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Foundations of Special Relativity

Some remarkable articles by Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond:

One more derivation of the Lorentz transformation

A derivation of the Lorentz transformations without the assumption of the constancy of the speed of light,
published in the American Journal of Physics: One_more_derivation.pdf

Les relativités

A short 79-page book, reproduced with the kind permission of the ENS Fontenay-aux-Roses.
Les relativités, Les Cahiers de Fontenay (n°8), École normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, September 1977: Les_relativites.pdf

Additivity, rapidity, relativity


An introduction to the concept of rapidity, published in the American Journal of Physics: Additivity.pdf

Article on mass,

Encyclopaedia Universalis : Masse.pdf

Relativity today,

La Recherche N°96, January 1979: Relativity_today.pdf

What if Einstein had not been there? A Gedankenexperiment in Science History

An article in English, in Proceedings of the 24th International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics, J.-P. Gazeau & al. (eds), Institute of Physics, London, 2003: What_if_Einstein.pdf

From relativity to chronogeometry or:
Putting an end to the “second postulate” and other fossils:

Chronogeometry.pdf

Slow down, works (intellectual),

le Nouvel Observateur, January 2001: Light.pdf

Energy after Einstein – understanding “E = mc²”

Bulletin de l’Union des Physiciens n°769, December 1994: BUP_769.pdf

Langevin twins and E=mc²


Two short texts taken from the excellent “Dictionnaire culturel des sciences”
(ed. N. Witkowski), Éditions du Regard, 2001: Twin_paradox.pdf and E=mc2.pdf

An excerpt from Laurent Nottale’s book FRACTAL SPACE-TIME AND MICROPHYSICS

A derivation of the Lorentz transformations with even fewer assumptions: A_new_derivation.pdf

From Physikalische Zeitschrift vol. XI (1910), pp. 972–976,
the very first article questioning the constancy of the speed of light, by Vladimir Sergeyevitch Ignatowski

Einige allgemeine Bemerkungen zum Relativitätsprinzip:

Einige_allgemeine_Bemerkungen.pdf

Some general remarks on the relativity principle:

Some_general_remarks.pdf