Total Relativity: Mach 2004

The work of Ernst Mach, physicist, for the critical analysis of the empirical value of physical concepts to produce the atmosphere in which special and general relativity or quantum theory could be conceived, is discussed. Mr. Mach dissects the conceptual innovation and presuppositions which mark the history of the science of motion, from its prescientific roots through the late 19th century. A remarkable invocation of Mach's principle occurs near the beginning of Einstein's foundation paper on general relativity. Mach's principle, from the principle of symmetry, is the hypothesis that a larger, primary theory should include total relativity, which is physical equivalence among all different coordinate systems.