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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
In 1907… I realised that all natural phenomena could be discussed in terms of special relativity except for the law of gravitation. I felt a deep desire to understand the reason behind this….
Albert Einstein, Kyoto Lecture, 1922The weight of light
What do colleagues say about giving up the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light? Wien tries to help himself by questioning the gravitational [action of] energy. That, however, is untenable ostrich politics.
Albert Einstein, letter to L. Hopf, 1912In 1913, Max Planck visited Einstein in Zurich with the aim of persuading him to move to Berlin. In conversation, Einstein remarked to Planck that he was working on a new theory of gravity. Planck's response was forthright, but concerned:
As an older friend I must advise you against it, for in the first place you will not succeed; and even if you do suceed, no one will believe you.
Planck was only partly right. Einstein succeeded and his theory of ‘general relativity’ was believed, but, for the most part, his theory had little relevance to mainstream physics. It was not until after Einstein's death in 1955 that the new technological advances of the 1960s rekindled interest in general relativity. Whereas most advances in understanding Nature could have been made by several scientists working at the time instead of the actual discoverer, this is probably not true of general relativity.
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