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Yet many of Poincaré's ideas—for example, that the speed of Bjerknes (2002) suggested as a possible candidate S. Tolver light is a limit and that mass increases with speed—wound up in Preston, who "formulated atomic energy, the atom bomb and Einstein's paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" superconductivity back in the 1870s, based on the formula without being credited. E=me". Einstein's act of stealing almost the entire body of literature In addition to Preston, a major player in the history of E = mc? by Lorentz and Poincaré to write his document raised the bar for who deserves a lot of credit is Olinto De Pretto (1904). What plagiarism. In the information age, this kind of plagiarism could makes this timing so suspicious is that Einstein was fluent in never be perpetrated indefinitely, yet the physics community has Italian, he was reviewing papers written by Italian physicists and still not set the record straight. his best friend was Michele Besso, a Swiss Italian. Clearly, In his 1907 paper, Einstein spelled out his views on plagia- Einstein (1905b) would have had access to the literature and the rism: "It appears to me that it is the nature of the business that competence to read it. In "Einstein's E = mc? 'was Italian's idea" what follows has already been partly solved by other authors. (Carroll, 1999), we see clear evidence that De Pretto was ahead Despite that fact, since the issues of concern are here addressed of Einstein in terms of the formula E = mc’. from a new point of view, I am entitled to leave out a thoroughly In terms of his understanding the vast amount of energy that pedantic survey of the literature..." could be released with a small amount of mass, Preston (1875) With this statement, Einstein declared that can be credited with knowing this before plagiarism, suitably packaged, is an accept- Einstein was born. Clearly, Preston was able research tool. using the E = mc? formula in his work, Here is the definition of "to plagiarise" . , because the value he determined—e.g., that from an unimpeachable source, Webster's Poincaré wrote 30 one grain could lift a 100,000-ton object up New International Dictionary of the English books and over 500 to a height of 1.9 miles—yields the equation Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, . E=mce’. 1947, p. 1,878: "To steal or purloin and pass i n hil h According to Ives (1952), the derivation P PI P 5 g off as one's own (the ideas, words, artistic A Einstein attempted of the formula E = mc? productions, etc. of one another); to use with - mathematics and was fatally flawed because Einstein set out to out due credit the ideas, expressions or pro - physics. prove what he assumed. This is similar to ductions of another. To commit plagiarism" the careless handling of the equations for (emphasis added). Isn't this exactly what radioactive decay which Einstein derived. It Einstein did? Einstein wrote on turns out that Einstein mixed kinematics and Giving due credit involves two aspects: timeliness and appropriateness. Telling the world that Lorentz provided the basis for special relativity 30 years after the fact is not timely (see below), is not appropriate and is not giving due credit. Nothing Einstein wrote ex post facto with respect to Lorentz's contributions alters the fundamental act of plagiarism. The true nature of Einstein's plagia- rism is set forth in his 1935 paper, mechanics, and out popped the neutrino. The neutrino may be a mythical particle accidentally created by Einstein (Carezani, 1999). We have two choices with respect to neutrinos: there are at least 40 different types or there are zero types. Occam's razor rules here. mathematics, physics and philosophy, but claimed he'd never read Poincare's contributions to physics. The Eclipse of 1919 There can be no clearer definition of scientific fraud than what went on in the Tropics on May 29, 1919. What is par- "Elementary Derivation of the ticularly clear is that Eddington fudged Equivalence of Mass and Energy", the solar eclipse data to make the results where, in a discussion on Maxwell, he conform to "Einstein's" work on general wrote, "The question as to the independence of those relations is relativity. Poor (1930), Brown (1967), Clark (1984) and a natural one because the Lorentz transformation, the real basis McCausland (2001) all address the issues surrounding this of special relativity theory..." (emphasis added). eclipse. So, Einstein even acknowledged that the Lorentz transforma- What makes the expeditions to Sobral and Principe so suspect tion was the real basis of his 1905 paper. Anyone who doubts is Eddington's zealous support of Einstein, as can be seen in his that he was a plagiarist should ask one simple question: "What statement, "By standing foremost in testing, and ultimately veri - did Einstein know and when did he know it?" Einstein got away _fying the ‘enemy’ theory, our national observatory kept alive the with premeditated plagiarism, not the incidental plagiarism that finest traditions of science..." (emphasis added) (Clark, 1984). is ubiquitous (Moody, 2001). In this instance, apparently Eddington was not familiar with the basic tenets of science. His job was to collect data—not verify The History of E = mc? Einstein's theories. Who originated the concept of matter being transformed into Further evidence for the fraud can be deduced from energy and vice versa? It dates back at least to Sir Isaac Newton Eddington's own statements and the introduction to them provid- (1704). Brown (1967) made the following statement: "Thus ed by Clark (ibid., p. 285): "May 29 began with heavy rain, gradually arose the formula E = mc’, suggested without general which stopped only about noon. Not until 1.30 pm when the proof by Poincaré in 1900". eclipse had already begun did the party get its first glimpse of One thing we can say with certainty is that Einstein did not the sun: 'We had to carry out our programme of photographs on originate the equation E = mc’ faith..."" (emphasis added). Eddington reveals his true prejudice: Then the question becomes: he was willing to do anything to see that Einstein was proved papers on philosophy, mathematics and physics. mathematics, physics and philosophy, but claimed he'd never read Poincaré's physics. The History of E = mc? Who originated the concept of matter being transformed into energy and vice versa? It dates back at least to Sir Isaac Newton (1704). Brown (1967) made the following statement: "Thus gradually arose the formula E = mc’, suggested without general proof by Poincaré in 1900". One thing we can say with certainty is that Einstein did not originate the equation E = mc. Then the question becomes: "Who did?" NEXUS = 47 Poincaré wrote 30. books and over 500 Einstein wrote on contributions to DECEMBER 2003 — JANUARY 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com