I think the post here gives the impression that Einstein made fewer errors, and had fewer detours than he did.
It is true that there were very few degrees of freedom in GR. When the initial red shift numbers came in, they seemed to contradict GR. Einstein was pondering abandoning it, until better numbers came in. There was nothing he could tweak to adjust the answer.
Also, he made the wrong prediction for the bending of starlight around the sun due to missing something (a second order effect) in the calculation. Through several strokes of luck, all the expeditions to check the values were stymied for one reason or another during the time Einstein had the wrong numbers out there. It was only after Einstein realized his mistake and redid the calculations that an expedition finally succeeded in getting the measurements which were right. Had an earlier expedition succeeded, Einstein’s prediction at that time would have been wrong.
Einstein did use a lot of data though it was data everyone else had too. He knew Newton’s law was mostly accurate, a fact which implies a lot of data. Also the invariance of gravitational acceleration (gravitational mass = inertial mass). He was aware there was a problem with Mercury. Also Newton’s law was not (or only with great difficulty) consistent with SR.
There is a very interesting book “General relativity conflict and rivalries : Einstein’s polemics with physicists” by Galina Weinstein.
Einstein was incredible but not alien magic. An algebra mistake cost him a couple of years!
I think the post here gives the impression that Einstein made fewer errors, and had fewer detours than he did.
It is true that there were very few degrees of freedom in GR. When the initial red shift numbers came in, they seemed to contradict GR. Einstein was pondering abandoning it, until better numbers came in. There was nothing he could tweak to adjust the answer.
Also, he made the wrong prediction for the bending of starlight around the sun due to missing something (a second order effect) in the calculation. Through several strokes of luck, all the expeditions to check the values were stymied for one reason or another during the time Einstein had the wrong numbers out there. It was only after Einstein realized his mistake and redid the calculations that an expedition finally succeeded in getting the measurements which were right. Had an earlier expedition succeeded, Einstein’s prediction at that time would have been wrong.
Einstein did use a lot of data though it was data everyone else had too. He knew Newton’s law was mostly accurate, a fact which implies a lot of data. Also the invariance of gravitational acceleration (gravitational mass = inertial mass). He was aware there was a problem with Mercury. Also Newton’s law was not (or only with great difficulty) consistent with SR.
There is a very interesting book “General relativity conflict and rivalries : Einstein’s polemics with physicists” by Galina Weinstein.
Einstein was incredible but not alien magic. An algebra mistake cost him a couple of years!