Albert Einstein
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Belated Decision in the Hilbert-Einstein Priority Dispute
(10). As described above, the severely opis- Dinosauria (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, However, the overall similarity of the pelvis of Archae- 1990). opteryx to those of the enantiornithine birds, espe- thopubic condition of their pelvis is consis- 10. L. Hou, L. D. Martin, Z. Zhou, A. Feduccia, Science cially the presence of the hypopubic cup, as well as tent with the notion that these birds roost- 274, 1164 (1996). the morphology of the London and Berlin Archae- ed in trees. In contrast, based primarily on 11. Q. Ji and S. Ji, Chin. Geol. 10, 30 (1996); see also V. opteryx specimens, offer support for our interpreta- disputed measurements of claw curvature, Morell, Audubon 99, 36 (1997). tion of the pelvic structure of these early birds [L. D. 12. Rather than representing primitive archosaurian Martin, in Origin of the Higher Groups of Tetrapods, Archaeopteryx has been interpreted as structures, it is probable that the hepatic-piston dia- H. P. Schultze and L. Trueb, Eds. (Cornell Univ. adapted primarily for a terrestrial rather phragm systems in crocodilians and theropods are Press, Ithaca, NY, 1991), pp. 485–540. than an arboreal existence (18). However, convergently derived. Pelvic anatomy in early “pro- 18. D. S. Peters and E. Go¨ rgner, in Proceedings of the II todinosaurs” such as Lagosuchus, as well as in all International Symposium of Avian Paleontology, K. as in the enantiornithines, the morphology ornithischian dinosaurs, shows no evidence of the Campbell, Ed. (Los Angeles Museum of Natural His- of Archaeopteryx’s pelvis is best interpreted pubis having served as a site of origin for similar tory Press, Los Angeles, CA, 1992), pp. -
Einstein's Life and Legacy
Reflections Einstein's Life and Legacy Introduction Albert Einstein is the most luminous scientist of the past century, and ranks with Isaac Newton as one among the greatest physicists of all time. There is an enormous amount of material to choose from in talking about Einstein. He is without doubt also the most written about scientist of the past century, may be of all time. The Einstein Archives contain about 43,000 documents, and so far as I know the "Collected Papers of Albert Einstein" have only come upto 1917 with Volume 8 in English translation; another 32 volumes remain to be produced. In the face of all this, this account must be severely selective, and coherent as well. Einstein's life was incredibly rich and intense in the intellectual sense. This will become clear as I go along. In any case let me begin by presenting in Box 1 a brieflisting of a few important dates in his life, howsoever inadequate it may be. He was scientifically active essentially from 1902 upto 1935 at the highest imaginable levels, thus for more than three decades. The Miraculous Year Now let us turn to technical matters. First, a brief mention of his creative outburst of 1905, whose centenary we are celebrating this year. There were four fundamental papers, and the doctoral thesis, all in the six months from March to September. The first paper on the light quantum concept and explanation of the photo electric effect was submitted to Annalen der Physik in March; the second on Brownian Motion in May; and the third setting out the Special Theory of Relativity in June. -
Einstein and Hilbert: the Creation of General Relativity
EINSTEIN AND HILBERT: THE CREATION OF GENERAL RELATIVITY ∗ Ivan T. Todorov Institut f¨ur Theoretische Physik, Universit¨at G¨ottingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1 D-37077 G¨ottingen, Germany; e-mail: [email protected] and Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Tsarigradsko Chaussee 72, BG-1784 Sofia, Bulgaria;∗∗e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT It took eight years after Einstein announced the basic physical ideas behind the relativistic gravity theory before the proper mathematical formulation of general relativity was mastered. The efforts of the greatest physicist and of the greatest mathematician of the time were involved and reached a breathtaking concentration during the last month of the work. Recent controversy, raised by a much publicized 1997 reading of Hilbert’s proof- sheets of his article of November 1915, is also discussed. arXiv:physics/0504179v1 [physics.hist-ph] 25 Apr 2005 ∗ Expanded version of a Colloquium lecture held at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, 9 December 1992 and (updated) at the International University Bremen, 15 March 2005. ∗∗ Permanent address. Introduction Since the supergravity fashion and especially since the birth of superstrings a new science emerged which may be called “high energy mathematical physics”. One fad changes the other each going further away from accessible experiments and into mathe- matical models, ending up, at best, with the solution of an interesting problem in pure mathematics. The realization of the grand original design seems to be, decades later, nowhere in sight. For quite some time, though, the temptation for mathematical physi- cists (including leading mathematicians) was hard to resist. -
Berlin Period Reports on Albert Einstein's Einstein's FBI File –
Appendix Einstein’s FBI file – reports on Albert Einstein’s Berlin period 322 Appendix German archives are not the only place where Einstein dossiers can be found. Leaving aside other countries, at least one personal dossier exists in the USA: the Einstein File of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).1036 This file holds 1,427 pages. In our context the numerous reports about Ein- stein’s “Berlin period” are of particular interest. Taking a closer look at them does not lead us beyond the scope of this book. On the contrary, these reports give a complex picture of Einstein’s political activities during his Berlin period – albeit from a very specific point of view: the view of the American CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) and the FBI of the first half of the 1950s. The core of these reports is the allegation that Einstein had cooperated with the communists and that his address (or “office”) had been used from 1929 to 1932 as a relay point for messages by the CPG (Communist Party of Germany, KPD), the Communist International and the Soviet Secret Service. The ultimate aim of these investigations was, reportedly, to revoke Einstein’s United States citizenship and banish him. Space constraints prevent a complete review of the individual reports here. Sounderthegivencircumstancesasurveyofthecontentsofthetwomost im- portant reports will have to suffice for our purposes along with some additional information. These reports are dated 13 March 1950 and 25 January 1951. 13 March 1950 The first comprehensive report by the CIC (Hq. 66th CIC Detachment)1037 about Einstein’s complicity in activities by the CPG and the Soviet Secret Service be- tween 1929 and 1932 is dated 13 March 1950.1038 Army General Staff only submit- ted this letter to the FBI on 7 September 1950. -
The Collaboration of Mileva Marić and Albert Einstein
Asian Journal of Physics Vol 24, No 4 (2015) March The collaboration of Mileva Marić and Albert Einstein Estelle Asmodelle University of Central Lancashire School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Preston, Lancashire, UK PR1 2HE. e-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +61 418 676 586. _____________________________________________________________________________________ This is a contemporary review of the involvement of Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein’s first wife, in his theoretical work between the period of 1900 to 1905. Separate biographies are outlined for both Mileva and Einstein, prior to their attendance at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zürich in 1896. Then, a combined journal is described, detailing significant events. In additional to a biographical sketch, comments by various authors are compared and contrasted concerning two narratives: firstly, the sequence of events that happened and the couple’s relationship at particular times. Secondly, the contents of letters from both Einstein and Mileva. Some interpretations of the usage of pronouns in those letters during 1899 and 1905 are re-examined, and a different hypothesis regarding the usage of those pronouns is introduced. Various papers are examined and the content of each subsequent paper is compared to the work that Mileva was performing. With a different take, this treatment further suggests that the couple continued to work together much longer than other authors have indicated. We also evaluate critics and supporters of the hypothesis that Mileva was involved in Einstein’s work, and refocus this within a historical context, in terms of women in science in the late 19th century. Finally, the definition of, collaboration (co-authorship, specifically) is outlined. -
Einstein's Equations for Spin 2 Mass 0 from Noether's Converse Hilbertian
Einstein’s Equations for Spin 2 Mass 0 from Noether’s Converse Hilbertian Assertion October 4, 2016 J. Brian Pitts Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge [email protected] forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics Abstract An overlap between the general relativist and particle physicist views of Einstein gravity is uncovered. Noether’s 1918 paper developed Hilbert’s and Klein’s reflections on the conservation laws. Energy-momentum is just a term proportional to the field equations and a “curl” term with identically zero divergence. Noether proved a converse “Hilbertian assertion”: such “improper” conservation laws imply a generally covariant action. Later and independently, particle physicists derived the nonlinear Einstein equations as- suming the absence of negative-energy degrees of freedom (“ghosts”) for stability, along with universal coupling: all energy-momentum including gravity’s serves as a source for gravity. Those assumptions (all but) imply (for 0 graviton mass) that the energy-momentum is only a term proportional to the field equations and a symmetric curl, which implies the coalescence of the flat background geometry and the gravitational potential into an effective curved geometry. The flat metric, though useful in Rosenfeld’s stress-energy definition, disappears from the field equations. Thus the particle physics derivation uses a reinvented Noetherian converse Hilbertian assertion in Rosenfeld-tinged form. The Rosenfeld stress-energy is identically the canonical stress-energy plus a Belinfante curl and terms proportional to the field equations, so the flat metric is only a convenient mathematical trick without ontological commitment. Neither generalized relativity of motion, nor the identity of gravity and inertia, nor substantive general covariance is assumed. -
Quellen Und Anmerkungen
Quellen und Anmerkungen 1. Die am 10. Mai enteigneten (bzw. „beschlagnahmten“) Konten und Wertpa- piere waren nur zu 49,35 % Konten und Wertpapiere von Albert Einstein, die übrigen (einschließlich „Tresorfach“) Konten und Wertpapiere von Elsa Einstein. Wenn man das Albert Einstein gehörende Segelboot (Taxwert: 1300 RM) sowie das Caputher Sommerhaus (Taxwert: 16.200 RM) – Eigen- tum seiner Stieftöchter – einbezieht, betrug sein Anteil (28.679,7 RM) am konfiszierten Eigentum (72.981,25 RM) 39,30 %. Da der Gesamtpreis der in Caputh gekauften Parzellen 21.049= RM betragen hat, dürfte der tat- sächliche Wert des Grundstücks nach dem Hausbau weit über 16.200 RM gelegen haben. Entsprechend verringern würde sich damit der Anteil Albert Einsteins am insgesamt konfisziertem Eigentum – auf etwa 1/3. Laut Elsa Einsteins Brief vom 19.8.1929 an Albert Einsteins Schwester Maria Win- teler (Michael Grüning: Ein Haus für Albert Einstein. Verlag der Nation. Berlin 1990, S. 304) hatte das Segelboot aber einen Wert von 15.000 RM, und allein das Sommerhaus einen Wert von 60.000 RM. So gerechnet (ohne Abzug des Wertverlustes, der nach kurzer Zeit aber nicht erheblich gewesen sein kann), betrug der Wert des insgesamt konfiszierten Eigentums (Konten und Wertpapiere 55.481,25 plus Segelboot 15.000 RM plus gekaufte Parzellen 21048= RM plus Sommerhaus 60.000= RM) 151.529,25 RM. So gerechnet,= hätte Albert Einsteins Anteil= (28.679,7 RM)= nur 18,93 % betragen. Wie man auch rechnen mag: sein Anteil war der kleinere! 2. Walther Nernst (1864–1941). Physiker und Chemiker. Für seine Arbeiten in der Thermochemie erhielt Nernst den Nobelpreis für Chemie 1920. -
Chronological List of Correspondence, 1895–1920
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CORRESPONDENCE, 1895–1920 In this chronological list of correspondence, the volume and document numbers follow each name. Documents abstracted in the calendars are listed in the Alphabetical List of Texts in this volume. 1895 13 or 20 Mar To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 45 29 Apr To Rosa Winteler, 1, 46 Summer To Caesar Koch, 1, 6 18 May To Rosa Winteler, 1, 47 28 Jul To Julia Niggli, 1, 48 Aug To Rosa Winteler, 5: Vol. 1, 48a 1896 early Aug To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 50 6? Aug To Julia Niggli, 1, 51 21 Apr To Marie Winteler, with a 10? Aug To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 52 postscript by Pauline Einstein, after 10 Aug–before 10 Sep 1,18 From Mileva Maric;;, 1, 53 7 Sep To the Department of Education, 10 Sep To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 54 Canton of Aargau, 1, 20 11 Sep To Julia Niggli, 1, 55 4–25 Nov From Marie Winteler, 1, 29 11 Sep To Pauline Winteler, 1, 56 30 Nov From Marie Winteler, 1, 30 28? Sep To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 57 10 Oct To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 58 1897 19 Oct To the Swiss Federal Council, 1, 60 May? To Pauline Winteler, 1, 34 1900 21 May To Pauline Winteler, 5: Vol. 1, 34a 7 Jun To Pauline Winteler, 1, 35 ? From Mileva Maric;;, 1, 61 after 20 Oct From Mileva Maric;;, 1, 36 28 Feb To the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, 1, 62 1898 26 Jun To the Zurich City Council, 1, 65 29? Jul To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 68 ? To Maja Einstein, 1, 38 1 Aug To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 69 2 Jan To Mileva Maric;; [envelope only], 1 6 Aug To Mileva Maric;;, 1, 70 13 Jan To Maja Einstein, 8: Vol. -
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. -
The Reichenbach-Einstein Debate on the Geometrization of the Electromagnetic Field
‘. But I Still Can’t Get Rid of a Sense of Artificiality’: The Reichenbach-Einstein Debate on the Geometrization of the Electromagnetic Field Marco Giovanelli Contributing editor at the Einstein Paper Project at Caltech: Einstein Papers Project Caltech M/C 20-7 1200 East California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Universität Tübingen, Forum Scientiarum, Doblerstraße 33 72074 Tübingen, Germany Abstract This paper analyzes correspondence between Reichenbach and Einstein from the spring of 1926, concerning what it means to ‘geometrize’ a physical field. The content of a typewritten note that Reichenbach sent to Einstein on that occasion is reconstructed, showing that it was an early version of §49 of the untranslated Appendix to his Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre, on which Reichenbach was working at the time. This paper claims that the toy-geometrization of the electromagnetic field that Reichenbach presented in his note should not be regarded as merely a virtuoso mathematical exercise, but as an additional argument supporting the core philosophical message of his 1928 monograph. This paper concludes by suggesting that Reichenbach’s infamous ‘relativization of geometry’ was only a stepping stone on the way to his main concern—the question of the ‘geometrization of gravitation’. Aber ich kann auch da das Gefühl des Künstlichen nicht los werden Reichenbach to Einstein, March 16, 1926 Introduction In the late 1950s, Hans Reichenbach’s second wife Maria Reichenbach edited an English translation (Reichenbach, 1958) of his Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (Reichenbach, 1928). This edition was missing a long Appendix entitled ‘Die Weylsche Erweiterung des Riemannschen Raumbegriffs und die geometrische Deutung der Elektrizität’ (‘Weyl’s Extension of Riemann’s Concept of Space and the Geometrical Interpretation of Electromagnetism’). -
String Theory, Einstein, and the Identity of Physics: Theory Assessment in Absence of the Empirical
String theory, Einstein, and the identity of physics: Theory assessment in absence of the empirical Jeroen van Dongen Institute for Theoretical Physics Vossius Center for History of the Humanities and Sciences University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract String theorists are certain that they are practicing physicists. Yet, some of their recent critics deny this. This paper argues that this conflict is really about who holds authority in making rational judgment in theoretical physics. At bottom, the conflict centers on the question: who is a proper physicist? To illustrate and understand the differing opinions about proper practice and identity, we discuss different appreciations of epistemic virtues and explanation among string theorists and their critics, and how these have been sourced in accounts of Einstein’s biography. Just as Einstein is claimed by both sides, historiography offers examples of both successful and unsuccessful non-empirical science. History of science also teaches that times of conflict are often times of innovation, in which novel scholarly identities may come into being. At the same time, since the contributions of Thomas Kuhn historians have developed a critical attitude towards formal attempts and methodological recipes for epistemic demarcation and justification of scientific practice. These are now, however, being considered in the debate on non-empirical physics. Introduction Theoretical high energy physics is in crisis. Many physicists may wish to deny this, but it is richly illustrated by the heated exchanges, charged manifestos and exclamations of despair in highly visible publications. For example, three prominent cosmologists, Anna Ijjas, Paul Steinhardt and Abraham Loeb, argued in the February 2017 issue of Scientific American that the long favoured model for the early universe, inflationary cosmology, has no data to support it and has gone through so many patch-ups that it is now beyond testability. -
How Einstein Did Not Discover
Phys. Perspect. 18 (2016) 249–282 Ó 2016 Springer International Publishing 1422-6944/16/030249-34 DOI 10.1007/s00016-016-0186-z Physics in Perspective How Einstein Did Not Discover John D. Norton* What powered Einstein’s discoveries? Was it asking naı¨ve questions, stubbornly? Was it a mischievous urge to break rules? Was it the destructive power of operational thinking? It was none of these. Rather, Einstein made his discoveries through lengthy, mundane investigations, pursued with tenacity and discipline. We have been led to think otherwise in part through Einstein’s brilliance at recounting in beguilingly simple terms a few brief moments of transcendent insight, and in part through our need to find a simple trick underlying his achievements. These ideas are illustrated with the examples of Einstein’s 1905 discoveries of special relativity and the light quantum. Key words: discovery; Albert Einstein; light quantum; relativity. Introduction How did Einstein make his discoveries? That question has occupied several gen- erations of historians of science. Their efforts have been decisively advanced by Princeton University Press’s authoritative, multivolume Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. In collating, annotating, and presenting Einstein’s published and unpublished writings in a growing series of volumes, the editors of the project have contributed considerably to primary Einstein scholarship. At the same time, this wealth of material has made it possible for scholars elsewhere to base their work securely in documentary evidence. A recent introductory distillation of some of this work can be found in the Cambridge Companion to Einstein.1 We have learned that the work that led up to Einstein’s great discoveries was long and complicated, typically spanning years.