Varićak's hyperbolic interpretation of relativity and rapidity
Interpretación hiperbólica de la relatividad y rapidez (Varićak)
- Date
- 1908-1910 · confidence high
- Place
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Credited to
- Vladimir Varićak
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
He showed that relativistic velocity addition can be expressed with Lobachevsky's hyperbolic geometry and defined the angle (rapidity) used today in special relativity. It turned velocity space into a non-Euclidean geometry.
The Physikalische Zeitschrift papers date from 1908 and 1910; the term 'rapidity' is due to Alfred Robb (1911). There was a dispute with Einstein over Lorentz contraction as real or apparent. Varićak was a professor in Zagreb.
What it led to
- geometry of velocity space and rapidity in particle physics
- geometric formulation of special relativity