Related papers: Perspectives on Einstein's scientific works in Mil…
Retrospectively, in 1905, Special Relativity seemed palpably close; it was "in the air". But apparently it needed the fresh approach of an unprejudiced newcomer, Einstein, to take the final step. I report, in a pedagogical fashion, on the…
Vienna today is one of the capitals for the research on foundations of quantum physics. In this paper we reconstruct the main historical steps of the development of modern physics in Vienna, with an emphasis on quantum foundations. We show…
Soon after he proposed three classic observational tests for the general theory of relativity, Einstein realised that a consistent description of the universe as a whole provided another important challenge for the theory. In this essay, we…
I discuss Einstein's path-breaking November 1915 General Relativity papers. I show that Einstein's field equations of November 25, 1915 with an additional term on the right hand side involving the trace of the energy-momentum tensor appear…
We recount the successful long career of classical physics, from Newton to Einstein, which was based on the philosophy of scientific realism. Special emphasis is given to the changing status and number of ontological entitities and…
Einstein is considered by many as the father of quantum physics in some sense. Yet there is an unshakable view that he was wrong on quantum physics. Although it may be a subject of considerable debate, the core of his allegedly wrong…
This paper aims to provide physics teachers with tools to help deepen the understanding of the laws of electromagnetism. The fundamental contributions of our proposal are: a) to use quotes from mythical characters in the history of science…
A panoramic view, preceded by a short background of Newtonian mechanics and Maxwellian electrodynamics, is offered on the extent of how Einstein's space-time geometry, believed to be central to an understanding of the structure of the…
The first comprehensive overview of the final version of the general theory of relativity was published by Einstein in 1916 after several expositions of preliminary versions and latest revisions of the theory in November 1915. A historical…
During the years 2009 to 2011, neutrino beams were fired repeatedly from CERN towards a detector in Italy's Gran Sasso tunnel, some 4 deg south and 7 deg east of CERN, at a distance of 730.5 km, in the shape of short bunches of particles.…
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary since the beginning of the search for gravitational waves at the Max Planck Society, and in coincidence with the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Albert Einstein Institute, we explore the…
I argue that Einstein overlooked an important aspect of the relativity of time in never quite realizing his quest to embody Mach's principle in his theory of gravity. As a step towards that goal, I broaden the Strong Equivalence Principle…
Brownian motion has played important roles in many different fields of science since its origin was first explained by Albert Einstein in 1905. Einstein's theory of Brownian motion, however, is only applicable at long time scales. At short…
The reform of the upper secondary school in Italy has recently introduced physics in the curricula of professional schools, in realities where it was previously absent. Many teachers, often with a temporary position, are obliged to teaching…
This article contributes to a global history of relativity, by exploring how Einstein's theory was appropriated in Belgium. This may sound as a contradiction in terms, yet the early-twentieth-century Belgian context, because of its cultural…
Einstein's own demonstration of time dilation taken from his book with L. Infeld (1938) is analyzed. His ingenious circumnavigation of an apparent discrepancy between clock synchronisation and Lorentz transformation is discussed.
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.…
The main purpose of the present paper is to show that a correction of one mistake was crucial for Einstein's pathway to the first version of the 1915 general theory of relativity, but also might have played a role in obtaining the final…
I discuss Albert Einstein's 1916 General Theory of Relativity. I show that in Einstein's 1916 review paper, "the Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity", he derived his November 25, 1915 field equations with an additional term on…
Introductory lectures notes on cosmology, aimed at master students in physics and based on a course held at Milano University (in Italian).