Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-26T01:45:14.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Einstein as a Disciple of Galileo A Comparative Study of Concept Development in Physics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Jürgen Renn
Jürgen Renn
Affiliation:
Departments of Physics and Philosophy, and University Professors Program, Boston University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper I present and argue for a model of conceptual development in science and apply it to the transition from classical to modern physics associated with Einstein. The model claims a continuous and rational transition between incompatible subsequent conceptual systems in mathematical science and explains its mechanism. The model was developed in a study of the transition from preclassical to classical mechanics. I argue for a strong structural analogy between the transition from preclassical to classical mechanics on the one hand and from classical to modern physics on the other. The first transition is briefly sketched here by reference to Galileo and his disciples; in the second transition Planck and Lorentz on the one hand and Einstein on the other play the respective roles.

A detailed and documented reconstruction of the transition from preclassical to classical mechanics on the basis of this model has already been published and is only briefly referred to in the paper. The transition from classical to modern physics is portrayed here much more extensively—though of course merely in broad brush strokes. Einstein–s role in this transition is reconstructed in the light of a conceptualization of his scientific knowledge as an active structure of thought, shaped by his intellectual experience. In this way, the development of his individual thinking is shown to be part of the overall process of conceptual transformation from classical to modern physics. The reconstruction sketched in this paper is to be considered as a proposal to be substantiated, reformed, and improved by future detailed studies.

Type
The Philosophical Context
Information
Science in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 311 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bernstein, Aaron 1867–1869. Naturwissenschaflliche Volksbücher. 20 vols. Berlin.Google Scholar
Cavalieri, Bonaventura 1632. Lo Specchio ustorio. Bologna.Google Scholar
Cuvaj, Camillo 1970. “A History of Relativity—the Role of Henri Poincaré and Paul Langevin.” Yeshiva University.Google Scholar
Damerow, Peter Gideon, Freudenthal, Peter, McLaughlin, and Jürgen, Renn 1992. Exploring the Limits of Preclassical Mechanics. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damerow, Peter 1993. The Cultural Conditions of Thinking. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Earman, John, Clark, Glymour, Rynasiewicz, Robert 1982. “On Writing the History of Special Relativity,” in Biennal Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association in Michigan, vol. 2, edited by Asquith, Peter D. and Thomas, Nickles East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association, 403–16.Google Scholar
Ehrenfest, Paul 1905. “über die physikalischen Voraussetzungen der Planck'schen Theorie der irreversiblen Strahlungsvorgange.” Sitzungsberichte der maihe maiisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Kiasse der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 114(8):1301–14.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1904. “Zur allgemeinen molekularen Theorie der Wärme.” Annalen der Physik 14: 354–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1905a. “über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt.” Annalen der Physik 17: 132–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1905b. “über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen.” Annalen der Physik 17: 549–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1907a. “Die Plancksche Theorie der Strahlung und die theorie der spezifischen Wärme”. Annalen der Physik 22: 180–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1979. Autobiographical Notes. A Centennial Edition, edited and translated by Paul Arthur, Schilpp. Salle, La, Ill.: Open Court.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1987. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol.1: The Early Years, 1879–1902, edited by Stachel, J. et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert 1989. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 2: The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900–1909, edited by Stachel, J. et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert Forthcoming a. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 3: The Swiss Years: Writings, 1909–1911, edited by Klein, Martin J., Kox, A. J., Jürgen, Renn, Robert, Schulmann et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert Forthcoming b. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 4: The Swiss Years: Writings, 1912–1914, edited by Klein, Martin J., Kox, A. J., Jürgen, Renn, Robert, Schulmann et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert Forthcoming c. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol.5: The Swiss Years: Correspondence, 1902–1914, edited by Klein, Martin J., Renn, Kox, Jürgen, A. J., Robert, Schulmann et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, Albert, and Leopold, Infeld 1938. The Evolution of Physics. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Galilei, Galileo 1960. On Motion and On Mechanics, translated by Stillman, Drake and Drabkin, I. E.. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Galilei, Galileo 1989. Two New Sciences, Including Centers of Gravity and Force of Gravity and Force of Percussion. 2nd ed., translated by Stillman, Drake. Toronto: Wall and Thompson.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Stanley 1969. “The Lorentz Theory of Electrons and Einstein's Theory of Relativity”. American Journal of Physics 37(10): 982–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirosige, Tetu 1969. “Origins of Lorentz's Theory of Electrons and the Concept of the Electromagnetic Field.” Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 1: 151–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holton, Gerald 1986. The Advancement of Science, and its Burdens. Cambridge, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Holton, Gerald 1988. Thematic Origins of Scient Thought. Kepler to Einstein. Rev. ed., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin J. 1974. “Einstein, Boltzmann's Principle, and the Mechanistic World View,” in XIVth International Congress of the History of Science in Tokyo and Kyoto, 183–94.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin J. 1985. Paul Ehrenfest, vol. 1: The Making of a Theoretical Physicist. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The Structure of Scient Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1978. Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity 1894–1912. Oxfod, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lorentz, H. A. 1895. Versuch einer Theorie der electrischen und optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Lorentz, H. A. 1987. “The Theory of Electrons and its Applications to the Phenomena of Light and Radiant Heat,” in Selected Works of H. A. Lorentz, V, edited by Nersessian, Nancy J. with Cohen, H. Floris. Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel: Palm Publications.Google Scholar
McCormmach, Russel 1970. “Einstein, Lorentz and the Electron Theory.” Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 2: 41–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Arthur I. 1981. Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Emergence (1905) and Early Interpretation (1905–1911). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Pais, Abraham 1982. “Subtle is the Lord The Science and the L of Albert Einstein. Oxford, New York, Toronto, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Planck, Max 1900. “Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum.” Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft 2(1): 237–45.Google Scholar
Planck, Max 1967. “The Genesis and Present State of Development of the Quantum Theory,” in Noble Lectures … Physics, 1901–1921, 407–16–20. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Pyenson, Lewish 1985. The Young Einstein: The Advent of Relativity. Bristol: Adam Hilger.Google Scholar
Renn, Jürgen, and Schulmann, Robert 1992. Albert Einstein-Mileva Marie. The Love Letters. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rynasiewicz, Robert 1994. “The Construction of the Special Theory: Some Queries and Considerations,” in Albert Einstein's Early Years, edited by Howard, D. and StachelJ, J,. Einstein's Studies, Boston, Basel: Birkhäuser.Google Scholar
Schaffner, Kenneth, F. 1969. “The Lorentz Electron Theory and Relativity.” American Journal of Physics 37(5): 498–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speziali, Pierre, ed. 1972. Albert Einstein / Michele Besso, Correspondance, 1903–1955. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Stachel, John 1982. “Einstein and Michelson. The Context of Discovery and the Context of Justification.” Astronomische Nachrichten 303(1): 47–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torricelli, Evangelista 1644. De Motu Gravium. Vol. 2. Opera di Evangelista Torricelli, 1919, edited by Loria, G. and Vassura, G.. Faenza: Montanan.Google Scholar
Wertheimer, Max 1959. Productive Thinking. New York, Evanston, San Francisco, London: Harper.Google Scholar
Wien, Wilhelm 1896. “Ueber die Energievertheilung im Emissionsspectrum eines schwarzen Korpers.” Annalen der Physik und Chemie 58: 662–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wien, Wilhelm 1898. “Ueber die Fragen, weiche die translatorische Bewegungdes Lichtäthers betreffen.” Annalen der Physik und Chemie 65(3):i–xvii.Google Scholar