Historical Background Lecture 1
Newton’s beliefs and his perspectives on the laws of mechanics and gravity
Abstract
We review Newton’s concept of abstract forces and the universal law of gravity in the 17th century, an era of alchemy, metaphysics and emerging science. The law of gravity and the associate
d laws of mechanics heralded in the modern era of exacting quantitative mathematical physics. However, many of the new ideas had their critics, the most influential of whom was Newton himself. We review the fact that Newton considered his work to be but a step toward a deeper understanding, complete with great successes and glaring shortcomings. We discuss these points from the perspective of the state of science in his day and from the perspective of modern Electrodynamics and Relativity.
This lecture supplements material in the textbook: Special Relativity, Electrodynamics and General Relativity: From Newton to Einstein (ISBN: 978-0-12-813720-8). The term “textbook” in these Supplemental Lectures will refer to that work.
Historical Background Lecture 1 Newton Kepler and the Laws of Mechanics
Historical Background Lecture 2
Bernhard Riemann’s Habilitation Lecture, his Debt to Carl Friedrich Gauss and his Gift to Albert Einstein
Abstract
We review Carl Friedrich Gauss’ contributions to classical differential geometry, astronomy and physics and his influence on his “student” Bernhard Riemann. Riemann’s public lecture, his “Habilitation”, is discussed as an extension of Gauss’ most important contribution to differential geometry, the fact that a surface’s curvature is an intrinsic property, to n-dimensional manifolds. Riemann and Gauss foresaw that geometry of space time belonged to the arena of physics and experiment, and their works laid the foundation for Einstein’s formulation of general relativity.
This lecture supplements material in the textbook: Special Relativity, Electrodynamics and General Relativity: From Newton to Einstein (ISBN: 978-0-12-813720-8). The term “textbook” in these Supplemental Lectures will refer to that work.
Historical Background Lecture 2 Gauss Riemann and his Public Lecture
Riemann’s Habilitation Lecture
Historical Background Lecture 3
Ludwig Boltzmann
A Career of Conquests, Controversies and Despair
Abstract
Ludwig Boltzmann’s life was a drama of opposites. He had great successes, much joy, and yet suffered great criticism, and deep personal depression. This article reviews the major discoveries and theoretical innovations in his career and discusses why they were so controversial. Boltzmann did not defend his work as well as he might have and doubts about his views and analyses of atoms, kinetics, thermodynamic equilibrium and entropy haunted him and perplexed his colleagues. In the last years of his life lab experiments validated many of his assumptions and theoretical ideas and results. In addition, his lifework proved to be a source of inspiration to many of the greatest physicists in history, including Maxwell, Einstein and Planck. But Boltzmann was unable to enjoy his growing stature or to participate in new research activities that his earlier work made possible. His health deteriorated and he suffered bouts of deep depression. He took his own life in 1906 at the age of 62.