"We postulate: It shall be impossible, by any experiment whatsoever performed inside such a box, to detect a difference between an acceleration relative to the nebulae and gravity. That is, an accelerating box in some gravitational field is indistinguishable from a stationary box in some different gravitational field. How much like Einstein this sounds, how reminiscent of his postulate of special relativity! We know the principle of equivalence works for springs, (as we knew special relativity worked for electrodynamics), and we extend it by fiat to all experiments whatsoever. We are used to such procedures by now, but how originally brilliant it was in 1911—what a brilliant, marvelous man Einstein was!"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Richard Feynman, 1962-63, in Feynman Lectures on Gravitation (1995), Lecture 7
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955
deutsch-schweizerischer Physiker und Nobelpreisträger
614 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Albert Einstein →
Related Quotes
"Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under p…"
"It is an irony of fate that myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-being…"
"There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “ar…"
"Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all…"
"Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will …"
"Man ska inte buga för dumheten bara för att den är gammal."
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
"Einstein did not consider the concept of 'determinism' to be as fundamental as it is frequently held to be (as he tol…"
"It is true that many mathematicians and physicists do their best work when young. But in Einstein's later work we see…"
"The man who was best known for his legendary struggle with the most inaccessible and recondite theories... was—and to…"