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Relativity: The Special and the General Theory began as a short
paper and was eventually published as a book written by Albert
Einstein with the aim of giving:
. . . 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.
- from the Preface
It was first published in German in 1916 and later translated into
English in 1920. It is divided into 3 parts, the first dealing with
special relativity, the second dealing with general relativity and
the third dealing with considerations on the universe as a whole.
There have been many versions published since the original in 1916,
the latest in December, 2011. The work has been labeled by whom?]
unique in that it gives readers an insight into the thought
processes of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
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.
World-renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was interested
in explaining the theory of Relativity to people who were not
especially well-versed in higher mathematic concepts and
theoretical physics. His solution to this was to write the
ground-breaking work, "Relativity: The Special and General Theory."
In the paper, Einstein lays out two contradictory principles: a
principle of relativity and a principle of light. Einstein proposed
that, rather than discarding these two principles for being
conflicting, the rules of time and space should be completely
revamped and rethought in order to find a way to make these two
principles work in harmony. Rather than just explaining his new
proposal, though, Einstein writes exactly why these rules need to
be changed by explaining the inaccuracies and inadequacies located
within each of the current theories. Albert Einstein is best known
for his work on the theory of Relativity, gaining him the title of
"Father of Modern Physics." He also received the 1921 Nobel Prize
in Physics, and his work is attributed as an inspiration for the
quantum theory within the field of physics. After immigrating to
America following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, Einstein
famously warned the government that Hitler was planning on creating
a weapon based on nuclear fission, and voiced his strong opinion
against the creation of the atom bomb. His hundreds of papers and
books are highly original and intelligent, making him one of the
most famous and respected intellectual minds of the twentieth
century.
The present book is 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. The work presumes a standard of
education corresponding to that of a university matriculation
examination, and, despite the shortness of the book, a fair amount
of patience and force of will on the part of the reader. The author
has spared himself no pains in his endeavour to present the main
ideas in the simplest and most intelligible form, and on the whole,
in the sequence and connection in which they actually originated.
In the interest of clearness, it appeared to me inevitable that I
should repeat myself frequently, without paying the slightest
attention to the elegance of the presentation. I adhered
scrupulously to the precept of that brilliant theoretical physicist
L. Boltzmann, according to whom matters of elegance ought to be
left to the tailor and to the cobbler. I make no pretence of having
withheld from the reader difficulties which are inherent to the
subject. On the other hand, I have purposely treated the empirical
physical foundations of the theory in a "step-motherly" fashion, so
that readers unfamiliar with physics may not feel like the wanderer
who was unable to see the forest for the trees. May the book bring
some one a few happy hours of suggestive thought
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the
geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in
1915. It is the current description of gravitation in modern
physics. General relativity generalises special relativity and
Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified
description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time,
or spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly
related to the four-momentum (mass-energy and linear momentum) of
whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is
specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of partial
differential equations. Einstein's theory has important
astrophysical implications. For example, it implies the existence
of black holes-regions of space in which space and time are
distorted in such a way that nothing, not even light, can escape-as
an end-state for massive stars. There is evidence that such stellar
black holes as well as more massive varieties of black hole are
responsible for the intense radiation emitted by certain types of
astronomical objects such as active galactic nuclei or
microquasars.
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