La hipótesis del cuanto de luz y la relatividad especial ¿Por qué Einstein no las relacionó en 1905?

Authors

  • Alejandro Cassini Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET
  • Marcelo Leonardo Levinas Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET; Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-31662007000400001

Keywords:

Experimental context, Theoretical assumptions, Auxiliary hypotheses, Causal-mechanical explanation, Wave-particle duality, Luminiferous ether

Abstract

We attempt to determine why Einstein did not mention his article on light-quanta hypothesis, written in March 1905, in his formulation of Special Relativity, devised just three months later. The main reasons we have found are the following: Einstein's different attitudes towards the existence of ether and absolute space; his permanent commitment to the ontological primacy of the electromagnetic field; the non-classical properties he ought to attribute to light-quanta; his hesitant stance about Maxwell electrodynamics as a complete and definitive representation of physical reality and at the same time, his suspection that a possible wave/particle duality would not lead to an unsolvable difficulty; his unstable and uncompromised attitude with respect to atomism; the more conservative, though less intuitive, character of Special Relativity; the different interpretation of the epistemological status of both theories and the marked differences in their formulation.

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Published

2007-01-01

Issue

Section

Artigos

How to Cite

La hipótesis del cuanto de luz y la relatividad especial ¿Por qué Einstein no las relacionó en 1905? . (2007). Scientiae Studia, 5(4), 425-452. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-31662007000400001