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What did Einstein know and when did He know it? A Besso Memo Dated August 1913

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The Genesis of General Relativity

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 250))

The Nachlass of Einstein’s close friend and confidant Michele Besso (1873–1955) contains four pages, written on a folded sheet, with what appear to be Besso’s notes of discussions with Einstein about a preliminary version of general relativity known in the historical literature as the “Entwurf” (“outline”) theory.1 The first two pages of this Besso memo are reproduced in facsimile in Figs. 1 and 2.2 Of the various points recorded in the memo two in particular are bound to catch the eye of a modern historian of relativity.

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Authors
  1. Michel Janssen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, USA

    Michel Janssen

  2. University of Pittsburgh, USA

    John D. Norton

  3. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany

    Jürgen Renn

  4. Einstein Papers Project, Caltech, USA

    Tilman Sauer

  5. Boston University, USA

    John Stachel

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Janssen, M. (2007). What did Einstein know and when did He know it? A Besso Memo Dated August 1913. In: Janssen, M., Norton, J.D., Renn, J., Sauer, T., Stachel, J. (eds) The Genesis of General Relativity. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 250. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4000-9_8

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