On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:48:06 +0200, "Dirk Van de moortel"
wrote:
Nice read:
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1162
"There's nothing quite like Einstein and his theories of
relativity to bring out the doubters, the cranks and the
outright crackpots. Do they have a point? Was Einstein
a fake?"
Relativity has worked well. However the following quotes show that
Einstein was open to other possibilties.
"I believe that I have really found the relationship between
gravitation and electricity, assuming that the Miller experiments are
based on a fundamental error. Otherwise, the whole relativity theory
collapses like a house of cards."
— Albert Einstein, in a letter to Robert Millikan, June 1921 (in Clark
1971, p.328)
Einstein might be being too negative here. It seems to me that if
a formula for Miller's fringe shifts were to hold equally well
in all inertial frames of reference, then the principle of relativity
would not be directly violated. If that were the case I don't see
why SR shouldn't adapt by simply adopting a neo-Lorentzian
interpretation, but still retain the same formulae and maths.
"My opinion about Miller's experiments is the following. ... Should
the positive result be confirmed, then the special theory of
relativity and with it the general theory of relativity, in its
current form, would be invalid. Experimentum summus judex. Only the
equivalence of inertia and gravitation would remain, however, they
would have to lead to a significantly different theory."
— Albert Einstein, in a letter to Edwin E. Slosson, July 1925
"You imagine that I look back on my life's work with calm
satisfaction. But from nearby it looks quite different. There is not a
single concept of which I am convinced that it will stand firm, and I
feel uncertain whether I am in general on the right track."
— Albert Einstein, on his 70th birthday, in a letter to Maurice
Solovine, 28 March 1949 (in B. Hoffman Albert Einstein: Creator and
Rebel 1972, p.328)
I think the formulae of SR will be with us for ever, but probably not
GR.
There are new trends. Eg
The Einstein Postulates: 1905-2005 A Critical Review of the Evidence
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0412039
Derivation of the postulates of quantum mechanics from the first
principles of scale relativity
http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.2418