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Einstein's Discovery of Special Relativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Gary Gutting
Gary Gutting*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
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Abstract

This paper discusses the controversy between philosophers of science (e.g. Grünbaum) and historians of science (e.g. Holton) regarding Einstein's discovery of STR. Although Holton is surely correct on the historical point that experimental results (especially the Michelson–Morley experiment) had little influence on Einstein's development of STR, this fact is not sufficient to establish his (and Polanyi's) claim that major scientific discoveries are primarily matters of private, nonspecifiable insights into physical reality. It is possible that Einstein's work was based primarily on non-empirical but nonetheless publicly discussable, objective considerations. And a more comprehensive survey of the discovery of STR shows that this was indeed the case and thus excludes STR as a supporting instance of Holton's and Polanyi's assertions of the primacy of “private science.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 1972 , pp. 51 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by The Philosophy of Science Association

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References

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