History of Relativistic Physics

Special Relativity [> s.a. special relativity.]
* Re ether and Michelson-Morley experiment: Despite what is now said, it appears not to be the case that the conclusions of the Michelson-Morley experiment were clear and generally accepted; As late as the 1930's a review of the phenomena stated that the existence of the ether was a fact [< H Collins].
@ Poincaré: Granek SHPMP(00); Reignier phy/00, Giulini in(05)phy [and Lorentz, Einstein]; Damour ht/05-in; Cerf AJP(06) [what was missing].
@ Einstein: Kennedy SHPMP(05) [1905 paper]; Brown EJP(05) [1905 misgivings].
@ Minkowski: Bertolami a0804-in; Damour a0807-in [analysis of "Raum und Zeit" lecture].
@ General references: Holton Isis(69); Tonnelat 71; Miller 81; Feuer 82; Darrigol HSPS(96); Staley Isis(98) [Germany, 1905–1911]; Bonizzoni & Giuliani phy/00 [time dilation]; Galison 03 [and clocks]; Logunov phy/04-book; Jammer FP(04); Will gq/05-in [semi-pedagogical], gq/05-in [and tests]; Yuan phy/05 [and development of physics]; Ferraro a0705-in.

General Relativity in General > s.a. [general relativity]; mach's principle; tests of general relativity, tests with orbiting bodies.
* Precursors: 1859, Le Verrier discovered the Mercury perihelion advance anomaly.
* Einstein: Einstein arrived at his field equations for gravitation in 1913, but he initially thought they must be wrong, because of the hole argument and because of some incorrect calculations on the Newtonian limit.
* Early work: Calculate the simplest physical consequences, like propagation of light, correction to planet orbits, simple cosmologies. The formulation in terms of modern differential geometry came with @ Lichnerowicz 55.
* Lie group methods: Introduced into cosmology by Gödel (> see gödel solution) and Taub (> see Taub-NUT).
* 1980's: Links were developed with astrophysics, gauge theory, particle physics; General relativity became a more balanced (but also chaotic) field, and more confidence in the classical theory made it less necessary to look for alternatives before quantizing.
* 1997: Einstein/Hilbert paternity suit settled by paper proofs [@ Corry et al Sci(97)nov]; Frame dragging observation [@ news pn(97)nov].
* 2000: The interferometric gravitational wave detectors began their runs to accumulate data.
@ General references: Mehra 74; Chandrasekhar AJP(79); Torretti 83; Hickman IJTP(84) [and electrodynamics]; Pyenson 85; Stachel in(86); Glick ed-87; Ray 87; Bergmann in(89); Howard & Stachel ed-89; Eisenstaedt & Kox ed-92; Norton AHES(92) [and Nordström's scalar theory]; Earman et al 93; Hu HSPBS(04) [criticism in China]; Eisenstaedt & Kox ed-05; Todorov phy/05 [Einstein & Hilbert]; Dadhich phy/05 [and the future]; Crelinsten 06 [tests, r CQG(07)]; Ebner phy/06 [Hilbert's derivation of the field equation]; Eisenstaedt 06.
@ Dynamics: Logunov et al PU(04)phy [field equations]; Ostermann gq/04 [variational principle].
@ Differing views: Coleman phy/05 [Synge on Whitehead's 1922 Principle of Relativity], a0704 [Whitehead's theory].
@ Personal contributions: Sauer AHES(99)phy/98 [Einstein-Hilbert question]; Deser IJMPA(04)gq/03 [Dirac]; Sauer phy/04 [Einstein 1916]; Brading & Ryckman SHPMP(08) [Hilbert's axiomatic approach].
@ Quantum gravity: Rüger HSPS(88) [quantum spacetime]; Rovelli gq/00-in; DeWitt a0805-GRG.
@ Specific topics: Renn Isis(04) [and historical epistemology]; Halpern 04 [higher dimensions]; Lombardi a0705-in [and conception of reality]; > s.a. kerr metric.
> Online resources: see St-Andrews University page.

Tests and Phenomenology > s.a. cosmology; history of cosmology; kaluza-klein theory.
@ Gravitational waves: Collins HSPBS(03) [LIGO].
@ Black holes: Miller 05; > s.a. schwarzschild black hole.
@ Other topics: Coles ap/01-in, Kennefick a0709-in [1919 eclipse]; Pfister GRG(07) [Lense-Thirring effect]; > s.a. lensing.

Cosmology > s.a. history of cosmological models [earlier models].
@ General references: Merleau-Ponty 65; North 65; Durham & Purrington 83; Duhem 85; Kerszberg 89; Hetherington AS(90); Lightman & Brawer 90; Smith PT(90)apr [Edwin Hubble]; Gale & Urani AJP(93); Kragh 96; Aczel 99; Ginzburg 92, Van Helden [early cosmology]; Martinez ap/02-in; Wright ap/06-in; Bertolami gq/06 [in Portugal, first 20 years]; Luminet a0704-in [1017–2006, role of Lemaître].
@ Big Bang theory: Alpher & Herman PT(88)aug; Barrow & Silk 94; Alpher & Herman 01.
@ Inflation: Kazanas a0803-in [personal reminiscences].
@ Related topics: Kragh SHPMP(06) [varying speed of light].
> Online resources: see AIP Center for History of Physics.

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