Title:
Concepts of simultaneity : from antiquity to Einstein and beyond / Max Jammer.
Author:
Jammer, Max.
Publication Information:
Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Call Number:
QC173.5.S56 J36 2006
Abstract:
"Max Jammer's Concepts of Simultaneity presents a comprehensive, accessible account of the historical development of an important and controversial concept--which played a critical role in initiating modern theoretical physics--from the days of Egyptian hieroglyphs through to Einstein's work in 1905, and beyond. Beginning with the use of the concept of simultaneity in ancient Egypt and in the Bible, the study discusses its role in Greek and medieval philosophy as well as its significance in Newtonian physics and in the ideas of Leibniz, Kant, and other classical philosophers. The central theme of Jammer's presentation is a critical analysis of the use of this concept by philosophers of science, like Poincare, and its significant role in inaugurating modern theoretical physics in Einstein's special theory of relativity. Particular attention is paid to the philosophical problem of whether the notion of distant simultaneity presents a factual reality or only a hypothetical convention. The study concludes with an analysis of simultaneity's importance in general relativity and quantum mechanics."--Publisher's website.
Electronic Access:
ebrary http://site.ebrary.com/id/10188475Table of contents http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=016232551&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA
Contributor biographical information http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0668/2006048564-b.html
Publisher description http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0668/2006048564-d.html
ISBN:
9780801884221
Physical Description:
x, 308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents:
Terminological preliminaries -- The concept of simultaneity in antiquity -- Medieval conceptions of simultaneity -- The concept of simultaneity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries -- The concept of simultaneity in classical physics -- The transition to the relativistic conception of simultaneity -- Simultaneity in the special theory of relativity -- The reception of the relativistic conception of simultaneity -- The conventionality thesis -- The promulgation of the conventionality thesis -- Symmetry and transitivity of simultaneity -- Arguments against the conventionality thesis -- Clock transport synchrony -- Recent debates on the conventionality of simultaneity.
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