The evolution of scientific thought from Newton to Einstein

by A. d'Abro

A non-technical survey of pre-relativity physics, from Newton through Riemann to Lorentz, and its inadequacies, and a review of Einstein's special and general theories and their significance

Genres: Physics

556 pages, ebook

First published June 1, 1927

About the author

Aram d'Abro was an Armenian-American science popularizer and author, known for his book The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein.

There is little biographical information on Aram d'Abro. Several sources erroneously give his first name as "Abraham". A border crossing document from St. Albans, Vermont, dated September 24, 1910, gives his name as "Aram D'Abro", age 24, nationality Turkey, birthplace Paris, occupation professor of coastal engineering, marital status single. According to information from the Van Nostrand Company, Aram d'Abro was educated at Eton College, studied mathematics in Paris, and resided in New York City; he paid the costs of publication of his 2-volume work The Decline of Mechanism in Modern Physics (1939, Van Nostrand).

Abram d’Abro was Aram d'Abro's father. Abram d'Abro was an Armenian financier who settled in Trieste and was related to Muhammad Ali's Minister of Foreign Affairs Boghos Bey Yousefian. The original family name of D'Abro was Abroyan. Boghos Bey brought approximately 2,000 Armenians to Egypt.

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD ix

PART I

PRE-RELATIVITY PHYSICS

CHAPTER

I. MANIFOLDS 23

II. THE BIRTH OF METRICAL GEOMETRY 32

III. RIEMANN’S DISCOVERIES AND CONGRUENCE 39

IV. THE PROBLEM OF PHYSICAL SPACE 47

V. AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF NON-EUCLIDEAN
GEOMETRIES 60

VI. TIME 71

VII. SYSTEMS OF CO-ORDINATES AND DISTANCE 83

VIII. THE MEANING OF THE WORD RELATIVITY 99

IX. THE PRINCIPLES OF RELATIVITY 103

X. CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND THE NEWTONIAN
PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY 106

XI. THE ETHER 116

XII. THE EQUATIONS OF ELECTROMAGNETICS AND LORENTZ’S
THEORY 125

PART II

THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

XIII. EINSTEIN’S SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY 143

XIV. RELATIVISTIC MECHANICS 156

XV. CONSEQUENCES OF THE NEW SPACE AND TIME MEASUREMENTS--SIMULTANEITY 161

XVI. PRACTICAL CONGRUENCE IN RELATIVITY 187

XVII. THE MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION OF EINSTEIN’S
FUNDAMENTAL PREMISES 193

XVIII. THE DISCOVERY OF SPACE-TIME 195

XIX. VARIOUS POSSIBLE WORLDS 201

XX. THE IRREVERSIBILITY OF TIME 212

XXI. THE REALITY OF THE CONTRACTION OF LENGTHS AND
OF THE LENGTHENING OF DURATIONS 219

XXII. THE PARADOXES ASSOCIATED WITH SPACE-TIME AND
THE TRIP TO THE STAR 225

PART III

THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

XXIII. POTENTIALS AND FORCES 245

XXIV. THE POSTULATE OF EQUIVALENCE 250

XXV. THE INCLUSION OF GRAVITATION IN THE MODEL OF
SPACE-TIME 261

XXVI. TENSORS AND THE LAWS OF NATURE 266

XXVII. THE PRINCIPLE OF GENERAL COVARIANCE, OR THE
GENERAL PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY 276

XXVIII. THE DISCOVERY OF THE EINSTEINIAN LAW OF
GRAVITATION 281

XXIX. THE GENERAL LAWS OF MOTION 286

XXX. THE VERIFICATION OF EINSTEIN’S LAW 290

XXXI. THE SEPARATION OF SPACE-TIME INTO SPACE AND
TIME IN A GRAVITATIONAL FIELD 293

XXXII. THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION 305

XXXIII. OTHER ASPECTS OF THE GRAVITATIONAL EQUATIONS 310

XXXIV. THE FINITENESS OF THE UNIVERSE 313

XXXV. THE IMPORTANCE OF SPACE-TIME, AND THE PRINCIPLE
OF ACTION 347

XXXVI. THE MYSTERY OF MATTER 356

XXXVII. THE THEORIES OF WEYL AND EDDINGTON 360

PART IV

THE METHODOLOGY OF SCIENCE

XXXVIII. THE METHODOLOGY OF SCIENCE 373

XXXIX. THE CO-ORDINATION OF PHYSICAL FACTS ACCOMPLISHED
BY RELATIVITY 474

XL. THE GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE THEORY OF
RELATIVITY 481

APPENDICES

I. THE SPACE AND TIME GRAPHS 509

II. THE CURVATURES OF SPACE-TIME 524

III. THE GRAVITATIONAL EQUATIONS 527

IV. SPACE, GRAVITATION AND SPACE-TIME 531