Second post.
Okay, it looks like it works. Man, what a stressful week. I always make a mistake and worry about the first week of the term and it is really the second week that is murder.
However, with 55 minutes before my first 8.033 recitation, it looks like I’m ready to go. This blog will be devoted to subjects relating to relativity. While it will be centered around the course I am recitation instructor for (8.033, “Relativity” at MIT), I plan to make this more generally about ideas and thoughts related to relativity. You can find the official place for course announcements here.
In preparing for today’s first recitation, I’ve been reviewing Newton’s Laws and Einstein’s Postulates. I am always struck by how profound these simple statements are, but today I am even more struck by how easy it is to miss seeing how important they are. In the 321 years since Newton, his ideas have become so embedded in our thinking that it is hard to imagine there was a time before the three laws. Of course, when we first teach mechanics, we only mention the parts where Newton had it right and tend not to go into absolute space and time so much.
