Other editions of book Relativity: The Special and the General Theory

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An accesible version of Einstein's masterpiece of theory, written by the genius himselfAccording to Einstein himself, this book is intended "to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics." When he wrote the book in 1916, Einstein's name was scarcely known outside the physics institutes. Having just completed his masterpiece, The General Theory of Relativity—which provided a brand-new theory of gravity and promised a new perspective on the cosmos as a whole—he set out at once to share his excitement with as wide a public as possible in this popular and accessible book.Here published for the first time as a Penguin Classic, this edition of Relativity features a new introduction by bestselling science author Nigel Calder.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

‘When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.’Dealing with the theory of relativity—special relativity and general relativity—and the considerations on the universe as a whole, this book gives an insight into the scientific theory about the relationship between space and time, the theory of gravitation and the universe.A Nobel laureate, Einstein’s research and theories changed the world. First published in 1916, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory is regarded as the most significant work in modern physics. It continues to remain popular and highly influential.

that differences of opinion are scarcely likely to arise as to its applicability in practice.*** A refinement and modification of these views does not become necessary until we come to deal with the general theory of relativity, treated in the second part of this book.SPACE AND TIME IN CLASSICAL MECHANICSThe purpose of mechanics is to describe how bodies change their position in space with "time." I should load my conscience with grave sins against the sacred spirit of lucidity were I to formulate the aims of mechanics in this way, without serious reflection and detailed explanations. Let us proceed to disclose these sins.It is not clear what is to be understood here by "position" and "space." I stand at the window of a railway carriage which is travelling uniformly, and drop a stone on the embankment, without throwing it. Then, disregarding the influence of the air resistance, I see the stone descend in a straight line. A pedestrian who observes the misdeed from the footpath notices th

To quote Einstein himself, this slim volume was "intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics". Despite his formidable intellect, Einstein writes in a clear and engaging style, using familiar examples to illustrate his theories and their surprising conclusions. Anyone with a curiosity about the man, and his often misquoted theories, would do well to settle down with this book in a comfortable chair, and shut the door - you will need to think and imagine hard to keep up with Einstein! Delve into the world of the infitinely small, infinitely large, and lightning fast, and at least scrape the surface of these two great concepts which laid the foundations for atomic, nuclear and quantum physics in the following decades, and made space flight and modern astronomy possible.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955), pacifist and humanitarian, has been universally acclaimed the greatest theoretical physicist who ever lived. Adapting the old laws of physics to Einstein's space-time resulted in "relativistic" physics. He, more than anyone else, realized that every physical theory is largely an invention of the mind, a mathematical model used to "mimic" a certain domain of experimental facts. Einstein's work on relativity is indeed the greatest contribution to the philosophy of science.It has long been thought that only a handful of scientists could comprehend Einstein's theory of relativity. But in this book the inventor himself explains both the special and the general theories in terms that the layman can understand.

Along with quantum mechanics in the 1920s, Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (1905) and General Theory of Relativity (1916) stand as the supreme achievements of twentieth-century physics. In simplest terms, the theory of Relativity is an approach to the measurement and study of space and time. The theory assumes that findings are based upon the relation of the frame of reference to the objects measured. The Special Theory of Relativity is primarily concerned with electric and magnetic phenomena. The General Theory focuses on gravity-not as a force as Newton postulated-but as a curved field in the space-time continuum, created by the presence of mass. Redesigned to present an easier reading, Relativity includes both explanatory illustrations and mathematical derivations of Einstein's theories. This book brings out the great scientist's remarkable ability to penetrate directly into the heart of the subject and yet remain lucid and accessible.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The volume contains new publications of five works by Einstein - his valuable book Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, written for a wider audience - and four articles, which nicely complement the issues discussed in the book. The selected works contain not only Einstein's own explanations of his revolutionary contributions to fundamental physics, but also give the readers, particularly his popular book, the unique chance to be exposed to Einstein's original thinking in action. Einstein's five works included in the volume are: 1. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory. A Popular Exposition 2. "What is the Theory of Relativity," written at the request of The London Times and published on November 28, 1919 3. "Ether and the Theory of Relativity," An Address delivered on May 5th, 1920 in the University of Leyden 4. "Geometry and Experience," An expanded form of an Address to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin on January 27th, 1921 5. "A Brief Outline of the Development of the Theory of Relativity," Nature volume 106, pages 782-784 (17 February 1921) One notable issue - the concept of relativistic mass - is not discussed in Einstein's five works republished in the volume. Although he wrote in his popular book (included here, p. 36) "the inertial mass of a body is not a constant", Einstein did not discuss the concept of relativistic mass (i.e., the relativistic increase of the mass of a body as its velocity increases), which he silently abandoned after using it in his 1905 paper, where he defined longitudinal mass and transverse mass. As Einstein's unclear view of the relativistic mass might have provided some encouragement for "what has probably been the most vigorous campaign ever waged against the concept of relativistic mass," an Appendix "On Relativistic Mass" is included in this volume to address that unprecedented campaign and to help the readers make their own decision on the concept of relativistic mass.

Relativity - The Special and General Theory/ Sidelights on Relativity is a compilation of two classic Albert Einstein physics papers. Special relativity is a theory of the structure of spacetime. It was introduced in Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (for the contributions of many other physicists see History of special relativity). Special relativity is based on two postulates which are contradictory in classical mechanics: The laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion relative to one another (principle of relativity). The speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion or of the motion of the light source. The resultant theory copes with experiment better than classical mechanics. For instance, postulate 2 explains the results of the Michelson–Morley experiment. Moreover, the theory has many surprising and counterintuitive consequences. Some of these are: Relativity of simultaneity: Two events, simultaneous for one observer, may not be simultaneous for another observer if the observers are in relative motion. Time dilation: Moving clocks are measured to tick more slowly than an observer's "stationary" clock. Length contraction: Objects are measured to be shortened in the direction that they are moving with respect to the observer. Maximum speed is finite: No physical object, message or field line can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. The effect of Gravity can only travel through space at the speed of light, not faster or instantaneously. Mass–energy equivalence: E = mc2, energy and mass are equivalent and transmutable. Relativistic mass, idea used by some researchers. The defining feature of special relativity is the replacement of the Galilean transformations of classical mechanics by the Lorentz transformations. General relativity is a theory of gravitation developed by Einstein in the years 1907–1915. The development of general relativity began with the equivalence principle, under which the states of accelerated motion and being at rest in a gravitational field (for example, when standing on the surface of the Earth) are physically identical. The upshot of this is that free fall is inertial motion: an object in free fall is falling because that is how objects move when there is no force being exerted on them, instead of this being due to the force of gravity as is the case in classical mechanics. This is incompatible with classical mechanics and special relativity because in those theories inertially moving objects cannot accelerate with respect to each other, but objects in free fall do so. To resolve this difficulty Einstein first proposed that spacetime is curved. In 1915, he devised the Einstein field equations which relate the curvature of spacetime with the mass, energy, and any momentum within it. Some of the consequences of general relativity are: Clocks run slower in deeper gravitational wells. This is called gravitational time dilation. Orbits precess in a way unexpected in Newton's theory of gravity. (This has been observed in the orbit of Mercury and in binary pulsars). Rays of light bend in the presence of a gravitational field. Rotating masses "drag along" the spacetime around them; a phenomenon termed "frame-dragging". The universe is expanding, and the far parts of it are moving away from us faster than the speed of light. Technically, general relativity is a theory of gravitation whose defining feature is its use of the Einstein field equations. The solutions of the field equations are metric tensors which define the topology of the spacetime and how objects move inertially.