16
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 579:
Line 579: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Paradoxes? Nobel Prize?
:::Where is the reference to Obama helping publish the article? The current reference points to the JSTOR article abstract, which does not mention Obama's involvement whatsoever. [[User:ATang|ATang]] 15:33, 29 May 2008 (EDT)
:::Where is the reference to Obama helping publish the article? The current reference points to the JSTOR article abstract, which does not mention Obama's involvement whatsoever. [[User:ATang|ATang]] 15:33, 29 May 2008 (EDT)
== Paradoxes? Nobel Prize? ==
Why are these things labeled as paradoxes? The rule is the speed of light IN A VACUUM is constant WITH RESPECT TO INERTIAL FRAME. The variability of c (the speed of light) through a medium is accepted and irrelevant as far as SR is concerned. That is due to the absorption and reemission of photons by atoms as light hits travels through glass (or air or fiber optics cable). Similarly, relativity neither prohibits nor "encourages" a c that varies with the age of the universe. Indeed, the nature of the constant is still a mystery, and it may indeed be dependent on some factors we are unaware of.
If anyone is confused, shoot me an email and I'll either give you a full explanation or point you in the direction of a good resource.
Also, there are several reasons Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for relativity:
-he recieved a prize for the photoelectric effect,which has laid the framework for quantum mechanics (arguably just as important). They may have had qualms over giving two to the same person (they haven't done it yet).
-initially, there was some resistance against it by the old guard of physicists who had wasted their lives pursuing the alternative (and stupid) ether explanation for the nature of c.
-the Nobel committee favors ideas that have a practical applications (hence no prize for mathematics), and at the time relativity had none.
-as to why they haven't given him one recently...well, Einstein's dead, and they don't give prizes posthumously. (A sticking point, since the full significance of a theory might only be fully realized generations after its inception).
So saying the Nobel prize hasn't recognized Einstein is misleading and irrelevant.
And now I'm curious. This article seems to have an anti-relativity bias. Why is relativity unAmerican or unChristian (besides the fact that Einstein was a German Jew)?