Who Discovered Relativity
Content
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Antoinette Martin Professor Spencer Hamblen FYS: Scientific Revolutions 05 December 2013 Who Discovered Relativity? Who discovered Relativity? Presented with this question, one would most likely immediately answer, “Einstein”. However, the answer isn’t that clear and it’s not a simple question. This is because the word “discovery” is ambiguous in that it can have several different meanings, and the criteria for the meaning of a discovery is entirely subjective. So, what does it mean to be the “discoverer” of something? Is it whoever contributed most to the discovery? Or perhaps it’s whoever first published work on it. Or maybe, it’s whoever first did any sort of research on it at all. People use different criteria for determine who discovered something. Using the discovery of Relativity as an example, we’ll discuss some of these criteria below, their fundamental errors (as there will never be a perfect answer) and the conclusion that the person, through the criteria, would come to. One criteria that someone could argue for, asked above, is as follows: The discoverer is whoever contributed the most work towards a discovery. In terms of Relativity, most people would almost immediately think “Einstein”. It’s true that he’s the most well know person when discussing Relativity, but it’s arguable that that doesn’t make him the person who contributed the most work. It could mean that he contributed the best, work, but that’s a whole different criteria.
Martin 2
Let’s look at some of the people who contributed a lot of work and try to determine if there was one who contributed more than the other. Let’s look at three people who were major contributors in the discovery of Relativity: One, Henri Poincaré, two, Albert Einstein, and three, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and theoretical physicist, was the first person to use the term “Principle of Relativity” (Cuvaj). Poincaré not only came up with several advances in Relativity (Poincaré stresses, the relationship between mass and energy, etc.), he was a friendly critic of another prominent figure in Relativity: Hedrick Lorentz. He introduced several of the terms we use in physics today such as “Lorentz transformations”. Albert Einstein, a German theoretical physicist, is well known for his work in General and Special Relativity. He came up with the equation E=mc2 which, much like Poincaré did, defined the relationship between mass and energy. He also contributed in many other ways such as the Equivalence principle on freefalling, time dilation and light bending. These are just a few of his major contributions in Relativity. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American astrophysicist contributed in different ways than the first two. He was fascinated with the theory of Relativity and was likely the first to teach it in the University of Chicago (Ashtekar). He gave several lectures on Relativity and often criticized Einstein’s work. He came up with a theory about the stability of self-gravitational objects, successfully contributing to the cause of Relativity. And that was merely his first work on the topic. He went on to do a lot of work in hydrodynamics as well. These three people are on a few of the major names in Relativity. It’s very difficult to say for sure which one of them contributed the most work or even whose work was most important.
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And one can really only decide for themselves who they think had the most significant impact on Relativity through their work. The next criteria we’ll discuss is the following: Whoever first published work on it is the discoverer of it. In 1902, Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and theoretical physicist, published his book “La science et l’hypothèse”. This is when he first used the term “Principle of Relativity”. He discussed a theory of relative motions that’s similar to the ones we know today. He didn’t renounce the ether (a belief in the previous paradigm), in his papers on Relativity, but he still proposed a theory of Relativity. In 1905, Albert Einstein published his work on Relativity. His theories were very similar to the ones Poincaré thought of and some accused him of plagiarism. Their work was very similar, but there were some fundamental differences. For instance, Einstein didn’t acknowledge the existence of an ether while Poincaré did. “Poincaré’s draft led to a space-time mathematical theory of groups at the basis of which stood the postulate of Relativity, and Einstein’s draft led to a kinematical theory of relativity. (Weinstein)” Once again, we can see how difficult it is to decide between these two candidates. Which one of them has the prior claim? Poincaré published his work and introduced the term “Relativity” first, but Einstein’s paper can’t be ignored since it’s practically identical to the theory of Relativity we have today (Miller). Again we see that it has to be one’s personal choice. An interesting way to think of this decision is that both of them discovered Relativity. If it seems impossible to decide between the two and they both dedicated years of work and effort to Relativity, perhaps it’s fair to let the share the title of “discoverer”.
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The last criteria we’ll discuss follows: The discoverer is the person who first did any research on it at all. This one is almost impossible to completely determine, and it’s almost impossible to call someone the “discoverer” of something with this criteria. It’s a valid criteria to have, but a very difficult one to argue. This is because it requires a lot of proof and the proof that’s required is nearly impossible to find and be sure of. How can one truly determine who was the very first person to do any research on Relativity. This criterion doesn’t require published work, so there could be several unpublished, unknown “discoverers” of Relativity we’d never know about. But, were we somehow able to know those things for certain, this criterion would probably be the most accepted for the name “discoverer” since it would successfully put credit where credit is due. Since there’s no way to do that however, one can (once again) only determine it for themselves. Before ending this essay, let’s discuss one more viewpoint (touched on above) about discovery. This viewpoint, very difficult to argue, is that there’s no such thing as one discoverer. To name one person alone the discoverer of Relativity could possibly discredit many others whose hard work went into the revolution, so perhaps it’s better not to name just one person. While, of course, the candidates for the name “discoverer” would likely want to argue that they are the discover, one could argue that there’ll never be a 100% answer to that question, so there’s no point in trying to find one. So, in conclusion, until the (hopefully) coming age of time machines, our answers to the question of “who discovered Relativity” must be subjective and come from our own personal opinions.
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Work Cited Anthony, Sebastian. "NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab." Extreme Tech. N.p., 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Ashtekar, Abhay. "Chandrasekhar's Contributions to General Relativity." Current Science 70.9 (1996): 800-04. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Cuvaj, Camillo. "Henri Poincaré's mathematical contributions to relativity and the Poincaré stresses." American Journal of Physics 36 (1968): 1102. Fowler, Micheal. "The Michelson-Morley Experiment ." Nantes University. 15 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Macias, A., and H. Dehnen. "Dirac field in the five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory." Classical and Quantum Gravity 8.1 (1991): 203. Miller, ARTHUR I. "Imagery and intuition in creative scientific thinking: Albert Einstein’s invention of the special theory of relativity." Creative people at work (1989): 171-187. Millis, Marc G. "Challenge to create the space drive." Journal of Propulsion and Power 13.5 (1997): 577-582. (1st Draft only) "Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Vaidya, P. C. "The gravitational field of a radiating star." Proceedings of the Indian Academy of
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Sciences, Section A. Vol. 33. No. 5. Indian Academy of Sciences, 1950. (1st Draft only) Weinstein, Galina. "Poincaré's Dynamics of the Electron – A ." Boston University. . Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Antoinette Martin Professor Spencer Hamblen FYS: Scientific Revolutions 05 December 2013 Who Discovered Relativity? Who discovered Relativity? Presented with this question, one would most likely immediately answer, “Einstein”. However, the answer isn’t that clear and it’s not a simple question. This is because the word “discovery” is ambiguous in that it can have several different meanings, and the criteria for the meaning of a discovery is entirely subjective. So, what does it mean to be the “discoverer” of something? Is it whoever contributed most to the discovery? Or perhaps it’s whoever first published work on it. Or maybe, it’s whoever first did any sort of research on it at all. People use different criteria for determine who discovered something. Using the discovery of Relativity as an example, we’ll discuss some of these criteria below, their fundamental errors (as there will never be a perfect answer) and the conclusion that the person, through the criteria, would come to. One criteria that someone could argue for, asked above, is as follows: The discoverer is whoever contributed the most work towards a discovery. In terms of Relativity, most people would almost immediately think “Einstein”. It’s true that he’s the most well know person when discussing Relativity, but it’s arguable that that doesn’t make him the person who contributed the most work. It could mean that he contributed the best, work, but that’s a whole different criteria.
Martin 2
Let’s look at some of the people who contributed a lot of work and try to determine if there was one who contributed more than the other. Let’s look at three people who were major contributors in the discovery of Relativity: One, Henri Poincaré, two, Albert Einstein, and three, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and theoretical physicist, was the first person to use the term “Principle of Relativity” (Cuvaj). Poincaré not only came up with several advances in Relativity (Poincaré stresses, the relationship between mass and energy, etc.), he was a friendly critic of another prominent figure in Relativity: Hedrick Lorentz. He introduced several of the terms we use in physics today such as “Lorentz transformations”. Albert Einstein, a German theoretical physicist, is well known for his work in General and Special Relativity. He came up with the equation E=mc2 which, much like Poincaré did, defined the relationship between mass and energy. He also contributed in many other ways such as the Equivalence principle on freefalling, time dilation and light bending. These are just a few of his major contributions in Relativity. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American astrophysicist contributed in different ways than the first two. He was fascinated with the theory of Relativity and was likely the first to teach it in the University of Chicago (Ashtekar). He gave several lectures on Relativity and often criticized Einstein’s work. He came up with a theory about the stability of self-gravitational objects, successfully contributing to the cause of Relativity. And that was merely his first work on the topic. He went on to do a lot of work in hydrodynamics as well. These three people are on a few of the major names in Relativity. It’s very difficult to say for sure which one of them contributed the most work or even whose work was most important.
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And one can really only decide for themselves who they think had the most significant impact on Relativity through their work. The next criteria we’ll discuss is the following: Whoever first published work on it is the discoverer of it. In 1902, Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and theoretical physicist, published his book “La science et l’hypothèse”. This is when he first used the term “Principle of Relativity”. He discussed a theory of relative motions that’s similar to the ones we know today. He didn’t renounce the ether (a belief in the previous paradigm), in his papers on Relativity, but he still proposed a theory of Relativity. In 1905, Albert Einstein published his work on Relativity. His theories were very similar to the ones Poincaré thought of and some accused him of plagiarism. Their work was very similar, but there were some fundamental differences. For instance, Einstein didn’t acknowledge the existence of an ether while Poincaré did. “Poincaré’s draft led to a space-time mathematical theory of groups at the basis of which stood the postulate of Relativity, and Einstein’s draft led to a kinematical theory of relativity. (Weinstein)” Once again, we can see how difficult it is to decide between these two candidates. Which one of them has the prior claim? Poincaré published his work and introduced the term “Relativity” first, but Einstein’s paper can’t be ignored since it’s practically identical to the theory of Relativity we have today (Miller). Again we see that it has to be one’s personal choice. An interesting way to think of this decision is that both of them discovered Relativity. If it seems impossible to decide between the two and they both dedicated years of work and effort to Relativity, perhaps it’s fair to let the share the title of “discoverer”.
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The last criteria we’ll discuss follows: The discoverer is the person who first did any research on it at all. This one is almost impossible to completely determine, and it’s almost impossible to call someone the “discoverer” of something with this criteria. It’s a valid criteria to have, but a very difficult one to argue. This is because it requires a lot of proof and the proof that’s required is nearly impossible to find and be sure of. How can one truly determine who was the very first person to do any research on Relativity. This criterion doesn’t require published work, so there could be several unpublished, unknown “discoverers” of Relativity we’d never know about. But, were we somehow able to know those things for certain, this criterion would probably be the most accepted for the name “discoverer” since it would successfully put credit where credit is due. Since there’s no way to do that however, one can (once again) only determine it for themselves. Before ending this essay, let’s discuss one more viewpoint (touched on above) about discovery. This viewpoint, very difficult to argue, is that there’s no such thing as one discoverer. To name one person alone the discoverer of Relativity could possibly discredit many others whose hard work went into the revolution, so perhaps it’s better not to name just one person. While, of course, the candidates for the name “discoverer” would likely want to argue that they are the discover, one could argue that there’ll never be a 100% answer to that question, so there’s no point in trying to find one. So, in conclusion, until the (hopefully) coming age of time machines, our answers to the question of “who discovered Relativity” must be subjective and come from our own personal opinions.
Martin 5
Work Cited Anthony, Sebastian. "NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab." Extreme Tech. N.p., 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Ashtekar, Abhay. "Chandrasekhar's Contributions to General Relativity." Current Science 70.9 (1996): 800-04. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Cuvaj, Camillo. "Henri Poincaré's mathematical contributions to relativity and the Poincaré stresses." American Journal of Physics 36 (1968): 1102. Fowler, Micheal. "The Michelson-Morley Experiment ." Nantes University. 15 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Macias, A., and H. Dehnen. "Dirac field in the five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory." Classical and Quantum Gravity 8.1 (1991): 203. Miller, ARTHUR I. "Imagery and intuition in creative scientific thinking: Albert Einstein’s invention of the special theory of relativity." Creative people at work (1989): 171-187. Millis, Marc G. "Challenge to create the space drive." Journal of Propulsion and Power 13.5 (1997): 577-582. (1st Draft only) "Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. (1st Draft only) Vaidya, P. C. "The gravitational field of a radiating star." Proceedings of the Indian Academy of
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Sciences, Section A. Vol. 33. No. 5. Indian Academy of Sciences, 1950. (1st Draft only) Weinstein, Galina. "Poincaré's Dynamics of the Electron – A ." Boston University. . Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
