Talk:Principle of relativity

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Merge with theory of relativity?

[- title inserted Harald88 22:04, 10 July 2006 (UTC)]

I suggest that we redirect principle of relativity to theory of relativity. The two articles are trying to do exactly the same thing, in the same way; they link to mostly the same sections. The only exception are 1) Indian proto-relativity which could easily be added as a link in theory of relativity and 2) general covariance which needs a complete rewrite anyway. Any thoughts? --Michael C. Price ^talk 23:23, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... Yes I agree that they are somewhat double, but in view of the above discussions (which somewhat changed my mind), I suggest rather the opposite: to copy-paste whatever is better from Theory of relativity, and to delete that article. IMO the Principle of relativity article should be reworked so that it discusses more properly the different proposed principles of relativity (as distinct from the related theories). Harald88 22:11, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe I have copied all the useful material from principle of relativity (which it too long, IMO) to theory of relativity. Are you suggesting a straight cut&paste from TOR -> POR? That's sounds OK to me. I'm not sure if I quite follow what content changes you envisage, but whatever they are they will be easier to implement when the duplicate page(s) are removed. --Michael C. Price ^talk 23:49, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I see what you mean (& are the changes I've been makiing): the principles behind the various theories that we want to highlight at the summary level. --Michael C. Price ^talk 00:24, 11 July 2006 (UTC)]

In my opinion, we should keep the article Principle of relativity, which is a well-defined concept, and turn the article Theory of relativity into a disambiguation page with links to special relativity and general relativity. (I think it's the same thing as suggested by Harald88 above.) Yevgeny Kats 04:26, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. --Michael C. Price ^talk 04:51, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

I somewhat disagree. I think that the business on "Indian relativity" and "Galilean relativity" need to be removed from theory of relativity, as both are statements of the principle, and not of Einstein's theories which is what is really being refered to. However, I like the current thumbnail sketches of EInstein's theories. They do not need to be expanded, but neither do I feel that they should be removed.

For this page, we need to establish what the "special principle of relativity" and the "general principle of relativity" are. Note that Galileo essentially stated the special principle in his work. Also note that the difference between Newtonian physics and special relativity is not in the principle of relativity but instead in what that principle is asked to act with. In Newton's mechanics, the added presmises are an absolite space and and absolute time with universal simultaneity. In Einstein's theory, the constancy of the speed of light (given synchronized clocks and standard rods) is the added premise. --EMS | Talk 05:32, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

"Indian relativity" and "Galilean relativity" will be removed from theory of relativity when it is turned into a disambigutaion page as the changes suggested above are implemented. I like the addition of a mention of Newtonian physics. I'm going to make the changes and then we can continue to improve the content. --Michael C. Price ^talk 05:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Changes done as discussed. --Michael C. Price ^talk 05:59, 11 July 2006 (UTC)