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Special Relativity this fact that no velocity could surpass that of light...because Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) was a great scientist who bodies would oppose an increasing inertia to the causes, which made a significant contribution to special relativity theory. The would tend to accelerate their motion; and this inertia would Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website says that Poincaré: become infinite when one approached the velocity of light... (1) "sketched a preliminary version of the special theory of No more for an observer carried along himself in a translation, relativity"; (2) "stated that the velocity of light is a limit he did not suspect any apparent velocity could surpass that of velocity" (in his 1904 paper from the Bull. of Sci. Math. 28, light: and this would be then a contradiction, if we recall that Poincaré indicated "a whole new mechanics, where the inertia this observer would not use the same clocks as a fixed observer, increasing with the velocity of light would become a limit and but, indeed, clocks marking ‘local time’." (Poincaré, 1905) not be exceeded"); (3) suggested that "mass depends on speed"; (4) "formulated the principle of relativity, according to which no _ Einstein, the Plagiarist mechanical or electromagnetic experiment can discriminate It is now time to speak directly to the issue of what Einstein between a state of uniform motion and a state of rest"; and (5) was: he was first and foremost a plagiarist. He had few qualms "derived the Lorentz transformation". about stealing the work of others and submitting it as his own. It is evident how deeply involved with special relativity That this was deliberate seems obvious. Poincaré was. Even Keswani (1965) was prompted to say that Take this passage from Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life "As far back as 1895, Poincaré, the innovator, had conjectured and Times (there are no references to Poincaré here; just a few that it is impossible to detect absolute motion", and that "In meaningless quotes). This is how page 101 reads: "'On the 1900, he introduced 'the principle of relative motion’ which he Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies'...is in many ways one of the later called by the equivalent terms 'the law of relativity’ and 'the most remarkable scientific papers that had ever been written. principle of relativity’ in his book, Science and Hypothesis, pub- Even in form and style it was unusual, lacking the notes and ref - lished in 1902". Einstein acknowledged none of this preceding erences which give weight to most serious expositions ..." theoretical work when he wrote his unreferenced 1905 paper. (emphasis added). In addition to having sketched the Why would Einstein, with his preliminary version of relativity, training as a patent clerk, not recog- Poincaré provided a critical part of nise the need to cite references in his the whole concept—namely, his treat- "Another curious feature of the article on special relativity? One ment of local time. He also originat- would think that Einstein, as a neo- ed the idea of clock synchronisation, now famous paper, Einstein, phyte, would overreference rather which is critical to special relativity. i than underreference. Charles Nordman was prompted to 1905, Is the absence of any Wouldn't one also expect write, "They will show that the credit reference to Poincaré or somewhat higher standards from an for most of the things which are cur- " editor when faced with a lon rently attributed to Einstein is, in real- anyone else, Max Born wrote manuscript that had obviously not ity, due to Poincaré", and "...in the in Physics in My Generation. been credited? Apparently there was opinion of the Relativists it is the no attempt at quality control when it measuring rods which create space, was published in Annalen der the clocks which create time. All this Physik. Most competent editors was known by Poincaré and others would have rejected the paper long before the time of Einstein, and one does injustice to truth without even reading it. At the barest minimum, one would in ascribing the discovery to him". expect the editor to research the literature to determine whether Other scientists have not been quite as impressed with Einstein's claim of primacy was correct. "Einstein's" special relativity theory as has the public. "Another Max Born stated, "The striking point is that it contains not a curious feature of the now famous paper, Einstein, 1905, is the single reference to previous literature" (emphasis added) (Born, absence of any reference to Poincaré or anyone else," Max Born 1956). He is clearly indicating that the absence of references is wrote in Physics in My Generation. "It gives you the impression abnormal and that, even by early 20th century standards, this is of quite a new venture. But that is, of course, as I have tried to most peculiar, even unprofessional. explain, not true" (Born, 1956). G. Burniston Brown (1967) Einstein twisted and turned to avoid plagiarism charges, but noted, "It will be seen that, contrary to popular belief, Einstein these were transparent. played only a minor part in the derivation of the useful formulae From Bjerknes (2002), we learn the following passage from in the restricted or special relativity theory, and Whittaker called James MacKaye: "Einstein's explanation is a dimensional dis- it the relativity theory of Poincaré and Lorentz..." guise for Lorentz's... Thus Einstein's theory is not a denial of, Due to the fact that Einstein's special relativity theory was nor an alternative for, that of Lorentz. It is only a duplicate and known in some circles as the relativity theory of Poincaré and disguise for it... Einstein continually maintains that the theory Lorentz, one would think that Poincaré and Lorentz might have of Lorentz is right, only he disagrees with his ‘interpretation’. Is had something to do with its creation. What is disturbing about it not clear, therefore, that in this [case], as in other cases, the Einstein paper is that even though Poincaré was the world's Einstein's theory is merely a disguise for Lorentz's, the apparent leading expert on relativity, apparently Einstein had never heard disagreement about ‘interpretation’ being a matter of words of him or thought he had done anything worth referencing! only?" Poincaré, in a public address delivered in September 1904, Poincaré wrote 30 books and over 500 papers on philosophy, made some notable comments on special relativity theory. mathematics and physics. Einstein wrote on mathematics, "From all these results, if they are confirmed, would arise an physics and philosophy, but claimed he'd never read Poincaré's entirely new mechanics...would be, above all, characterised by contributions to physics. this fact that no velocity could surpass that of light...because bodies would oppose an increasing inertia to the causes, which would tend to accelerate their motion; and this inertia would become infinite when one approached the velocity of light... No more for an observer carried along himself in a translation, he did not suspect any apparent velocity could surpass that of light: and this would be then a contradiction, if we recall that this observer would not use the same clocks as a fixed observer, but, indeed, clocks marking ‘local time'." (Poincaré, 1905) now famous paper, Einstein, 1905, is the absence of any reference to Poincaré or anyone else," Max Born wrote in Physics in My Generation. 46 = NEXUS "Another curious feature of the www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2003 — JANUARY 2004