Concerning John Stachel, Alberto Maritnez and Physics World

From: Christopher Jon Bjerknes (bjerknes516_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/17/04 

Date: 17 Jul 2004 10:32:24 -0700

July 17, 2004

(Christopher Jon Bjerknes)

Physics World is publishing false statements about me and my work on
its website at:

http://physicsweb.org/article/review/16/4/2

In this article John Stachel falsely claims that I cited Nobel Prize
laureate Johannes Stark in my book Albert Einstein : The Incorrigible
Plagiarist:

http://home.comcast.net/~xtxinc/index.htm

I have informed Dr. Peter Rodgers, editor of Physics World, that
Stachel's claim is false. He has acknowledged my letters and stated
that he has read an article submitted to him for publication in
Physics World in which I expose the false statement, but Rodgers has
refused to publish my article and continues to publish Stachel's false
statement on the internet. I have asked Stachel's colleague at the
Center for Einstein Studies, Boston University, Alberto A. Martinez,
to ask John Stachel where in my book Stachel claims to have found a
citation to Johannes Stark. Martinez stated in writing that Stachel
was unable to find any mention of Stark in my book. Stachel's article
continues to appear on the internet without a retraction, amendment or
correction.

In Stachel's article he falsely claims that I encountered difficulties
offering evidence of Einstein's plagiarism in the General Theory of
Relativity in my book Albert Einstein : The Incorrigible Plagiarist.
However, I specifically state in my book at page 107 that the general
theory would be subject of a different book in the series, the first
volume of which has since appeared as Anticipations of Einstein in the
General Theory of Relativity:

http://home.comcast.net/~xtxinc/index.htm

and I did address many instances of Einstein's plagiarism in the
general theory in my book Albert Einstein : The Incorrigible
Plagiarist. This, too, is addressed in my response to Stachel's
article, which Peter Rodgers has refused to publish. Stachel's article
continues to appear on the internet without a retraction, amendment or
correction.

In Stachel's article, he implies that I fabricated the well-known and
widely attributed Einstein quotation, "The secret to creativity is
knowing how to hide your sources" which appears in thousands of
webpages in the Google search engine:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22The+secret+to+creativity+is+knowing+how+to+hide+your+sources%22

Alberto Martinez has recently written to me demanding to know if I
fabricated this famous quote. I directed him to the Google search
engine. In my response to Stachel's article, which Peter Rodgers has
refused to publish, I state these facts. Stachel's article continues
to appear on the internet without a retraction, amendment or
correction.

The response to Stachel's article, which Peter Rodgers refused to
publish, makes clear that I had contacted John Stachel long before he
published his so-called "review" of my book and informed him that I
intended to publish the fact that he, John Stachel, coauthored an
article which disputed David Hilbert's well established priority for
the generally covariant field equations of gravitation before
Einstein, and based this claim on a set of printer's proofs that were
mutilated by some unknown individual in a way that removed the section
likely containing Hilbert's statement of those equations, but that
Stachel failed to mention the mutilation of these proofs in his
coauthored article, "Belated Decision in the Hilbert-Einstein Priority
Dispute" in the journal Science, Volume 278, (14 November 1997), pp.
1270-1273. John Stachel did not mention our correspondence in his
so-called "review", nor did he recuse himself from "reviewing" my
book; which facts I address in my response, which response Peter
Rodgers, editor of Physics World, has refused to publish. Stachel's
article continues to appear on the internet without a retraction,
amendment or a statement of the background which preceded its
production and publication. Stachel's radical revisionism is
discredited in my book Anticipations of Einstein in the General Theory
of Relativity:

http://home.comcast.net/~xtxinc/index.htm

And in Tilman Sauer's article, "The Relativity of Discovery: Hilbert's
First Note on the Foundations of Physics", Archive for History of
Exact Sciences, Volume 53, Number 6, (1999), pp. 529-575.

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/9811/9811050.pdf

And in A. A. Logunov, M. A. Mestvirishvili and V. A. Petrov, "How were
the Hilbert-Einstein equations discovered?" Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk,
Volume 174, Number 6, (2004), pp. 663-678:

http://data.ufn.ru//ufn04/ufn04_6/Russian/r046e.pdf

In English translation:

http://xxx.arxiv.cornell.edu/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0405/0405075.pdf

I have informed Dr. Peter Rodgers, editor of Physics World, that
Physics World has published long verbatim copies of parts of my wife's
and my translation from Abram Joffe's "In Remembrance of Albert
Einstein" published in 2002 in my book Albert Einstein : The
Incorrigible Plagiarist:

http://home.comcast.net/~xtxinc/mileva.htm

in an article by Alberto A. Martinez, a research fellow at the Center
for Einstein Studies, Boston University, which is under the
directorship of John Stachel. Martinez, who has admitted that he has
no training in Russian, has also admitted that he read the translation
in my book before writing "his", to use Martinez' own description,
independent "virtually identical" copy of it, which appears without an
attribution. Rodgers is aware of Martinez' admission. I have asked
Rodgers to remove the copy from the internet and have addressed the
issue in detail in a response to Martinez' article which I have
submitted to Physics World and which Dr. Peter Rodgers, editor of
Physics World, has refused to publish. Martinez has also admitted that
he learned that Danin had authored the quotation mistakenly attributed
to Joffe in the documentary "Einstein's Wife" from my book where the
attributions are correctly given. Martinez has further admitted that
he gleaned the fact that Joffe met Einstein-Marity in Zurich and that
this is where Joffe learned that Marity was Mileva's maiden name from
my book. Martinez nowhere references my book in his article. In my
response, which points out factual and logical errors in Martinez'
article, I address these facts and point out that Stachel's attacks
are directly contradicted by the fact that Martinez, a research fellow
under Stachel's directorship, took so much from it. Dr. Rodgers
refused to publish my response to Martinez' article, and Martinez'
article continues to appear on the internet without reference to my
book.

Relevant Pages

  • Concerning John Stachel, Alberto Maritnez and Physics World
    ... Physics World is publishing false statements about me and my work on ... In this article John Stachel falsely claims that I cited Nobel Prize ... laureate Johannes Stark in my book Albert Einstein: ... Martinez stated in writing that Stachel ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Concerning John Stachel, Alberto Maritnez and Physics World
    ... > Physics World is publishing false statements about me and my work on ... > In this article John Stachel falsely claims that I cited Nobel Prize ... Martinez stated in writing that Stachel ... which Peter Rodgers has refused to publish. ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Concerning John Stachel, Alberto Maritnez and Physics World
    ... > Physics World is publishing false statements about me and my work on ... > In this article John Stachel falsely claims that I cited Nobel Prize ... Martinez stated in writing that Stachel ... which Peter Rodgers has refused to publish. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)