Norton, John D. (2016) How Einstein Did Not Discover. [Preprint]

Preview

Text Einstein_Discover.pdf Download (242kB) | Preview

Abstract

What powered Einstein’s discoveries? Was it asking naïve questions, stubbornly? Was it a mischievous urge to break rules? Was it the destructive power of operational thinking? It was none of these. Rather, Einstein made his discoveries through lengthy, mundane investigations, pursued with tenacity and discipline. We have been led to think otherwise in part through Einstein’s brilliance at recounting in beguilingly simple terms a few brief moments of transcendent insight; and in part through our need to find a simple trick underlying his achievements. These ideas are illustrated with the examples of Einstein’s 1905 discoveries of special relativity and the light quantum.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Norton, John D.
Keywords:	Einstein Discover Light Quantum Special Relativity
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Science Case Studies Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics General Issues > Thought Experiments
Depositing User:	John Norton
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2016 17:22
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2016 17:22
Item ID:	12289
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Science Case Studies Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics General Issues > Thought Experiments
Date:	14 April 2016
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12289

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item