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"Our Gedankenexperiment demonstrates that..." "Gedankenexperiment" sounds an awful lot like "thought experiment".
by chrisweekly 3y ago
"Our Gedankenexperiment demonstrates that..."
"Gedankenexperiment" sounds an awful lot like "thought experiment".
- kadoban 3y agoThat's the translation, yeah. They're a very important tool in physics for exploring the consequences of known or hypothsized physical principles.
- mdekkers 3y agoThat’s literally what it means, and it’s a minor nitpick I have - it’s an English paper, just use English. Using the German word here just increases noise.
- galaxyLogic 3y agoI think it comes from Einstein whose Gedanken Experiments lead to the discovery of relativity. Einstein came from a German-speaking country. So what the authors are saying is "We're basically doing a similar thing as Einstein did". Jargon is to be avoided but this is more like a tribute to the great physicist Einstein.
- dr_kiszonka 3y agoA less charitable interpretation would be that is a form of self-aggrandizement.
- 77pt77 3y agoIt's both.
- euroderf 3y agoSort of like wrapping yourself in the flag. Of Einstein.
- corney91 3y agoIt's a pretty standard word used in quantum physics. Source: I did a masters in the subject and remember reading it a lot.
- galaxyLogic 3y agoThere is something to it. If you say it is a "thought experiment" the interpretation is "of it's juts your thoughts right?" When you say "Gedanken ... " it means this is part of real research in physics (since E did it this way)
- Yoric 3y agoIt's a pretty common word in research. After all, "thought experiment" is actually a translation from German.
- forgotusername6 3y agoThis has just unlocked a childhood memory of mine. I read a book as a young child about a girl and her grandfather who did experiments about space and time. The girl's name was Gedanken. It explored some of Einstein's theories in the form of short adventures. I've been struggling to find the name of the book. Does anyone else remember this book?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- trulyunruly 3y ago”The book you're remembering is likely "Mr. Tompkins" by George Gamow. The series features the character Mr. Tompkins, but in "Mr. Tompkins in Paperback" (which combines "Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland" and "Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom"), he has a daughter named Gedanken. The stories are known for their accessible exploration of advanced scientific concepts, including those related to Einstein's theories, through fantastical adventures.” - GPT-4
- omnicognate 3y agoAFAICT there is no character named "Gedanken" in that book. The correct book was findable in a few seconds with a traditional search engine: The Time and Space of Uncle Albert by Russell Stannard [1]. [1] https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Time_and_Space_of_Uncle_Albert.html?id=aY06KAAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Time_and_Space_of...
- trulyunruly 3y agoCunningham's Law:) I was only hoping to provide some direction. But thank you for finding the right answer.
- omnicognate 3y agoI found and posted the answer in parallel with you, and then deleted my direct response when I replied to yours (at greater length as I initially posted only the link, which was sufficient for merely answering the question). I don't think the posting of unverified ChatGPT snippets in response to factual questions on HN has value.
- fodkodrasz 3y agoWith the main difference that it sound way cooler.