sci.physics.electromag

maxwell wrote:
> There is almost no connection between Einstein's Special Theory of
> Relativity (SRT) and his General Theory of Relativity (GRT) apart from
> the (marketing) fact that they both include the exciting word
> 'relativity'.

This is plain and simply not true. SR was INSTRUMENTAL in leading
Einstein to GR, and remains as both:
A) the local limit of GR at any point in any manifold
B) the solution of the GR field equation for an empty universe
and the topology of R^4.


> SRT is a consequence of Maxwell's theory of electricity
> and GRT is Einstein's theory of gravity.

Hmmm. Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics is incompatible with SR, but
the modern version of it is fully compatible with SR. Today we would say
that SR is a consequence of local symmetries of the universe we inhabit
(specifically: local Lorentz invariance).


> He wasted the last 40 years
> of his life trying to unify these two field theories.

This was only "wasted" to those who do not understand what he was doing.
Yes, he did not succeed in unifying GR and electrodynamics. But in the
journey there was much to be learned....


> Modern
> theorists have wasted their own careers in attempting the same but
> adding the complexity of the quantum.

The modern issues are MUCH more complicated than you seem to think.


Tom Roberts