Understanding Relativity

I. The Creation of The Theory of Relativityl.- 1.Science, Logic, and Objectivity.- The Role of Mathematics and Other Formal Systems in Science.- The Case of Euclidean Geometry.- The Case of Natural Numbers.- The Case of Free Fall.- The Aristotelian Analysis of Motion.- The Galilean Analysis of Free Fall.- Belief as a Cultural Phenomenon.- Objectivity and the Social Institutions of Science.- Science and Technology.- 2. The Rise and Fall of the Mechanical World View.- The Seventeenth Century.- The Evidence.- Newton's Axioms and Definitions.- The Application and Consequences of Newton's Laws.- Newton's Theory of Measurement.- The Galilean Transformation Equations.- The Classical Principle of Relativity.- The Search for the Absolute Frame of Reference.- 3. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity and Its Consequences.- The Special Theory of Relativity.- The Postulates.- Simultaneity.- The Relativity of Simultaneity.- The Order of Events and Causality.- The Relationship of Einstein's Theory to Lorentz's Theory.- Time Dilation and the Relativity of Simultaneity.- Length Contraction.- Mass.- 4. Further Consequences of the Heuristic Nature of the Special Theory of Relativity.- Mass and Energy.- The Clock Paradox.- Four-Dimensional Analysis.- 5. The General Theory of Relativity.- II. The Early Response to the Special Theory of Relativity, 1905-1911.- 6. When a Hundred Flowers Bloom: The German Response.- The Contributions of Max Planck.- The Rigidity Paradoxes.- Wave and Group Velocity.- 7. As If It Never Happened: The French Response.- Henri Poincare.- The Principle of Relativity.- Poincare and Second Order Theory.- The Theory of Electrons.- Poincare's Vision of a Good Theory.- Simplicity and Induction.- Flexibility and Gradualism.- Naturalness and the Increase of Hypotheses.- Poincare's Silence and Einstein's Theory.- Other French Response.- Aftermath.- 8. Defending the Ether: The British Response.- The Tradition of British Ether Theory.- Oliver Lodge.- The Mechanical Ether.- The Introduction of Relativity Theory.- Conclusions.- 9. Defending the Practical: The American Response.- The American Tradition in Science.- Science and American Technology.- Science and American Universities.- The American Physics Community.- American Silence, 1905 -1907.- The Contributions of Lewis and Tolman.- Reaction to Lewis and Tolman.- The Appeal to Common Sense.- The Popular Response, 1905-1911.- Conclusions.- III. From Response to Assimilation.- 10. Relativity in America, 1912-1980.- 1911-1919: The Lull Before the Storm.- The Assimilation of Special Relativity Within the Scientific Community, 1920-1980.- The Evidence.- Graduate Textbooks, 1920-1945.- Advanced Undergraduate Textbooks, 1920-1945.- Introductory Textbooks, 1920-1945.- Post World War II.- Bridgman's Operationism and Einstein's Relativity.- Bridgman's Early Studies of Relativity Theory.- Being Operational Versus Operationism.- Spreading Time Through Space, 1959-1961.- Philosophy and Physics.- The Popular Response to the Theory of Relativity.- Conclusions.- 11. Relativity and Revolutions in Science.- Scientific Revolutions.- Relativity and Scientific Revolutions.- Appendix 1. Trigonometry.- Appendix 2. Kinematics: The Galilean Description of Motion.- Appendix 3. Newtonian Mechanics.- Appendix 4. The Kinetic Theory of Matter and the Mechanical World View.- Appendix 5. Ether Drift Experiments: The Search for Absolute Frame of Reference.- Appendix 6. Some Relativistic Derivations.- Bibliographic Essay: On Understanding Relativity.- Inde.