Whittaker, Einstein, and the History of the Aether: Alternative Interpretation, Blunder, or Bigotry? (2021)
Edmund T. Whittaker’s second edition of his A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity is famous for his treatment of Einstein as an almost irrelevant character in the emergence of what he called “the relativity theory of Poincaré and Lorentz.” Historians of science have given a number of explanations, which include Whittaker’s scientific conservatism as an old classical physicist, his commitment to the ether, the pre-eminent role he attributed to mathematics over physics, and foundational philosophical disagreements, to name a few. And in the background, often more implicit than forthright, the accusation of antisemitism looms over Whittaker. In this paper I intend to shed new light on this controversy by taking into consideration the abundant correspondence between Whittaker and his son preserved in the archives of the Fisher Library, University of Toronto. With it, we will get a more complex and personal view of the context in which his attempt at dethroning Einstein took place. Together with the abovementioned reasons, this correspondence shows that the problematic status quo of general relativity in the early 1950s, a period that has been described as the low-mark of general relativity, was very influential in the historical treatment he gave to Einstein. This is an aspect hardly mentioned in the historical work on this controversy and, from this correspondence, it appears to be central to understanding Whittaker at the time of drafting the new History. His possible antisemitic bias will also be addressed, though with the insufficient information on this subject the matter cannot be settled.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Wazeck, Milena;
(April 2013)
Marginalization Processes in Science: The Controversy About the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s
(/isis/citation/CBB507613424/)
Article
Robert Marc Friedman;
(2022)
The 100th Anniversary of Einstein's Nobel Prize: Facts and Fiction
(/isis/citation/CBB281209604/)
Article
Lalli, Roberto;
(2013)
Anti-Relativity in Action: The Scientific Activity of Herbert E. Ives between 1937 and 1953
(/isis/citation/CBB001252354/)
Article
Dongen, Jeroen van;
(2007)
Reactionaries and Einstein's Fame: “German Scientists for the Preservation of Pure Science,” Relativity, and the Bad Nauheim Meeting
(/isis/citation/CBB000780203/)
Book
Wazeck, Milena;
(2009)
Einsteins Gegner: die öffentliche Kontroverse um die Relativitätstheorie in den 1920er Jahren
(/isis/citation/CBB001022043/)
Article
Santos, Gildo Magalhães;
(2011)
A Debate on Magnetic Current: The Troubled Einstein--Ehrenhaft Correspondence
(/isis/citation/CBB001024707/)
Book
Alice Calaprice;
Daniel Kennefick;
Robert Schulmann;
(2015)
An Einstein Encyclopedia
(/isis/citation/CBB531111800/)
Article
Chandrasekhar, S.;
(1979)
Einstein and general relativity
(/isis/citation/CBB000009673/)
Chapter
Salvo D'Agostino;
(2009)
Einstein: la scienza come autocritica
(/isis/citation/CBB537435671/)
Book
Miller, Arthur I.;
(1981)
Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity: Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905-1911)
(/isis/citation/CBB000014014/)
Chapter
Howard, Don;
(2010)
“Let Me Briefly Indicate Why I Do Not Find This Standpoint Natural”: Einstein, General Relativity, and the Contingent a priori
(/isis/citation/CBB001033546/)
Chapter
Kleinert, Andreas;
(1993)
Paul Weyland, der Berliner Einstein-Töter
(/isis/citation/CBB000048912/)
Article
Byrne, Patrick H.;
(1980)
Statistical and causal concepts in Einstein's early thought
(/isis/citation/CBB000006415/)
Article
Einstein, Albert;
(1982)
How I created the theory of relativity. Edited by Ono, Yoshimasa
(/isis/citation/CBB000015036/)
Article
Fadner, W.L.;
(1988)
Did Einstein really discover “E=mc2”?
(/isis/citation/CBB000042301/)
Book
Cassidy, David;
(1995)
Einstein and our world
(/isis/citation/CBB000042616/)
Article
Norton, John;
(1985)
What was Einstien's principle of equivalence?
(/isis/citation/CBB000042717/)
Chapter
Everitt, C. W. F.;
(1980)
Experimental tests of General Relativity: Past, present and future
(/isis/citation/CBB000003529/)
Article
Miller, Arthur I.;
(1982)
On Einstein's invention of special relativity
(/isis/citation/CBB000001376/)
Book
Swenson, Loyd S.;
(1979)
Genesis of relativity: Einstein in context
(/isis/citation/CBB000002538/)
Be the first to comment!