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Originally Posted by HarryT
With respect, that is not the case.
Classical physics was in "crisis" in the late 19th century, with many recent discoveries, especially in the new field of electromagnetism, simply not fitting in with the accepted physical models of the time.
"Special relativity" was an inevitable outcome of work being done by a number of physicists at the time. If Einstein hadn't come up with the theory, Lorentz or Maxwell would surely have done so within a year or so. "Maxwell's Equations" - the three fundanental equations which define the behaviour of electromagnetic waves - are essentially an expression of special relativity couched in slightly different terms.
It was simply one of those times when all the groundwork had been done to make a fundamental change in the outlook of science inevitable. The fact that Einstein was the one to come up with a formal expression of that new outlook, in the form of relativity, was pretty much irrelevent. Someone else would have done so if Einstein hadn't been around.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
simply not fitting in with the accepted physical models of the time.
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I’m not sure what you are disagreeing about. My statement was Einstein’s theory on Relativity took some time to accept. You’ve clearly said as much.
Your assertion that Maxwell would have discovered Relativity with a year of Einstein is really quite an intriguing one especially considering Maxwell died in 1879 and Einstein did not postulate his theory until 1905.
While it’s true Maxwell’s equations can be used to prove relativity, most people consider this to give more creditability to Einstine’s Relativity not visa versa. Also these equations do not prove relativity until some of Einstein assumptions are made.
P.S. Since you are talking about E&M (Electromagnetism) there are really 4 equations not 3. Here is a
WIKI link for your entertainment, which is actually quite good.