Timeline for Proofs of theorems that proved more or deeper results than what was first supposed or stated as the corresponding theorem
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 4, 2021 at 20:15 | comment | added | benrg | I'm pretty sure that Einstein was the first to realize that Lorentz symmetry should be treated as a symmetry of all physical laws, and that Galilean symmetry is nothing more than a low-speed approximation to it. Lorentz and Poincaré saw it as a symmetry of electromagnetism only; that's the crucial difference. On the other hand, I think Einstein didn't understand in 1905 that Lorentz transformations are rotations, since he resisted that interpretation when Minkowski suggested it in 1907, so he didn't see "the same mathematical properties" as Poincaré in 1905. | |
| Mar 9, 2021 at 5:58 | comment | added | user44143 | @HollisWilliams, I agree textbook histories are overly clean, but the sources I cited are pretty detailed about the messiness and based in the primary documents. | |
| Mar 9, 2021 at 4:51 | comment | added | Hollis Williams | I think it is unlikely that the history of the theory was that simple and I don't think that Einstein abandoned the aether concept for definite in 1905 (I might be wrong). Theoretical physics does not proceed in such a uniform way: the history which you see in the textbooks is very much sanitised and cleaned up. | |
| Mar 9, 2021 at 1:58 | comment | added | zibadawa timmy | @HollisWilliams The distinction is usually that most physicists looked at Maxwell's equations, saw their invariants, and thought "their is a preferred frame, the frame of the aether, in which Maxwell's equations are formulated and valid". Einstein is usually credited as simply taking Maxwell's equations at face value, in particular its conclusion that the speed of light is constant in all reference frames, period. So Einstein usually gets the credit for his interpretation of what Lorentz invariance really was (it was an abstract tool to most before then), and abandoning the aether concept. | |
| Mar 8, 2021 at 22:14 | comment | added | Hollis Williams | I think this post is misleading. It's widely known and accepted that the theory of special relativity had several creators, and it's false to say that Einstein created the theory of special relativity in 1905. Obviously, the general theory of relativity is a different thing. | |
| S Mar 7, 2021 at 2:56 | history | answered | user44143 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | |
| S Mar 7, 2021 at 2:56 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by user44143 |