On the multiple deaths of Whitehead's theory of gravity

DOI10.1016/J.SHPSB.2007.04.004zbMATH Open1223.83001arXivgr-qc/0611006OpenAlexW2097538678WikidataQ59594909 ScholiaQ59594909MaRDI QIDQ643142FDOQ643142

Clifford M. Will, Gary W. Gibbons

Publication date: 27 October 2011

Published in: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Part B. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Whitehead's 1922 theory of gravitation continues to attract the attention of philosophers, despite evidence presented in 1971 that it violates experiment. We demonstrate that the theory strongly fails five quite different experimental tests, and conclude that, notwithstanding its meritorious philosophical underpinnings, Whitehead's theory is truly dead.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0611006

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zbMATH Keywords

relativitytests of general relativityWhitehead's theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Philosophy of mathematics (00A30) History of relativity and gravitational theory (83-03) Experimental work for problems pertaining to relativity and gravitational theory (83-05)

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Cited In (2)

• Brief history of a relativistic century
• Putting General Relativity to the Test: Twentieth-Century Highlights and Twenty-First-Century Prospects

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