The concept of mass is one of the most fundamental notions in
physics, comparable in importance only to those of space and time.
But in contrast to the latter, which are the subject of innumerable
physical and philosophical studies, the concept of mass has been
but rarely investigated. Here Max Jammer, a leading philosopher and
historian of physics, provides a concise but comprehensive,
coherent, and self-contained study of the concept of mass as it is
defined, interpreted, and applied in contemporary physics and as it
is critically examined in the modern philosophy of science. With
its focus on theories proposed after the mid-1950s, the book is the
first of its kind, covering the most recent experimental and
theoretical investigations into the nature of mass and its role in
modern physics, from the realm of elementary particles to the
cosmology of galaxies.
The book begins with an analysis of the persistent difficulties
of defining inertial mass in a noncircular manner and discusses the
related question of whether mass is an observational or a
theoretical concept. It then studies the notion of mass in special
relativity and the delicate problem of whether the relativistic
rest mass is the only legitimate notion of mass and whether it is
identical with the classical (Newtonian) mass. This is followed by
a critical analysis of the different derivations of the famous
mass-energy relationship E = mc2 and its conflicting
interpretations. Jammer then devotes a chapter to the distinction
between inertial and gravitational mass and to the various versions
of the so-called equivalence principle with which Newton initiated
his Principia but which also became the starting point of
Einstein's general relativity, which supersedes Newtonian physics.
The book concludes with a presentation of recently proposed global
and local dynamical theories of the origin and nature of mass.
Destined to become a much-consulted reference for philosophers
and physicists, this book is also written for the nonprofessional
general reader interested in the foundations of physics.
General
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