Publisher's Synopsis
Popular myth has it that Albert Einstein originated the concept of "space-time". However, not only did Einstein not originate the idea of "space-time", he vigorously opposed it for quite some space of time. In fact, space-time theories have been quite common in folk-lore, philosophy, mathematics, religion, science, science fiction, psychology, and are even inherent in some languages. The ancients expressed "space-time" theories thousands of years ago. Albert Einstein did not introduce the idea of space-time into the theory of relativity, rather it was Henri Poincaré who first propounded the special theory of relativity in its modern four-dimensional form. When Minkowski adopted Poincaré's quadri-dimensional theory, Einstein initially opposed and criticized the idea, and did not adopt it until much later. The book presents a thorough study of the evolution of space-time theories prior to Einstein's acceptance of these works, which republishes the relevant works of Einstein's predecessors, including: OCELLUS LUCANUS, JOHN LOCKE, DAVID HUME, HENRY MORE, ISAAC NEWTON, SAMUEL CLARKE, THOMAS REID, JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT, ROGER JOSEPH BOSCOVICH, JOSEPH LOUIS LAGRANGE, GEORG SIMON KLÜGEL, ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, GUSTAV THEODOR FECHNER, WILLIAM ROWAN HAMILTON ( by E. H. Synge), EUGEN KARL DÜHRING, WOLDEMAR VOIGT, HENRI BERGSON, RUDOLF MEWES, H. G. WELLS, JAMES H. HYSLOP, G. F. FITZGERALD, JOSEPH LARMOR, H. A. LORENTZ, MELCHIOR PALÁGYI, GEORGE STUART FULLERTON, HENRI POINCARÉ, RUDOLF MEHMKE, PAUL LANGEVIN, ROBERTO MARCOLONGO, LADY VICTORIA WELBY, RICHARD HARGREAVES and HERMANN MINKOWSKI.
