GRAVITATION~ SPACETIME WITH AND WITHOUT COORDINATES

Now it came to me:...the independence of the

gravitational acceleration from the nature of

the falling substance, may be expressed as

follows:in a gravitational field (of small

spatial extension) things behave as they do

in a space free of gravitation...This happened

in 1908. Why were another seven years required

for the construction of the general theory of

relativity? The main reason lies in the fact that

it is not so easy to free oneself from the idea

that coordinates must have an immediate metrical

meaning.

現在，我想到:....引力加速度與落體的性質無關，可表述如下:在(空間廣延很小的)引力場中，事物的行為與在無引力的空間中一樣...這種想法產生於1908年。至於為何要花費長達七年的時間才完成廣義相對論呢?主要的原因是人們難以擺脫座標必須具有直接度規意義的觀念。

ALBERT EINSTEIN [in Schilpp (1949), pp.65-67.]

GRAVITATION~EFFECT OF MATTER ON GEOMETRY

"But the years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alternations of confidence and exhaustion, and the final emergence into the light-only those who have experienced it can understand that"

"但是，在黑暗中焦急地探索著的這些歲月裡，人們滿懷著熱望，時而信心十足，時而精疲力盡，最後，光明終於出現---只有那些親身經歷的人才能理解這一切。"

Einstein quoted by M. Klein (1971) p.1315

GRAVITATION~GEOMETRODYNAMICS IN BRIEF

THE PARABLE OF THE APPLE

One day in the year 1666 Newton had gone to the country, and seeing the fall of an apple, as his niece told me, let himself be led into a deep meditation on the cause which thus draws every object along a line whose extension would pass almost through the center of the Earth

VOLTAIRE (1738)

1666年的某一天，Newton來到了鄉間，看見一只蘋果從樹上掉下來，正如他姪女告訴我的那樣，這使他陷入了沉思;究竟是什麼原因使每一個物體都沿著一條幾乎通過地球中心的延長的直線被往下拉呢?

研究之路

延燒著愛奧尼亞式的迷情，我在這一世找到追尋的目標。
深植於我靈魂深處的印記，訴說著我未來的足跡。
人，總是會問自己所求為何呢?
總走在迷失的邊緣，祈求著指引方向的明燈，突然如春雨降臨大地。
為何呢?每個人都必須經過這樣的程序嗎?
特別是研究這條路，秉持著信念，仍面臨著艱困的泥濘，
一定是這樣嗎，智者說，
這是考驗，考驗我們的心志，是否足以堅定朝這條路邁進，
這是鍛鍊，鍛鍊我們的意念，是否強大可以面臨日後挑戰。
我困惑著，迷惘著，又期待著。
在這條路上，即使我們失敗了，也終將得到寬恕，
給予我們另一個新的挑戰!!