RIP John Stachel (1928-2025)

  • Thread starter Thread starter robphy
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
Professor John Stachel, a prominent figure in the study of Einstein's work, passed away on May 9, 2025, at the age of 97. He was the first editor of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, significantly contributing to the understanding and dissemination of Einstein's theories. Stachel's academic career included notable publications, such as his essay on the discovery of special relativity and various papers on the foundations of relativistic physics. His work has been recognized in multiple scholarly platforms, including the Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science. Stachel's influence extended to numerous discussions and presentations, reflecting his deep engagement with the historical and philosophical aspects of physics. His legacy is preserved through his extensive research and the ongoing relevance of his contributions to the field.
robphy
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
Insights Author
Gold Member
Messages
7,236
Reaction score
2,706
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stachel

https://www.einstein.caltech.edu/news/John-Stachel-first-CPAE-editor
It is with sorrow that we mourn the passing of Professor John Stachel. John was the first editor of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. He passed away, at the age of 97, on May 9, 2025.
https://www.einstein.caltech.edu/
https://www.einstein.caltech.edu/what-we-do/published-volumes
https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/









100 Anos de Teoria da Relatividade (Legendado) Documentário
(&t=90s is the first of several comments by John Stachel throughout the video)


more videos at the Perimeter Institute: https://pirsa.org/speaker/john-stachel
(however, the audio quality isn't that great)

I'm not sure how much you can see of John Stachel in
https://michaelblackwoodproductions.com/project/working-with-einstein/ (I haven't seen it)

https://www.matmor.unam.mx/eventos/loops07/plen_abs.html#stachel
https://www.slideserve.com/elyse/it...nterpretations-of-quantum-theory-john-stachel


How Did Einstein Discover Special Relativity? by John Stachel
This reprints an essay written ca. 1983, "'What Song the Syrens Sang': How Did Einstein Discover Special Relativity?" in John Stachel, Einstein from "B" to "Z".
https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-einstein-relativity.htm

'A Man of My Type': Editing the Einstein Papers
John Stachel
The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 57-66 (10 pages)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4026436?seq=1

Einstein from 'B' to 'Z' (2001)
https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-B-Z-John-Stachel/dp/0817641432?tag=pfamazon01-20

Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics: Festschrift in Honor of John Stachel
(Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 234) (2003)
https://www.amazon.com/Revisiting-F...s-Festschrift/dp/1402012845?tag=pfamazon01-20

[update]
New Light on the Einstein-Hilbert Priority Question
Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, Volume 20, Issue 3-4, pp. 91-101
https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1999JApA...20...91S , doi: 10.1007/BF02702345


https://www.bu.edu/cphs/ces/research/john-stachel/

https://www.bu.edu/cphs/ces/research/papers-by-stachel/ (numerous Papers and Presentations by John Stachel)

https://link.springer.com/search?sortBy=newestFirst&dc.creator=JOHN STACHEL
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,24&q=john+stachel
https://philpeople.org/profiles/john-stachel
https://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/stachel/

  • I met John Stachel briefly at the Minnowbrook Symposium on the Structure of Space-Time (near Syracuse NY, May 1999).
  • Here's an old thread where Stachel came up in conversation:
  • Here's my favorite paper by Stachel, which helped guide my interest in the spacetime structure of Galilean relativity:

    "If Maxwell had worked between Ampère and Faraday: An historical fable with a pedagogical moral"
    Max Jammer, John Stachel
    ( American Journal of Physics -- January 1980 -- Volume 48, Issue 1, pp. 5-7 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.12239 ),
    which is based on "Galilean electromagnetism" by LeBellac and Levy-Leblond (Nuovo Cim.B 14 (1973) 2, 217-234, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02895715 )
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Care
  • Informative
Likes atyy, Astronuc, jedishrfu and 2 others
Physics news on Phys.org
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...

Similar threads

Replies
3
Views
550
Replies
4
Views
288
Replies
7
Views
3K
Replies
9
Views
3K
Back
Top