The Measurement of Time: Mann and Einstein’s Thought Experiments

This article outlines the process that Thomas Mann followed to create an imaginary experiment that was able to demonstrate the relativity of time. Einstein’s thought experiments, among other sources, served as inspiration for the author; however, even though Mann followed the physicist’s methods and applied the same initial conditions, which he learned through newspaper articles, his results were different. As the author continually emphasized in The Magic Mountain, the main reason for this was that science based its claims on the idea that time can be measured; however, from the author’s point of view, humans have no way to corroborate this.