Related papers: A simple derivation of E = mc^2
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…
General Relativity theory is reviewed following the vierbein field theory approach proposed in 1928 by Einstein. It is based on the vierbein field taken as the "square root" of the metric tensor field. Einstein's vierbein theory is a gauge…
The evolution of the methods used to find solutions of Einstein's field equations during the last 100 years is described. Early papers used assumptions on the coordinate forms of the metrics. Since the 1950s more invariant methods have been…
This article presents a brief review of some historical and philosophical aspects of Einstein's 1917 paper 'Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity', a landmark work that denoted the starting point of modern…
We present a translation and analysis of a cosmic model published by Einstein in 1931. The paper, which is not widely known, features a model of a universe that undergoes an expansion followed by a contraction, quite different to his static…
With each passing year, the young Albert Einstein's achievements in physics in the year 1905 seem to be ever more miraculous. We describe why the centenary of this remarkable year is worthy of celebration.
There are reasons to believe that implications of a certain paradox introduced by Ginzburg and related problems have not been fully recognized. Pertinent issues remain open and unresolved. There are instances when the current widely used…
The pathways along which A. Einstein and D. Hilbert independently came to the gravitational field equations are traced. Some of the papers that assert a point of view on the history of the derivation of the gravitational field equations…
In spite of alleged impossibility proofs, "simple derivations" of the Schwarzschild metric, based solely on Einstein's equivalence principle and Newton's free fall velocity formula, are presented.
Einstein's first mention of the uniformly rotating disk in print was in 1912, in his paper dealing with the static gravitational fields. After the 1912 paper, the rotating disk problem occurred in Einstein's writings only in a 1916 review…
The expression for the electromagnetic field of a charge moving along an arbitrary trajectory is obtained in a direct, elegant, and Lorentz invariant manner without resorting to more complicated procedures such as differentiation of the…
We describe a simple geometrical derivation of the formula for reflection of light from a uniformly moving plane mirror directly from the postulates of special relativity.
The usual derivation of Einstein's field equations from the Einstein--Hilbert action is performed by silently assuming the metric tensor's symmetric character. If this symmetry is not assumed, the result is a new theory, such as Einstein's…
H. Akbar-Zadeh has recently proposed (J Geom Phys 17 (1995) 342) a new geometric formulation of Einstein-Maxwell system with source in terms of what are called "Generalized Einstein manifolds". We show that, contrary to the claim, Maxwell…
As it is well-known, the year 2005 has been the centenary of the "annus mirabilis" (1905) during which Albert Einstein published four fundamental papers of his. But already in 1979, for the centenary of Einstein's birth, the world…
Einstein was highly fascinated by Ernest Mach's work and by formulating the general theory of relativity (GR) he tried to provide a mathematical description to the Mach's principle. However, soon after its formulation, it was realized that…
Between 1905 and 1907, Einstein first tried to extend the special theory of relativity in such a way so as to explain gravitational phenomena. This was the most natural and simplest path to be taken. These investigations did not fit in with…
Most early twentieth century relativists --- Lorentz, Einstein, Eddington, for examples --- claimed that general relativity was merely a theory of the aether. We shall confirm this claim by deriving the Einstein equations using aether…
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…
A paradox associated with the astrophysical Poynting-Robertson effect is presented. The paradox arises when relativity theory and Mie's solution of Maxwell's equations are confronted with the statements on the Poynting-Robertson effect.…