---
title: "Criticism of the theory of relativity"
chunk: 9/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_theory_of_relativity"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:36:32.666932+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== A Hundred Authors Against Einstein ===
A collection of various criticisms can be found in the book Hundert Autoren gegen Einstein (A Hundred Authors Against Einstein), published in 1931. It contains very short texts from 28 authors, and excerpts from the publications of another 19 authors. The rest consists of a list that also includes people who only for some time were opposed to relativity. The most targeted one is space-time followed by the speed of light as a constant and the relativity of simultaneity, with other concepts following. Besides philosophic objections (mostly based on Kantianism), also some alleged elementary failures of the theory were included; however, as some commented, those failures were due to the authors' misunderstanding of relativity. For example, Hans Reichenbach wrote a report in the entertainment section of a newspaper, describing the book as "a magnificent collection of naive mistakes" and as "unintended droll literature". Albert von Brunn interpreted the book as a pamphlet "of such deplorable impotence as occurring elsewhere only in politics" and "a fallback into the 16th and 17th centuries" and concluded “it can only be hoped that German science will not again be embarrassed by such sad scribblings”. Jacob Epstein quoted Einstein joking that if he were wrong, then one author would have been enough.
According to Goenner, the contributions to the book are a mixture of mathematical–physical incompetence, hubris, and the feelings of the critics of being suppressed by contemporary physicists advocating the new theory. The compilation of the authors show, Goenner continues, that this was not a reaction within the physics community—only one physicist (Karl Strehl) and three mathematicians (Jean-Marie Le Roux, Emanuel Lasker and Hjalmar Mellin) were present—but a reaction of an inadequately educated academic citizenship, which did not know what to do with relativity. As regards the average age of the authors: 57% were substantially older than Einstein, one third was around the same age, and only two persons were substantially younger. The Epstein autobiography which quotes Einstein describes the authors as "Nazi professors"; two authors (Reuterdahl, von Mitis) were antisemitic and four others were possibly connected to the Nazi movement. On the other hand, no antisemitic expression can be found in the book, and it also included contributions of some authors of Jewish ancestry (Salomo Friedländer, Ludwig Goldschmidt, Hans Israel, Emanuel Lasker, Oskar Kraus, Menyhért Palágyi).

== Status of criticism ==

The theory of relativity is considered to be self-consistent, is consistent with many experimental results, and serves as the basis of many successful theories like quantum electrodynamics. Therefore, fundamental criticism (like that of Herbert Dingle, Louis Essen, Petr Beckmann, Maurice Allais and Tom van Flandern) has not been taken seriously by the scientific community. Just as in the 1920s, most critical works are published in small publication houses, alternative journals (like "Apeiron" or "Galilean Electrodynamics"), or private websites. Consequently, where criticism of relativity has been dealt with by the scientific community, it has mostly been in historical studies.
However, this does not mean that there has been no further development in modern physics. The progress of technology over time has led to extremely precise ways of testing the predictions of relativity, and so far it has successfully passed all tests (such as in particle accelerators to test special relativity, and by astronomical observations to test general relativity). In addition, in the theoretical field there is continuing research intended to unite general relativity and quantum theory, between which a fundamental incompatibility still remains.

== See also ==
Alternatives to general relativity
Fringe science
History of special relativity

== References ==

=== Historical analyses ===

=== Relativity papers ===

=== Critical works ===

== External links ==
The Newspaper clippings and works collected by Gehrcke and Reuterdahl form an important basis for historic research on the criticism of relativity;
The Ernst Gehrcke Papers. Over 2700 newspaper articles collected by Gehrcke, digitized at the MPIWG.
Arvid Reuterdahl Papers, digizied by the University of St. Thomas Libraries, which are online accessible Archived 8 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine.