Abstract
Some historical documents, especially the Einstein–Besso manuscript from 1913, an extensive notebook by H. Thirring from 1917, and the correspondence between Thirring and Einstein in the year 1917 reveal that most of the merit for the so-called Lense–Thirring effect of general relativity belongs to Einstein. Besides telling this “central story” of the effect, I give a short “prehistory”, with contributions by E. Mach, B. and I. Friedlaender, and A. Föppl, followed by the later history of the problem of a correct centrifugal force inside a rotating mass shell, which was resolved only relatively recently.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Mach, E. (1872). Die Geschichte und die Wurzel des Satzes von der Erhaltung der Arbeit. (Calve, Prag).
Mach, E. (1883). Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwicklung. Historisch-kritisch dargestellt. (Brockhaus, Leipzig).
Friedlaender, B., and I. (1896). Absolute oder relative Bewegung? (Simion, Berlin).
Föppl, A. (1904). Sitzb. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., 34, 5.
Einstein, A. (1907). Jahrb. Radioakt. Elektronik, 4, 411 (Chap. V, pp. 454–462).
Einstein, A. (1912). Ann. Phys., 38, 355, and 443.
Einstein, A. (1912). Vierteljahrschr. gerichtl. Med. öffentl. Sanitätswesen, 44, 37.
Einstein, A., and Grossmann, M. (1913). Entwurf einer verallgemeinerten Relativitätstheorie und einer Theorie der Gravitation. (Teubner, Leipzig).
Klein, M.J., et al. (eds.) (1995). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 4, pp. 344–473. (Princeton University Press).
Thirring, H. (1918). Phys. Zs., 19, 33.
Einstein, A. (1913). Phys. Zs., 14, 1249.
Lense, J., and Thirring, H. (1918). Phys. Zs., 19, 156.
Thirring, H. (1917). Wirkung rotierender Massen. (Österr. Zentralbibl. Phys., Wien).
Schulmann, R., et al. (eds.) (1998). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8, Doc. 361. (Princeton University Press).
Schulmann, R., et al. (eds.) (1998). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8, Doc. 369. (Princeton University Press).
Janssen, M. (2007). The Genesis of General Relativity (ed. by J.Renn), Vol. 2, pp. 785–837. (Springer, Berlin).
Thirring, H. (1966). Almanach Österr. Akad. Wiss., 166, 361.
Pfister, H. (2007). Gen. Rel. Grav., 39, 1735.
Ciufolini, I., and Wheeler, J.A. (1995). Gravitation and Inertia. (Princeton University Press).
Thirring, H. (1921). Phys. Zs., 22, 29.
Lanczos, K. (1923). Zs. Phys., 14, 204.
Bass, L., and Pirani, F.A.E. (1955). Phil. Mag., 46, 850.
Soergel-Fabricius, C. (1960). Zs. Phys., 159, 541, and 161, 392.
Brill, D., and Cohen, J.M. (1966). Phys. Rev., 143, 1011.
Pfister, H., and Braun, K.H. (1985). Class. Quant. Grav., 2, 909.
Pfister, H., and Braun, K.H. (1986). Class. Quant. Grav., 3, 335.
Greene, B. (2004). The Fabric of the Cosmos. (Knopf, New York).
Klein, C. (1993). Class. Quant. Grav., 10, 1619.
Bičák, J., Lynden-Bell, D., and Katz, J. (2004). Phys. Rev. D 69, 064011.
Schmid, C. (2006). Phys. Rev. D 74, 044031.
Pfister, H., Frauendiener, J., and Hengge, S. (2005). Class. Quant. Grav., 22, 4743.
Klein, M.J. et al. (eds.) (1993). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 5, Docs. 409 and 411. (Princeton University Press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pfister, H. (2010). The History of the So-Called Lense–Thirring Effect, and of Related Effects. In: Ciufolini, I., Matzner, R. (eds) General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 367. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3734-3
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3735-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)