What if Einstein had not been there? A Gedankenexperiment in science history

par J.-M. Lévy-Leblond (Physique Théorique, Université de Nice)

lundi 10 janv. 2005, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Paris

Amphithéâtre

Séminaire Interdisciplinaire CPPM-CPT-LAM (http://www.astrsp-mrs.fr/snap/inter_discip.html) Suppose Einstein had not existed. How, in the early twentieth century, might our understanding of space-time physics have developed? This paper proposes a reconstruction of history as it could have evolved, drawing on attested pre-Einsteinian works, and some little known post-Einsteinian ones, as well as introducing a few imaginary characters. The virtual rise of Minkowskian chronogeometry will be reviewed, focussing on: - the discovery of the inertia of energy and the subsequent construction of velocity-dependent formulas for energy and momentum (Von Dida 1909, Hunepierre 1909), - the application of the Erlangen program to the construction of possible space-time structures and classification of chronogeometrical groups, from von Ignatowsky (1910, 1911), Franck and Rothe (1911,1912) to more recent work by Blondeville and Prostov. Some secondary sources will also be discussed (Zweistein, 1905). Finally, the relevance of such an approach, on epistemological and cultural grounds, will be highlighted.