The Principle of Relativity: With Applications to Physical Science (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Alfred North Whitehead

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1528472098 ISBN 13: 9781528472098

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Explore how space, time, and tensors shape physics in a bold, formal framework.

The Principle of Relativity: With Applications to Physical Science presents a rigorous approach to how coordinate systems, Galilean groups, and tensor derivatives illuminate the foundations of physical science. It blends abstract structure with concrete calculation, showing how invariants and standard formulae govern the behavior of physical quantities across coordinate systems.

• Learn how Galilean tensors and their derivatives are defined, transformed, and used to express physical laws.
• See how the differentiation of tensor components leads to covariant and contravariant objects, and how invariants arise in this framework.
• Explore key tensor constructions, including the Christoffel symbols, the Riemann–Christoffel tensor, and the linear gravitational tensor.
• Grasp how the theory connects the status of space and time to tangible concepts like rest, motion, and the physical field.

Ideal for readers of the history and philosophy of science, as well as those studying mathematical approaches to physical law.

About this title

Book Description

This 1922 book forms the follow up volume to The Principles of Natural Knowledge (1919) and The Concept of Nature (1920). Whitehead puts forward an alternative theory of relativity, which goes against the heterogeneity of Einstein's later theories in deducing that 'our experience requires and exhibits a basis in uniformity'.

About the Author

Alfred North Whitehead (1861 1947) was a prominent logician, mathematician and philosopher in the early twentieth century and helped pioneer the 'process philosophy' approach to metaphysics. He was Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University until his retirement in 1937.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1528472098
• ISBN 13: 9781528472098
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 204