Why was Relativity Accepted?

@article{Brush1999WhyWR,
  title={Why was Relativity Accepted?},
  author={Stephen G. Brush},
  journal={Physics in Perspective},
  year={1999},
  volume={1},
  pages={184-214}
}
Historians of science have published many studies of the reception of Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity. Based on a review of these studies, and my own research on the role of the light-bending prediction in the reception of general relativity, I discuss the role of three kinds of reasons for accepting relativity: (1) empirical predictions and explanations; (2) social-psychological factors; and (3) aesthetic-mathematical factors. According to the historical studies… CONTINUE READING
View on Springer

Figures and Tables from this paper.

References

Publications referenced by this paper.
SHOWING 1-10 OF 27 REFERENCES

Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge.

Michael Kruse, Deborah G. Mayo
  • 1998

Introduction: Thinking Locally, Acting Globally

Steven J. Harris
  • 1998

What Ha6e We Learned About Science and Technology from the Russian Experience? (Stanford

Loren R. Graham
  • See also his article ‘‘The Reception of Einstein’s Ideas: Two Examples from Contrasting Cultures,’’ in G. Holton and Y. Elkana,
  • 1998

Beauty and Re6olution in Science (Ithaca

James W. McAllister
  • Studies in History and Philosophy of Science,
  • 1996

Dynamics of Theory Change: The Role of Predictions

Stephen G. Brush
  • 1994

Prediction and Theory Evaluation: Subatomic Particles,’

S. G. Brush
  • Ri6ista di Storia della Scienza, Ser. II. 1, n
  • 1993

Making Science (Cambridge

Stephen Cole
  • The Flight from Science and Reason (New York: New York Academy of Sciences,
  • 1992

The Measure of the Uni6erse: A History of Modern Cosmology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965; reprinted with a new preface

J. D. North
  • New York: Dover,
  • 1990

The electrodynamics of moving bodies and the principle of relativity in British physics, 1894-1919

Andrew Charles Warwick
  • 1989

Sánchez-Ron, ‘‘The Role Played by Symmetries in the Introduction of Relativity in Great Britain,’

37 José
  • Symmetries in Physics (1600–1980) (Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
  • 1987