Abstract
It is well known that Einstein was strongly influenced by Mach’s ideas in his struggle for a new theory of gravitation. In 1915 he published what he thought to be the final equations, but not much later he modified them by adding a “cosmological constant”. One of the reasons for this modification was to implement what Einstein called “Mach’s principle”. I discuss the history of the cosmological constant and the puzzle of modern cosmology.
This article is based on a talk given at the “Mach Centenary Conference 2016” in Vienna. It gives an elementary outline of how Mach’s ideas influenced Einstein seeking for a new theory of gravity. There are many versions of Mach’s principle and it is a still ongoing debate on how Mach’s principle is implemented in the theory of General Relativity. For readers who would like to penetrate deeper into the subject, I recommend the excellent book on “Mach’s Principle, From Newton’s Bucket to Quantum Gravity” with many contributions from experts in the field (Barbour 1995)
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Aichelburg, P.C. (2019). Mach’s Influence on Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” and the Consequences for Modern Cosmology. In: Stadler, F. (eds) Ernst Mach – Life, Work, Influence. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04378-0_24
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