On Fri, 18 Feb 2000 09:28:57 EST JKSCHW at aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 00-02-18 00:02:46 EST, you write:
>
> << As Einstein said, "theory
> tells us what we can observe." >>
>
> A true Einstein joke. The famous test of general relativity theory
> was in, I
> think, 1919, when people went to see whether the predicted "bend" in
> light
> from the sun via Mercury could be observed in a set of fortutious
> circumstances. It was observed, and Einstein was vindicated. Some
> reporter
> asked him, weren't you worried that it might not turn out as you
> expected? Oh
> no, said Einstein. Then I should be sorry for the dear Lord. The
> theory is
> correct.
As Justin I am sure is well aware, Einstein never regarded those empirical tests as being in themselves decisive for assessing the validity of relativity theory. That is relativity theory's passing of those tests was for him simply one factor is assessing the theory's soundness. At least as important for him was the theory's parsimoniousness in explaining physical phenomena.
Jim F.
>
> --jks
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