Newsgroup: it.politica.destra
Titolo: Einstein's E=mc2 'was Italian's idea'

Einstein's E=mc2 'was Italian's idea'
Rory Carroll in Rome
Thursday November 11, 1999
The Guardian
The mathematical equation that ushered in the atomic age was discovered by
an unknown Italian dilettante two years before Albert Einstein used it in
developing the theory of relativity, it was claimed yesterday.
Olinto De Pretto, an industrialist from Vicenza, published the equation
E=mc2 in a scientific magazine, Atte, in 1903, said Umberto Bartocci, a
mathematical historian.
Einstein allegedly used De Pretto's insight in a major paper published in
1905, but De Pretto was never acclaimed, said Professor Bartocci of the
University of Perugia.
De Pretto had stumbled on the equation, but not the theory of relativity,
while speculating about ether in the life of the universe, said Prof
Bartocci. It was republished in 1904 by Veneto's Royal Science Institute,
but the equation's significance was not understood.
A Swiss Italian named Michele Besso alerted Einstein to the research and in
1905 Einstein published his own work, said Prof Bartocci. It took years for
his breakthrough to be grasped. When the penny finally dropped, De Pretto's
contribution was overlooked while Einstein went on to become the century's
most famous scientist. De Pretto died in 1921.
"De Pretto did not discover relativity but there is no doubt that he was the
first to use the equation. That is hugely significant. I also believe,
though it's impossible to prove, that Einstein used De Pretto's research,"
said Prof Bartocci, who has written a book on the subject.
Einstein's theory held that time and motion are relative to the observer if
the speed of light is constant and if all natural laws are the same. A
footnote established the equivalence of mass and energy, according to which
the energy (E) of a quantity of matter (m) is equal to the product of the
mass and the square of the velocity of light (c). Now known as: E=mc2 .
The influence of work by other physicists on Einstein's theory is also
controversial. A German, David Hilbert, is thought by some to have been
decisive.
Edmund Robertson, professor of mathematics at St Andrew's University, said:
"An awful lot of mathematics was done by people who have never been
credited - Arabs in the middle ages, for example. Einstein may have got the
idea from someone else, but ideas come from all sorts of places.
"De Pretto deserves credit if his contribution can be proven. Even so, it
should not detract from Einstein."
Guardian Unlimited ) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001

The equivalence of energy and mass. E=mc2 (1905)
Einstein derived these equations from Maxwell's equation. It took him three
pages.
The deduction is rather simple and quite obvious, and a better mathematician
would have simply stated the deduction in half a page. Maxwell, who was an
excellent mathematician, certainly knew about this, as well as many other
physicists. However, they did not make any claims because (it was stated in
their papers) they had no experimental method to verify this. Unlike
theoretical physicists of today, physicists in late 19th century did not put
forth claims without experimental evidence.
Some justifications that attribute the mass-energy formula to Einstein are
based on his presumed confidence and boldness in his belief in this
relationship because he had "deeper insight to nature of matter" (he was a
genius you know!). However, in scientific community "deeper insight" must be
backed by evidence (experimental evidence). In short, theoretical prediction
of mass-energy relationship is due to Maxwell, and the clinching argument
should be attributed to the scientist who comes up with an experiment
verifying this relationship.
So why Einstein is given credit for this mass-energy formula? This is the
explanation that I found. Einstein found this (mass-energy relationship) to
be true in the form of light -- "he changed the special case to universal
law."
How did he find it to be true for the case of light? He was a patent clerk,
working in an office. I doubt that patent office would had a sophisticated
physics lab. This is really absurd. Einstein's college friend Grossman, who
had helped him to obtain his job as patent clerk, was in touch with Einstein
during this time. Grossman was aware that mass-energy equivalence had been
observed, and numerically verified in Kirchoff's examination of the
so-called "black body" radiation in a cavity.
da 
http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/index312htm
Guardare anche:
http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/index333htm
Comunque non capicsco per quale motivo il moderatore non ti abbia cestinato
l'articolo; avresti dovuto postarlo su it.scienza o su it.scienza.fisica,
qui saresti OT.
Ciao

 qui saresti OT.
Tutto quello che è Italia non è OT qui, almeno per me...  :)
Cmq mi sembra che i fuori tema siano minimi(o nulli) in questo NG, se
per merito del moderatore o se non vengono proprio pstati, non lo
so...
Ciao
Iron