A New Perspective on Relativity: An Odyssey in Non-Euclidean Geometries

Starting off from noneuclidean geometries, apart from the method of Einstein's equations, this book derives and describes the phenomena of gravitation and diffraction. A historical account is presented, exposing the missing link in Einstein's construction of the theory of general relativity: the uniformly rotating disc, together with his failure to realize, that the Beltrami metric of hyperbolic geometry with constant curvature describes exactly the uniform acceleration observed.

This book also explores these questions:

Introduction

Which Geometry?

A Brief History of Light, Electromagnetism and Gravity

Electromagnetic Radiation

The Origins of Mass

Thermodynamics of Relativity

General Relativity in a Non-Euclidean Geometrical Setting

Relativity of Hyperbolic Space

Nonequivalence of Gravitation and Acceleration

Aberration and Radiation Pressure in the Klein and Poincare Models

The Inertia of Polarization