Dr. Christopher Bird

For those of you who are completely ignorant of the significance of March 14, today is Pi-Einstein Day (sometimes shortened to just Pi Day by the luddites and laymen). It is a big holiday among the geek world, and even the U.S. Government has recognized its importance.

First off, today is Albert Einstein's birthday. That alone makes it worth celebrating, as the great man not only developed the theory of relativity that he is famous for, but also provided proof of the existence of atoms with an explanation of Brownian motion, and proved the existence of quantum mechanics with his explanation of the photo-electric effect. And all three of those occurred in the same miracle year!

And possibly more important, depending on one's viewpoint, is that Einstein became a celebrity outside of academia and was an advocate for bringing science to the masses. (Some people also want to blame Einstein for nuclear weapons, but really that is like blaming a traffic jam on the guy who invented the wheel)

All in all, Einstein has done more for the advancement of science and society than all of the other celebrities with birthday holidays combined. We must celebrate the great man and his contributions to the world.

The second reason for today's celebrations is that it is Pi Day! The date of March 14 is 3/14 which coincidentally is the same three digits as Pi (3.141592653). And so on this day all across the globe engineering and science students, and hopefully members of the general public, will be enjoying pies and listening to lectures. Of course the pinnacle of Pi Days will be in 2015, at 9:26:53, when the official date will read 3/14/15 9:26:53 – covering the first ten digits of pi.

So everyone should enjoy the day, and eat a pie. But do it at relativistic speeds to honour the full meaning of Pi-Einstein Day :)