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Re: [HM] Poincare and relativity
Posted:
Apr 22, 2002 8:25 PM
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In a message dated 4/18/02, Tony Gardiner <A.D.Gardiner@bham.ac.uk> writes:
<< Laura Elena stated that McTutor "acknowledges [Poincare] as a
co-discoverer, with Einstein and Lorentz, of the special theory of
relativity". The McTutor site has certainly raised the profile of history of
mathematics in a way one can only welcome. I am sure they try to correct
errors, but I doubt whether they claim to be an authority. In this instance
- and having not read any of the relevant papers - I would prefer to be g
uided by Abraham Pais's lovely biography ("The science and life of
Albert Einstein"). [...] Finally we read: "In all his life (he died in
1912), Poincare never understood the basis of special relativity." >>
The Poincare/ claim, not made by Poincare/, was advanced, as David R. Derbes
notes, by Edmund Whittaker in the chapter, "Relativity Theory of Poincare/
and Lorentz," of his History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (2v
bound as one, NY: Dover, 26126-3). The claim was most thoroughly investiga
ted and evaluated by Arthur I. Miller, beginning in 1979. Miller gives
Poincare/ credit, in a nutshell, for being among the first to see the problem
and for proposing, by 1904, the relativity "principle," but not for making
Einstein's discovery. Miller's big book on the history of Special Relativity
was published in 1981 and is number 2 below. Miller's fine new book on how
4th-dimensional geometry got from Poincare/ to both Einstein and Picasso was
just published and is number 5 below:
Miller, Arthur I., "Poincare/ and Einstein: A Comparative Study" in Boston
Studies in the Philosophy of Science, XXXI, 1979?
Miller, Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity: Emergence (1905) and
Early Interpretation (1905-1911), Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1981; new
edition SpringerVerlag, 1998
Miller, "What Was Poincare/ Doing in 1905?" in Frontiers of Physics,
1900-1911: Selected Essays, Boston: Birckha:user, 1986
Miller, "A Pre/cis of Edmund WhittakerâÂÂs 'Relativity Theory of Poincare/ and
Lorentz'" in Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 37:118(1987)
Miller, Einstein, Picasso, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc, Cambridge, MA:
Perseus Books, 2001.
-Bill Everdell
in april-showery Brooklyn
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