Eugene Shubert
the new William Miller
Joined: 06 Apr 2002
Posts: 1006
Location: Richardson Texas
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 Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:41 pm Post subject: That Scoundrel of Relativity, Hermann Minkowski |
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Minkowski, Mathematicians, and the Mathematical Theory of Relativity
This is a great paper. It summarizes Minkowski's famous Cologne lecture of 1908. Have you ever come across this quote in books about Einstein's relativity?
| Quote: | | Gentlemen! The conceptions of space and time which I would like to develop before you arise from the soil of experimental physics. Therein lies their strength. Their tendency is radical. From this hour on, space by itself and time by itself are to sink fully into the shadows and only a kind of union of the two should yet preserve autonomy. First of all I would like to indicate how, [starting] from the mechanics accepted at present, one could arrive through purely mathematical considerations at changed ideas about space and time. (Minkowski 1909: 75) |
Minkowski wasn't referring to Einstein. Minkowski was claiming scientific priority for a great, new, geometric theory of relativity that went beyond Einsteinian relativity. The ideas presented were based largely on the work of Henri Poincaré. Poincaré was purposely excluded from the meeting. |
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