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Luminiferous aether or ether was the postulated medium for the propagation of light. It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empty space, something that waves should not be able to do. The assumption of a spatial plenum of luminiferous aether, rather than a spatial vacuum, provided the theoretical medium that was required by wave theories of light.
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in the absence of gravity. General relativity explains the law of gravitation and its relation to the forces of nature. It applies to the cosmological and astrophysical realm, including astronomy.
Albert Einstein derived the theory of special relativity in 1905, from principle now called the postulates of special relativity. Einstein's formulation is said to only require two postulates, though his derivation implies a few more assumptions.
The history of special relativity consists of many theoretical results and empirical findings obtained by Albert A. Michelson, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré and others. It culminated in the theory of special relativity proposed by Albert Einstein and subsequent work of Max Planck, Hermann Minkowski and others.
The annus mirabilis papers are the four that Albert Einstein published in the scientific journal Annalen der Physik in 1905. As major contributions to the foundation of modern physics, these scientific publications were the ones for which he gained fame among physicists. They revolutionized science's understanding of the fundamental concepts of space, time, mass, and energy. Because Einstein published all four of these papers in a single year, 1905 is called his annus mirabilis.
- The first paper explained the photoelectric effect, which established the energy of the light quanta , and was the only specific discovery mentioned in the citation awarding Einstein the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- The second paper explained Brownian motion, which established the Einstein relation and compelled physicists to accept the existence of atoms.
- The third paper introduced Einstein's special theory of relativity, which proclaims the constancy of the speed of light and derives the Lorentz transformations. Einstein also examined relativistic aberration and the transverse Doppler effect.
- The fourth, a consequence of special relativity, developed the principle of mass–energy equivalence, expressed in the equation and which led to the discovery and use of nuclear power decades later.
What is now often called Lorentz ether theory (LET) has its roots in Hendrik Lorentz's "theory of electrons", which marked the end of the development of the classical aether theories at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century.
Born rigidity is a concept in special relativity. It is one answer to the question of what, in special relativity, corresponds to the rigid body of non-relativistic classical mechanics.
In physics, the relativity of simultaneity is the concept that distant simultaneity – whether two spatially separated events occur at the same time – is not absolute, but depends on the observer's reference frame. This possibility was raised by mathematician Henri Poincaré in 1900, and thereafter became a central idea in the special theory of relativity.
Albert Einstein presented the theories of special relativity and general relativity in publications that either contained no formal references to previous literature, or referred only to a small number of his predecessors for fundamental results on which he based his theories, most notably to the work of Henri Poincaré and Hendrik Lorentz for special relativity, and to the work of David Hilbert, Carl F. Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, and Ernst Mach for general relativity. Subsequently, claims have been put forward about both theories, asserting that they were formulated, either wholly or in part, by others before Einstein. At issue is the extent to which Einstein and various other individuals should be credited for the formulation of these theories, based on priority considerations.
Electromagnetic mass was initially a concept of classical mechanics, denoting as to how much the electromagnetic field, or the self-energy, is contributing to the mass of charged particles. It was first derived by J. J. Thomson in 1881 and was for some time also considered as a dynamical explanation of inertial mass per se. Today, the relation of mass, momentum, velocity, and all forms of energy – including electromagnetic energy – is analyzed on the basis of Albert Einstein's special relativity and mass–energy equivalence. As to the cause of mass of elementary particles, the Higgs mechanism in the framework of the relativistic Standard Model is currently used. However, some problems concerning the electromagnetic mass and self-energy of charged particles are still studied.
Ludwik Silberstein was a Polish-American physicist who helped make special relativity and general relativity staples of university coursework. His textbook The Theory of Relativity was published by Macmillan in 1914 with a second edition, expanded to include general relativity, in 1924.
The Kaufmann–Bucherer–Neumann experiments measured the dependence of the inertial mass of an object on its velocity. The historical importance of this series of experiments performed by various physicists between 1901 and 1915 is due to the results being used to test the predictions of special relativity. The developing precision and data analysis of these experiments and the resulting influence on theoretical physics during those years is still a topic of active historical discussion, since the early experimental results at first contradicted Einstein's then newly published theory (1905), but later versions of this experiment confirmed it. For modern experiments of that kind, see Tests of relativistic energy and momentum, for general information see Tests of special relativity.
Gustav Herglotz was a German Bohemian physicist best known for his works on the theory of relativity and seismology.
A spacetime diagram is a graphical illustration of locations in space at various times, especially in the special theory of relativity. Spacetime diagrams can show the geometry underlying phenomena like time dilation and length contraction without mathematical equations.
Jakob Johann Laub was a physicist from Austria-Hungary, who is best known for his work with Albert Einstein in the early period of special relativity.
Alfred Heinrich Bucherer was a German physicist, who is known for his experiments on relativistic mass. He also was the first who used the phrase "theory of relativity" for Einstein's theory of special relativity.
Vladimir Sergeyevitch Ignatowski, or Waldemar Sergius von Ignatowsky and similar names in other publications, was a Russian physicist.
The theory of special relativity was initially developed in 1905 by Albert Einstein. However, other interpretations of special relativity have been developed, some on the basis of different foundational axioms. While some are mathematically equivalent to Einstein's theory, others aim to revise or extend it.
Friedrich Kottler was an Austrian theoretical physicist. He was a Privatdozent before he got a professorship in 1923 at the University of Vienna.
Criticism of the theory of relativity of Albert Einstein was mainly expressed in the early years after its publication in the early twentieth century, on scientific, pseudoscientific, philosophical, or ideological bases. Though some of these criticisms had the support of reputable scientists, Einstein's theory of relativity is now accepted by the scientific community.
References
- ↑ Alberteinstein.info
- ↑ Greenspan, 2005, p. 100.
- ↑ Longair, M. (6 March 2015). "Bending space-time: a commentary on Dyson, Eddington and Davidson (1920) 'A determination of the deflection of light by the Sun's gravitational field'". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 373 (2039): 20140287. Bibcode:2015RSPTA.37340287L. doi:10.1098/rsta.2014.0287. PMC 4360090 . PMID 25750149.
- ↑ Kaiser, David (March 2012). "A Tale of Two Textbooks: Experiments in Genre". Isis. 103 (1): 126–138. doi:10.1086/664983. hdl: 1721.1/82907 . PMID 22655343.
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