Convergences and Divergences: Einstein, Poincaré, and Special Relativity
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866915489902493696 |
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| author | Weinstein, Galina |
| author_facet | Weinstein, Galina |
| contents | Jean-Marc Ginoux's recent book, "Poincaré, Einstein and the Discovery of Special Relativity: An End to the Controversy" (2024), seeks to close the debate over the respective roles of Poincaré and Einstein. Yet what is presented as an "end" may instead invite a more careful analysis of how similar equations can conceal divergent conceptions. The aim here is not to rehearse priority disputes but to show how Einstein's ether-free, principle-based kinematics marked out a path that, unlike its contemporaries, became the canonical form of special relativity. To this end, I reconstruct side by side the 1905 derivations of Poincaré and Einstein, tracing their similarities and, more importantly, their differences. This paper reconstructs, in a novel way, the 1905 derivations of Einstein and Poincaré, highlighting their contrasting paths. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_09361 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Convergences and Divergences: Einstein, Poincaré, and Special Relativity Weinstein, Galina History and Philosophy of Physics Jean-Marc Ginoux's recent book, "Poincaré, Einstein and the Discovery of Special Relativity: An End to the Controversy" (2024), seeks to close the debate over the respective roles of Poincaré and Einstein. Yet what is presented as an "end" may instead invite a more careful analysis of how similar equations can conceal divergent conceptions. The aim here is not to rehearse priority disputes but to show how Einstein's ether-free, principle-based kinematics marked out a path that, unlike its contemporaries, became the canonical form of special relativity. To this end, I reconstruct side by side the 1905 derivations of Poincaré and Einstein, tracing their similarities and, more importantly, their differences. This paper reconstructs, in a novel way, the 1905 derivations of Einstein and Poincaré, highlighting their contrasting paths. |
| title | Convergences and Divergences: Einstein, Poincaré, and Special Relativity |
| topic | History and Philosophy of Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.09361 |