Here are presented a number of essays on Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. Heisenberg and Feynman make appearances too.
The Negative Principle and the Formal Point of View.
In the construction of a physical theory, one may need to be critically aware of the existence of restrictive constraints on the behavior of the system under consideration. Einstein stressed the distinction between `constructive' theories and `principled' theories. One question is how to convert a negative principle into a positive principle. Beyond that, we need to be aware that there are formal principles that we must accept, either because they are conventional or else we need to invent new ones that define a formal point of view that will, hopefully, lead one to a workable theory.
How Einstein and others interpret the Light Principle.
Einstein claimed that one pillar of his edifice of special relativity was what he referred to as the Light Principle. After it is stated, we will follow up with comments regarding its meaning by Werner Heisenberg and Richard Feynman.
How Einstein and others used Counterfactual Thinking.
Counterfactual thinking involves treating as false a fact of the world. We'll see how Einstein, Heisenberg, and others used counterfactual thinking as a heuristic to create whole new way of looking at the physical world.
Einstein was so fascinated by the rapid change in the theoretical nature of physics that he couldn't resist writing essay after essay on the subject, which he would often refer to as the `evolution of physics.' But in the process of his so doing, he had become an amateur historian.
Einstein's Development of Special Relativity.
Einstein has presented highlights of how he developed his special theory of relativity. I present some of them here.
Surely, philosophical enquiries are no longer helpful for the theoretical physicist, right? Well, don't be too quick to think so. Warning: this essay contains graphic academic philosophical language that may offend some readers.
Did Einstein Give Praise to other Physicists?
There are those who claim that Einstein was not inclined to give other physicists much praise, and he did so only reluctantly. I don't know how anyone is so arrogant as to claim to have an objective standard by which even to make such a claim. By that same `standard', would Bohr, Pauli, Born, Dirac, Schrodinger, or Heisenberg be judged as lavish or scant givers of praise to other physicists? From the perspective of their individual contributions to physics are concerned, what difference does it even make? I claim that by any reasonable standard of rational analysis, the claim that Einstein was not inclined to give other physicists any praise can be easily disproven. My proofs come from various essays from Einstein's book Ideas and Opinions.
In 1939, a rather cowardly lion (in The Wizard of Oz) confessed to believing in spooks. Well, Einstein wasn't having it. He had long before that declared victory over the former `frightening' ghosts of absolute space and time, that had of old lurked in the background of theoretical physics.
Einstein on the Research Program.
Einstein was given to writing essays and dropping hints on his personal views on how that the research program is the central concept of how theoretical physics gets down. In this paper we go over how Einstein presented it through his writings, especially through his many essays.
Einstein on Principle vs Constructive Theories.
The Principle vs Constructive theories dichotomy is Einstein's way to differentiate the extreme versions of how physicists tend to formulate physical theories. Einstein was able to effect a great unification of theoretical ideas under his relativistic theories by finding the essential empirical constraints common to them all --- to which he called `principles'.
Did Einstein Write The Evolution of Physics?
There are those who argue that Albert Einstein did not really write the book The Evolution of Physics, which is officially credited to both Einstein and Leopold Infeld. I argue that 1) Einstein was the principal author of the book, and 2) that the meat of the text came from Einstein's many essays and books which he had written prior to the publication of this book.
Feynman's proof of the Maxwell equations
(Am. J. of Phys., Vol. 58, No 3, March 1990, pp. 209-211.)
Freeman J. Dyson tells us of a few programs that
were tried by some of the greats of physics: Yukawa,
Born, Heisenberg, and Feynman, intended to
accomplish "radical reform in physics." Here Dyson
tells us about Feynman's "failed" program.