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Classical Physics In Disarray

The Emergence of the Riddle of Gravitation

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The Genesis of General Relativity

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 250))

The genesis of Einstein’s special and general theory of relativity is an odd event in the history of science. From today’s perspective, Einstein’s theory represents the basis for modern astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and cosmogony. It comprises a broad range of observational and theoretical knowledge, covering, among others, phenomena related to planetary astronomy, to black holes, and to the expansion of the universe. Yet little of the knowledge that makes relativity theory a central asset of modern physics was available at the time when Einstein completed it by publishing his paper on general relativity in late 1915. Neither the bending of light in a gravitational field nor the expansion of the universe, let alone gravitational waves or black holes, were even suspected by contemporary astronomers. How then was it possible for Einstein without this knowledge to formulate a theory that has since withstood not one but several revolutions of astronomy and its instrumentation, including the development of radio-, X-ray, and space-borne astronomy?

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Authors
  1. Jürgen Renn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, USA

    Michel Janssen

  2. University of Pittsburgh, USA

    John D. Norton

  3. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany

    Jürgen Renn

  4. Einstein Papers Project, Caltech, USA

    Tilman Sauer

  5. Boston University, USA

    John Stachel

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Renn, J. (2007). Classical Physics In Disarray. In: Janssen, M., Norton, J.D., Renn, J., Sauer, T., Stachel, J. (eds) The Genesis of General Relativity. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 250. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4000-9_2

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