Einstein and his reception in Colombia

Abstract

We aim to elucidate certain philosophical, mathematical, and physical aspects of the theory of relativity, which may have played a stimulating or dissuasive role in its reception and appropriation in Colombia. These three aspects can be summarized in six impediments, which we will call: logical and metaphysical obstacles, cosmological hindrances, epistemological stumbling blocks, geometric barriers, and physical obstacles. These impediments became effective obstructions that hindered, especially in the first quarter of the 20th century, the assimilation and dissemination of the theory of relativity in our country. The modest works published here at that time—which were linked to relativistic issues—aimed to defend and persevere in classical physics to the detriment of modern relativistic physics.