Revisiting the foundations of relativistic physics : festschrift in honor of John Stachel / editorial team Jurgen Renn, Linday Divarci, Petra Schroter ; editorial committee Abhay Ashtekar ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Renn, Jürgen, 1956-

Series:

Boston studies in the philosophy of science ; v. 234.

Boston studies in the philosophy of science ; v. 234

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Relativity (Physics).

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Genre:

Festschriften.

Physical Description:

xxii, 649 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Dordrecht ; Boston : Kluwer Academic Publishers, [2003]

Summary:

This book is for physicists, historians and philosophers of physics as well as students seeking an introduction to ongoing debates in relativistic and quantum physics. This title is unique in that: - it comprises contributions by leading physicists, philosophers and historians of science; - it covers the recent debates on the emergence of relativity and quantum theory; - it includes chapters with an introductory character, comprehensible to students and science teachers; - it can be used in graduate level courses in the history and philosophy of science; - it strengthens the bonds between the communities of scientists, historians, and philosophers.

Contents:

I Historical and Philosophical Roots of Relativity

The Prehistory of Relativity / Jean Eisenstaedt 3

Interpretations and Equations of the Michelson Experiment and its Variations / Horst Melcher 13

The Trouton Experiment, E = mc[superscript 2], and a Slice of Minkowski Space-Time / Michel Janssen 27

The N-Stein Family / John D. Norton 55

Eclipses of the Stars: Mandl, Einstein, and the Early History of Gravitational Lensing / Jurgen Renn, Tilman Sauer 69

The Varieties of Unity: Sounding Unified Theories 1920-1930 / Catherine Goldstein, Jim Ritter 93

Indiscernibles, General Covariance, and Other Symmetries: The Case for Non-Reductive Relationalism / Simon Saunders 151

On Relative Orbital Rotation in Relativity Theory / David B. Malament 175

II Foundational Issues in Relativity and their Advancement

The Unique Nature of Cosmology / George F. R. Ellis 193

Time, Structure, and Evolution in Cosmology / Lee Smolin 221

Timekeeping in an Expanding Universe / James L. Anderson 275

Gravitational Lensing from a Space-Time Perspective / Jurgen Ehlers, Simonetta Frittelli, Ezra T. Newman 281

Rigidly Rotating Disk Revisted / C. V. Vishveshwara 305

DSS 2+2 / Ray A. d'Inverno 317

Geometry, Null Hypersurfaces and New Variables / David C. Robinson 349

On Vacuum Twisting Type-N Again / Jerzy F. Plebanski, Maciej Przanowski 361

Quasi-Local Energy / Joshua N. Goldberg 375

Space-Time Defects: Open and Closed Shells Revisited / Reinaldo J. Gleiser, Patricio S. Letelier 383

Dimensionally Challenged Gravities / S. Deser 397

A Note on Holonomic Constraints / Wlodzimierz M. Tulczyjew 403

Towards an Action-at-a-Distance Concept of Spacetime / Daniel H. Wesley, John A. Wheeler 421

III Foundational Issues in Quantum Physics and their Advancement

Inevitability, Inseparability and Gedanken Measurement / Mara Beller 439

The Concept of Quantum State: New Views on Old Phenomena / Michel Paty 451

Elementary Processes / David Ritz Finkelstein 479

On Quantum Non-Locality, Special Relativity, and Counterfactual Reasoning / Abner Shimony, Howard Stein 499

Coherence, Entanglement, and Reductionist Explanation in Quantum Physics / Greg Jaeger, Sahotra Sarkar 523

IV Science, History, and the Challenges of Progress

Physics and Science Fiction / Allen I. Janis 545

Can We Learn From History? Do We Want To? / Lazlo Tisza 555

Patterns of Appropriation in the Greek Intellectual Life of the 18th Century: Case Study on the Notion of Time / Kostas Gavroglu, Manolis Patiniotis 569

Darwin, Marx, and Warranted Progress: Materialism and Views of Development in Nineteenth-Century Germany / Wolfgang Lefevre 593

Albert Einstein and the Founding of Brandeis University / Silvan S. Schweber 615.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 641-649).

ISBN:

1402012845

OCLC:

52134553