The Meaning of Relativity (Routledge Classics) - Softcover

Einstein, Albert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415285887 ISBN 13: 9780415285889

Publisher: Routledge, 2003

Synopsis

The world would be a very different place if it were not for Albert Einstein. Like Newton and Galileo before him, this remarkable scientist changed forever mankind's understanding of the universe. In 1921, five years after proclaiming his general theory of relativity, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in recognition of his remarkable achievements. In the same year he travelled to the United States to give four lectures that consolidated his theory and sought to explain its meaning to a new audience. These lectures were published the following year as The Meaning of Relativity, which he revised with each new edition until his death. It remains a key work for anyone wishing to discover at first hand the workings of one of the most inspiring minds of the twentieth century.

About this title

Review:

In 1921, a young Albert Einstein traveled to America to give four lectures at Princeton University, paving the way for a more complete acceptance of his theory of general relativity. These lectures are published together as The Meaning of Relativity, and were revised with each new edition until Einstein's death. Despite Einstein's profession that he thought without using words, his examples and descriptions of the relativistic world he perceived are clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately for nontechnical readers, his presentation requires deep diversions into mathematics often enough to break up the flow of his narrative, and they may find this rough terrain. But for the mathematically sophisticated or the devoted scientific historian, these lectures are profoundly illuminating--Einstein's bright, quiet genius shines through in the simplicity and economy of his writing. Two appendices follow the lectures: the first covers advances and experimental verifications after 1921; the second, "Relativistic Theory of the Non-Symmetric Field," was Einstein's last scientific paper. The Meaning of Relativity documents a revolution in progress and yields to the careful student deeper truths than those found in physics textbooks. --Rob Lightner

About the Author:

Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Described in his obituary in The Times as 'the greatest scientist of modern times.'

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0415285887
• ISBN 13: 9780415285889
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192