Abstract

A thorough and well-documented study of the major revolutions in the concept of space from Pythagoras to Einstein. The theories of the ancient atomists, of Plato, and of Aristotle regarding space are analyzed against the background of modern considerations concerning homogeneity, isotropy, continuity, and infinity. The part played by theology in the development of the concept of space, the controversy attending the Newtonian and Leibnizian developments of absolute and relative theories of space, and, finally, the role of geometry as developed by Gauss, Reimann, and Clifford in the physics of Eddington, Einstein, and Weyl are carefully elucidated.--M. F.