Certain fundamental concepts are vital to understanding the world around us, such as spacetime, covered by the special theory of relativity, and causality, the effect of random events, promoted by electromagnetism. Discussing these, the authors support a rationalist view of physics.

In any linear system, the input and the output are connected by means of a linear operator. When the input can be notionally represented by a function that is null valued everywhere except at a specific location in spacetime, the corresponding output is called the Green function in field theories. Dyadic Green functions are commonplace in electromagnetics, because both the input and the output are vector functions of space and time. This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art knowledge of infinite space dyadic Green functions.

The 1988 Nobel Prize winner establishes the subject's mathematical background, reviews the principles of electrostatics, then introduces Einstein's special theory of relativity and applies it to topics throughout the book.

"It would be hard to imagine a better guide to this difficult subject." -- Scientific American In Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand. "Provocative, original, and unsettling." -- The New York Review of Books "An excellent writer, a creative thinker." -- Nature

This book aims to disseminate geometric algebra as a straightforward mathematical tool set for working with and understanding classical electromagnetic theory. It's target readership is anyone who has some knowledge of electromagnetic theory, predominantly ordinary scientists and engineers who use it in the course of their work, or postgraduate students and senior undergraduates who are seeking to broaden their knowledge and increase their understanding of the subject. It is assumed that the reader is not a mathematical specialist and is neither familiar with geometric algebra or its application to electromagnetic theory. The modern approach, geometric algebra, is the mathematical tool set we should all have started out with and once the reader has a grasp of the subject, he or she cannot fail to realize that traditional vector analysis is really awkward and even misleading by comparison. Professors can request a solutions manual by email: [email protected]

Writing for the general reader or student, Wald has completely revised and updated this highly regarded work to include recent developments in black hole physics and cosmology. Nature called the first edition "a very readable and accurate account of modern relativity physics for the layman within the unavoidable constraint of almost no mathematics. . . . A well written, entertaining and authoritative book."

Hermann Minkowski recast special relativity as essentially a new geometric structure for spacetime. This book looks at the ideas of both Einstein and Minkowski, and then introduces the theory of frames, surfaces and intrinsic geometry, developing the main implications of Einstein's general relativity theory.

When the author of Identity and Reality accepted Langevin's suggestion that Meyerson "identify the thought processes" of Einstein's relativity theory, he turned from his assured perspective as historian of the sciences to the risky bias of contemporary philosophical critic. But Emile Meyerson, the epis temologist as historian, could not find a more rigorous test of his conclusions from historical learning than the interpretation of Einstein's work, unless perhaps he were to turn from the classical revolution of Einstein's relativity to the non-classical quantum theory. Meyerson captures our sympathy in all his writings: " . . . the role of the epistemologist is . . . in following the development of science" (250); the study of the evolution of reason leads us to see that "man does not experience himself reasoning . . . which is carried on unconsciously," and as the summation of his empirical studies of the works and practices of scientists, "reason . . . behaves in an altogether predict able way: . . . first by making the consequent equivalent to the antecedent, and then by actually denying all diversity in space" (202). If logic - and to Meyerson the epistemologist is logician - is to understand reason, then "logic proceeds a posteriori. " And so we are faced with an empirically based Par menides, and, as we shall see, with an ineliminable 'irrational' within science. Meyerson's story, written in 1924, is still exciting, 60 years later.

This excellent textbook offers a unique take on relativity theory, setting it in its historical context. Ideal for those interested in relativity and the history of physics, the book contains a complete account of special relativity that begins with the historical analysis of the reasons that led to a change in our view of space and time. Its aim is to foster a deep understanding of relativistic spacetime and its consequences for Dynamics.