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Re: The world as a photon



No, it is not apocryphal; AE was very much taken up with Maxwell's E&M model
and his idea that light was an electromagnetic wave. So he saw a paradox
when he considered that a person running alongside a light beam would see a
STATIC electromagnetic field - how could this be light? The common wisdom
of the time was not as bothered - they were delighted to find a phenomenon
which showed that the correct physics was only applicable in the "absolute
rest (ether)" frame. Einstein had this screwy notion that all
non-accelerating observers were equal.

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Britton" <britton@NCSSM.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: The world as a photon


| Is my memory failing me - or didn't Einstein himself talk about HIS
| wondering what he would see if he could travel 'alongside' a light
| beam.
|
| Perhaps this is just something passed down through the grapevines.