Re: That Scoundrel of Relativity, Hermann Minkowski

schoenfeld1@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Eugene Shubert wrote:
> > Minkowski claimed scientific priority for a great, new,
> > geometric theory of relativity at the Cologne lecture
> > of 1908, based largely on the work of Henri Poincar=E9.
> > Poincar=E9 was purposely excluded from the meeting.
> >
> > http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/einstd7.pdf
> >
> > Respectfully submitted,
> >
> > Eugene Shubert
> > http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity
>
> Minkowski was the first to present a complete mathematical
> formulation of spacetime.

Please define what you mean by "complete."

Spacetime geometry, or any geometry, is "defined by a group of
transformations, and investigates everything that is invariant
under the transformations of this given group." Weyl 1952, p. 133.
http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/generalized.htm
For example: "The geometry of Minkowski space is defined by
the Poincar=E9 group." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_group

Poincar=E9 was the first to mention the group structure of the
Lorentz transformation and the first to find invariants of that
group. I think it's obvious that not all invariants of the Poincar=E9
group have been found.

.