Related papers: Einstein's Real "Biggest Blunder"
Einstein's theoretical analysis of mass-energy equivalence, already, at the time, experimentally evident in radioactive decays, in two papers published in 1905, as well as Planck's introduction, in 1906, of the concepts of relativistic…
In this essay we marshal evidence suggesting that Einstein gravity may be an emergent phenomenon, one that is not ``fundamental'' but rather is an almost automatic low-energy long-distance consequence of a wide class of theories.…
We critically revisit Einstein's 1905 heuristic argument for lightquanta, considering its internal coherence and the scope of its applicability. We argue that Einstein's reasoning, often celebrated for its originality, is ambiguous because…
On his way to General Relativity (GR) Einstein gave several arguments as to why a special relativistic theory of gravity based on a massless scalar field could be ruled out merely on grounds of theoretical considerations. We re-investigate…
Spacetime curvature plays the primary role in general relativity but Einstein later considered a theory where torsion was the central quantity. Just as the Einstein-Hilbert action in the Ricci curvature scalar R can be generalized to f(R)…
Physics was in crisis at the beginning of the twentieth century because the newborn Maxwell's electromagnetism defied mechanistic preconceptions. Albert Einstein understood that the solution to the crisis required an audacious reworking of…
The general idea to modify Einstein's field equations by promoting Newton's constant $G$ to a covariant differential operator $G_\Lambda(\Box_g)$ was apparently outlined for the first time in [12-15]. The modification itself originates from…
In the era of precision cosmology, different observational data has led to precise measurements of the Hubble constant that differ significantly, what has been called the Hubble tension problem. In order to solve such a discrepancy, many…
This is a review with some comments on the A. Einstein`s 1911 paper, which he published as one of his many attempts of the general theory of relativity. The main point of the idea is to propose a new approach about light and its motion as…
In 1936 Einstein predicted the phenomenon presently known as gravitational lensing (GL). A prime feature of GL is the magnification, because of the gravitational field, of the star visible surface as seen from a distant observer. We show…
We review and strengthen the arguments given by Einstein to derive his first gravitational field equation for static fields and show that, although it was ultimately rejected, it follows from General Relativity (GR) for negligible pressure.…
Hilbert's paper on ``The Foundations of Physics (First Communication),'' is now primarily known for its parallel publication of essentially the same gravitational field equations of general relativity which Einstein published in a note on…
We comment on the paper [1] by Albert Einstein from 1918 to Willem De Sitter's solution [2] of the Einstein field equation from today's point of view. To this end, we start by describing the geometry of the De Sitter space-time and present…
Contrary to popular mythology, Einstein did not invent the cosmological constant just in order construct his model universe. He discussed it earlier in "The Foundations of General Relativity" in connection with the proper structure of the…
This paper has been withdrawn by the author after further work showed the proposed theoretical approach cannot fit planetary perihelion precession data. As presented, the theory doesn't fit gravitational light deflection by the sun either,…
At the end of the 19th century light was regarded as an electromagnetic wave propagating in a material medium called ether. The speed c appearing in Maxwell's wave equations was the speed of light with respect to the ether. Therefore,…
The Cosmological Constant Lambda, a concept introduced by Einstein in 1917, has been with us ever since in different variants and incarnations, including the broader concept of Dark Energy. Current observations are consistent with a value…
In this Einstein Year of Physics it seems appropriate to look at an important aspect of Einstein's work that is often down-played: his contribution to the debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Contrary to popular opinion, Bohr…
In his 1916's first paper on gravitational waves Einstein began to speculate on interactions between the principles of the old quantum theory and his theory of gravitation. With this contribution Einstein has stimulated a lot of similar…
The question of Einstein's rejection of the November tensor is re-examined in light of conflicting answers by several historians. I discuss these conflicting conjectures in view of three questions that should inform our thinking: Why did…