I’ve been taught (at an undergraduate level) that Einstein’s work on GR actually failed to show equality between the field equations of a rotating universe and a rotating bucket, and that it was a source of great frustration to him.
Here is a link to the paper on the subject of the historian of science (a former theoretical physicist) who taught me this:
http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/4377/
On the first page of the introduction:
“What makes [Einstien’s] comments all the more remarkable is that by
1921 Einstein had already conceded, however grudgingly, that his general theory
of relativity, worked out between 1907 and 1918, does not make all motion relative.”
Page 24 is where he starts talking about Mach’s principle and Newton’s bucket in relation to Einstein’s work. It was a history class though, so if Einstein’s problems with GR have been solved by others since then I wouldn’t know. I only mention this because the subject of Einstein’s work on SR and GR really opened my eyes on how much physics really could address seemingly philosophical questions like absolute reality.
I’ve been taught (at an undergraduate level) that Einstein’s work on GR actually failed to show equality between the field equations of a rotating universe and a rotating bucket, and that it was a source of great frustration to him.
Here is a link to the paper on the subject of the historian of science (a former theoretical physicist) who taught me this: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/4377/ On the first page of the introduction: “What makes [Einstien’s] comments all the more remarkable is that by 1921 Einstein had already conceded, however grudgingly, that his general theory of relativity, worked out between 1907 and 1918, does not make all motion relative.”
Page 24 is where he starts talking about Mach’s principle and Newton’s bucket in relation to Einstein’s work. It was a history class though, so if Einstein’s problems with GR have been solved by others since then I wouldn’t know. I only mention this because the subject of Einstein’s work on SR and GR really opened my eyes on how much physics really could address seemingly philosophical questions like absolute reality.