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[Phys-L] Re: Einstein's ethics



I know we have all pledged not to feed the troll, but I find
these attempts to impugn Einstein's "ethics" just because one
does not agree with (or understand) the tenets of special
relativity to be very tasteless - especially when it comes from
someone who argues from exegesis, refuses to revise his thinking
when corrected by others, uses anachronistic arguments, and makes
spurious revisions of the actual theory.

Bob at PC
My apologies to the group for taking the bait and responding to
this.

-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-
L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On Behalf Of Pentcho Valev
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 9:36 AM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: Einstein's ethics

On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 09:53:32 +0200, Pentcho Valev
<valevp@BAS.BG> wrote:

In Section 22 in his "Relativity" Einstein denounces the
validity of the
principle of constancy of speed of light in the presence of a
gravitational field. This means that, according to the
equivalence
principle, as we replace the system experiencing a
gravitational field
with an accelerating system, the variable speed of light in
the
gravitational field becomes also variable with respect to the
observer
in the accelerating system and depends on the speed of the
observer
(see
http://www.wbabin.net/valev/valev3.htm ).

Einstein does consider the aftermaths. He says: "Now we might
think
that
as a consequence of this, the special theory and with it the
whole
theory of relativity would be laid in the dust." Under these
circumstances any ethical scientist would present a thorough
argument
convincingly explaining why an observer measuring a variable
(e.g.
greater than c) speed of light should still continue to
believe in the
theory of relativity. However "Einstein" and "ethics" form an
oxymoron.
He just offers a suspicious comparison and leaves it at that.

A development of the above problem:

http://www.wbabin.net/valev/valev5.htm

Pentcho Valev
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