DOCSLIB.ORG

David E. Rowe Einstein's Allies and Enemies: Debating

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
David E. Rowe Einstein's Allies and Enemies: Debating DAVID E. ROWE EINSTEIN’S ALLIES AND ENEMIES: DEBATING RELATIVITY IN GERMANY, 1916-1920 In recent years historians of mathematics have been increasingly inclined to study developments beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of mathe- matical knowledge.1 Even so, most of us are accustomed to thinking of the relativity revolution as belonging to the history of physics, not the history of mathematics. In my opinion, both of these categories are too narrow to cap- ture the full scope of the phenomena involved, though interactions between the disciplines of physics and mathematics played an enormously important part in this story.2 A truly contextualized history of the relativity revolu- tion surely must take due account of all three scientific aspects of the story – physical, philosophical, and mathematical – recognizing that from the be- ginning Einstein’s theory cut across these disciplinary boundaries. Still, one cannot overlook the deep impact of the First World War and its aftermath as a cauldron for the events connected with his revolutionary approach to gravitation, the general theory of relativity.3 Historians of physics have, however, largely ignored the reception and development of general relativity, which had remarkably little impact on the physics community as a whole. Hermann Weyl raised a similar issue in 1949 when he wrote: “There is hardly any doubt that for physics special relativity theory is of much greater consequence than the general theory. The reverse situation prevails with respect to mathematics: there special relativity theory had comparatively little, general relativity theory very considerable, influ- ence, above all upon the development of a general scheme for differential geometry” (Weyl, 1949, 536–537). This was the mature Weyl speaking, which is perhaps why he said nothing about the wider implications of rela- tivity for the history of human thought. Back in 1918, when he wrote Raum- Zeit-Materie (Weyl, 1918), the philosophical implications of relativity were at the forefront of his mind. Weyl was younger then, but his former men- tor, Hilbert, was just as excited about the import of Einstein’s ideas for the post-war era (Hilbert, 1992). In this specific cultural context relativity had a deeply polarizing effect that is easy to document but difficult to explain. A central assumption of this essay is that the highly politicized debates on relativity that took place in post-war Germany cannot be understood in terms of disciplinary developments alone. A variety of other lenses are thus required to study the nexus of political and scientific issues surrounding rela- tivity, one being the semi-popular scientific literature on relativity as well as 231 V.F. Hendricks, K.F. Jørgensen, J. Lützen and S.A. Pedersen (eds.), Interactions: Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy, 1860-1930, pp. 231–280. © 2006 Springer. 232 DAVID E. ROWE the popular articles in the press.4 Another is gained by looking at the activi- ties of leading pro- and anti-relativists during these years.5 By closely exam- ining these sources and events, new insights emerge that can help us gauge the ideological import of the relativity movement and the countermovement it spawned. 1. PUBLICITY AND FAME Both movements were, of course, reactions not only to Einstein’s ideas but also to his personality and fame (Rowe, 2006). Indeed, a significant factor that shaped the relativity debates in Germany stemmed from the circum- stance that Einstein’s fame was launched by British and American newspa- pers. In banner headlines they announced the confirmation of his general theory of relativity in November 1919 (F¨olsing, 1993, 513–533). The Ger- man press, by contrast, reacted far more soberly. A month later Einstein’s achievement made a comparable splash in his native land; but this time the new wave of interest came from an image rather than enlarged print. On 14 December 1919 a brooding face appeared on the cover of the Berliner Illustriter Zeitung above the caption: “A New Giant of World History: Al- bert Einstein, whose research signifies a complete overturning of our view of nature comparable to the insights of Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.” The text that followed offered a compact history of cosmology from Copernicus to Einstein, two great revolutionary thinkers: In the year 1543 a new chapter began in human thought and understanding, indeed in the entire development of humanity. This was brought about by the publication of one simple book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the work of Nicolaus Copernicus (Grundmann, 1998, 116–117). Readers of BIZ learned that the Canon of Frauenburg “dethroned the earth from its place in the cosmos; man was no longer in the center of the creation.” Then came Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, whose laws governed the motions of celestial bodies for two centuries. till various anomalies began to creep in, but even such a “luminary physicist as Heinrich Hertz, the spiri- tual creator of the wireless telegraph and telephone, sought in vain to resolve the contradictions” in Newton’s mechanics. Finally, along came Einstein, who ...probedourconventionalconceptionsofspaceandtimewith daringanddetermination.... Byshowingthatwecannot de- termine any absolute motion and that all of our physical mea- surements must involve the concept of time he overcame the EINSTEIN’S ALLIES AND ENEMIES 233 gaping contradictions between electrodynamics and Newto- nianmechanics....Thesolareclipseof29May1919 became the crucial test for Einstein’s ideas, and the English researchers who worked on obtaining these results had to concede that Einstein had emerged victorious over Newton. Newton’s law of gravitation became only a special case of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Our notions of space and time must be changed to accord with Einstein’s theories, and just as before in Coperni- cus’s time, a change in our image of the world has once again come about. A new epoch in human history has now arisen and it is indissolubly bound with the name of Albert Einstein (Grundmann, 1998, 117). The BIZ stood at the forefront of a new trend in journalism in which photography rather than the printed word dominated the page. Few remem- bered the stories, but the BIZ’s images left a lasting impression on many of its million-plus subscribers, nearly three times that of the popular Berliner Tageblatt.6 Editor-in-chief Kurt Korff exploited the camera’s potential for conveying the dramatic events of the day, and its impact on popular culture in Germany was enormous. On top of this, Einstein was unusually photogenic, which helps to account for why people were constantly taking snapshots of him. His son-in-law, Rudolf Kayser, found the famous title-page portrait for BIZ at once authentic and powerful, noting how it evoked a sense of awe in and reverence for the man heralded as the greatest scientific genius of the day.7 Although Einstein has often been seen as an otherworldly sage totally indifferent to his own worldly fame, he was nevertheless deeply puzzled by the psychological roots of the relativity revolution. Sometime during the 1940s he wrote that: For me it was always incomprehensible why the theory of rel- ativity, whose concepts and problems are so far removed from practical life, should have found such a lively, even passion- ate resonance in the widest circles of the population for such a long time. Since the time of Galileo nothing quite like that has happened. Yet then the church’s officially sanctioned view of man’s place in the cosmos was shaken – an event of patent sig- nificance for cultural and political history – whereas the theory of relativity is concerned with the attempt to refine physical concepts and to develop a logically complete system of hy- potheses for physics. How could this have occasioned such a gigantic and long-lasting psychological reaction?8 234 DAVID E. ROWE This suggests that, on the one hand, Einstein found the parallels between “his” scientific revolution and the one linked with the names of Copernicus and Galileo far-fetched. On the other hand, he was convinced that the recep- tion of relativity in Germany after 1919 was deeply influenced by political factors, especially anti-Semitism (Stachel, 2002, 63–64). Like Einstein, Philipp Frank was puzzled and intrigued by the relativity revolution. Frank had succeeded Einstein as professor for theoretical physics in Prague. There, back in November 1919, he delivered a semi-popular lec- ture on Einstein’s theory of relativity that led to a bitter debate with the philosopher Oskar Kraus, a vehement anti-relativist (Hentschel, 1990, 173– 176). Thus Frank was an early participant in and witness to the storm that began brewing over Einstein’s theory in the tense, ethnically divided atmo- sphere of Prague. After both Frank and Einstein fled the Third Reich for the United States, they had ample time to contemplate how the theory of relativity quickly became entangled with concurrent political ideologies and cultural slogans. Einstein thereafter encouraged his friend to explore this theme by grappling with the social, political, and psychological roots of the relativity debates. The result was Frank’s biographical study, Einstein, sein Leben und seine Zeit (Frank, 1949), written during the early war years, but first published in complete form and in the original German in 1949. The un- dated quote cited above comes from a preface Einstein wrote for this book, probably the abridged English version (Frank, 1947). But this preface never appeared, thereby depriving the world of any insight into the role Einstein had played in promoting Frank’s study. Philipp Frank related an anecdote that nicely captures how the politi- cized atmosphere in France affected attitudes toward Einstein and relativity. During Einstein’s trip to Paris in 1922 a distinguished historian at the Sor- bonne commented: “I don’t understand Einstein’s equations.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Theory and Experiment in the Quantum-Relativity Revolution
    Theory and Experiment in the Quantum-Relativity Revolution expanded version of lecture presented at American Physical Society meeting, 2/14/10 (Abraham Pais History of Physics Prize for 2009) by Stephen G. Brush* Abstract Does new scientific knowledge come from theory (whose predictions are confirmed by experiment) or from experiment (whose results are explained by theory)? Either can happen, depending on whether theory is ahead of experiment or experiment is ahead of theory at a particular time. In the first case, new theoretical hypotheses are made and their predictions are tested by experiments. But even when the predictions are successful, we can’t be sure that some other hypothesis might not have produced the same prediction. In the second case, as in a detective story, there are already enough facts, but several theories have failed to explain them. When a new hypothesis plausibly explains all of the facts, it may be quickly accepted before any further experiments are done. In the quantum-relativity revolution there are examples of both situations. Because of the two-stage development of both relativity (“special,” then “general”) and quantum theory (“old,” then “quantum mechanics”) in the period 1905-1930, we can make a double comparison of acceptance by prediction and by explanation. A curious anti- symmetry is revealed and discussed. _____________ *Distinguished University Professor (Emeritus) of the History of Science, University of Maryland. Home address: 108 Meadowlark Terrace, Glen Mills, PA 19342. Comments welcome. 1 “Science walks forward on two feet, namely theory and experiment. ... Sometimes it is only one foot which is put forward first, sometimes the other, but continuous progress is only made by the use of both – by theorizing and then testing, or by finding new relations in the process of experimenting and then bringing the theoretical foot up and pushing it on beyond, and so on in unending alterations.” Robert A.
    [Show full text]
  • Things That Talk
    MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science 2003 PREPRINT 233 Lorraine Daston and Anke te Heesen Things that Talk Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Glass Flowers Lorraine Daston 5 News, Papers, Scissors Anke te Heesen 33 Things that Talk – Table of Contents 57 Introduction These two essays were written as part of a working group of historians of art and science on “Things that Talk”, organized under the auspices of the research project “The Common Languages of Art and Science” (2001-3) at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin (Dept. II). The other members of the working group were Peter Galison (Harvard University, USA), Caroline A. Jones (MIT, USA and Wissenschafts- kolleg zu Berlin, Germany), Joseph Koerner (University College London, UK), Antoine Picon (Ecole des Ponts et Chausées, Paris, France), Joel Snyder (University of Chicago, USA), Simon Schaffer (University of Cambridge, UK), and Norton Wise (UCLA, USA). The group met three times in Berlin to discuss various versions of members’ essays and, more generally, the place of material culture in the history of science and the history of art. The nine essays, including the two that appear here as a preprint, will be published as a volume by Zone Books. A complete table of contents is appended to this preprint. The aim of the research project was to go beyond cases of historical interactions between art and science to investigate tools (e.g. drawing) and challenges (e.g. representation) common to both. In the case of the working group on “Things that Talk”, the departure point was a shared perplexity about how to capture the thingness of things in our respective disciplines.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01744-3 - Einstein's Opponents: The Public Controversy about the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s Milena Wazeck Excerpt More information Introduction Prague, October 1913. Oskar Kraus, an associate professor of philosophy at the German University, sends alarming letters to Ernst Gehrcke, a physicist at the Reich Institute of Physics and Technology in Berlin: People are suffering from extreme fatigue, and an irritability that is due not least to the absurd theories of the relativists. I have a burning desire to see the source of error revealed for all of the absurdities that you yourself, honored sir, have accurately characterized. I also see that you have already revealed internal contradictions and absurd consequences multiple times. But where is the source of error? Because despite my calculation errors, I am still able to recognize the fact that the theory of relativity is false.1 Kraus excuses himself for literally bombarding Gehrcke with letters in the span of only a few days, in which one letter often revokes the statements made in the preceding one, but he confesses in his despair, “[I] would not know […] anyone else but you who as a specialist would not reject the intervention of a philosopher from the start.”2 Oskar Kraus was not an isolated case. A large number of people who were just as disturbed – including some philosophers and physicists, but many more scientific laypersons – turned to Gehrcke, who had taken a position early on as an opponent of the theory of relativity. Gehrcke’s papers include a large number of letters whose authors critically discuss modern physics, which, in addition to the content of the correspondence itself, is also expressed in the pamphlets against the theory of relativity that are often enclosed.3 Two things stand out about these pamphlets and 1 Kraus to Gehrcke, October 11, 1913, GN 72-A-2.
    [Show full text]
  • Vorwort Des Herausgebers
    Vorwort des Herausgebers Der 150. Geburtstag einer wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft bietet AnlaB, sich mit ihrer Entstehung und ihrer Geschichte zu befassen. Aus den verschiedenartigen und verstreuten Informationen sollte deshalb hier ein Bild zusammengefugt werden, das zeigt, wie die Physikalische Gesellschaft gewachsen ist, was ihre Bedeutung ist und wie sich ihre Aufgaben gewandelt haben. Es zeichnen sich dabei in naturlicher Weise drei Hauptperioden von jeweils etwa funfzig Jahren ab: die Zeit der Physikalischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin von 1845 bis zur Umwandlung in die Deutsche Physikali- sche Gesellschaft im Jahre 1899 durch Max Planck, die Periode der ,,modernen” Physik bis zum Kriegsende 1945 und schliel3lich die Nachkriegszeit, die bis zur Gegenwart fuhrt. Daraus ergab sich folgender Plan: Die ersten hundert Jahre sollten nach Aufarbeitung der Quel- len durch Fachhistoriker dargestellt werden. Diese Aufgabe ubernahmen die Herren W. Schreier und M. Franke fur die ersten funfzig Jahre und A. Hermann fur die Folgeperiode bis 1945. Als Quellen sind zwar Sitzungsbucher der Gesellschaft und Einzeldokumente verfugbar, aber insge- samt ist dieses Archivmaterial sehr luckenhaft, so da13 umfangreiche Recherchen notig waren. Fur die zweite Periode fuhrte Herr M. Ratering eine besondere Quellen- und Bildrecherche durch, die als Grundlage des Artikels von A. Hermann diente. Fur die Zeit nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges wurde ein anderes Konzept zugrunde gelegt. Es leben noch viele Zeitzeugen der gesamten Periode oder doch wenigstens eines groBeren Teils davon. Aul3erdem fuhrt uns dieser Zeitraum direkt in die Gegenwart. Deshalb wurde hier nicht versucht, eine zusammenfassende historische Darstellung durch einen Fachmann zu geben. Statt dessen wurden Einzelthemen ausgewahlt, die nach Moglichkeit von am Geschehen direkt Beteiligten ausgearbeitet wurden.
    [Show full text]
  • PTR Und PTB: Geschichte Einer Institution PTB-Infoblatt – PTR Und PTB: Geschichte Einer Institution
    Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Nationales Metrologieinstitut PTR und PTB: Geschichte einer Institution PTB-Infoblatt – PTR und PTB: Geschichte einer Institution PTR und PTB: Geschichte einer Institution Seit 1887 hat genaues Messen eine institutionelle Heimat in Deutschland. Als am 28. März 1887 der erste Etat der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt (PTR), der Vorgängerin der PTB, bewilligt wurde, war dies die Geburtsstunde der ersten staatlichen Großforschungseinrichtung und der Be- ginn einer Erfolgsgeschichte, die noch längst nicht zu Ende erzählt ist. Von Ellen und Füßen zum Meter – Werner Siemens – Anfang der Achtzigerjahre des 19. Jahrhun- die Vorgeschichte derts noch nicht geadelt – ist tief beeindruckt von den Fort- schritten der Naturwissenschaft und setzt die gewonnenen Körpergrößen von Herrschern – gerne die Elle oder der Fuß Erkenntnisse industriell um, zum Wohle der aufstrebenden – waren früher beliebte Maße, auf deren Grundlage Handel Industrie- und Exportnation Deutschland. Er liefert mit seinen getrieben wurde. Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts existierten alleine Denkschriften die auch für die Politik einsichtige Begründung auf dem Gebiet des späteren Deutschen Reiches mehr als vierzig für die dringende Notwendigkeit einer PTR und überlässt dem unterschiedliche Ellen mit Längen zwischen 40 cm und 80 cm Deutschen Reich dafür ein privates Gelände in Berlin-Charlot- – ein echtes Hindernis für den Warenaustausch. Mit der Fran- tenburg. zösischen Revolution kam dann der Umbruch auch für die Maßeinheiten: Der Urmeter und das Urkilogramm wurden Zur selben Zeit ist der 1821 in Potsdam geborene Hermann geboren. Es dauerte allerdings noch bis 1875, bis sich die da- Ludwig Ferdinand Helmholtz einer der prägenden Naturwis- mals wichtigsten Industriestaaten auf einen internationalen senschaftler seiner Zeit. Der Physikerkollege James Clerk Max- Vertrag, die Meterkonvention, einigten.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix a I
    Appendix A I Appendix A Professional Institutions and Associations AVA: Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (see under --+ KWIS) DFG: Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (previously --+ NG) German Scientific Research Association. Full title: Deutsche Gemeinschaft zur Erhaltung und Forderung der Forschung (German Association for the Support and Advancement of Sci­ entific Research). Successor organization to the --+ NG, which was renamed DFG unofficially since about 1929 and officially in 1937. During the terms of its presidents: J. --+ Stark (June 1934-36); R. --+ Mentzel (Nov. 1936-39) and A. --+ Esau (1939-45), the DFG also had a dom­ inant influence on the research policy of the --+ RFR. It was funded by government grants in the millions and smaller contributions by the --+ Stifterverband. Refs.: ~1entzel [1940]' Stark [1943]c, Zierold [1968], Nipperdey & Schmugge [1970]. DGtP: Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir technische Physik German Society of Technical Physics. Founded on June 6, 1919 by Georg Gehlhoff as an alternative to the --+ DPG with a total of 13 local associations and its own journal --+ Zeitschrift fUr technische Physik. Around 1924 the DGtP had approximately 3,000 members, thus somewhat more than the DPG, but membership fell by 1945 to around 1,500. Chairmen: G. Gehlhoff (1920-31); K. --+ Mey (1931-45). Refs.: Gehlhoff et al. [1920]' Ludwig [1974], Richter [1977], Peschel (Ed.) [1991]' chap. 1, Heinicke [1985]' p. 43, Hoffmann & Swinne [1994]. DPG: Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft German Physical Society. Founded in 1899 a national organization at to succeed the Berlin Physical Society, which dates back to 1845. The Society issued regular biweekly proceedings, reports (Berichte) on the same, as well as the journal: Fortschritte der Physik (since 1845).
    [Show full text]
  • Emil Rupp, Albert Einstein and the Canal Ray Experiments on Wave-Particle Duality
    Emil Rupp, Albert Einstein and the Canal Ray Experiments on Wave-Particle Duality: Scientific Fraud and Theoretical Biasa Jeroen van Dongen* Institute for History and Foundations of Science Utrecht University PO Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands & Einstein Papers Project, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA Abstract In 1926 Emil Rupp published a number of papers on the interference properties of light emitted by canal ray sources. These articles, particularly one paper that came into being in close collaboration with Albert Einstein, drew quite some attention as they probed the wave versus particle nature of light. They also significantly propelled Rupp’s career, even though that from the outset they were highly controversial. This article will review this episode, and in particular Rupp’s collaboration with Einstein. Evidence that Rupp forged his results is presented and their critical reception in the socially and politically divided German physics community is discussed. These divisions fail to explain the full dynamic; the latter is attempted by turning to the role that theoretical bias on occasion has in assessing experiment. Einstein’s responses in particular are analysed in this context. Introduction: the career of Emil Rupp “[Emil] Rupp, in the late twenties, early thirties, was regarded as the most important and most competent experimental physicist. He did incredible things. [...] Later, it turned out that everything that he had ever published, everything, was forged. This had gone on for ten years, ten years!”1 As this quote of Walther Gerlach illustrates, the first third of the twentieth century witnessed one of the biggest scandals in physics: the rise and fall of Emil Rupp.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Shadow of the Relativity Revolution Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
    MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science 2004 PREPRINT 271 Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel, and Milena Wazeck In the Shadow of the Relativity Revolution TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface. iii Standing on the Shoulders of a Dwarf: General Relativity: A Triumph of Einstein and Grossmann’s Erroneous “Entwurf” Theory . 5 Jürgen Renn Before the Riemann Tensor: The Emergence of Einstein’s Double Strategy . 21 Jürgen Renn An Astronomical Road to General Relativity: The Continuity between Classical and Relativistic Cosmology in the Work of Karl Schwarzschild. 37 Matthias Schemmel Einstein in the Daily Press: A Glimpse into the Gehrcke Papers . 67 Milena Wazeck i In the Shadow of the Relativity Revolution Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel, and Milena Wazeck Preface The four essays presented in this collection are based on lectures given at the Fifth and Sixth International Conferences on the History of General Relativity held at the University of Notre Dame, July 1999, and Amsterdam, June 2002, respectively. Authored by members of the Insti- tute, they share the same approach while dealing with different aspects of Einstein’s work. A volume based on these conferences will be published by Birkhäuser in volume 11 of the “Ein- stein Studies Series,” edited by Jean Eisenstaedt and A. J. Kox. iii Standing on the Shoulders of a Dwarf General Relativity A Triumph of Einstein and Grossmann’s Erroneous “Entwurf” Theory Jürgen Renn 1. General Relativity as an Heroic Achievement When a single figure plays such a distinctive historical role as Einstein did in the emergence of general relativity it becomes almost unavoidable to tell this story, be it drama or comedy, in the- atrical terms.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Volume 10
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 10 This volume, presenting 465 items of correspondence, is divided into two parts. The first half of the volume presents 211 supplementary letters to the correspon­ dence already published in Volumes 5, 8, and 9 for the period May 1909 through April 1920. Of these, 124 letters, most of them written by Albert Einstein, originate from the bequest of family correspondence deposited at the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem by Margot Einstein (1899–1986), who stipulated that the material remain closed for twenty years after her death. Sixty-six letters for this period were obtained from the Heinrich Zangger manu­ script collection of the Central Library in Zurich, where it was deposited by the es­ tate of Gina Zangger (1911–2005). Twenty-one additional letters from other repos­ itories are also included. The second half of the volume presents 254 letters as full text from among a total of 614 extant correspondence items for the period May through December 1920. The editors have sought to present those letters that are representative and signifi­ cant for understanding Einstein’s work and life. Correspondence that is not present­ ed as full text is abstracted and listed chronologically in the Calendar at the end of the volume. The letters for the years 1909 through 1920 presented in the first half of this vol­ ume provide the reader with substantial new source material for the study of Ein­ stein’s personal life and the relationships with his closest family members and friends.
    [Show full text]
  • Mitteilungen 2 Technical and Scientific Journal of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt 2012
    MITTEILUNGEN 2 TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF THE PHYSIKALISCH-TECHNISCHE BUNDESANSTALT 2012 PTR/PTB: 125 Years of Metrological Research MITTEILUNGEN JOURNAL OF THE PHYSIKALISCH-TECHNISCHE BUNDESANSTALT Special Journal for the Economy and Science Official Information Bulletin of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig and Berlin Advance copy from: 122nd volume, issue 2, June 2012 Contents PTR/PTB: 125 Years of Metrological Research Chronology 1887–2012 6–61 • Ernst O. Göbel: Preface 3 • Wolfgang Buck: The Intention 4 • Helmut Rechenberg: Helmholtz and the Founding Years 8 • Jörg Hollandt: The “Black Body” and the Quantization of the World 12 • Robert Wynands: The “Kuratorium”, PTB’s Advisory Board 16 • Wolfgang Buck: “New Physics” and a New Structure 20 • Dieter Hoffmann: The Einstein Case 22 • Wolfgang Buck: The Merging of the RMG and the PTR 26 • Dieter Hoffmann: The Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in the Third Reich 30 • Dieter Hoffmann: The PTR, PTA and DAMG: the Post-war Era 34 • Peter Ulbig, Roman Schwartz: Legal Metrology and the OIML 38 • Wolfgang Schmid: European Metrology 46 • Dieter Kind: The Reunification of Metrology in Germany 50 • Roman Schwartz, Harald Bosse: PTB – A Provider of Metrological Services and a Partner of Industry, Science and Society 56 • Ernst O. Göbel, Jens Simon: PTB at the Beginning of the 21st Century 62 Authors 66 Picture credits 67 Literature 68 Title picture: Together with Werner von Siemens and others, Hermann von Helmholtz campaigned personally for the foundation of the PTR and became its first presi- dent from 1888 to 1894. Imprint The PTB-Mitteilungen are the metrological specialist journal and official infor- mation bulletin of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig and Berlin.
    [Show full text]
  • Netzwerkdynamiken Im Cluster: Optische Technologien in Der Region Berlin-Brandenburg
    Netzwerkdynamiken im Cluster: Optische Technologien in der Region Berlin-Brandenburg Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Wirtschaftswissenschaft des Fachbereichs Wirtschaftswissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von Dipl.-Kfm. Frank Lerch aus Falkensee (geb. in Berlin-Staaken) Berlin, 2009 Gedruckt mit Genehmigung des Fachbereichs Wirtschaftswissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin. Dekan: Prof. Dr. Michael Kleinaltenkamp Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Jörg Sydow Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Thomas Mellewigt Disputation am: 29.06.2009 ii Inhaltsverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis……………………………………………………………………….vi Tabellenverzeichnis…………………………………………………….……………….........ix Abkürzungsverzeichnis………………………………………………………………………x 1 EINLEITUNG………………………………………………………………………...1 1.1 Relevanz und Zielsetzung der Arbeit …………………………………………..1 1.2 Gang der Arbeit………………………………………………………………...5 2 ENTWICKLUNG, STAND UND PERSPEKTIVEN DER CLUSTER- FOSCHUNG..………………………………………………………………………….7 2.1 Laufbahn eines Konzeptes……………………………………………………...7 2.2 Elemente einer Clustertheorie: Agglomeration, Innovation und Relation……10 2.2.1 Agglomerationsökonomik und klassische Standorttheorien der Wirtschaftsgeographie………………………………………………...13 2.2.2 Porters Clusterkonzept und dessen Weiterentwicklung……………….24 2.2.2.1 Porters Clusterkonzept………………………………...............24 2.2.2.2 Kritische Würdigung von Porters Clusterkonzept…………….29 2.2.2.3 Mehrdimensionale Weiterentwicklung des Porterschen Clusterkonzepts……………………………………………….31 2.2.3 Cluster und
    [Show full text]
  • The Clock Paradox: Luise Lange's Discussion
    Chapter 4 The Clock Paradox: Luise Lange’s Discussion Andrea Reichenberger Abstract In her articles on the clock paradox and the relativity of time Luise Lange (1891–1978) defends the theory of relativity against philosophical refutations, by showing that the apparent clock paradox is not a paradox, but merely conflicts with common sense and is based on a misunderstanding of the theory. The following study explores, contextualizes and analyzes Lange’s clear and sophisticated contri- bution to the debate on the clock paradox for the first time. Keywords Clock paradox · Twin paradox · Theory of relativity · Time dilation 4.1 The Clock Paradox: Luise Lange’s Solution and Its Context At the beginning of the 1920s great interest in Einstein’s theory of relativity flared up in broad circles. Amidst this “Relativitätsrummel,” as it was called by Arnold Sommerfeld (qtd. Hentschel 1990, 67), two papers on “The Clock Paradox of the Theory of Relativity” (Lange 1927a) and “On a Misconception of the Relativity of Time” (Lange 1927b) were published. The author was Luise Lange (1891–1978).1 1Luise Lange was born in Braunschweig on April 14, 1891. She studied at the Braunschweig University of Technology and at the Göttingen University and completed her doctorate in 1923. The examiners were Peter Josef William Debye (physics), Adolf Windaus (chemistry), and Constantin Carathéodory (mathematics). She also prepared David Hilbert’s Vorlesung zur Statistisches Mechanik of the summer semester 1914 (Hilbert 1914). After her emigration to the USA, she worked at the Oxford Female College, a small women’s college in Oxford, Ohio and later at the Woodrow Wilson College, Chicago.
    [Show full text]