Abstract
Before returning to the theory of relativity – although the restless reader may skip right to the next Chapter – we must probe more deeply into the physics background, especially specific topics from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, in order to fully grasp the context of Einstein’s ideas. This historical survey will constitute the remainder of this Chapter and set the stage for the next.
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Notes
- 1.
Much of the history in this Chapter may be found in Topper [197], pp. 132–136.
- 2.
Or, in the original German: “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper.”
- 3.
See, e.g., Darnton [31].
- 4.
(1544–1603).
- 5.
It is interesting that Newton coined the word mass to distinguish absolute weight from relative weight, but he did not coin a corresponding term for absolute time: duration? Also, the format of writing equations as sentences first, I borrow from Taylor and Wheeler [195], a excellent, although rather advanced, book on Relativity.
- 6.
As noted above, the book went through three editions during his life. The quoted passage was added to the second edition (1713) and remained in the third (1726), which was published shortly before his death (1727).
- 7.
Newton [151] [1713 & 1726], p. 943.
- 8.
(1736–1806).
- 9.
Baigrie [5], pp. 43–46.
- 10.
Recall that Einstein (Chap. 2) read his Critique of Pure Reason as a teen.
- 11.
His primary writing on this topic is his 1786 book, Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, a book relatively unknown to academic philosophers but studied today by historians of science; more importantly, it was widely read by some key scientists in the nineteenth century. See Kant [113].
- 12.
“That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt.” This is the first sentence his Critique.
- 13.
(1791–1867).
- 14.
Faraday chose a common Old English word having Germanic origins, giving it its first scientific usage.
- 15.
Harman [87], p. 72.
- 16.
Einstein and Infeld [59] [1938], p. 151.
- 17.
These were two devices that Einstein’s father and uncle were selling in their electrical business, and that Albert learned about when he visited their factory.
- 18.
Quoted in Williams [213], p. 466.
- 19.
Williams [213], pp. 465–479.
- 20.
(1831–1879). Note: he died the same year Einstein was born.
- 21.
Tragically, Hertz had a short life (1857–1894).
- 22.
Hertz [91] [1893], p. 21.
- 23.
Kuhn [125], pp. 66–104.
- 24.
(1821–1894).
- 25.
Harman [87], pp. 41–45.
- 26.
Quoted in Harman [87], p. 51.
- 27.
(1853–1932).
- 28.
The phrase “scientific materialism” betrays an ideological (philosophical, even political) context for this paper, which would take us far beyond the scientific matters of this book.
- 29.
Quoted in Nye [153], pp. 348–349. Emphasis by Ostwald. Inserts are mine.
- 30.
Quoted in Nye [153], p. 350.
- 31.
Pais [162], p. 45 & 506; and Einstein Papers, Vol.1, Doc. 92.
- 32.
Einstein [51] [1949], p. 9. He went on to say that a “second wonder” occurred at the age of twelve, and this was where he mentioned the “holy geometry book,” discussed before.
- 33.
Stachel [192], p. 284 n18, dates the manuscript for the autobiography as written in 1947, so I use that date throughout this book.
- 34.
- 35.
Spukhafte, from a letter to Max Born in 1947, in Einstein [56], p. 155. The context is his assertion “that physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky actions at a distance.”
References
Baigrie, Brian. 2007. Electricity and magnetism: a historical perspective. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Darnton, Robert. 1968. Mesmerism and the end of the enlightenment in France. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Einstein, Albert. 1979. Autobiographical Notes. Translated and edited by Paul A. Schilpp. La Salle & Chicago: Open Court Publishing. This is the corrected version of the original 1947 German manuscript, first published in 1949. The uncorrected version is the more accessible one: see Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist. Two Volumes. Edited by Paul A. Schilpp. New York: Harper & Row, 1949, Vol. I, 3–95. The latter book is cited separately below under Schilpp (ed.), 1979.
Einstein, Albert. 2005. The Born-Einstein letters: friendship, politics and physics in uncertain times (trans: Irene Born.). New York: Macmillan. This is a collection of correspondence between Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916 to 1955, with commentaries by Max Born.
Einstein, Albert, and Leopold Infeld. 1961. The evolution of physics: the growth of ideas from early concepts to relativity and quanta. New York: Simon & Schuster. This was first published in 1938. In the preface to the 1961 edition, Infeld acknowledges Einstein as the “chief author” of the book.
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Hertz, Heinrich. 1962. Electric waves: being researches on the propagation of electric action with finite velocity through space (trans: D. E. Jones.). New York: Dover Publications. This is a reprint of the original edition of 1893.
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Kuhn, Thomas S. 1977. Energy conservation as an example of simultaneous discovery. In The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change, ed. T. S. Kuhn.), 66–104 Chicago: University of Chicago Press. The article was originally published in 1959.
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Nye, Mary Jo (ed.). 1984. The question of the atom: from the Karlsruhe congress to the first solvay conference, 1860–1911. New York: American Institute of Physics. This is a compilation of primary sources selected and introduced by Nye. Ostwald’s essay “Emancipation from Scientific Materialism” is introduced and reprinted on 335–354.
Pais, Abraham. 1982. “Subtle is the Lord…”: the science and the life of Albert Einstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reiser, Anton. 1930. Albert Einstein: a biographical portrait. New York: Albert & Charles Boni. The author’s name is a pseudonym for Rudolf Kayser, Einstein’s son-in-law, married to Elsa’s daughter, Ilse. See Keyser, 1946.
Stachel, John. 2002. Einstein from ‘B’ to ‘Z’. Boston/Basel/Berlin: Birkhäuser. This is Volume Nine in the Einstein Studies series.
Topper, David R. 2002. [History of] physics. History of Modern Science and Mathematics 1: 115–146. Edited by Brian S. Baigrie. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Williams, L.Pearce. 1971. Michael Faraday: a biography. New York: A Clarion Book.
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Topper, D.R. (2013). Converge, Convert, & Conserve: Physics Before Einstein. In: How Einstein Created Relativity out of Physics and Astronomy. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 394. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4782-5_4
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