Weinstein, Galina (Author)
This book pieces together the jigsaw puzzle of Einstein's journey to discovering the special theory of relativity. Between 1902 and 1905, Einstein sat in the Patent Office and may have made calculations on old pieces of paper that were once patent drafts. One can imagine Einstein trying to hide from his boss, writing notes on small sheets of paper, and, according to reports, seeing to it that the small sheets of paper on which he was writing would vanish into his desk-drawer as soon as he heard footsteps approaching his door. He probably discarded many pieces of papers and calculations and flung them in the waste paper basket in the Patent Office. The end result was that Einstein published nothing regarding the special theory of relativity prior to 1905. For many years before 1905, he had been intensely concerned with the topic; in fact, he was busily working on the problem for seven or eight years prior to 1905. Unfortunately, there are no surviving notebooks and manuscripts, no notes and papers or other primary sources from this critical period to provide any information about the crucial steps that led Einstein to his great discovery. In May 1905, Henri Poincare sent three letters to Hendrik Lorentz at the same time that Einstein wrote his famous May 1905 letter to Conrad Habicht, promising him four works, of which the fourth one, Relativity, was a rough draft at that point. In the May 1905 letters to Lorentz, Poincare presented the basic equations of his 1905 "Dynamics of the Electron", meaning that, at this point, Poincare and Einstein both had drafts of papers relating to the principle of relativity. The book discusses Einstein's and Poincare's creativity and the process by which their ideas developed. The book also explores the misunderstandings and paradoxes apparent in the theory of relativity, and unravels the subtleties and creativity of Einstein.
...MoreReview David E. Rowe (2019) Review of "Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 201-204).
Review David E. Rowe (2019) Review of "Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 201-204).
Article
Abiko, Seiya;
(2005)
The Light-Velocity Postulate? The Essential Difference between the Theories of Lorentz-Poincaré and Einstein
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Article
Provost, Jean-Pierre;
Bracco, Christian;
(2006)
La Relativité de Poincaré de 1905 et les Transformations Actives
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Book
Galison, Peter;
(2003)
Einstein's Clocks and Poincaré's Maps: Empires of Time
(/isis/citation/CBB000470038/)
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/)
Chapter
Schaffner, Kenneth F.;
(1976)
Space and time in Lorentz, Poincaré, and Einstein: Divergent approaches to the discovery and development of the special theory of relativity
(/isis/citation/CBB000012557/)
Chapter
Pietro Di Mauro;
Angelo Pagano;
(2016)
Una nota sulla critica storica alle trasformazioni di Lorentz in relatività speciale
(/isis/citation/CBB159410983/)
Book
Frits Berends;
Dirk van Delft;
(2019)
Lorentz. Gevierd fysicus, geboren verzoener [Lorentz: Celebrated physicist, born conciliator]
(/isis/citation/CBB110248928/)
Article
Galison, Peter L.;
Burnett, D. Graham;
(2003)
Einstein, Poincaré & Modernity: A Conversation
(/isis/citation/CBB000300957/)
Article
Gingras, Yves;
(2008)
The Collective Construction of Scientific Memory: The Einstein-Poincaré Connection and Its Discontents, 1905--2005
(/isis/citation/CBB000931531/)
Article
Pyenson, Lewis;
(2013)
The Einstein-Picasso Question: Neo-Idealist Abstraction in the Decorative Arts and Manufactures
(/isis/citation/CBB001212588/)
Article
Frisch, Mathias;
(2005)
Mechanisms, Principles, and Lorentz's Cautious Realism
(/isis/citation/CBB000771661/)
Article
Janssen, Michel;
(2002)
Reconsidering a Scientific Revolution: The Case of Einstein versus Lorentz
(/isis/citation/CBB000642049/)
Article
Dyson, Freeman J.;
(2012)
Is Science Mostly Driven by Ideas or by Tools?
(/isis/citation/CBB001320450/)
Article
Katzir, Shaul;
(2005)
Poincaré's Relativistic Physics: Its Origins and Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB000641836/)
Article
Bracco, Christian;
Provost, Jean-Pierre;
(2009)
De l'électromagnétisme à la mécanique: Le rôle de l'action dans le Mémoire de Poincaré de 1905
(/isis/citation/CBB000954549/)
Book
Petkov, Vesselin;
(2010)
Minkowski Spacetime: A Hundred Years Later
(/isis/citation/CBB001032084/)
Chapter
Goenner, Hubert;
(2010)
Max Plancks Beiträge zur speziellen Relativitätstheorie
(/isis/citation/CBB001024512/)
Article
Schroer, Bert;
(2013)
The Einstein-Jordan Conundrum and Its Relation to Ongoing Foundational Research in Local Quantum Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB001212075/)
Essay Review
Stanley, Matthew;
(2008)
Einstein: Essence or Explanation?
(/isis/citation/CBB001566269/)
Article
Miller, Arthur I.;
(1987)
A précis of Edmund Whittaker's “Relativity theory of Poincaré and Lorentz”
(/isis/citation/CBB000064916/)
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