ArgumentThis article contributes to a global history of relativity, by exploring how Einstein’s theory was appropriated in Belgium. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, yet the early-twentieth-century Belgian context, because of its cultural diversity and reflectiveness of global conditions (the principal example being the First World War), proves well-suited to expose transnational flows and patterns in the global history of relativity. The attempts of Belgian physicist Théophile de Donder to contribute to relativity physics during the 1910s and 1920s illustrate the role of the war in shaping the transnational networks through which relativity circulated. The local attitudes of conservative Belgian Catholic scientists and philosophers, who denied that relativity was philosophically significant, exemplify a global pattern: while critics of relativity feared to become marginalized by the scientific, political, and cultural revolutions that Einstein and his theory were taken to represent, supporters sympathized with these revolutions.

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相对论历史上的地方与全球：以比利时为例

论点这篇文章通过探索爱因斯坦的理论是如何在比利时被挪用的，为全球相对论的历史做出了贡献。这在术语上听起来可能有些矛盾，但 20 世纪初的比利时环境，由于其文化多样性和对全球条件的反思（主要例子是第一次世界大战），证明非常适合揭示跨国流动和模式在全球相对论史上。比利时物理学家泰奥菲勒·德·唐德（Théophile de Donder）在 1910 年代和 1920 年代试图为相对论物理学做出贡献，说明了战争在塑造相对论传播的跨国网络中的作用。保守的比利时天主教科学家和哲学家的地方态度，他们否认相对论在哲学上具有重要意义，这体现了一种全球模式：