Einstein's special relativity: an introduction | WildTrig: Intro to Rational Trigonometry

Einstein's special theory of relativity (1905) was recast by Minkowski in terms of the geometry of a four dimensional spacetime. This video gives an introduction to this idea, motivating our study of two dimensional relativistic (red) geometry.

This video is part of the WildTrig series, which introduces Rational Trigonometry and applies it to many different aspects of geometry.

Video Contents:
00:00 Intro to Special Relativity
3:00 Ideas of Einstein re simultaneity
7:45 Einstein's postulate re speed of light

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[Igdrazil]

This presentation is historicaticaly false : First Relativity needs NO adjective. These adjective come from, precisely, the TECHNICAL misconception of Einstein himself, that dramaticaly understood, only very superficialy the deep meaning of this 30 years old epic building of the Theory of Relativity, by Maxwell, Hertz, Fidzgerald, Lorentz and finaly Henri Poincaré that put the final touch the 5 June 1905 in his Academic sumerism and complementary full crucial article.

Poincaré was the greatest scientist of that time, and from far of, the worldwide leader of Mathematics and theorical Physics. And he had early (1895) turned the magistral break through of Lorentz, into the graal of limpid mathematics, coherent modelisation and visionary interprétation. In particular, not only that he corrected the "slight" technical mistakes and missing links let by Lorentz, but further more, he built from the very begining a 4 dimensional manifold modelisation of this new emerging and revolutionary deep heart of Physics, that with Lorentz he had undiged! Building so this revolutionary manifold, he exhibit it's metric, experimentaly suggested, of pseudo riemanian flat form. For calculation comodity he chosed the "imaginary time", nowing, OF COURSE, that this is one possible map, between an infinity of "equivalent" ones.

This to say that Minkowski did little but extensively study Poincaré from 1995 to 1909, date when he finaly reformulate with a real time" map, the 4-dimensional relativistic flat manifold of Poincaré Theory of Relativity ( "gravitational mass" left aside).

More over he understood since 1895-1904 that not only did the Lorentz Transfrom form a Group, he soon realised, far beyond Lorentz conciousness, that this structure was a universal patern and a revolutionary space-time symmetry, by which the entire of Physics should stand invariant. But even more importantly, he pointez out that the Lie Algebra of this continous crucial Group, led also to exact invariancy. This meaning that ACCELERATION were then fully inside of the grasp and range of the Relativistic Model!

This made immediatly obsolete the meaningless adjectivation of Relativity that was therefore already General (coping perfectly with acceleration) from the very beging of it's birth in Poincaré 4-Manifold hyperbolic flat Model of 5 June 1905.
And sadly ignoring this crucial technical point, led Einstein to endless misconceptions.

More over, Poincaré in his full article of 1905, "generalised" the range of his brand new relativistic model, to now include Gravitation! He thus built, in the choosen frame of flat geometry, a relativistic theory of gravitation, predicting all the more, and so early (1905!), the very existence of Gravitational Waves, propagating, just as light, at the speed of light.

And it is not at all that Poincaré could not built such a theory in the frame of a Curved Geometry. He was the very Master of Non-Euclidian Geometry and of Absolute Geometry that was the futur intrinsec Topology that captures the essence of shapes ragardless of any metric consideration (essentialy it's number of halls). Poincaré chose than the Flat Geometry option only on COMMODITY concern, since he knew from his philosophical wisdom inheritated from Kant, that no physical experience can distinguish between flat geometry and curve geometry. He then wisely chose the simpler!

This extremely deep insight, was of course totaly hermetic to Einstein that regarded Physics through the glasses of his very naive mathematical skills (more surely maleva ones), mastering only fery elementary mathematics, largly inusufficiant for the deepness and subtility of the subject. The great french contemporary mathematician Souriau, confirmed Poincaré point, demonstrating the indistinguishability between flat geometry model and curved geometry ones. Mizony now days racalls this crucial fact repeatedly!

In conclusion, Einstein contribution to Relativity is in fact very minor, and more pittily full of misconceptions, rude errors and even some fanatic beliefs that soon revealed to be completely false when faced to Physics crucial experiments.
Thus, in total contrast to the unseaworthy "prophet" of the XXth century, Poincaré stand for the true Master of this time and Scientific major break through. The beauty of his achievments and the deepness of his visionary world conception, makes him the true genious of this two centuries ignited border... As Wise as wildly ignored!