Overview
- Contributions form notable experts offer both new and historical insights on relativity, gravity, quantum theory, field theory, and the history of physics
- Topics give detailed mathematical discussions of relativity
- Explores recent developments and applications in the general theory of relativity
- Includes works by leading experts in Einstein studies along with several eminent physicists and mathematicians working in related areas
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Einstein Studies (EINSTEIN, volume 12)
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Table of contents (18 chapters)
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Front Matter
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At the Limits of the Classical Worldview
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Front Matter
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Contexts of the Relativity Revolution
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Front Matter
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The Emergence of the Relativistic Worldview
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Front Matter
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A New Worldview in the Making
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Front Matter
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Keywords
About this book
This volume reviews conceptual conflicts at the foundations of physics now and in the past century. The focus is on the conditions and consequences of Einstein’s pathbreaking achievements that sealed the decline of the classical notions of space, time, radiation, and matter, and resulted in the theory of relativity. Particular attention is paid to the implications of conceptual conflicts for scientific views of the world at large, thus providing the basis for a comparison of the demise of the mechanical worldview at the turn of the 20th century with the challenges presented by cosmology at the turn of the 21st century.
Throughout the work, Einstein’s contributions are not seen in isolation but instead set into the wider intellectual context of dealing with the problem of gravitation in the twilight of classical physics; the investigation of the historical development is carried out with a number of epistemological questions in mind, concerning, in particular, the transformation process of knowledge associated with the changing worldviews of physics.
The contributions explore various aspects of the emerging relativistic views in modern physics by giving an historical, philosophical, and mathematical account of Einstein’s work, as well as the work of other distinguished physicists in the field. Taken as a whole, the book is focused on the interplay between mathematical concepts and physical ideas throughout history by studying today’s scientific world and how it continues to redefine physics in the 21st century .
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Einstein and the Changing Worldviews of Physics
Editors: Christoph Lehner, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel
Series Title: Einstein Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-8176-4940-1
Publisher: Birkhäuser Boston, MA
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: The Center for Einstein Studies 2012
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8176-4939-5Published: 01 December 2011
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8176-4940-1Published: 02 February 2012
Series ISSN: 2381-5833
Series E-ISSN: 2381-5841
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 363
Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences, Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Mathematical Physics, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics