Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-09T00:26:32.985Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Conclusions Based on Principles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2013

Martin Harwit
Martin Harwit
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

Acting on principle can be rewarding but also risky. What if the principle, against all expectations, turns out to be invalid?

On graduating from the Eidgenössische Polytechnikum in the summer of 1900 with a barely passing grade, the 21-year-old Einstein had no prospects of permanent employment. But as he drifted from one temporary position to another, he was at least free to pursue his passion for physics. Less than five months after receiving his diploma, he submitted his first paper to the leading German journal, the Annalen der Physik. Like all of his papers published in the subsequent three years, it was grounded in thermodynamics.

Thermodynamics is an expression of the conservation of energy as it is converted from one form, such as electrically, mechanically, or chemically stored energy into another. Einstein continued to draw strength from this and other conservation principles for most of the work he would produce. They gave him guidance and assurance as he ventured ever further into uncharted realms.

Rescue of the jobless Einstein came through the father of Marcel Grossmann, Albert's closest friend during their student years at the Polytechnikum. The elder Grossmann was impressed by his son's friend and recommended him to Friedrich Haller, director of the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. When a new position opened there, Einstein at once applied and, in June 1902, won an appointment as patent clerk third-class. He remained immensely grateful to the Grossmanns and, on completing his doctoral work in 1905, dedicated his thesis to his friend.

Type
Chapter
Information
In Search of the True Universe
The Tools, Shaping, and Cost of Cosmological Thought
 , pp. 25 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Subtle is the Lord – The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, Abraham, Pais. Oxford University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
2. Autobiographical note in Helle Zeit, dunkle Zeit – in memoriam Albert Einstein, A., Einstein (Carl, Seelig, editor). Zürich: Europa Verlag, 1956, p. 16.Google Scholar
3. Autobiographical Notes, Albert, Einstein, in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist, Paul A., Schilpp ed., 2nd edition. New York: Tudor Pub., 1951, pp. 2–95.Google Scholar
4. Who Discovered the Expanding Universe? Helge, Kragh & Robert W., Smith, History of Science, 42, 141–62, 2003.
5. Discovering the Expanding Universe, Harry, Nussbaumer & Lydia, Bieri, Cambridge University Press, 2009.Google Scholar
6. Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen, Albert, Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 4, 513–23, 1901.
7. Thermodynamische Theorie der Potentialdifferenz zwischen Metallen und vollständig dissoziierten Lösungen ihrer Salze, und eine elektrische Methode zur Erforschung der Molekularkräfte, A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 8, 798–814, 1902.
8. Kinetische Theorie des Wärmegleichgewichtes und des zweiten Hauptsatzes der Thermodynamik, A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 9, 417–33, 1902.
9. Theorie der Grundlagen der Thermodynamik, A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 11, 170–87, 1903.
10. Allgemeine molekulare Theorie der Wärme, A. Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 14, 354–62, 1904.
11. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord …, Pais, p. 46.
12. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord …, Pais, pp. 46–7.
13. Albert Einstein, Lettres a Maurice Solovine, ed. Maurice, Solovine, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1956.
14. La Science et l'Hypothèse, H., Poincaré, 1902; translated into Science and Hypothesis, H. Poincaré, 1905; Mineola NY: Dover Publications, 1952.Google Scholar
15. Die Mechanik in Ihrer Entwicklung – Historisch-Kritisch Dargestellt, Ernst Mach, Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1883, reissued 1897, pp. 216–23.
16. Ibid., Die Mechanik …, Mach, p. 232.
17. Conversations with Albert, Einstein, R. S., Shankland, American Journal of Physics, 31, 47–57, see p. 48, 1963.
18. Albert, Einstein's erste wissenschaftliche Arbeit, Jagdish, Mehra, Physikalische Blätter, 27, 385–91, 1971.
19. How I created the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein, Translated from the German into Japanese by the physicist, J., Ishiwara, and published in the Japanese periodical Kaizo in 1923; then translated from the Japanese into English by Yoshimasa A. Ono and published in Physics Today, 35, 45–47, 1982.Google Scholar
20. Zur Elektrodynamik Bewegter Körper, A. Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 17, 891–921, 1905, translated as On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies in The Principle of Relativity, edited by A. Sommerfeld, translated by W. Perrett and G. B. Jeffery, 1923, Dover Publications.
21. Ist Die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig? A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 18, 639–41, 1906, translated as Does the Inertia of a Body Depend upon its Energy Content? Ibid., Sommerfeld, 1923, Dover.
22. Raum und Zeit, address by Hermann, Minkowski reprinted in Physikalische Zeitschrift, 10, 104–11, 1909, translated as Space and Time, Ibid., Sommerfeld, 1923, Dover.
23. Zur Dynamik bewegter Systeme, M., Planck, Annalen der Physik, 26, 1–35, 1908.
24. Mémoire sur la chaleur solaire, sur les pouvoirs rayonnants et absorbants de l'air atmosphérique, et sur la température de l'espace, Pouillet, , Comptes Rendus des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences, 7, 24–65, 1838; see also A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century, Agnes M. Clerke, London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908, Republished by Scholarly Press, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, 1977, p. 216.
25. Beiträge zur Dynamik des Himmels in populärer Darstellung, Robert Mayer, Heilbronn, Verlag von Johann Ulrich Landherr, 1848; reissued in the series Ostwald 's Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften Nr. 223 as Beiträge zur Dynamik des Himmels und andere Aufsätze, Robert, Mayer; published by Bernhard Hell. Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.h., 1927, pp. 1–59.Google Scholar
26. Bemerkungen über die Kräfte der unbelebten Natur, J. R., Mayer, (Remarks on the Forces of Inanimate Nature), Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 1842, p. 233 ff.Google Scholar
27. See also A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century, Agnes M., Clerke. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908. Republished by Scholarly Press, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, 1977, p. 310 ff.Google Scholar
28. Astronomers take up the stellar energy problem 1917–1920, Karl, HufbauerHistorical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 11, part 2, 273–303, 1981.Google Scholar
29. Radio-activity and the Age of the Sun, G. H., Darwin, Nature, 68, 222, 1903.
30. The state of affairs in this debate at the start of the 20th century has been recorded in a number of detailed publications cited and summarized by Karl Hufbauer: See Ibid. Astronomers take up the stellar…, Hufbauer, pp. 277–303.
31. Über das Relativitätsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen (The Relativity Principle and its Consequences), A., Einstein, Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik, 4, 411–462, 1907; Berechtigungen (errata), 98–99, 1908.
32. Ibid. How I created…, Einstein, pp. 45–47, 1982.
33. Über den Einfluss der Schwerkraft auf die Ausbreitung des Lichtes, A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 35, 898–908, 1911, translated as On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light, Ibid., Sommerfeld, 1923, Dover.
34. Erinnerungen eines Kommilitonen, Louis, Kollros, in Helle Zeit – Dunkle Zeit, in Memoriam Albert Einstein, editor Carl, Seelig. Zürich: Europa Verlag, 1956, p. 27.Google Scholar
35. Entwurf einer verallgemeinerten Relativitätstheorie und eine Theorie der Gravitation I. Physikalischer Teil von A. Einstein; II. Mathematischer Teil von M., Grossmann, Zeitschrift für Mathematische Physik, 62, 225–61, 1913.
36. Kovarianzeigenschaften der Feldgleichungen der auf die verallgemeinerte Relativitätstheorie gegründeten Gravitationstheorie, A., Einstein & M., Grossmann, Zeitschrift für Mathematische Physik, 63, 215–25, 1914.
37. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais p. 259.
38. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais pp. 259–60.
39. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais p. 253, quoting A. D. Fokker's article in Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde, 21, see p. 126, 1955.
40. Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, A., Einstein, Sitzungsberiche der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 44, 831–39, 1915.
41. Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation, A., Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 44, 844–47, 1915 (see also Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais p. 257.)
42. Die Grundlagen der Physik (The Foundations of Physics), David, Hilbert, Nachrichten der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, 395–407, 1915.Google Scholar
43. Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, A., Einstein, Annalen der Physik, 49, 769–822, 1916; translated as The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity, Ibid., Sommerfeld, 1923, Dover.
44. Letter from E. Wigner to J. Mehra, November 29, 1971, reproduced in Einstein, Hilbert, and the Theory of Gravity, Jagdish, Mehra, in The Physicist's Conception of Nature, ed. Jagdish, Mehra, Dordrecht-Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1973, 92–178, see especially pp. 174–78.Google Scholar
45. Ibid., Einstein, Hilbert and the Theory of Gravity, Mehra.
46. A set of references to the debate is included in an article by Ivan T. Todorov, Einstein and Hilbert: The Creation of General Relativity, Ivan T. Todorov, http://lanl.arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0504179v1.pdf
47. Hamiltonsches Princip und allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, A., Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1916; translated by W. Perrett & G. B. Jeffery, as Hamilton's Principle and the General Theory of Relativity, Ibid., Sommerfeld, 1923, Dover.Google Scholar
48. The Relativity Effect in Planetary Motions, G. M., Clemence, Reviews of Modern Physics, 19, 361–63, 1947. Although the observed precession values cited here correspond to a re-evaluation in 1947, they do not appreciably differ from those available to Einstein in 1915.
49. Ibid., Die Grundlage …, Einstein.
50. Ibid., Erklärung …, Einstein.
51. On Einstein's Theory of Gravitation, and its Astronomical Consequences, W., de Sitter, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 76, 699–728, 1916; 77, 155–84, 1916; 78, 3–28, 1917.
52. Sir Arthur Stanley, Eddington O.M., F.R.S., Obituaries written by several astronomers in The Observatory, 66, 1–12, February 1945.
53. A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919, F. W., Dyson, A. S., Eddington, & C., Davidson, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 220, 291–333, 1920.
54. Joint Eclipse Meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, The Observatory, 42, 388–98, 1919.
55. An A-Type Star of Very Low Luminosity, Walter S., Adams, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 26, 198, 1914.
56. The Densities of Visual Binary Stars, E., Öpik, Astrophysical Journal, 44, 292–302, 1916.
57. On the Relation between the Masses and Luminosities of the Stars, A. S., Eddington, Monthly Notices ofthe Royal Astronomical Society, 84, 308–32, 1924.
58. The Relativity Displacement of the Spectral Lines in the Companion of Sirius, Walter S., Adams, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 111, 382–89, 1925.
59. Apparent Weight of Photons, R. V., Pound & G. A., Rebka, Physical Review Letters, 4, 337–41, 1960.
60. Kernresonanzfluoreszenz von Gammastrahlung in Ir191, R. L., Mössbauer, Zeitschrift für Physik, 151, 124–43, 1958.
61. Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopy of the Balmer lines in Sirius, B, M. A., Barstow, et al., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 362, 1134–42, 2005.
62. Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, (Cosmological Considerations on the General Theory of Relativity) A., Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 142–52 (1917) translated from the German in The Principle of Relativity, A. Sommerfeld (ed.), Mineola NY: Dover Publications.Google Scholar
63. On Einstein's Theory of Gravitation and its Astronomical Consequences, W., de Sitter, Monthly Notices ofthe Royal Astronomical Society, 78, 3–28, 1917.
64. Ibid., On Einstein's Theory, de Sitter.
65. Council note on The Motions of Spiral Nebulae, Arthur Stanley, Eddington, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 77, 375–77, 1917.
66. The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion: Background, Issues, and Aftermath, Virginia, Trimble, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1133–44, 1995.Google Scholar
67. An Estimate of the Distance of the Andromeda, Nebula, E., Oepik, Astrophysical Journal, 55, 406–10, 1922.
68. First Determination of the Distance and Fundamental Properties of an Eclipsing Binary in the Andromeda Galaxy, Ignasi, Ribas, et al., Astrophysical Journal, 635, L37–L40, 2005
69. Ibid. The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion, Trimble, see p. 1142.
70. My World Line, George, Gamow. New York: Viking Press, 1970, pp. 42–45.Google Scholar
71. Über die Krümmung des Raumes, A., Friedman, Zeitschrift für Physik, 10, 377–86, 1922.
72. Über die Möglichkeit einer Welt mit konstanter negativer Krümmung des Raumes, A., Friedmann, Zeitschrift für Physik, 21, 326–32, 1924.
73. Analysis of Radial Velocities of Globular Clusters and Non-Galactic Nebulae, Gustaf, Strömberg, Astrophysical Journal, 61, 353–62, 1925.
74. Beobachtungen über den Helligkeitseindruck von Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen in den Jahren 1886 bis 1906, J., Holetschek, Annalen der K. & K. Univeristäts-Sternwarte Wien (Wiener Sternwarte), 20, 1–8, 1907, digitally available through the Hathi Trust Digitial Library.
75. Extra-Galactic Nebulae, Edwin, Hubble, Astrophysical Journal, 64, 321–69 and plates P12–P14, 1926.
76. Un univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant, rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des n'ebuleuses extra-Galactiques, Abbé G., Lemaître, Annales de la Société scientifique de Bruxelles, Série A, 47, 49–59, 1927
77. Cosmology and Controversy – The Historical Development of two Theories of the Universe, Helge, Kragh. Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 29–30.Google Scholar
78. Discovering the Expanding Universe, Harry, Nussbaumer & Lydia, Bieri. Cambridge University Press, 2009.Google Scholar
79. Mystery of the missing text solved, Mario, Livio, Nature, 479, 171–73, 2011.
80. Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?, Helge, Kragh & Robert W., Smith, History of Science, 41, 141–62, 2003.
81. A Relation between Distance and Radial Velocity among Extra-Galactic Nebulae, Edwin, Hubble, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 15, 168–73, 1929.
82. A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Increasing Radius accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra-galactic Nebulae, Abbé G., Lemaître, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 91, 483–90, 1931.
83. Ibid., My World Line, Gamow.
84. Alexander Friedmann and the origins of modern cosmology, Ari, Belenkiy, Physics Today, 65, 38–43, October 2012.
85. Zum kosmologischen Problem der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, A., Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 235–37, 1931.Google Scholar
86. Erklärung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, A., Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 44, 831–39, 1915.
87. Albert Einstein 14 Maart 1878 -18 April 1955, A. D., Fokker, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde, 21, 125–29, 1955.
88. Einstein's Impact on Theoretical Physics Chen-Ning. N., Yang, Physics Today, 33, 42–49, June 1980.
89. Raum, und Zeit, H., Minkowski, Physikalische Zeitschrift, 10, 104–11, 1909.
90. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais p. 152.
91. Ibid., Subtle is the Lord, Pais p. 224.
92. Autobiographische Skizze, in Helle Zeit, Dunkle Zeit – in memoriam Albert Einstein, A., Einstein (Carl, Seelig, editor). Zürich: Europa Verlag, 1956, p. 16.Google Scholar
93. Autobiographical Notes, Albert Einstein, Paul A. Schilpp ed., 1951, 2nd edition. New York: Tudor Pub., 1951, pp. 14–17.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×