Alfred A Robb

Alfred A. Robb
Born	1873
Died	December 13, 1936(1936-12-13) (aged 62–63)
Residence	Castlereagh, United Kingdom
Nationality	English

Alfred Arthur Robb studied mathematics at Cambridge, physics under J. J. Thomson, and wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the Zeeman effect under Woldemar Voigt at Göttingen in 1904.  Regarded by historians as an early advocate of relativity theory, Robb was actually critical of Einstein's proposals.  Adopting non-Einsteinian principles of relativity, Robb authored four books and numerous papers on the time, relativity, and simultaneity.  He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1921.

Obituary: Joseph Larmor, Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, V2, N6 (Jan 1938), pp. 315-321, http://www.jstor.org/pss/769068.

Group photo including Robb & J. J. Thomson: "The Post-Graduates at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1898-99" from The Life of John Cunningham McLennan, University of Toronto Physics http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/overview/history/mclennan/MCLENN1.htm

Discussion of Robb's ideas:

• Minkowski Spacetime and the Dimensions of the Present, Richard T. W. Arthur [see especially Chap. 4, "The Punctual Present", pp. 18-21], McMaster University http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~rarthur/papers/Mink.pres.final.pdf
• "Is Simultaneity Conventional Despite Malament's Result?", Robert Rynasiewicz (Department of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 2001) [p. 2], PhilSci Archive http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000293/00/text.pdf
• "Alfred A. Robb's Optical Geometry" in The Non-Euclidean Style of Minkowskian Relativity, Scott Walter [esp. pp. 16-17] (Preprint of Chapter 4 in The Symbolic Universe, J. Gray, ed., Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 91-127.) http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/nes.pdf

Non-flattering personal description: "The Philosophy of Logical Atomism and Other Essays, 1914-19 (Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell), by Bertrand Russell" [p. 334], Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0049200747/ref=A9/103-0605917-0912605?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S0A6&checkSum=DBrZ556D07Y%2buzIseFP%2f1kGYmtYMTTojmpwLLEcylzU=

Robb's Poetry:

• "Poetry Connections" (last updated 16 May, 2004) [under Chapter 2], Unifying the Universe http://www.unifyingtheuniverse.com/html/poetry_connections.html
• "Einstein:: The Life and Times," by Ronald W. Clark [pp. 302-03], Google Print http://print.google.com/print?id=6IKVA0lY6MAC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&prev=http://print.google.com/print%3Flr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3D&sig=WRFw88BTNpqLK5XT4Ti83xHzSvY
• "The Postprandial Proceedings of the Cavendish Society".
  
  

Books

• 1936 - "Geometry of Time and Space" (Read in full)
• 1921 - "The Absolute Relations of Time and Space" (Read in full)
• 1914 - "A Theory of Time and Space" (Read in full)
• 1911/2008 - "Optical Geometry Of Motion - A New View Of The Theory Of Relativity" (Read in full)