CONTENTS
Removing the mathematical difficulties—The pillarsof knowledge—Absolute time and space, fromAristotle to Newton—Relative time and space,from Epicurus to Poincaré and Einstein—Classical Relativity—Antinomy of stellaraberration and the Michelson experiment
Scientific truth and mathematics—The precise functionof Einstein—Michelson’s experiment, the Gordian knotof science—The hesitations of Poincaré—The strange,but necessary, Fitzgerald-Lorentz hypothesis—Thecontraction of moving bodies—Philosophical andphysical difficulties
Provisional rejection of ether—Relativistinterpretation of Michelson’s experiment—New aspectof the speed of light—Explanation of the contractionof moving bodies—Time and the four dimensions ofspace—Einstein’s “Interval” the only materialreality
The mechanical foundation of all the sciences—Ascending the stream of time—The speed oflight an impassable limit—The addition of speedsand Fizeau’s experiment—Variability of mass—The ballistics of electrons—Gravitation and lightas atomic microcosms—Matter and energy—The death of the sun
Weight and inertia—Ambiguity of the Newtonianlaw—Equivalence of gravitation and acceleratedmovement—Jules Verne’s projectile and the principleof inertia—Why rays of light are subject togravitation—How light from the stars isweighed—An eclipse as a source of light
Geometry and reality—Euclid’s geometry andothers—Contingency of Poincaré’s criterion—The real universe is not Euclidean but Riemannian—The avatars of the number π—The point of view ofthe drunken man—Straight and geodetic lines—Thenew law of universal attraction—Explanation of theanomaly of the planet Mercury—Einstein’s theoryof gravitation
Kant and the number of the stars—Extinct stars anddark nebulæ—Extent and aspect of the astronomicaluniverse—Different kinds of universes—Poincaré’scalculation—Physical definition of the infinite—The infinite and the unlimited—Stability andcurvature of cosmic space-time—Real and virtualstars—Diameter of the Einsteinian universe—The hypothesis of globes of ether
The Einsteinian absolute—Revelation by science—Discussion of the experimental bases of Relativity—Other possible explanations—Arguments in favourof Lorentz’s real contraction—Newtonian spacemay be distinct from absolute space—The real isa privileged form of the possible—Two attitudesin face of the unknown
Recent discussion of Relativism at the Academyof Sciences—Traces of the privileged spaceof Newton—The principle of causality,the basis of science—Examination of M.Painlevé’s objections—Newtonian argumentsand Relativist replies—M. Painlevé’s formulasof gravitation—Fecundity of Einstein’s theory—Two conceptions of the world—Conclusion