Alberto A. Martínez

Conventions and inertial reference frames

This article discusses the role of conventions in defining the concept of inertial reference frame, and it specifies key historical evidence, up to now widely ignored, connecting Poincare, Einstein, and Reichenbach’s analyses of simultaneity.

Kinematic subtleties in Einstein’s first derivation of the Lorentz transformations

We analyze Albert Einstein’s derivation of the Lorentz transformations in his paper, “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper,” originally published in 1905. The analysis clarifies various misunderstandings in the secondary literature and reveals reasons why Einstein’s work entailed interpretive difficulties.

The Myriad Pieces of Einstein's Remains

By 1919, Albert Einstein’s thoughtful but absent-minded friend, Michele Besso, had lost all of his copies of Einstein’s publications. He then suggested that Einstein publish an edition of his collected works, with an introduction that ‘would convey which works were already familiar to you at the beginning of your work: Boltzmann, Lorentz (precisely which of their writings), then Planck (precisely which writings)’. Nothing came from this request. Also in 1919, Ludwig Darmstadter asked Einstein to bequeath his entire correspondence to the Prussian State Library. Einstein then agreed to contribute only ‘the letters worthy of preservation’, though ultimately his papers did not end up in Berlin. After his death in Princeton in 1955, his close friend economist Otto Nathan and his devoted secretary Helen Dukas, as Trustees of his Estate, laboured to collect and organise his documents to make them eventually accessible to the public. Einstein had appointed Nathan as sole Executor of his Estate, and hence Nathan operated conscientiously to administer materials and to facilitate publication in many languages. Selected collections of Einstein’s publications had been issued in Japanese and Russian, but nothing comprehensive. For years, Gerald Holton of Harvard University earnestly laboured to help Dukas to catalogue, describe, and microfilm many documents. By the late 1970s, the long project of publishing Einstein’s collected papers finally began. I will review the entire series to date, 12 volumes, focusing on the latest volumes but first describing the early days of the Einstein Papers Project. Einstein worked at the Institute for Advanced Study (originally housed at Fine Hall of Princeton University) for 21 years, until he died. Hence, the Director of its academic Press, Herbert S. Bailey Jr, enthusiastically led an effort to publish Einstein’s scientific papers. But Nathan convinced him that they should publish not just the science but all of Einstein’s writings, believing, in particular, that Einstein’s writings on peace would eventually be regarded as more important than his physics. In 1971, the Einstein Estate finally reached an agreement with Princeton University Press to publish the complete ‘Writings of Albert Einstein’. For years, they collaborated to plan the enormous project (they guesstimated roughly 10,000

Giordano Bruno and the heresy of many worlds

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the importance of Giordano Brunos belief in many worlds, including the Moon, the planets and the stars, in the context of his trial by the Inquisitions in Venice and Rome. Historians have claimed that this belief was not heretical and therefore was not a major factor in Brunos trial or execution. On the contrary, by examining neglected treatises on theology, heresies and Catholic canon law, I show that the belief in many worlds was formally heretical. Multiple Christian authorities denounced it. A systematic analysis of the extant primary sources shows that Brunos belief in many worlds was, surprisingly, of primary importance in his trial and execution. The evidence includes recent and newly discovered primary sources.

Arguing about Einstein's wife

Public-broadcasting television stations across the US recently aired a documentary called Einsteins Wife. The programme examined the life of Mileva Maric – Einsteins first wife. There has been speculation about whether she tacitly collaborated on his research into relativity, quantum theory and Brownian motion in his famous papers of 1905.