Physics 139

REFERENCES ON THE HISTORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

for Prof. Smoot's class

Physics 139 - Spring Semester 1998

University of California, Berkeley

Many of the older references below, and a very great number of others, will be found in the monumental treatise "A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: The Classical Theories" by Sir Edmund Whittaker (first pubished in 1910, revised and enlarged 1951, 428 pp. Nelson & Sons, Ltd., London).

BRADLEY: Discovered aberration. 1725

Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. London 35, 637 (1728)

LODGE, SIR OLIVER Failed to observe ether drag. 1892

Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 184. 727-804 (1893)

Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 189, 149-166 (1897)

FRESNEL Speed of light in a moving medium: Fresnel drag coefficient. 1818

Annales de Chemie 9, 57 (1818)

FIZEAU: Measured the Fresnel drag. 1851

Annales de Chemie 57 385 (1859)

AIRY: Measured aberration with a water-filled telescope. 1871

(Result predicted by Fresnel in 1818.)

Proc. Roy.Soc. 20, 35 (1871)

MICHELSON & MORLEY: Definitive ether drag experiment. 1881-1887

Am. J. Sci. 22, 20 (1881)

Am. J. Sci. 34, 333 (1887)

MICHELSON & MORLEY: Measured Fresnel drag accurately. 1886

Am. J. Sci. 31, 337 (1886)

TROUTON & NOBLE Sought to measure the torque on a capacitor. 1902 -1903

Trouton: Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc. 7, 379 (1902)

Touton & Noble: Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 202, 165 (1903)

RITZ: Proposed the "persistence" version of the emission theory. 1908

Annalen de Chemie et Phys. 13, 145 (1908)

TOLMAN: Experiment on the emission theory using light from the sun. 1910

Phys. Rev. 31, 26 (1910)

COMSTOCK: Astronomical evidence from double stars. 1910

Phys. Rev. 30, 267 (1910)

DE SITTER Astronomical evidence from double stars. 1913

Proc. Amsterdam Acad. 15, 1297 (1913)

Proc. Amsterdam Acad. 16, 395 (1913)

TOLMAN: Emphasized importance of doing Michelson-Morley 1912

experiment with light from the sun. Phys. Rev. 35, 136 (1912)

LA ROSA: Same observation as Tolman's just above. 1912

Phys. Zeitschrift 13, 1129 (1912)

MICHELSON: Measured velocity of light from a moving mirror. 1913

MAJORANA: Experiments with light from a moving mirror 1919

and a moving source. Phil. Mag. 35, 163 (1919) Phil. Mag. 37. 145 (1919)

MIXER: Performed Michelson-Morley experiment with sunlight. 1925

KENNEDY: Repeated Michelson-Morley experiment. 1926

Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. 28, 621 (1926)

ILLINGSWORTH: Repeated Michelson-Morley experiment. 1927

Phys. Rev. 30.692 (1927)

IVES & STILWELL: Rate of a moving clock. 1938

J. Opt. Soc. Amer .28, 215 (1938)

NEHER & STEVER Rate of a moving clock from meson decay rates in lakes. 1940

Phys. Rev. 58, 766 (1940)

KENNEDY & THORNDIKE Studied possibility of Lorentz contraction. 1932

Phys. Rev. 42, 400 (1932)

HAMAR: Observed no obstruction of ether by mass. 1935

Phys.rev.42,462(1935)

TOWNES: Michelson-Morley experiment with maser oscillator. 1958

Phys. Rev. Letters 1, 352 (1958)

HAFELE & KEATING: Twin paradox 1972

with `Around-the-World Atomic Clocks: Observed Relativistic Time Gains', Science 177, 166. (1972)

click here or here for a more extensive description.