🚀 go-pugleaf

There is an imprecision in the text below. In fact, Einstein's 1905
false light postulate (the second postulate) ALONE is consistent with
Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. Combined with the principle of
relativity (the first postulate) however, it predicts that the speed
of light is independent of the speed of the observer and IN THIS SENSE
it is inconsistent with Maxwell's theory. The correct statement should
have been:

GRANTED THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY, Einstein's 1905 false light
postulate was inconsistent with both Maxwell's electromagnetic theory
and Newton's emission theory of light.

Pentcho Valev wrote:

The myth according to which the constancy of the speed of light is
inherent in Maxwell's equations is perhaps the strongest in
Einsteiniana and yet the cleverest Einsteinian, John Norton, does hint
at the truth sometimes:

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00002149/01/Norton.pdf
John Norton: "The difficulty Einstein faced is that Maxwells
electrodynamics cannot be an emission theory. One of the most
important consequences of the theory is that light in a vacuum always
propagates at the same speed, c=186,000 miles per second, WITH RESPECT
TO THE ETHER. Its velocity of propagation is unaffected by the
velocity of the emitter."

Sooner or later Einsteiniana will have to face the sad truth that
Einstein's 1905 false light postulate was inconsistent with both
Maxwell's electromagnetic theory and Newton's emission theory of
light.

Pentcho Valev wrote:

http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/Einstein1905.pdf
Albert Einstein: "I certainly knew that the principle of the constancy
of the velocity of light is something quite independent of the
relativity postulate; and I considered what would be more probable,
the principle of the constancy of c, as was demanded by Maxwell's
equations, or the constancy of c, exclusively for an observer sitting
at the light source. I decided in favor of the first..."

Einstein is simply lying: Maxwell's equations presupposed that the
speed of light was VARIABLE and obeyed the equation c'=c+v, where c is
the speed of light relative to the ether and v is the speed of the
observer relative to the ether. So the only reasonable choice
consistent with the Michelson-Morley experiment was "the constancy of
c, exclusively for an observer sitting at the light source", that is,
the prediction of Newton's emission theory of light.

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com