AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY
THE Theory of Relativity may very well prove to be the most important single contribution yet made to intellectual thought. If the theory is true it means nothing less than that physical science has at length broken through the crust of the phenomenal and apparent. The mechanism of nature is to be sought in something as yet conceivable only mathematically.
It is not to be expected that a theory of this novelty and scope can be other than difficult. No one can be surprised if he finds the general drift hard to grasp. This was indeed by far the most serious difficulty encountered by the writer. It is nothing but literal fact that he found it a greater obstacle to a general understanding of the subject than the details of the advanced mathematical work. Try as he would the drift eluded him. The main, almost the sole, object of the present book is to meet this difficulty, all other considerations being subordinate. He has written the book with a very lively recollection of his own troubles, and he hopes that it may be of service to others in like case.
The great question is, What is it all about ? To this question some give one answer and some another; but none, to the writer's knowledge, give so clear an answer as Einstein himself,* and even he answers it by implication rather than directly. Still the implication of his definitions of the Special, or Restricted, and of the General principles is so plain that there is no mistaking it. His definition of the Restricted Principle, which need not be given here, as it is fully dealt with in the following pages, is a compendium of the special theory and it is easily generalized. His definition of the General Principle simply repeats the definition of the Restricted Principle in wider terms, and he makes it quite clear that Relativity as a whole is the theory of the statement of general physical laws informs common to all observers It is something of a puzzle why other writers of authority have not given this fact a more prominent place and stated it plainly and explicitly. It may have been because it seemed so obvious as not to require emphasis, but to the writer's mind the greater part of the mystery which has surrounded the subject has arisen through failure to grasp it. It was certainly so in his own case.
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It is not to be expected that a theory of this novelty and scope can be other than difficult. No one can be surprised if he finds the general drift hard to grasp. This was indeed by far the most serious difficulty encountered by the writer. It is nothing but literal fact that he found it a greater obstacle to a general understanding of the subject than the details of the advanced mathematical work. Try as he would the drift eluded him. The main, almost the sole, object of the present book is to meet this difficulty, all other considerations being subordinate. He has written the book with a very lively recollection of his own troubles, and he hopes that it may be of service to others in like case.
The great question is, What is it all about ? To this question some give one answer and some another; but none, to the writer's knowledge, give so clear an answer as Einstein himself,* and even he answers it by implication rather than directly. Still the implication of his definitions of the Special, or Restricted, and of the General principles is so plain that there is no mistaking it. His definition of the Restricted Principle, which need not be given here, as it is fully dealt with in the following pages, is a compendium of the special theory and it is easily generalized. His definition of the General Principle simply repeats the definition of the Restricted Principle in wider terms, and he makes it quite clear that Relativity as a whole is the theory of the statement of general physical laws informs common to all observers It is something of a puzzle why other writers of authority have not given this fact a more prominent place and stated it plainly and explicitly. It may have been because it seemed so obvious as not to require emphasis, but to the writer's mind the greater part of the mystery which has surrounded the subject has arisen through failure to grasp it. It was certainly so in his own case.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY
THE Theory of Relativity may very well prove to be the most important single contribution yet made to intellectual thought. If the theory is true it means nothing less than that physical science has at length broken through the crust of the phenomenal and apparent. The mechanism of nature is to be sought in something as yet conceivable only mathematically.
It is not to be expected that a theory of this novelty and scope can be other than difficult. No one can be surprised if he finds the general drift hard to grasp. This was indeed by far the most serious difficulty encountered by the writer. It is nothing but literal fact that he found it a greater obstacle to a general understanding of the subject than the details of the advanced mathematical work. Try as he would the drift eluded him. The main, almost the sole, object of the present book is to meet this difficulty, all other considerations being subordinate. He has written the book with a very lively recollection of his own troubles, and he hopes that it may be of service to others in like case.
The great question is, What is it all about ? To this question some give one answer and some another; but none, to the writer's knowledge, give so clear an answer as Einstein himself,* and even he answers it by implication rather than directly. Still the implication of his definitions of the Special, or Restricted, and of the General principles is so plain that there is no mistaking it. His definition of the Restricted Principle, which need not be given here, as it is fully dealt with in the following pages, is a compendium of the special theory and it is easily generalized. His definition of the General Principle simply repeats the definition of the Restricted Principle in wider terms, and he makes it quite clear that Relativity as a whole is the theory of the statement of general physical laws informs common to all observers It is something of a puzzle why other writers of authority have not given this fact a more prominent place and stated it plainly and explicitly. It may have been because it seemed so obvious as not to require emphasis, but to the writer's mind the greater part of the mystery which has surrounded the subject has arisen through failure to grasp it. It was certainly so in his own case.
It is not to be expected that a theory of this novelty and scope can be other than difficult. No one can be surprised if he finds the general drift hard to grasp. This was indeed by far the most serious difficulty encountered by the writer. It is nothing but literal fact that he found it a greater obstacle to a general understanding of the subject than the details of the advanced mathematical work. Try as he would the drift eluded him. The main, almost the sole, object of the present book is to meet this difficulty, all other considerations being subordinate. He has written the book with a very lively recollection of his own troubles, and he hopes that it may be of service to others in like case.
The great question is, What is it all about ? To this question some give one answer and some another; but none, to the writer's knowledge, give so clear an answer as Einstein himself,* and even he answers it by implication rather than directly. Still the implication of his definitions of the Special, or Restricted, and of the General principles is so plain that there is no mistaking it. His definition of the Restricted Principle, which need not be given here, as it is fully dealt with in the following pages, is a compendium of the special theory and it is easily generalized. His definition of the General Principle simply repeats the definition of the Restricted Principle in wider terms, and he makes it quite clear that Relativity as a whole is the theory of the statement of general physical laws informs common to all observers It is something of a puzzle why other writers of authority have not given this fact a more prominent place and stated it plainly and explicitly. It may have been because it seemed so obvious as not to require emphasis, but to the writer's mind the greater part of the mystery which has surrounded the subject has arisen through failure to grasp it. It was certainly so in his own case.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940015749007 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New York, The Sterling Press |
| Publication date: | 12/12/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 388 KB |
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