In this paper, I examine Gaston Bachelard’s 1929 work, La valeur inductive de la relativité, which offers a distinct take on Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Continue readingLettres épistémologiques
Don Howard and Sebastián Murgueitio Ramírez have just put online the complete issues of Lettres épistémologiques, a small journal dedicated to the foundations of physics published from 1973 to 1984 by the Institut de la Méthode in Bienne, Switzerland.
The Untranslated Appendix to Reichenbach’s ‘The Philosophy of Space and Time’
In 1958 Hans Reichenbach’s second wife Maria Reichenbach and John Freund edited an English translation of the Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre . The Philosophy of space and time turned out to be one of the most influential books in the history of philosophy of physics. For those who never read the German original, it might come as a surprise that the English version is missing the translation of an Appendix entitled ‘Weyl’s Extension of Riemann’s Concept of Space and the Geometrical Interpretation of Electromagnetism.’ The Appendix covers around 50 pages of the German original, the Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre—not few considering that Reichenbach dedicated roughly 60 pages of the book to general relativity.
Adding Comments to Equations
I was searching for quite a long time for a simple way of inserting short comments into latex equations. Recently I stumbled upon this solution by Steven B. Segletes that serves my needs. I have slightly modified the code to introduce arrows with both orientations and positioned above and under the equation.
Review of Jimena Canales. The physicist and the philosopher. Einstein, Bergson and the Debate that Changed our Understanding of Time
Jimena Canales is the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the History of Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her first book, A tenth of a second (Canales, 2011), exploring the importance that precise time measurement had on modern science and society, has been widely reviewed and acclaimed. The present book grew up from the last chapter of her previous work. The Physicist and the Philosopher is the ambitious attempt to describe how the debate between Einstein and Bergson—an interplay of philosophical differences, political disagreement, and personal animosity—had a profound and far-reaching impact on our culture’s perception of “the nature of time, the role of philosophy, and the reach and power of science” (p. 8)