Einstein's Triumph over the Spacetime Coordinate System

Norton, John D (2001) Einstein's Triumph over the Spacetime Coordinate System. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Einstein insisted throughout his life that the signal achievement of his general theory of relativity was its general covariance. How are we to reconcile this with the now common view that general covariance merely expresses a definition, our freedom to label events with any set of numbers we like? There is, I believe, a natural reading for Einstein's claims that does make perfect sense. It requires us to adopt a physical interpretation of relativity theory that is now no longer popular, so the natural reading will no longer have intrinsic interest. It will, however, allow us to make sense of Einstein's claims and his program.

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Details

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Unpublished
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Norton, John D jdnorton@pitt.edu JDNORTON
Date:	2001
Date Type:	Publication
Institution:	University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs:	Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History and Philosophy of Science
Refereed:	No
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Einstein, Coordinates, Covariance, Relativity
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2009 19:36
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2020 18:55
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2747

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