Understanding Relativity

Origin and Impact of a Scientific Revolution

GOLDBERG (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

494 Seiten

2013 | Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1984
Birkhauser Boston Inc (Verlag)
978-1-4684-6734-5 (ISBN)

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The central subject matter of this book is Einstein's special theory of relativiry. While it is a book that is written primarily for a lay audience this does not necessarily mean an audience not versed in the ways of doing science. Rather, this book is written for anyone wishing to consider the nature of the scientific enterprise: where ideas come from, how they become established and accepted, what the relationships are among theories, predictions, and measurements, or the relationship between ideas in a scientific theory and the values held to be important within the larger culture. Some readers will find it strange that I raise any of these issues. It is a common view in our culture that the status of knowledge within science is totally different from the status of knowledge in other areas of human endeavor. The word "science" stems from the Latin word meaning "to know" and indeed, knowledge which scientists acquire in their work is commonly held to be certain, unyielding, and absolute. Consider how we use the adjective "scientific. " There are investors and there are scientific investors. There are socialists and there are scientific socialists. There are exterminators and there are scientific exterminators. We all know how the modifier "scientific" inttudes in our daily life. It is the purpose of this book to challenge the belief that scientific knowledge is different from other kinds of knowledge.

I. The Creation of The Theory of Relativityl.- 1.Science, Logic, and Objectivity.- 2. The Rise and Fall of the Mechanical World View.- 3. Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity and Its Consequences.- 4. Further Consequences of the Heuristic Nature of the Special Theory of Relativity.- 5. The General Theory of Relativity.- II. The Early Response to the Special Theory of Relativity, 1905–1911.- 6. When a Hundred Flowers Bloom: The German Response.- 7. As If It Never Happened: The French Response.- 8. Defending the Ether: The British Response.- 9. Defending the Practical: The American Response.- III. From Response to Assimilation.- 10. Relativity in America, 1912–1980.- 11. Relativity and Revolutions in Science.- Appendix 1. Trigonometry.- Appendix 2. Kinematics: The Galilean Description of Motion.- Appendix 3. Newtonian Mechanics.- Appendix 4. The Kinetic Theory of Matter and the Mechanical World View.- Appendix 5. Ether Drift Experiments: The Search for Absolute Frame of Reference.- Appendix 6. Some Relativistic Derivations.- Bibliographic Essay: On Understanding Relativity.- Inde.

Zusatzinfo	26 Illustrations, black and white; XVII, 494 p. 26 illus.
Verlagsort	Secaucus
Sprache	englisch
Maße	170 x 244 mm
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geophysik
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Relativitätstheorie
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Theoretische Physik
ISBN-10	1-4684-6734-4 / 1468467344
ISBN-13	978-1-4684-6734-5 / 9781468467345
Zustand	Neuware