Abstract
In a brilliant piece of historical sleuthing Peter Galison placed Einstein’s 1905 analysis of the simultaneity of time in its cultural context. In particular, he showed how Einstein’s work at the Patent office spilled over into his physics research.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Galison [76], p. 69.
- 3.
- 4.
Galison [74], p. 389.
- 5.
(1854–1912).
- 6.
Galison [75], pp. 211–212.
- 7.
Poincaré [168] [1902].
- 8.
Solovine, in his introduction to Einstein’s letters, says that this book “engrossed us and held us spellbound for weeks ….” Einstein [54], p. 9.
- 9.
Poincaré [167] [1904].
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
In his 1905 letter to Habicht; Einstein Papers, Vol. 5, Docs. 27 and 28.
- 13.
The claim against Einstein’s originality has recently been raised by some ultra-conservative American groups. See Chap. 16.
- 14.
- 15.
Quoted in Abiko [1], p. 14, although I acknowledge the limitations of this as an exact translation of Einstein’s Kyoto lecture of 1922. See previous comments on this source, above, regarding the Michelson-Morley experiment.
- 16.
Einstein (1905), quoted in Stachel [191], p. 159.
- 17.
Einstein, 1919/20, quoted in Moszkowski [147], p. 4.
- 18.
Von Laue (1879–1960) was a student assistant to Planck and learnt of relativity through him. (As noted in a footnote above, Planck was the referee for the relativity paper in the Annalen.) Von Laue once went to Bern to speak with Einstein about relativity, and was surprised to see they were the same age. They remained friends thereafter. He later wrote a further book on general relativity. For Von Laue’s first book on special relativity, Das Relativitätsprinzip, see Staley [193], pp. 334–339.
- 19.
Raum und Zeit, in German; Minkowski [146].
- 20.
(1864–1909).
- 21.
- 22.
Einstein Papers, Vol. 2, Doc. 47, pp. 258–261 ET.
- 23.
Selbständigkeit, in German; in Minkowski [146], p. 75.
- 24.
Galison [73], pp. 97–99.
- 25.
Walter Kaufmann, whose experiments on moving electrons were discussed above, held such a view. As he rhetorically put it: “Instead of all the fruitless attempts to explain electric phenomena mechanically, can we not try conversely to reduce mechanics to electrical processes?” Quoted in Holton [98], p. 4.
- 26.
Minkowski [146], p. 83.
- 27.
- 28.
Quoted in Sommerfeld [189], p. 102. This is obviously a later recollection of Sommerfeld.
- 29.
For more on the relationship between Einstein and Minkowski, see Pyenson [169], especially pp. 80–81, 94–96, and 145–154.
- 30.
Hoffmann [97], p. 87.
- 31.
Einstein Papers, Vol. 5, Doc. 374, p. 275 ET.
- 32.
Einstein Papers, Vol. 5, Doc. 374. This is the English translation used in the Einstein papers for tintenscheisserei, which literally is “ink-shiting.”
- 33.
Einstein Papers, Vol. 5, Doc. 374, p. 275 ET.
- 34.
Stachel [192], p. 237.
- 35.
Klein [116], pp. 175–179.
- 36.
Einstein [46] [1933], p. 215.
- 37.
Feuer [62], pp. xii–xix.
- 38.
Kafka was not a famous writer until after his death, since little was published during his life. I am not aware of any documented interaction between Kafka and Einstein within or beyond the Prague group.
- 39.
See also Frank [67], pp. 83–85.
- 40.
Solovine lists this book and other authors, such as Mach and Poincaré, along with Dickens and Cervantes’ Don Quixote, in his introduction to the letters from Einstein. In Einstein [54], pp. 8–9.
- 41.
Neffe [149], p. 311. In some ways this issue comes down to how one translates the phrase from the letter of September 8, 1916: “eine mittelalterlich anmutende Kleine Schar weltferner Menschen.” Einstein Papers, Vol. 8A, Doc. 257. Neffe’s translation is that found in the ET for the Papers. Interestingly, in an essay on “The Jewish Question” in the Einstein Papers, Vol. 7, pp. 221–236, written by the editors of that volume, they translate the same phrase of 1916 less dismissively as “a small band of impractical people that strike one as medieval.” Another similar translation is the following from the Born letters (Einstein [56], p. 4): “a medieval-like band of unworldly people.” The latter translations are more accommodating to Feuer’s thesis. Surely, words like “unworldly” and “impractical” could apply to Einstein himself at times.
- 42.
Frank [67], pp. 77–85, especially pp. 83–85.
- 43.
Frank [67], p. 98.
- 44.
Technically there were three positions. A professorship, without teaching duties, at the University of Berlin; a research position and membership in the Prussian Academy of Science; and a Directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics, the latter was not established until 1917.
- 45.
There was also the teaching and tutoring episode before the Patent job, where I quoted above (Chap. 3) from a 1901 letter saying he found teaching “exceptionally” pleasing.
- 46.
Marić, [136] [Winter 1909/1910], p. 101.
- 47.
- 48.
Frank [67], pp. 89–91 and 116–119.
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Topper, D.R. (2013). From Railroad Time to Space-Time. 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_8
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