Insights into Mathematics | A skeptical look at the Special Relativity narrative | Sociology and Pure Physics | N J Wildberger @njwildberger | Uploaded 9 months ago | Updated 9 hours ago
The usual story of Special Relativity (SR) is built from two Postulates introduced by A. Einstein in his famous 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" in which he subsequently derives the Lorentz transformations and introduces the mind-bending notions of length contraction, time dilation and mass expansion as (relative) speeds approach that of light. But does this story really ring true??

Here we look critically at this standard narrative, and show that there is in fact another hero to the story (!): Galileo Galilei who really had the critical understanding that underpins the subject. In fact we claim that SR is a relatively simple logical consequence of taking Galileo's Invariance Principle to heart and working out carefully and consistently the logical and necessary implications of it.

We consider also the important insights of W. Ignatowsky, along with P. Frank / H. Rothe, from around 1910 about Einstein's second Postulate. And clarify the very important distinction between the notions of "Hypotheses" and "Postulates" in pure physics. We see that there is a serious confusion currently about even the basic nature of the statements being proposed here.

And let's also boldly introduce a very uncomfortable truth: that "Einstein's Postulate" about the constancy and universality of the speed of light "c" in all inertial reference frames has serious logical issues.

There is a considerable amount of sociology surrounding this topic, and so lots to think about in this direction.

If you are interested to learn more, please have a look at my 2014 UNSW seminar entitled "Bats, echolocation and a Newtonian view of SR" along with my latest videos on Special Relativity in the "Classical to Quantum" series at the YouTube channel Wild Egg Maths. There I will be laying out in some detail an alternative, purely mathematical, approach to SR which circumvents the role of light, and clarifies that most of SR is actually an observational effect which necessarily follows from consistent application of Galileo's Principle.

A big thanks to my Patreon supporters, and to the Members of the Wild Egg Maths channel.

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My research papers can be found at my Research Gate page, at researchgate.net/profile/Norman_Wildberger

My blog is at http://njwildberger.com, where I will discuss lots of foundational issues, along with other things.

Online courses are being developed at openlearning.com. The first one, already underway, is Algebraic Calculus One at openlearning.com/courses/algebraic-calculus-one Please join us for an exciting new approach to one of mathematics' most important subjects!

If you would like to support these new initiatives for mathematics education and research, please consider becoming a Patron of this Channel at patreon.com/njwildberger Your support would be much appreciated.

Here are the Insights into Mathematics Playlists:

youtube.com/playlist?list=PL55C7C83781CF4316
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3C58498718451C47
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A714C94D40392AB
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