Einstein Lecture: Jürgen Renn: How Einstein Found Relativity Theory

The lecture, fully titled Turning Classical Physics Upside Down: How Einstein Found Relativity Theory, will show how the relativity revolution of 1905 emerged from Einstein's reinterpretation of Lorentz's theory of electromagnetism in what may be called a "Copernicus process" in analogy to the transition from preclassical to classical mechanics. It will furthermore explain in which sense the relativity revolution was accomplished only by Einstein's formulation of the general theory of relativity in 1915.

Jürgen Renn is the Executive Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

Caltech's Einstein Centennial Lecture Series celebrates the centennial of Albert Einstein's "miracle year." During 1905, Einstein, at the age of 26, proved the existence and sizes of molecules, explained light as both particles and waves, and created the special theory of relativity, part of which links matter and energy in the revolutionary equation E=mc². The four lectures in this special series highlight the lasting impact of Einstein's scientific theories. [Series Flyer (PDF)]

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