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On Writing the History of Special Relativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

John Earman ,
Clark Glymour  and
Robert Rynasiewicz
John Earman
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Clark Glymour
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Robert Rynasiewicz
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

Einstein himself had a few words to say about the writing of the history of science. From the first of his famous conversations with Einstein, Robert Shankland relates: “Then he gave me his ideas on historical writing of science. ‘Nearly all historians of science are philologists and do not comprehend what physicists were aiming at, how they thought and wrestled with their problems… .’ The struggle with their:problems, their trying everything to find a solution which came at last often by very indirect means, is the correct picture.” (Shankland 1963, p. 50).

Why should we take these words seriously? After all, Einstein was not an historian, and, unless we are to pose him as an authority on every topic, these comments represent but a personal opinion. This, however, is precisely why they should be taken seriously, if we are interested in the history of Einstein's own accomplishments.

Type
Part VIII. Einstein's Discovery/Invention Of Special Relativity
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 403 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

1

Robert Rynasiewicz would like to acknowledge the support of the Andrew Mellon Foundation for postdoctoral fellowships held with the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh and with the Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University.

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