Einstein and the Lorentz-Poincaré Theory of Relativity

Abstract

The title of this paper has reference to the well known remark which Whittaker has made about Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity in his book History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. In the Chapter entitled ‘The Relativity Theory of Poincaré and Lorentz’ he writes as follows: “In the autumn of the same year… Einstein published a paper which set forth the relativity theory of Poincaré and Lorentz with some amplifications, and which attracted much attention… In this paper Einstein gave the modifications which must now be introduced into the formulae for aberration and the Doppler effect.” The question with which I am concerned in this paper is whether from a strictly empirical point of view Whittaker's assessment is correct.