Abstract:

Einstein, in his "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper", gave a physical
(operational) meaning to "time" of a remote event in describing "motion"
by introducing the concept of "synchronous stationary clocks located at
different places". But with regard to "place" in describing motion, he
assumed without analysis the concept of a system of co-ordinates.
In the present paper, we propose a way of giving physical (operational)
meaning to the concepts of "place" and "co-ordinate system", and show how
the observer can dene both the place and time of a remote event.
Following Einstein, we consider another system "in uniform motion of
translation
relatively to the former". Without assuming "the properties of homogeneity
which we attribute to space and time", we show that the denitions of
space and time in the two systems are linearly related. We deduce some
novel consequences of our approach regarding faster-than-light observers
and particles, "one-way" and "two-way" velocities of light, symmetry, the
"group property" of inertial reference frames, length contraction and time
dilatation, and the "twin paradox". Finally, we point out a
flaw in Einstein's argument in the "Electrodynamical Part" of his paper
and show that the Lorentz force formula and Einstein's formula for
transformation of field quantities are mutually consistent. We show that
for faster-than-light bodies, a simple modication of Planck's formula for
mass suffices.

The papers containing this work are:
1. Agashe, S. D., "Einstein’s “Zur Electrodynamik...” (1905) revisited,
with some consequences," Found. Phys. 36, 955-1011 (2006).
2. Agashe, S. D.. "Addendum to “Einstein’s “Zur Elektrodynamik . . . ”
(1905) revisited, with some consequences," Found. Phys. 37, 306-309
(2007).

They can be found at :
http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~eesdaia/einstein_submitted_2006_01_16.pdf


Introduction to the speaker:

Professor S. D. Agashe completed his PhD from the University of Illinois,
Urbana Champaign in 1967 in the area of control theory. He joined the EE
Dept at IIT-Kanpur in 1967, and then in 1973, joined the EE Dept at
IIT-Bombay. He is presently Emeritus Fellow at the IIT-Bombay. His
research interests lie in optimal control systems, multivariable control
systems, network theory, and in the history and philosophy of science and
education.