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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 Washington Manuscript on Unified Field Theory
Einstein’s Washington Manuscript on Unified Field Theory Tilman Sauer∗ and Tobias Schütz† Institute of Mathematics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz D-55099 Mainz, Germany Version of August 25, 2020 Abstract In this note, we point attention to and briefly discuss a curious manu- script of Einstein, composed in 1938 and entitled “Unified Field Theory,” the only such writing, published or unpublished, carrying this title without any further specification. Apparently never intended for publication, the manuscript sheds light both on Einstein’s modus operandi as well as on the public role of Einstein’s later work on a unified field theory of gravitation and electromagnetism. arXiv:2008.10005v1 [physics.hist-ph] 23 Aug 2020 ∗[email protected] †[email protected] 1 1 The “Washington manuscript” In July 1938, the Princeton based journal Annals of Mathematics published a paper On a Generalization of Kaluza’s Theory of Electricity in its Vol. 39, issue No. 3 (Einstein and Bergmann, 1938). The paper was co-authored by Albert Einstein (1879–1955) and his then assistant Peter Gabriel Bergmann (1915– 2002). It presented a new discussion of an approach toward a unified theory of the gravitational and electromagnetic fields based on an extension of the number of physical dimensions characterizing space-time. Such five-dimensional theories had been discussed already a number of times, notably by Theodor Kaluza in 1921, and then again in the late twenties by Oskar Klein and others (Goenner, 2004). Einstein had contributed to the discussion already in 1923 and in 1927, but had given up the approach in favor of another one based on distant parallelism (Sauer, 2014). -
Einstein's Equations for Spin $2 $ Mass $0 $ from Noether's Converse
Einstein’s Equations for Spin 2 Mass 0 from Noether’s Converse Hilbertian Assertion November 9, 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. -
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. -
0045-Flyer-Einstein-En-2.Pdf
FEATHERBEDDINGCOMPANYWEIN HOFJEREMIAHSTATUESYN AGOGEDREYFUSSMOOSCEMETERY MÜNSTERPLATZRELATIVI TYE=MC 2NOBELPRIZEHOMELAND PERSECUTIONAFFIDAVIT OFSUPPORTEMIGRATIONEINSTEIN STRASSELETTERSHOLOCAUSTRESCUE FAMILYGRANDMOTHERGRANDFAT HERBUCHAUPRINCETONBAHNHOF STRASSE20VOLKSHOCHSCHULEFOU NTAINGENIUSHUMANIST 01 Albert Einstein 6 7 Albert Einstein. More than just a name. Physicist. Genius. Science pop star. Philosopher and humanist. Thinker and guru. On a par with Copernicus, Galileo or Newton. And: Albert Einstein – from Ulm! The most famous scientist of our time was actually born on 14th March 1879 at Bahnhofstraße 20 in Ulm. Albert Einstein only lived in the city on the Danube for 15 months. His extended family – 18 of Einstein’s cousins lived in Ulm at one time or another – were a respected and deep-rooted part of the city’s society, however. This may explain Einstein’s enduring connection to the city of his birth, which he described as follows in a letter to the Ulmer Abend- post on 18th March 1929, shortly after his 50th birthday: “The birthplace is as much a unique part of your life as the ancestry of your biological mother. We owe part of our very being to our city of birth. So I look on Ulm with gratitude, as it combines noble artistic tradition with simple and healthy character.” 8 9 The “miracle year” 1905 – Einstein becomes the founder of the modern scientific world view Was Einstein a “physicist of the century”? There‘s no doubt of that. In his “miracle year” (annus mirabilis) of 1905 he pub- lished 4 groundbreaking works along- side his dissertation. Each of these was worthy of a Nobel Prize and turned him into a physicist of international standing: the theory of special relativity, the light quanta hypothesis (“photoelectric effect”), Thus, Albert Einstein became the found- for which he received the Nobel Prize in er of the modern scientific world view. -
Essays on Einstein's Science And
MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science PREPRINT 63 (1997) Giuseppe Castagnetti, Hubert Goenner, Jürgen Renn, Tilman Sauer, and Britta Scheideler Foundation in Disarray: Essays on Einstein’s Science and Politics in the Berlin Years ISSN 0948-9444 PREFACE This collection of essays is based on a series of talks given at the Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science, March 3 – 4, 1997, under the title “Einstein in Berlin: The First Ten Years.“ The meeting was organized by the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, and co-sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Although the three essays do not directly build upon one another, we have nevertheless decided to present them in a single preprint for two reasons. First, they result from a project that grew out of an earlier cooperation inaugurated by the Berlin Working Group “Albert Einstein.“ This group was part of the research center “Development and Socialization“ under the direction of Wolfgang Edel- stein at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education.1 The Berlin Working Group, directed by Peter Damerow and Jürgen Renn, was sponsored by the Senate of Berlin. Its aim was to pursue research on Einstein in Berlin with particular attention to the relation between his science and its context. The research activities of the Working Group are now being continued at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science partly, in cooperation with Michel Janssen, John Norton, and John Stachel. -
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. -
Einstein, Nordström and the Early Demise of Scalar, Lorentz Covariant Theories of Gravitation
JOHN D. NORTON EINSTEIN, NORDSTRÖM AND THE EARLY DEMISE OF SCALAR, LORENTZ COVARIANT THEORIES OF GRAVITATION 1. INTRODUCTION The advent of the special theory of relativity in 1905 brought many problems for the physics community. One, it seemed, would not be a great source of trouble. It was the problem of reconciling Newtonian gravitation theory with the new theory of space and time. Indeed it seemed that Newtonian theory could be rendered compatible with special relativity by any number of small modifications, each of which would be unlikely to lead to any significant deviations from the empirically testable conse- quences of Newtonian theory.1 Einstein’s response to this problem is now legend. He decided almost immediately to abandon the search for a Lorentz covariant gravitation theory, for he had failed to construct such a theory that was compatible with the equality of inertial and gravitational mass. Positing what he later called the principle of equivalence, he decided that gravitation theory held the key to repairing what he perceived as the defect of the special theory of relativity—its relativity principle failed to apply to accelerated motion. He advanced a novel gravitation theory in which the gravitational potential was the now variable speed of light and in which special relativity held only as a limiting case. It is almost impossible for modern readers to view this story with their vision unclouded by the knowledge that Einstein’s fantastic 1907 speculations would lead to his greatest scientific success, the general theory of relativity. Yet, as we shall see, in 1 In the historical period under consideration, there was no single label for a gravitation theory compat- ible with special relativity. -
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. -
Testing Einstein's General Theory of Relativity
Astron. Nachr. / AN 326 (2005), No. 7 – Short Contributions AG 2005 Köln 1 Testing Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity GUDRUN WOLFSCHMIDT1 1Universität Hamburg, Schwerpunkt Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Mathematik und Technik, Bundesstraße 55, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany [email protected] Albert Einstein (1879–1955) had already proposed three possibilities for testing his General Theory of Relativity: • An additional perihel motion of Mercury (4300/century), which could not be explained by Newton’s theory of gravity; this was already known since 1850. • Deflection of light from the Sun (1.7500): The angular position of the stars are more distant from the Sun during a total solar eclipse than half a year later during the night. • Gravitational redshift of the Sun (2 × 10−6 of the wave length or 0.01 Å): The spectral lines of the Sun are shifted to the red by one millionth of the wave length of the light; this corresponds to a Doppler shift of 0.6 km/s. Many astronomers were sceptical against the new theory (ART), but Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885–1964) be- came interested in the ART since 1913 and tried to verify the theory empirically. He started an solar eclipse expedition in 1914 with the help of the Academy of Sciences which was not successful due to the outbreak of World War II. Karl Schwarzschild (1873–1916) tried to measure the redshift in the solar spectrum in 1913–1914 in the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam. From these experiments it was clear that results could only be reached with much larger instruments. Arthur S. -
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. -
Copyrighted Material
ftoc.qrk 5/24/04 1:46 PM Page iii Contents Timeline v de Sitter,Willem 72 Dukas, Helen 74 Introduction 1 E = mc2 76 Eddington, Sir Arthur 79 Absentmindedness 3 Education 82 Anti-Semitism 4 Ehrenfest, Paul 85 Arms Race 8 Einstein, Elsa Löwenthal 88 Atomic Bomb 9 Einstein, Mileva Maric 93 Awards 16 Einstein Field Equations 100 Beauty and Equations 17 Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Besso, Michele 18 Argument 101 Black Holes 21 Einstein Ring 106 Bohr, Niels Henrik David 25 Einstein Tower 107 Books about Einstein 30 Einsteinium 108 Born, Max 33 Electrodynamics 108 Bose-Einstein Condensate 34 Ether 110 Brain 36 FBI 113 Brownian Motion 39 Freud, Sigmund 116 Career 41 Friedmann, Alexander 117 Causality 44 Germany 119 Childhood 46 God 124 Children 49 Gravitation 126 Clothes 58 Gravitational Waves 128 CommunismCOPYRIGHTED 59 Grossmann, MATERIAL Marcel 129 Correspondence 62 Hair 131 Cosmological Constant 63 Heisenberg, Werner Karl 132 Cosmology 65 Hidden Variables 137 Curie, Marie 68 Hilbert, David 138 Death 70 Hitler, Adolf 141 iii ftoc.qrk 5/24/04 1:46 PM Page iv iv Contents Inventions 142 Poincaré, Henri 220 Israel 144 Popular Works 222 Japan 146 Positivism 223 Jokes about Einstein 148 Princeton 226 Judaism 149 Quantum Mechanics 230 Kaluza-Klein Theory 151 Reference Frames 237 League of Nations 153 Relativity, General Lemaître, Georges 154 Theory of 239 Lenard, Philipp 156 Relativity, Special Lorentz, Hendrik 158 Theory of 247 Mach, Ernst 161 Religion 255 Mathematics 164 Roosevelt, Franklin D. 258 McCarthyism 166 Russell-Einstein Manifesto 260 Michelson-Morley Experiment 167 Schroedinger, Erwin 261 Millikan, Robert 171 Solvay Conferences 265 Miracle Year 174 Space-Time 267 Monroe, Marilyn 179 Spinoza, Baruch (Benedictus) 268 Mysticism 179 Stark, Johannes 270 Myths and Switzerland 272 Misconceptions 181 Thought Experiments 274 Nazism 184 Time Travel 276 Newton, Isaac 188 Twin Paradox 279 Nobel Prize in Physics 190 Uncertainty Principle 280 Olympia Academy 195 Unified Theory 282 Oppenheimer, J.