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Not only the general public, but even students of physics appear to believe that the physics concept of spacetime was introduced by Einstein. This is both unfortunate and unfair. It was Hermann Minkowski (Einstein's mathematics professor) who announced the new four-dimensional (spacetime) view of the world in 1908, which he deduced from experimental physics by decoding the profound message hidden in the failed experiments designed to discover absolute motion. Minkowski realized that the images coming from our senses, which seem to represent an evolving three-dimensional world, are only glimpses of a higher four-dimensional reality that is not divided into past, present, and future since spac...
This is the first publication (in German or English) of Hermann Minkowski's three papers on relativity together: The Relativity Principle - lecture given at the meeting of the Göttingen Mathematical Society on November 5, 1907. This is the first English translation. The Fundamental Equations for Electromagnetic Processes in Moving Bodies - lecture given at the meeting of the Göttingen Scientific Society on December 21, 1907. New translation. Space and Time - lecture given at the 80th Meeting of Natural Scientists in Cologne on September 21, 1908. New translation.
The greatest mystery in the world is its very existence. In our intellectual development, we all reach a turning point when we start asking the perennial existential questions: "What is the world?"; "What am I?"; "What is the meaning of the existence of the world and myself?". As the German philosopher Schopenhauer put it: "The lower a man stands in intellectual respects the less of a riddle does existence seem to him... but, the clearer his consciousness becomes the more the problem grasps him in its greatness." This book explores what fundamental physics tells us about the physical world and how the scientific picture of what exists often differs disturbingly from the "common sense" view b...
The book presents seven fundamental concepts in spacetime physics mostly by following Hermann Minkowski’s revolutionary ideas summarized in his 1908 lecture "Space and Time." These concepts are: spacetime, inertial and accelerated motion in spacetime physics, the origin and nature of inertia in spacetime physics, relativistic mass, gravitation, gravitational waves, and black holes. They have been selected because they appear to be causing most misconceptions and confusion in spacetime physics.
The Springer Handbook of Spacetime is dedicated to the ground-breaking paradigm shifts embodied in the two relativity theories, and describes in detail the profound reshaping of physical sciences they ushered in. It includes in a single volume chapters on foundations, on the underlying mathematics, on physical and astrophysical implications, experimental evidence and cosmological predictions, as well as chapters on efforts to unify general relativity and quantum physics. The Handbook can be used as a desk reference by researchers in a wide variety of fields, not only by specialists in relativity but also by researchers in related areas that either grew out of, or are deeply influenced by, th...
This book fills a gap in the literature. So far there has been no book which deals with inertia and gravitation by explicitly addressing open questions and issues which have been hampering the proper understanding of these phenomena. The book places a strong emphasis on the physical understanding of the main aspects and features of inertia and gravitation. It discusses questions such as: Are inertial forces fictitious or real? Does Minkowski's four-dimensional formulation of special relativity provide an insight into the origin of inertia? Does mass increase relativistically? Why is the inertial mass equivalent to the gravitational mass? Are gravitational phenomena caused by gravitational interaction according to general relativity? Is there gravitational energy? Do gravitational waves carry gravitational energy? Can gravity be quantized?
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This book is about spacetime, and how, in General Relativity, it performs its widely accepted role of explaining all the phenomena of gravity. Space and time have long been contentious presences in theories of mechanics because of their metaphysical peculiarities. Philosophical worries continue to fog a clear understanding of just how spacetime performs this role. In early sections of his revolutionary paper of 1916, Einstein claimed that his use of a new style of formulation removes "the last remnant of physical objectivity from space and time". His satisfaction in banishing these metaphysical anxieties was evident. However in 1917 it was shown his claim was ungrounded. He readily accepted ...