"The equations of gravitation β¦ signify that whenever we recognise the existence of one of these physical magnitudes it is always accompanied by corresponding curvatures of space-time. It is usual to assume that the curvatures are produced by those concrete somethings which we call mass, momentum, energy, pressure. In this way, we must concede a duality to nature; there would exist both matter and space-time, or, better still, matter and the metrical field of space-time. Einstein β¦ attempted to remove this duality by proving that it was possible to attribute the entire existence of the metrical field, hence of space-time, to the presence of matter. This attitude led to a matter-moulding conception of the universe β¦ And β¦ only when this attitude was adhered to could Mach's belief in the relativity of all motion be accepted. Eddington's attitude is just the reverse. He prefers to assume that the equations of gravitation are not equations in the ordinary sense of something being equal to something else. In his opinion they are identities. They merely tell us how our senses will recognize the existence of certain curvatures of space-time by interpreting them as matter, motion, and so on. In other words, there is no matter; there is nothing but a variable curvature of space-time. Matter, momentum, vis viva, are the names we give to those curvatures on account of the varying ways they affect our senses."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Anti-war activistsUniversity of Cambridge facultyMathematicians from EnglandAstronomers from EnglandPhysicists from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
A. D'Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein (1927) pp. 327-328
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Eddington
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Arthur Eddington
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington OM FRS (28 December 1882 β 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.
111 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Arthur Eddington β
Related Quotes
"The mind has an outlook which transcends the natural law by which it functions."
"Physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature."
"The present revolution of scientific thought follows in natural sequence on the great revolutions at earlier epochs iβ¦"
"At terrestrial temperatures matter has complex properties which are likely to prove most difficult to unravel; but itβ¦"
"We do not argue with the critic who urges that the stars are not hot enough for this process; we tell him to go and fβ¦"
"A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than β¦"
"I think that science would never have achieved much progress if it had always imagined unknown obstacles hidden roundβ¦"
"To the pure geometer the radius of curvature is an incidental characteristic β like the grin of the Cheshire cat. To β¦"
"There once was a brainy baboon, Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, "It appears That in billions of yearβ¦"
"The laws of logic do not prescribe the way our minds think; they prescribe the way our minds ought to think."