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Relatively Speaking "The Appointment that Woldemar Voigt never kept." |
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I lived on Coordinate Avenue and Fifth Street. I once wrote to Woldemar Voigt who lived nearby at Coordinate Avenue and Second Street. I wanted him to explain why
x' = x -vt and not x' in S' = x in S was right. We eventually planned by phone, to meet at my place. I suggested to him to look towards Origin Avenue and walk in the opposite direction for three blocks along Coordinate Avenue. I also mentioned that if he had crossed the "Y train" tracks at Origin avenue, that he had gone the wrong way. Years later, I did receive a letter from him although it was sent to me at Coordinate Avenue and Minus First Street. In it, he stated that he had waited there at Minus First Street with his contemporaries; Mr. Einstein and Mr. Lorentz. They had even knocked on several doors, but no one around there had ever heard of me. His letter concluded, since x = 2 and vt = 3, then x-vt is -1. The letter had been signed by all three men. We completely lost each other's coordinates after that. by steve waterman sept 8, 2009 |
