Einstein’s discovery of the Equivalence Principle is
to be considered as the most fundamental concept at the origin of his General
Relativity. I highlight that the ether problem is related with Enstein’s
conception of gravitational waves as a perturbation of the space-time
curvature, formalized as a specific space-time process, and not as the effect
of a whatever supporting medium. Quite differently, the nineteenth century
field theory of gravitation supported by physicists such as Maxwell, Heaviside,
and Hertz, was based on a search for substantial ether, and on a parallelism with Maxwell’s
theory of electromagnetic waves. The negative results of their theories proved
that parallelism was a wrong approach. Einstein’s genius superseded their
approach by considering that it was not a matter of the ether’s constitution,
but of a fundamental change in the role and nature of physics. In my paper I
refer to Einstein’s different approaches to ether since his 1905 Special
Relativity up to his 1950’ views. I argue that his different attempts were
symptoms of the difficulty of his revolutionary innovation.
References
[1]
Cassirer, E. (1953). Substance and Function and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (Unabridged Edition). Chicago: The Open Court Publ. Co.
[2]
D’Agostino, S. (1975). Hertz’s Research on Electromagnetic Waves. Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 6, 261-323. https://doi.org/10.2307/27757343
[3]
D’Agostino, S. (2009). Einstein and Weyl on the epistemological Shortcomings of Unifies Field Theories. In C. Alumni, M. Castellana, D. Ria, & A. Rossi (Dir.), Albert Einstein et Hermann Weyl 1995-2005, Questions épistemologiques ouvertes (pp. 89-98). Manduria: Barbieri Selvaggi Editori.
[4]
D’Agostino, S. (1995). Einstein’s Life Long Doubts on the Physical Foundations of General Relativity and Unified Field Theories. In C. Garola, & A. Rossi (Eds.), The Foundations of Quantum Mechanics-Historical Analysis and Open Questions (pp. 167-178). Dordrecht, Bostom, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
[5]
Goldberg, S. (1984). Understanding Relativity. Origin and Impact of a Scientific Revolution. Exsp.: Chapt 8. Defending the Ether: The British Response. Boston, Basel, Stuttgard: Birkhaeuser.
[6]
Einstein, A. (1936). Physics and Reality. The Journal of the Franklin Institute, 221, 349-382.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-0032(36)91047-5
[7]
Einstein, A. (1952). Appendix V. Added to A. Einstein (1994), Relativity, the Special and the General Theory (pp. 135-157).
[8]
Einstein, A. (1972). Albert Einstein, Michele Besso, Correspondence, 1903-1955. Paris: Hermann.
[9]
Einstein, A. (1994). Relativity, the Special and General Theory (pp. 1-138). di R. V. Lawson, & A. Einstein (Trans.) (1920) Ueber die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitaetstheorie (Gemeinverstaendlich) Vieveg, Braouschweig of Methuen and Co. Ltd., London: Routlege.
[10]
Einstein, A. (1949b). Autobiographical Notes. In A. Einstein (Ed.), Albert Einstein Philosopher Scientist (Vol. 1, pp. 1-95). New York: Harper & Brothers Publ.
[11]
Einstein, A. (1949c). Reply to Criticism. In A. Einstein (Ed.), Albert Einstein Philosopher Scientist (pp. 665-688). New York: Harper & Brothers Publ.
[12]
Hertz, H. (1962). Electric Waves, Being Researches on the Propagation of Electric Action with Finite Velocity through Space. New York: Dover. English Translation of Hertz, H. (1892). Untersuchungen ueber die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth.
[13]
Heaviside, O. (1983). A Gravitational and Electromagnetic Analogy, Part I. The Electrician, 31, 281-282.
[14]
Holton, G. (1973). Thematic Origin of Scientific Thought, Kepler to Einstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[15]
Howard, D. A. (1988). Einstein and Eindeutigkkeit: A Neglected Theme in the Philosophical Back-Ground to GR. In J. Eisenstaedt, & A. J. Kox (Eds.), Studies in the History of General Relativity, Einstein Studies (Vol. 3, pp. 154-243). Berlin, Birkhauser.
[16]
Jefimenko, O. D. (2001). Causality, Electromagnetic Induction, and Gravitation (pp. 189-202.). Omsk: Omsk University.
[17]
Maxwell, J. C. (1865). A Dyanamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. In J. C. Maxwell (Undated), The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (Vol. 1, pp. 526-597). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.423156.39088007130693
[18]
Maxwell, J. C. (1865a). A Note on the Attraction of Gravitation. In J. C. Maxwell (Undated), The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (Vol. 1, pp. 570-571). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[19]
Maxwell, J. C. (Undated). The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (Vol. 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[20]
Mc Cormmach, R. (1970). Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences.
[21]
Miller, A. (1988). Albert Einstein’s 1907 Jaharbuch Paper: The First Step from SRT to GRT. Basel: Birkhaeuser.
[22]
Minkowsky, H. (1915). Das Relativitaetprinzip. Annalen der Physik, 47, 927-938.
https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.19153521505
[23]
Norton, J. (1989). What Was Einstein’s Principle of Equivqlence? Basel: Birkhaeuser.
[24]
Pais, A. (1982). Subtle Is the Lord…The Science and Life of Albert Einstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[25]
Planck, M. (1931). Positivism and External Reality. International Forum, 1, 14-19.
[26]
Pyenson, L. (1985). The Young Einstein. The Advent of Relativity. Bristol: Adam Hilger Ltd.
[27]
Renn, J. (2006). Auf den Schouldern von Riesen und Zwergen. Eintsein unwollendete Revolution. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
[28]
Sigurdson, S. (1991). Hermann Weyl, Mathematics and Physics, 1990-1927. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[29]
Stachel, J. (1986). Einstein’s Search for General Covariance. In D. Howard, & J. Stakel (Eds.), Einstein and the History of General Relativity, Einstein Studies (Vol. 1). Berlin: Birkhauser.
[30]
Vizgin, V. (1986). Einstein, Hilbert, and Weyl: The Genesis of the Geometrical Unified Field Theory Programm. In D. Howard, & J. Stakel (Eds.), Einstein and the History of General Relativity, Einstein Studies (Vol. 1). Berlin: Birkhauser.
[31]
Weyl, H. (1918). Gravitation und Elektricitat. Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preitssischen Ak. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 26, 465-480.
[32]
Weyl, H. (Undated). Space, Time, Matter. New York: Dover.
