A resolution of the clock paradox

SEP 01, 1971

It’s no paradox at all, claims our author, to an observer who keeps in mind the meaning of space and time in relativity theory.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3022927

Mendel Sachs

Ever since the initial successes of the theory of relativity, physicists and philosophers of science have written a great deal about a paradox that seems to arise when theory tries to answer the question: If two identical stationary clocks in the same inertial frame of reference are synchronized, and if one of them is accelerated away into different inertial frames and then returned to the original inertial frame, would the time readings of the clocks still be synchronized at this later rendezvous?

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More about the authors

Mendel Sachs, State University of New York, Buffalo.