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Old 24-08-2011, 05:02 PM
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Did Einstein come up with E=mc^2

A bad day for science.

Earlier the suggestion that Nobel laureates should hand back their prize if the Higgs mechanism was found to be false, now this.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/46941

Regards

Steven
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Old 24-08-2011, 05:19 PM
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This is a derivation found on a cave wall.

E=MA^2 X
E=MB^2 X
E=MC^2 tick


Revisionist hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Bert
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Old 24-08-2011, 05:27 PM
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Its interesting to note that the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University Press own the rights to all of Einstein's writings that were not copyrighted by anyone else.
They also authorised a Beverly Hills based licensing agency specialising in protecting and promoting the personas of world-renowned entertainment and historical personalities, to license Einstein's image for promotional purposes and to prevent unauthorized use of the likeness and image of him.

I wouldn't mind betting that the rights of E=mc^2 are also owned by them, also (??) (I may stand corrected on this bit though …)

Cheers
PS: Here ya go ...
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Old 24-08-2011, 11:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by avandonk View Post
This is a derivation found on a cave wall.

E=MA^2 X
E=MB^2 X
E=MC^2 tick


Revisionist hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Bert
True, but it's also how we catch things out that were not what they seemed to be at the time. Doesn't mean it's right all the time, but you have to read history with a certain degree of caution.

BTW....looks like they found the scratching I did on that cave wall back in the Pleistocene
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Old 24-08-2011, 11:15 PM
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Originally Posted by CraigS View Post
Its interesting to note that the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University Press own the rights to all of Einstein's writings that were not copyrighted by anyone else.
They also authorised a Beverly Hills based licensing agency specialising in protecting and promoting the personas of world-renowned entertainment and historical personalities, to license Einstein's image for promotional purposes and to prevent unauthorized use of the likeness and image of him.

I wouldn't mind betting that the rights of E=mc^2 are also owned by them, also (??) (I may stand corrected on this bit though …)

Cheers
PS: Here ya go ...
Just goes to show you....if you want your work to be the property of everyone, for the benefit of all, you have to get that in writing and make it legal before you nod off. Otherwise anyone with $$$$ in their eyes will take advantage of the situation and co-opt your life's work for the sake of "posterity". As for piccies, they are really the copyright of the people who take the damn things in the first place. Unless they sell them to someone else.

If E=mc^2 is copyrighted by that mob, then everyone is in trouble.
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Old 25-08-2011, 01:09 AM
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I've always been convinced that hadn't Einstein developed and publicised the ideas of relativity and mass-energy equivalence then somebody else would, and probably not much later. I believe that ideas pop up when their time is right.

Much along this line of thought is Kirby's part 3 of "Everything is a Remix". It is well worth watching. I particularly like the Henry Ford quote towards the end, which finishes with:

“To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.”

Cheers
Steffen.
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Old 25-08-2011, 06:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by renormalised View Post
If E=mc^2 is copyrighted by that mob, then everyone is in trouble.
I think you have to make a difference between the appearance (image ) of this equation, and it's meaning.

They may well own the copyright of the appearance (perhaps how Einstein wrote it with his own handwriting on a piece of paper, and papers themselves) - but they can't copyright the meaning, or concept of what the equation and his papers describe.
The easiest way to circumvent the eventual legal problem (if there is any) is to use the different letters for energy, mass and speed of light in vacuum.

I remember a guy who tried to copyright the tone dial codes sounds (produced by your phone when dialling numbers which essentially sends the coded number to the phone exchange) as some sort of music he allegedly composed couple of years back ... and he get nowhere.

Last edited by bojan; 25-08-2011 at 06:40 AM.
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Old 25-08-2011, 06:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bojan View Post
I think you have to make a difference between the appearance (image ) of this equation, and it's meaning.

They may well own the copyright of the appearance (perhaps how Einstein wrote it with his own handwriting on a piece of paper, and papers themselves) - but they can't copyright the meaning, or concept of what the equation and his papers describe.
The easiest way to circumvent the eventual legal problem (if there is any) is to use the different letters for energy, mass and speed of light in vacuum.

I remember a guy who tried to copyright the tone dial codes sounds (produced by your phone when dialling numbers which essentially sends the coded number to the phone exchange) as some sort of music he allegedly composed couple of years back ... and he get nowhere.
I think its a little more complex than this, though.
If I tried to register a company name or trademark as "E=mc^2", I'd have to request permission from the owners for the 'right to use' .. and they might well be within their right to deny me this. And if the variable letters were different, it wouldn't convey the same meaning which E=mc^2 now clearly has.

It seems amusing that if one can show that the equation was not originally part of 'Einstein's estate', then one could become quite rich … with very little effort.

Mind you, I think the point of the OP was more about setting the historical record straight .. which would seem to be a somewhat more minor issue, in comparison .. I mean Galileo didn't discover the telescope, did he?

Cheers
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Old 25-08-2011, 08:07 AM
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Originally Posted by CraigS View Post
I think its a little more complex than this, though.
If I tried to register a company name or trademark as "E=mc^2", I'd have to request permission from the owners for the 'right to use' .. and they might well be within their right to deny me this. And if the variable letters were different, it wouldn't convey the same meaning which E=mc^2 now clearly has.

It seems amusing that if one can show that the equation was not originally part of 'Einstein's estate', then one could become quite rich … with very little effort.

Mind you, I think the point of the OP was more about setting the historical record straight .. which would seem to be a somewhat more minor issue, in comparison .. I mean Galileo didn't discover the telescope, did he?

Cheers
No...and it's a curious matter this. Take another device, for instance. The battery. Neither Galvani or Volta were the originators of the battery, yet they're credited with its discovery. They'd been using batteries running on exactly the same principles in the Middle East (specifically Mesopotamia) for more than 3500 years. And the computer...how about a little box found in a ship at the bottom of the Med'...the Antikythera Mechanism. It's at least 2200 years old. Or even automatic doors....a Greek scientist named Hero built an automatic door in 600BC.

Makes you wonder where the intellectual property rights actually stand, doesn't it
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Old 25-08-2011, 09:14 AM
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Originally Posted by renormalised View Post
Makes you wonder where the intellectual property rights actually stand, doesn't it
Exactly right.
IMHO, all this should be in public domain.

Couple of tens of years ago, there were two mathematicians, who tried to patent their solution of Hilbert's theorem.. without disclosing it in paper (because, this would have compromise their "rights" as supposed discoverers. I am not sure if anything came out of this ( in terms of correct solution for the starters).
This behaviour, even being quite legal, is very selfish, and quite outrageous actually
But we are all just humans...

Last edited by bojan; 25-08-2011 at 09:26 AM.
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