Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:16:13.635Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Einstein at the Patent Office: Exile, Salvation, or Tactical Retreat?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Robert Schulmann
Robert Schulmann
Affiliation:
History Department and Einstein Papers, Boston University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Soon after finishing his studies in 1900, Einstein makes a tactical retreat to the Patent Office in Bern where he develops a plan for returning to the academic fold. He is assisted in this by a central figure in the Zurich establishment, Alfred Kleiner, who grooms him for the return. More generally, I argue that Einstein's role in the emergence of theoretical physics as a discipline results from the interaction of two developments, one external and institutional, the other internal and personal. Certain institutional constraints influence Einstein's early academic career by providing a professional opportunity to which he can adjust his career plans. The existence of this professional context for Einstein's early work in physics plays a role in encouraging him to pursue the speculative work in physics that became his distinctive hallmark. The other side of the coin is that Einstein's personal legitimation as professor of theoretical physics in 1909 also confers legitimacy on his speculative research, which in turn infuses the term “theoretical physics” with new meaning. The key factor uniting Einstein's personal development with institutional opportunities is the special relationship that he enjoys with Kleiner, who serves as the focus of interactions between the external and internal developments described in the paper.

Type
The Early Professional Context
Information
Science in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 17 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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

Einstein, A. 1955. “Erinnerungen-Souvenirs,” Schweizerische Hochschulzeitung 28, Sonderheft.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. 1987. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 1, The Early Years, 1879–1902, edited by Stachel, J. et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. 1989. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 2, The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900–1909, edited by Stachel, J. et al. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Guggenbühl, Gottfried et al. 1955. Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule 1855–1955. Zurich: Buchverlag der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung.Google Scholar
Jungnickel, Christa, and Russell, McCormmach. 1986. Intellectual Mastery of Nature: Theoretical Physics from Ohm to Einstein. Vol. 2, The Now Mighty Theoretical Physics 1870–1925. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kleiner, Alfred 1902. “Ueber die Wandlungen in den physikalischen Grundan schauungen,” Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesell schaft, August 1901, 113–41.Google Scholar
Kleiner, Alfred. 1914. “Über die Bedeutung leitender Prinzipien im Ausbau der Physik.” Universität Zürich. Festgabe zur Einweihung der Neubauten, 18. April 1914, Part VI, 3–21.Google Scholar
Landolt, Hans, and Richard, Börnstein. 1894. Physikalisch-chemische Tabellen. Berlin: Julius Springer.Google Scholar
Speziali, Pierre. ed. 1972. Albert Einstein/Michele Besso, Correspondance, 1903–1955. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar