On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies
by Albert Einstein · first published 2016
33% recommend67% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Original 1905 paper introducing special relativity, praised as remarkably clear and self-contained, short enough to read in one sitting; recommended for anyone who wants to see the theory's founding argument directly.
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Einstein, Albert. "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies." Annalen der Physik 17.891 (1905): 50. http://ganapathymani.com/On%20the%20electrodymics%20of%20mov... This paper establishes special relativity, and is remarquable for how clear it is, revolutionizing…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?” ↗…typesetting system. A. Einstein, "Zur elektrodynamik bewegter körper," Annalen der Physik, vol. 322, no. 10, pp. 891-921, 1905. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19053221004 Einstein's seminal paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" that proposed the theory of special relativity. A good English translation is available online at http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite scientific paper?” ↗Einstein, "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" https://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www It's remarkably accessible and clear (at least Part I is).
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?” ↗The War of The Worlds, H.G. Wells, 1898 Great Expectations, Charles Dickens, 1861 Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper ("On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"), A. Einstein, 1905
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗Einstein's "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…rifled with issues concerning temporal stability. Under a very particular, theoretical construction of the universe, stable closed timelike curves could be possible, but it's not likely. Further reading: On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies https://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/ Don't be scared to take a peek at the paper, it involves some light maths, but is largely conceptual and surprisingly digestible.
on “How many holes does the universe have?” ↗Some old articles in physics are surprisingly concise. There is no point in reading a modern 300 page book on special relativity when you can just read "on the electrodynamics of moving bodies" which is 23 pages and self-contained.
on “C.S. Lewis on the Reading of Old Books” ↗When I ran it on my advisor's name, it gave the actual titles of two of his papers. Entertaining, though. It seems to be a common pattern. When I ran it with the argument "A Einstein", I got "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies." as one of the results. Edit: Also, for "P Erdos", I got "On a new law of large numbers."
on “Markov chain paper title generator” ↗…specifically? This timeline has something like 60 papers and many papers have 8-30 authors. Are the breakthroughs spread out like that? Or are there one or two super important works? Sort of like Einstein's "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"?
on “AI / ML / LLM / Transformer Models Timeline” ↗…technique(at the time!) of using Brownian motion to deduce that photons exist as particles, and not just waves. Then it only took a couple of years for that idea to morph into his famous Annus Miribilis paper On the electrodynamics of moving bodies, from which Special Relativity sprung forth. And the rest was history.
on “Easy Ways to Fail a Ph.D.” ↗…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Pri... (2) "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" (Maxwell, 1865). http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/155/459.full.... (3) "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" (Einstein, 1905). https://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/ (4) "Ricci flow with surgery on three-manifolds" (Perelman, 2003). http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0303109 It's difficult to understand…
on “In his garage lab, Omahan aims to bend fabric of space” ↗Poincaré was very close to the special theory of relativity when Einstein published "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" in 1905. And David Hilbert discovered the Einstein Field Equations a few days before Einstein. (They really should be called the Hilbert-Einstein Field Equations.) If Einstein hadn't existed we wouldn't…
on “One Einstein Is Worth a Legion of PhD Drones” ↗…appreciate a photo of an astronaut on a horse. Few can grasp the concept and significance of a store of value. Let alone a DAO. It's the same reason why Harry Potter is more popular than Einstein's "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" in which he came up with the theory of relativity. When others talk about something we don't understand, we tend to get angry and dismissive. Like boys in elementary school who think girls are stupid.…
on “Is AI the Next Crypto? Insights from 2M HN Comments” ↗I don't see any relativity in the actual post, but I'm happy to see it here in the comments. For more info, of course, the real source is Einstein's "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"
on “How do magnets work?” ↗I think you see the same in physics. The extreme example is probably Einstein’s “On the electrodynamics of moving bodies” [1], where he laid out the special theory of relativity. It has some incredibly original ideas, and not a single reference. :) 1. https://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf
on “Dilution of expertise in the rise and fall of collective innovation” ↗