein@home is a screensaver that allows you to search for gravitational waves using your home computer. Einstein predicted these minuscule ripples in space-time, though so far no one has detected them directly. While your computer sits idle, it could be hunting for these waves in the data from gravitational wave observatories in the US and Germany.
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One of the year鈥檚 events has already sparked controversy, however. Although 2005 was chosen because it marks the centenary of three of Einstein鈥檚 greatest scientific papers, 18 April is also the 50th anniversary of Einstein鈥檚 death. To commemorate the day, physicists are planning to hold a light relay, a kind of Mexican wave in which people around the world take turns to shine lights into the night sky. The event has drawn criticism from astronomers, who say that there is already too much light pollution obscuring the stars from view. British physicists are boycotting the event and are considering undertaking a national light pollution survey instead.
And that is not the only deviation from the original plan: aware of the dread that the P-word induces in the general population, many countries have decided to drop the official name and call it Einstein Year instead. 鈥淓instein is a hook,鈥� says Caitlin Watson of the UK鈥檚 Institute of Physics. 鈥淲e had to decide between grabbing people鈥檚 attention and not grabbing it at all.鈥� In other words, it is a rebranding exercise. The organisers hope that calling it Einstein Year will shake off people鈥檚 perception of physicists as eccentric male boffins with wild hair. Er, hang on a minute鈥�
