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703 bytes added ,  16:22, September 13, 2008
→‎False attributions: This isn't a swipe at Poincare, it only mentions the contributions of both Einstein and Poincare
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Many ideas and quotes are falsely attributed to Einstein. He did not invent very much of we now call [[special relativity]]. The Principle of Relativity, that the law of physics should be the same in all inertial frames, had already been published before Einstein.<ref>[http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077]</ref> He did not discover the [[Lorentz transformation]], or the Lorentz invariance of [[Maxwell's equations]] for electromagnetism.<ref>[http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00002307/]</ref> He was not the first to propose that the [[speed of ligh]]t is constant for all observers, or that "[[the aether]]" is superfluous and not observable.<ref>Lost in Einstein's Shadow, American Scientist, 2006. [http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/49611/page/1]</ref> He was not the first to recognize and explain how special relativity causes an ambiguity in defining simultaneity.<ref>[http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/Poincare.htm]</ref> He did not combine space and time into a four-dimensional [[spacetime]] in his special relativity papers until others had been doing it for a couple of years.
 
Many ideas and quotes are falsely attributed to Einstein. He did not invent very much of we now call [[special relativity]]. The Principle of Relativity, that the law of physics should be the same in all inertial frames, had already been published before Einstein.<ref>[http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077]</ref> He did not discover the [[Lorentz transformation]], or the Lorentz invariance of [[Maxwell's equations]] for electromagnetism.<ref>[http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00002307/]</ref> He was not the first to propose that the [[speed of ligh]]t is constant for all observers, or that "[[the aether]]" is superfluous and not observable.<ref>Lost in Einstein's Shadow, American Scientist, 2006. [http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/49611/page/1]</ref> He was not the first to recognize and explain how special relativity causes an ambiguity in defining simultaneity.<ref>[http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/Poincare.htm]</ref> He did not combine space and time into a four-dimensional [[spacetime]] in his special relativity papers until others had been doing it for a couple of years.
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Einstein was not the first to observe the equation E=mc<sup>2</sup><ref>H. Poincare published it in 1900. [http://www.serve.com/herrmann/ein.htm]</ref> as a consequence of special relativity, or to foresee its application to [[nuclear binding]] energies or [[antimatter]] annihilation. He did not foresee a nuclear [[chain reaction]] and had to be persuaded about the possibility of an [[atomic bomb]].  
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Einstein was not the first to observe the equation E=mc<sup>2</sup><ref>H. Poincare published it in 1900. [http://www.serve.com/herrmann/ein.htm]</ref> as a consequence of special relativity, or to foresee its application to [[nuclear binding]] energies or [[antimatter]] annihilation. He did not foresee a nuclear [[chain reaction]] and had to be persuaded about the possibility of an [[atomic bomb]]. However, while Poincare's version of E = mc<sup>2</sup> was mathematically the same as Einstein's, [[Poincare]] couldn't explain this without referring to a fictitious fluid or an ether in order for the motion of the [[center of mass]] of energy to remain uniform. Einstein's theory that a body losing energy through heat or [[radiation]] was losing mass is the one that's currently accepted.<ref>Einstein, A., 1905, [http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/annalen/history/papers/1905_18_639-641.pdf Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von dessen Energieinhalt abhängig?], Annalen der Physik, volume 18, pages 639–643. See also [http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www English translation].</ref>
    
Einstein did not originate the idea of using [[metric tensor]]s to reconcile gravity with special relativity.<ref>[http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/b4.pdf] It was not his idea to describe gravity in [[covariant equations]], and he published papers supposedly showing that it was impossible.<ref>[http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/decades_re-set.pdf]</ref> He did not discover the Lagrangian formulation of [[general relativity]], and was not the first to publish the field equations. He did not foresee the [[expansion of the universe]] (although this expansion is consistent with the field equations), the possibility of black holes, or [[dark energy]].
 
Einstein did not originate the idea of using [[metric tensor]]s to reconcile gravity with special relativity.<ref>[http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/b4.pdf] It was not his idea to describe gravity in [[covariant equations]], and he published papers supposedly showing that it was impossible.<ref>[http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/decades_re-set.pdf]</ref> He did not discover the Lagrangian formulation of [[general relativity]], and was not the first to publish the field equations. He did not foresee the [[expansion of the universe]] (although this expansion is consistent with the field equations), the possibility of black holes, or [[dark energy]].
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