Mendel Sachs - Böcker

"Relativity In our Time" is a book concerning the relevance of Einstein's theory to human relations in contemporary times. lt is physics and it is philosophy. lt is a discussion about one of the greatest of all pillars of 20th century thought and science. Based on a seminar course for a mixture of science and humanities students, the approach and narrative style leads the reader towards the frontier of thinking in this farreaching subject. Sachs deals with the whole spread of relativity, starting from the early history of Galileo and Faraday, he arrives at the foundation of the special theory. There is a logical transition to the general theory while the last part of the book covers the mind-testing realms of unified field theory, Mach's principle and cosmology. The book begins with atomistic, deterministic, classical physics and goes on towards a view of continuous fields of matter and a clearer view of spacetime. The reader is led into Einstein's extension of this theory towards a unified force field; consequently the authors address the issue of the validity of linear mathematics compared with the realism of a non- linear universe.; Such arguments today are leading towards a new paradigm in science - a study and description of nonlinear natural systems especially far from equilibrium systems; their energetics and dynamics. This book should be of value to postgraduates, undergraduates, secondary students and professionals in physics and philosophy and anyone with an interest in science subjects.

"Relativity In our Time" is a book concerning the relevance of Einstein's theory to human relations in contemporary times. lt is physics and it is philosophy. lt is a discussion about one of the greatest of all pillars of 20th century thought and science. Based on a seminar course for a mixture of science and humanities students, the approach and narrative style leads the reader towards the frontier of thinking in this farreaching subject. Sachs deals with the whole spread of relativity, starting from the early history of Galileo and Faraday, he arrives at the foundation of the special theory. There is a logical transition to the general theory while the last part of the book covers the mind-testing realms of unified field theory, Mach's principle and cosmology. The book begins with atomistic, deterministic, classical physics and goes on towards a view of continuous fields of matter and a clearer view of spacetime. The reader is led into Einstein's extension of this theory towards a unified force field; consequently the authors address the issue of the validity of linear mathematics compared with the realism of a non- linear universe.; Such arguments today are leading towards a new paradigm in science - a study and description of nonlinear natural systems especially far from equilibrium systems; their energetics and dynamics. This book should be of value to postgraduates, undergraduates, secondary students and professionals in physics and philosophy and anyone with an interest in science subjects.

This book presents a new approach to the subject of cosmology. It fully exploits Einstein's theory of general relativity. It is found that the most general formal expression of the theory replaces the (10-component) tensor formalism with a (16-component) quaternion formalism. This leads to a unified field theory, where one field incorporates gravitation and electromagnetism. The theory predicts an oscillating universe cosmology with a spiral configuration. Dark matter is explained in terms of a sea of particle-antiparticle pairs, each in a particular (derived) ground state. This leads to an explanation for the separation between matter and antimatter in the universe. There is a brief discussion of black holes and pulsars. The final chapter delves into philosophical considerations such as the different types of ‘truth’, positivism versus realism and a discussion of the role of the Mach principle in physics and cosmology.

This book presents a new approach to the subject of cosmology. It fully exploits Einstein's theory of general relativity. It is found that the most general formal expression of the theory replaces the (10-component) tensor formalism with a (16-component) quaternion formalism. This leads to a unified field theory, where one field incorporates gravitation and electromagnetism. The theory predicts an oscillating universe cosmology with a spiral configuration. Dark matter is explained in terms of a sea of particle-antiparticle pairs, each in a particular (derived) ground state. This leads to an explanation for the separation between matter and antimatter in the universe. There is a brief discussion of black holes and pulsars. The final chapter delves into philosophical considerations such as the different types of ‘truth’, positivism versus realism and a discussion of the role of the Mach principle in physics and cosmology.

This book highlights foundational issues in theoretical physics in an informal, open style of lecture. It expresses the flow of ideas in physics — from the period of Galileo and Newton to the contemporary ideas of the quantum and relativity theories, astrophysics and cosmology — as explanations for the laws of matter. Rather than presenting the ideas of physics as a fait accompli, the book leaves it up to the reader to decide which of these 20th-century ideas in science will carry over to the 21st century for our further comprehension of the laws of nature in all domains, from that of elementary particles to cosmology.It is the contention of the author that our future progress in physics comprehension will only take place when the foundational controversies between the quantum and relativity theories are recognized and discussion is given to their resolution. The book, therefore, presents an attitude not normally taken in other present-day books on subjects in contemporary theoretical physics and cosmology.

This book highlights foundational issues in theoretical physics in an informal, open style of lecture. It expresses the flow of ideas in physics — from the period of Galileo and Newton to the contemporary ideas of the quantum and relativity theories, astrophysics and cosmology — as explanations for the laws of matter. Rather than presenting the ideas of physics as a fait accompli, the book leaves it up to the reader to decide which of these 20th-century ideas in science will carry over to the 21st century for our further comprehension of the laws of nature in all domains, from that of elementary particles to cosmology.It is the contention of the author that our future progress in physics comprehension will only take place when the foundational controversies between the quantum and relativity theories are recognized and discussion is given to their resolution. The book, therefore, presents an attitude not normally taken in other present-day books on subjects in contemporary theoretical physics and cosmology.

Theoretical physics is presently at a very exciting time in the history of scientific discovery. For we are at a precipice facing two conflicting 20th century revolutionary movements in physics, each purporting to be basic truths of nature - the quantum theory and the theory of relativity. In the 20th century the mathematical expression of the quantum theory yielded correct predictions of a great deal of the data on the behavior of the molecular, atomic, nuelear and elementary partiele domains of matter. In the same period, the theory of relativity suc­ cessfully described new features of material systems. In special rela­ tivity, the relativistic Doppler effects (transverse and longitudinal) of electromagnetic radiation, and the mechanics of matter that moves at speeds elose to the speed of light, revealing, for example, the en­ 2 ergy mass relation, E = mc , revolutionized our thinking. In its form of general relativity, it has yielded a formalism that successfully pre­ dicted features of the phenomenon of gravity, also predicted by the elassical Newtonian theory, but in addition, features not predicted by the elassical theory, thereby superceding Newton's theory of universal gravitation. The problem we are now faced with, in these early decades of the 21st century, is that in their precise mathematical forms and their conceptual bases, the theory of relativity and the quantum theory are both logically and mathematically incompatible.

In its form of general relativity, it has yielded a formalism that successfully pre­ dicted features of the phenomenon of gravity, also predicted by the elassical Newtonian theory, but in addition, features not predicted by the elassical theory, thereby superceding Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

In this book, important conceptual developments of the two major revolutions of modern physics — the quantum and relativity theories — are presented in a nonmathematical, dialectical form of dialogue. The implications of conflicting philosophical attitudes of these revolutions in physics and applications to topics such as cosmology/astrophysics and high energy physics are emphasized. It is argued that for any substantial progress in our understanding of 21st century physics, it will be necessary to resolve these 20th century conflicts. These richly rewarding dialogues provide a starting point for discussions that could lead to such progress. An epilogue is presented on the philosophical advantage of the dialogue form for increased understanding.