How Einstein lost his bearings, and with them, general relativity
How Einstein lost his bearings, and with them, general relativity
- March 14, 2018
- Jim Weatherall, LPS, Quanta Magazine, March 14, 2018
The most important thing to recognize about coordinate systems is that they’re human
contrivances. Maybe in one coordinate system we label a point (0, 0, 0), and in another
we label that same point (1, 1, 1). The physical properties haven’t changed — we’ve
just tagged the point differently. “Those labels are something about us, not something
about the world,” said James Weatherall, a philosopher of science at the University
of California, Irvine.
For the full story, please visit https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-einstein-lost-his-bearings-and-with-them-general-relativity-20180314/.
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