Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie…
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"Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie" by Albert Einstein is a popular scientific treatise written in the early 20th century. It presents an accessible, largely non-mathematical account of the principles, motivation, and implications of special and general relativity for educated readers. The work develops the physical meaning of space, time, and motion, derives the Lorentz transformation and its consequences, and then turns toward gravitation. The opening of this treatise states its
aim: to convey the core ideas of relativity with minimal mathematics while emphasizing clarity and physical insight. It begins by probing what geometric “truth” means and how measurement with rigid bodies underlies coordinates and distance, then shows that motion and even a path depend on the chosen reference frame. After defining inertial frames and stating the relativity principle, it presents the apparent conflict between that principle and the constancy of light speed, and resolves it by operationally defining simultaneity via light signals, leading to the relativity of simultaneity. From this foundation, it introduces the Lorentz transformation and derives length contraction, time dilation, and the relativistic velocity-addition law, highlighting experimental support such as Fizeau’s flowing-water experiment. It elevates Lorentz covariance to a guiding criterion for all physical laws, sketches the modifications to mechanics at high speeds, and unifies energy and mass through their equivalence. The section surveys empirical backing (aberration, Doppler shifts, electron dynamics, Michelson–Morley) and dismisses the ether, then presents Minkowski’s four-dimensional spacetime as a clarifying viewpoint. It closes by distinguishing the special principle of relativity from the broader goal that leads into general relativity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955 |
|---|---|
| Editor | Scheel, Karl, 1866-1936 |
| Title | Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie : (Gemeinverständlich) |
| Original Publication | Braunschweig: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1917. |
| Credits | Jana Srna and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Language | German |
| LoC Class | QC: Science: Physics |
| Subject | Relativity (Physics) |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77850 |
| Release Date | Feb 3, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 438 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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