Physics Department Colloquium – Secrets and Myths: Einstein’s Path to Special Relativity

Wed
09/22/2010
4:15pm
RLM 4.012
Alberto Martinez
Department of History, UT Austin
Physics Department Colloquium – Secrets and Myths: Einstein’s Path to Special Relativity
 

For decades, hundreds of writers have developed analyses and
conjectures about how Albert Einstein formulated his special theory of
relativity of 1905. I will summarize and critique certain provocative
and influential accounts, and will also describe neglected aspects of
the process. Which experiments were most influential to Einstein? What
role did patents or Swiss clocks play? Did his wife contribute to the
process? How did philosophical notions, such as by Mach and Hume,
affect the creative process?