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The Formative Phase of the GRG Community

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Building the General Relativity and Gravitation Community During the Cold War

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology ((BRIEFSHIST))

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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the first decade of the process of building the community of “relativists” from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. This period can be seen as the formative phase of the emerging community, during which the initial steps were taken to institutionally unify the different research agendas under the heading of “General Relativity and Gravitation.” These included the organization of the first international conference on general relativity held in Bern in 1955, the establishment of the International Committee on General Relativity in Gravitation in 1959, and the decision to publish the Bulletin on General Relativity and Gravitation from 1962 onward. It is argued that some of the initial impetus to build the international community was related to idealistic views about the role of science in achieving peaceful relations between nations. By the end of the formative phase, however, many tensions of both a political and epistemic nature came to dominate the discussions about the future of the committee as it had to face sudden changes in the social composition of the community as well as in the redefinition of the field after the discovery of quasars in 1963 and the emergence of relativistic astrophysics.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The centers were Syracuse, Princeton, Purdue, IOFP, Cambridge, Paris, Stockholm, and RIAS (DeWitt 1957, quoted in Rickles 2011, p. 16).

  2. 2.

    “Conférence pour l’Organisation des Etudes concernant la Création d’un Laboratoire europée de Physique nucléaire, Paris, 17–21 Décembre 1951” UNESCO/NS/NUC/4, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001540/154028fb.pdf. Accessed 13 February 2017; and “Minutes of the First Session of the CERN European Council for Nuclear Research,” Paris, 5–8 May 1952, http://cds.cern.ch/record/19494/files/CM-P00075404-e.pdf. Accessed 13 February 2017. For an accurate analysis of the first stage in the history of CERN, see Hermann et al. (1987).

  3. 3.

    See also “Mercier Claims Science May Unite World Politics,” The Times Picayune, New Orleans, 14 December 1968, HAM, folder BB 8.2. 1579.

  4. 4.

    “Mercier Claims Science May Unite World Politics,” The Times Picayune, New Orleans, 14 December 1968, HAM, folder BB 8.2. 1579.

  5. 5.

    “[…] au cours de ce demi-siècle, s’est amplifié et développé d’une manière grandiose.” Mercier to Einstein, 2 November 1953, CPAE 5-090, my emphasis. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are mine.

  6. 6.

    Einstein to Mercier, 9 November 1953, CPAE 5-092.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    “Pauli avait assumé cette présidence en posant la condition que la réunion ne comprendrait qu’un nombre limité de participants. Pour respecter ce vœu, il fallut renoncer a inviter certains savants qui auraient fort bien pu prendre part.” A. Mercier, Sur la Théorie de la Gravitation et de la Relativité Générale GRG, p. 15. HAM, folder BB 8.2 1556, Dossier on GRG.

  9. 9.

    “Man weiß bei Mercier nie, ob er nicht plötzlich verrückte Ideen über das Programm des Kongresses vorbringt,” Pauli to Fierz, 23 April 1954 (Pauli 1999, pp. 571–572, on p. 572).

  10. 10.

    Oskar Klein to Pauli, 6 August 1954 (Pauli 1999, pp. 739–742).

  11. 11.

    Documents concerning Fock’s participation in the Bern conference are in VFP, folder 174. For a more complete discussion of Fock’s scientific and institutional activities in connection to the international community of scientists working on general relativity, see Jean-Philippe Martinez, Ph.D. dissertation on Vladimir Fock prepared at the University Paris 7—Paris Diderot, to be defended in 2017.

  12. 12.

    Pauli to Christian Møller, 1 March 1955 (Pauli 1999, pp. 132–133, on p. 133, Pauli’s emphasis). See also Pauli to Klein, 1 March 1955 (Pauli 1999, pp. 129–131). See also Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman to Werner Heisenberg, 9 November 1954, Nachlaß Werner Heisenberg, Rep. 93, Abteilung III, Max Planck Archiv, Berlin, folder 1704. In this letter, Raman asked Heisenberg whether he was willing to attend the conference as the representative of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

  13. 13.

    “Messages from learned Societies” (Mercier and Kervaire 1956, pp. 31–37).

  14. 14.

    Max v. Laue to Einstein, 16 January 1955, CPAE 16207-1 (translated in Hoffmann 1999, p. 139).

  15. 15.

    See V. Moine, “Allocution de bienvenue” (Mercier and Kervaire 1956, pp. 25–26); and “Message prononcé par A.D. Fokker, Délégué de l’Académie Royale Néerlandaise” (Mercier and Kervaire 1956, pp. 35–36).

  16. 16.

    “Je suis convaincu que notre réunion sera non seulement très intéressante en elle-même, mais aussi qu’elle donnera à des liens scientifiques qui seront durables.” In “Message prononcé par V.A. Fock, Délégué de l’Académie des Sciences de l’URSS” (Mercier and Kervaire 1956, p. 37).

  17. 17.

    For a discussion of these events as recollected by Bondi, see Kennefick (2007, pp. 125–126). An indirect confirmation that the chronology provided by Bondi is accurate can be found in the letter from Alfred Schild to Pirani, 24 May 1956, ASP, Box 86-27/1.

  18. 18.

    “Cette façon ‘peu démocratique’ de convoquer un congrès a l’avantage de l’intimité et assure dans une large mesure l’homogénéité d’un group d’élite. Mais elle crée des injustices et suscite des jalousies.” A. Mercier, Leçons sur la Théorie de la Gravitation et de la Relativité Générale GRG, p. 15. HAM, folder BB 8.2. 1556, Dossier on GRG.

  19. 19.

    “Program of the 1957 Chapel Hill Conference on The Role of Gravitation in Physics,” PISGRG, Box 1.

  20. 20.

    Of the thirty-seven speakers, more than two-thirds were working in American institutions (DeWitt-Morette and Rickles 2011).

  21. 21.

    For a thorough discussion of Robert Dicke’s contribution to the research on experimental gravity physics between 1957 and 1967, see Peebles (2017).

  22. 22.

    See also Dean Rickles and Donald Salisbury, interview with Louis Witten, 17 March 2011, https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/36985. Accessed 12 February 2017.

  23. 23.

    Correspondence concerning the Chapel Hill conference is in CDWP, Box 4RM235. I am grateful to Dean Rickles for clarifying the content of this correspondence.

  24. 24.

    Goldberg to Cécile DeWitt, 16 November 1956, CDWP, Box 4RM235.

  25. 25.

    “Pratiquement toutes les écoles de relativistes du monde furent représentées.” A. Mercier, Leçons sur la Théorie de la Gravitation et de la Relativité Générale GRG, p. 15. HAM, folder BB 8.2. 1556, Dossier on GRG.

  26. 26.

    To give a few examples of the familiarity of the ICGRG members with international structures of this type: one of the most authoritative scientists who would become member of the ICGRG, J.A. Wheeler, had been Vice-President of IUPAP from 1951 to 1954; Lichnerowicz played a role in IMU and would become President of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction between 1963 and 1966; Tonnelat was active in the International Union on the History and Philosophy of Science and would become its Vice-President in the 1960s; Mercier was a Swiss delegate of IUPAP. Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  27. 27.

    The only presence of Indian scientists at the first three international conferences was Satyendra Nath Bose’s institutional role as the delegate of the Indian Academy of Sciences at the Bern conference, since Heisenberg declined to attend.

  28. 28.

    The last President who was elected following this rule was Nathan Rosen in 1974, who was also the first President of the new society, the International Society on GRG (ISGRG).

  29. 29.

    Mercier to Scientists throughout the World active in the field of Theories of Relativity and Gravitation, January 1961, ISGRGR.

  30. 30.

    Many insights gained in the previous period were re-discovered during the renaissance of general relativity. For a fitting example, see Stachel (1992).

  31. 31.

    This study was done by the author on the bibliography found in the Bulletin on GRG.

  32. 32.

    According to Trautman, his decision to publish in the venue of the Polish Academy of Sciences depended on Infeld’s policy of reinforcing the prestige of this new Polish institution. Andrzej Trautman, interview with Donald Salisbury, 27 June 2016, to appear in EPJH. See also Felix Pirani, interview with Daniel Kennefick, 25 October 1994. I am grateful to Salisbury and Kennefick for having provided records of their interviews. An analysis of the change in the social network of scientists working in topics connected to GRG is in Lalli and Wintergrün (2016). See also Renn et al. (2016).

  33. 33.

    Mercier to Scientists throughout the World active in the field of Theories of Relativity and Gravitation, January 1961, ISGRGR.

  34. 34.

    See, for example, IAU News Bulletin; the Monthly Bulletin of Information of the ICSU; and the section “Union News,” in the journal International Mathematical News, which was the IMU’s official News Bulletin.

  35. 35.

    Personal communications by Hubert Goenner and Georg Dautcourt.

  36. 36.

    Tonnelat to Mercier, 10 June 1972, PISGRG, folder 1.3.

  37. 37.

    “Colloque de Royaumont (21–27 Juin 1959): Communications privées,” PISGRG, Box 1. On the role of entertaining theatrical performances in establishing the community at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, see Halpern (2012).

  38. 38.

    “[…] assumerait désormais la direction spirituelle de tells congrès et pourrait procéder à des recommandations sur des travaux à entreprendre.” A. Mercier, Leçons sur la Théorie de la Gravitation et de la Relativité Générale GRG, p. 15. HAM, folder BB 8.2. 1556, Dossier on GRG, emphasis mine.

  39. 39.

    Rosenfeld and Møller to members of the Committee on General Relativity and Gravitation, 2 January 1961, VFP, folder 180.

  40. 40.

    Documents in VFP, folder 184.

  41. 41.

    Hermann Bondi to all members of the ICGRG, 12 July 1968, PBP.

  42. 42.

    For accurate historical studies on the early links between astrophysical research and theoretical research on general relativity, see Israel (1987), Bonolis (2017) and references therein.

  43. 43.

    “New Relativity Center,” ESP, Box 3, folder University of Texas.

  44. 44.

    The talks given during this conference are published in two different volumes (Robinson et al. 1965; Harrison et al. 1965). For a reconstruction of the events that led to the organization of this conference, see Schucking (2008).

  45. 45.

    The three Texas organizers, Robinson, Schild, and Schucking attended the Jablonna and Warsaw conference and co-authored the report on the conference for American physicists in Physics Today (Robinson et al. 1963).

  46. 46.

    For Terletsky’s involvement in the attempt of the Soviet Intelligence to get information about atomic energy in the aftermath of World War II, see Holloway (1996) and Aaserud (2005).

  47. 47.

    Peter Havas to Bergmann, 29 August 1968; Havas to Bondi, 29 August 1968, PBP. See also Schucking (2008), Trimble (2011), and Virginia Trimble, personal communication.

  48. 48.

    The GRG conference in London was the first scientific event outside Eastern Europe that Ginzburg was allowed to attend (Khalatnikov 2012, pp. 130–132).

  49. 49.

    “[…] l’intensification et le développement des travaux GRG dans le monde.” Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  50. 50.

    The new members were Vitaly Ginzburg, Andrzej Trautman from Poland (possibly in connection with the worsening of Infeld’s health status), Alfred Schild from the University of Texas at Austin as a representative of the Texas centers and relativistic astrophysics, Clive Kilmister of King’s College London, and Yvonne Bruhat from Paris.

  51. 51.

    “[u]ne affiliation a l’Union de physique pure et appliquée risquerait de faire de nous des physiciens purs et appliqués seulement, alors que GRG ressortit aussi et nettement aux mathématiques, à l’astronomie et à la mécanique, qui ont chacune leur union internationale.” Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  52. 52.

    “[…] ne peut être définie simplement comme partie de la physique; GRG constitue une classe plus vaste.” Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  53. 53.

    In his first notebook on relativity, Wheeler proclaimed that he deemed it necessary to clearly convey the links between general relativity and “other fields of physics” to his students in preparation of his first course on general relativity. Relativity Notebook 1, JWP, Box 39 (quoted in Blum 2016). Later, Wheeler continued to promote the need to strengthen links between general relativity and other sub-disciplines of physics. See, for example, Wheeler to Mercier, 11 May 1967, PBP.

  54. 54.

    Wheeler to Kenneth Case, 17 January 1964, JWP, Box 18, folder Misner (quoted in Bartusiak 2015, p. 91). Wheeler uses the expression “one-legged relativist” also in Wheeler to Mercier, 5 April 1961, JWP, Box 18, folder Mercier. See also Kenneth W. Ford, oral interview with John Wheeler, Session VI, 4 February 1994. Transcript available at https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5908-6.

  55. 55.

    Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  56. 56.

    “[…] ne consiste pas en délégations nationales, mais [soit] uniquement constitué par des personnalités appelées à en faire partie seulement en raison de leur qualité comme chercheurs et promoteurs en GRG.” Minutes of the Meeting of the ICGRG, 30 June and 7 July 1965, PISGRG, folder 1.1.

  57. 57.

    See Anon. (1962) and the corrections and/or addenda to names and addresses of scientists included in the subsequent issues of the Bulletin on GRG from 2 to 8. As Dieter Hoffmann (personal communication) rightly emphasized, this does not mean that there were many more American scientists working in the field than Soviet ones: since the organization of research in the Soviet Union was completely different from that in the West it was not easy to know how many scholars were working in a specific Soviet research group. For instance, the names listed in the first Soviet gravity conference held in 1961 included about 80 scientists (Garbell 1963). Of these, only six were listed in the Bulletin on GRG in 1962 (Anon. 1962).

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    Roberto Lalli

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Lalli, R. (2017). The Formative Phase of the GRG Community. In: Building the General Relativity and Gravitation Community During the Cold War . SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54654-4_4

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