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Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity (2Nd Edition) Ix Einstein’s Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity (2nd Edition) Einstein’s Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity (2nd Edition) By Galina Weinstein Einstein’s Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity (2nd Edition) By Galina Weinstein This book first published 2017 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2017 by Galina Weinstein All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9512-1 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9512-5 “Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly”. Albert Einstein, March 19, 1940. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition .................................................................. xiv Introduction ............................................................................. 1 The First Chapter (A): A Critical Biography of Albert Einstein ........ 1 The Second Chapter (B): Fin de Siècle Physics ............................. 4 The Third Chapter (C): Einstein's Path to Special Relativity ............ 8 The Fourth Chapter (D): Einstein's Odyssey to General Relativity ... 18 The Fifth Chapter (E): Methodology and Creativity ...................... 30 The Final Chapter (F): The Sources ........................................... 33 Chapter A. .............................................................................. 34 From Einstein's Childhood to Patent Office 1 Einstein's Parents and Sister Maja ........................................... 34 2 The Move to Munich and the Electric Firm ............................... 37 3 Rebellious and Creative ........................................................ 39 4 Einstein Cannot Take Authority and Demands for Obedience ...... 39 4.1 Primary School ........................................................... 39 4.2 Secondary School ........................................................ 42 5 Einstein Teaches Himself Natural Science and Philosophy ........... 45 5.1 Max Talmud Recommends Bernstein and Kant .................. 45 5.2 Einstein Reads a Small Geometry Book ............................ 47 5.3 Einstein Is Free in Italy ................................................. 49 6 Secondary School in Aarau ................................................... 52 7 Polytechnic in Zurich ........................................................... 55 7.1 Professors Weber and Pernet Turn On Einstein ................... 55 7.2 Einstein Never Shows Up or Skips the Classes of Mathematicians ........................................................ 59 7.3 Einstein's Friends: Grossmann, Besso and Marić ................ 62 7.4 Einstein's Residence in Zurich ........................................ 66 8 Einstein Seeks a Position ...................................................... 67 8.1 The Rebel Graduate Einstein Is Rejected ........................... 67 8.2 Professor Weber Is Behind Einstein's Difficulties ............... 68 8.3 Einstein Finds Temporary Positions and Grossmann Rescues Him ............................................................... 70 viii Table of Contents 9 Physics Group .................................................................... 72 9.1 The Patent Office ......................................................... 72 9.2 Michele Besso, Joseph Sauter, Lucian Chavan and Heinrich Zangger ................................................... 76 10 Philosophy Group ............................................................. 77 10.1 Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht ............................ 77 10.2 The Olympia Academy ................................................ 79 10.3 The Reading List of the Academy .................................. 81 11 Annus Mirabilis ................................................................ 82 11.1 Letters to Habicht ....................................................... 82 11.2 Einstein's Annus Mirabilis Papers .................................. 84 12 German Scientists Respond to Einstein's Relativity Paper .......... 87 12.1 Professor Max Planck Writes to Einstein ......................... 87 12.2 Max Laue Meets Einstein ............................................. 88 13 Einstein Teaches His Three Friends at the University of Bern ..... 88 13.1 Patent Clerk Rebels against Academic Rules .................... 88 13.2 Jakob Johann Laub Meets Einstein in Bern ...................... 91 13.3 Einstein's Students: Besso and Chavan ............................ 92 14 Einstein Leaves the Patent Office for his First Post in Zurich ...... 93 14.1 A University Professor at Zurich ................................... 93 14.2 Einstein Invents with the Habicht Brothers ...................... 97 14.3 Einstein's First Lecture at the Salzburg Meeting ................ 99 14.4 Zurich-Prague-Zurich-Berlin ...................................... 100 14.5 Einstein as a Weirdly Shabby Dressed Genius ................ 104 Chapter B. ............................................................................. 108 Fin De Siècle Physics 1 Fresnel's Dragging Coefficient and Fizeau's Experiment of 1851 ......................................................................... 108 1.1 Emission and Wave Theories of Light ............................ 108 1.2 Arago and Fresnel ...................................................... 110 1.3 Fizeau's Water Tube Experiment of 1851 ........................ 114 1.4 Lorentz Derives Fresnel's Dragging Coefficient in his Electron Theory ................................................. 117 2 The Michelson and Michelson-Morley Experiment .................. 119 2.1 Maxwell's Letter to Todd ............................................. 119 2.2 Michelson in Helmholtz's Lab ...................................... 121 2.3 Michelson in Paris ..................................................... 123 2.4 Michelson Returns to Cleveland and Works with Morley .... 125 3 Giving Up the Ether in Fin De Siècle Physics .......................... 129 4 The Contraction Hypothesis ................................................ 131 5 Variation of Mass with Velocity ........................................... 138 Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity (2nd Edition) ix Chapter C. ............................................................................ 140 Part One: Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity 1 Introduction ..................................................................... 140 2 Einstein Believes in the Ether .............................................. 141 3 The Chasing a Light Beam Thought Experiment ...................... 143 4 Magnet and Conductor Thought Experiment ........................... 148 4.1 Maxwell's Equations and Induction ................................ 148 4.2 What Prompted Einstein to Invent the Magnet and Conductor Thought Experiment? ............................. 150 5 Ether Drift and Michelson and Morley's Experiment ................. 153 5.1 Einstein Designs Ether Drift Experiments between 1899 and 1901 .................................................................. 153 5.2 Einstein's Different Statements as to the Role that Michelson's Experiment Played in his Development .......... 155 5.3 Robert Shankland's Interviews with Einstein on Michelson's Experiments ............................................. 161 6 Emission Theory and Ether Drift Experiments ......................... 165 6.1 Ritz's Emission Theory ............................................... 165 6.2 Einstein's First Reaction to Ehrenfest's Paper: Einstein Rejected Ritz's Emission Theory ................................... 169 6.3 Einstein Falls into the Jungle: Emission Theory and Fizeau's Experiment ............................................................... 171 7 Einstein's Route to Special Relativity from 1895 to 1903-1904 ... 174 8 "The Step" ....................................................................... 178 9 Einstein's Steps Toward the "The Step" ................................. 180 9.1 Five to Six Weeks between the Discovery and the Relativity Paper ....................................................................... 180 9.2 The Einstein-Besso Meeting ......................................... 181 9.3 The Final Discovery within Five Weeks ......................... 183 10 The Relativity Paper ........................................................ 185 10.1 A "Rigid Body" and Contraction ................................. 185 10.2 1905: Definition of Distant Simultaneity with Reference to Synchronized Clocks ............................................... 187 10.3 Definition of Distant Simultaneity without Reference to Synchronized Clocks ............................................... 189 10.4 On the Relativity of Lengths and Times ........................ 190 10.5 Challenges to Einstein's Connection of Synchronization and Contraction ......................................................... 193 10.6 The Lorentz Transformations Derived by the Principle of Relativity and the Light Postulate ............................... 195 x Table
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