6 Quotes by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

It is comprehensible that a person could not have arrived at such a far-reaching change of view by continuing to follow the old beaten paths, but only by introducing some sort of new idea. Indeed, Einstein arrived at his theory through a train of thought of great originality.

Briefly, it discards absolute time and space and makes them in every instance relative to moving systems.

Einstein has put an end to this isolation; it is now well established that gravitation affects not only matter, but also light.

The equations on which the theory of relativity is based are due to Lorentz, but Einstein connected them with his general principle, namely, that there must be nothing, in observable phenomena, which could be attributed to absolute motion of the observer.

The term relativity refers to time and space. According to Galileo and Newton, time and space were absolute entities, and the moving systems of the universe were dependent on this absolute time and space. On this conception was built the science of mechanics. The resulting formulas sufficed for all motions of a slow nature; it was found, however, that they would not conform to the rapid motions apparent in electrodynamics.

Einstein had immense fame among physicists, and among all who are interested in the philosophy of science, because of his principle of relativity.