"In his book The Science of Mechanics (1893), Ernst Mach put forth the idea that it did not make sense to speak of the acceleration of a mass relative to absolute space. Rather, one would do better to speak of acceleration relative to the distant stars. What this implies is that the inertia of a body here is influenced by matter far distant. This had a great influence on Einstein and in the development of his theory of general relativity." Dana Romero --------------------------------- "Mach's Principle is the fundamental basis for and on which Relativity itself exists... understanding this is the key to understanding the history of Relativity as well as its fundamental premise... Einstein did not invent relativity... He gave it new names... Relativity is Machian physics... and even MS admits this... that is why it is very useful for understanding Relativity, physics and the history of how and why we got to where we are." Allen Daves __________________________________________________________________ Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/gift/