Cambridge Mathematics and Cavendish Physics

Abstract

This is the second installment of a two part article on the reception of relativity theory in Cambridge. This part focuses on the response of workers at the Cavendish Laboratory during the period 1905-1911. Particular attention is paid to Norman Campbell's attempts to develop a relativistic electrodynamics and to his philosophical writings on absolute motion. The paper also discusses the work of G F C Searle (the only British physicist to correspond with Einstein about relativity during this period) and H Donaldson and G Stead who attempted, unsuccessfully, to contribute to the development of relativity theory.