EINSTEIN, AlbertBiblio.com
1 909 résultats
1916réf. 6408Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1916. First edition. First editions extremely rare author's presentation offprint not to be confused with the much more common trade separate - see below from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of Einstein's derivation of the field equations of gravitation from a variational principle. This was the first time Einstein had derived the field equations of gravitation in arbitrary coordinates - in his celebrated 1915 papers he derived the equations in generally-covariant form but only in special 'unimodular' coordinates. . THE GRAVITATIONAL EQUATIONS FROM A VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE. First editions extremely rare author's presentation offprint not to be confused with the much more common trade separate - see below from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of Einstein's derivation of the field equations of gravitation from a variational principle. This was the first time Einstein had derived the field equations of gravitation in arbitrary coordinates - in his celebrated 1915 papers he derived the equations in generally-covariant form but only in special 'unimodular' coordinates. In the early 19th century William Rowan Hamilton 1805-65 showed that Newton's equations of motion for a classical mechanical system were equivalent to the statement that the 'action' of the system now called the Lagrangian has a stationary value generally a minimum. A first variational approach to the gravitational field equations of general relativity was unsuccessfully sketched by Einstein and Marcel Grossmann in 1913-1914 and subsequently by Einstein himself in 1914 the so-called Entwurf Theory. But Einstein's 1914 theory was invalidated by a misconception related to the physically unjustified requirement of restricting the covariance of the gravitational field equations and by some mathematical errors in a crucial proof in the theory. Between March and May 1915 the Italian mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita 1873-1941 in his private correspondence with Einstein singled out the mathematical flaws of the Entwurf theory setting Einstein back on the path of general covariance which eventually brought him in November 1915 to the correct formulation of the gravitational field equations. Also in November 1915 the great German mathematician David Hilbert 1862-1943 published an article in which he correctly showed that Einstein's gravitational field equations could be obtained from a variational principle at least in the presence of an electromagnetic field. Five days later independently of Hilbert Einstein obtained in the present paper the same results thus obtaining the definitive variational formulation of the field equations. Einstein considered his approach to be more general than Hilbert's as Hilbert had made some hypotheses about matter which Einstein dispensed with Einstein also refused to accept the electromagnetic origin of matter which Hilbert had assumed. In the course of this paper Einstein also proved a special case of Emmy Noether's second theorem on the relation between symmetry and conservation laws which she published in full generality two years later. The only author's presentation offprint listed on RBH is that is the collection of Einstein's son Hans Albert Christie's 2006; it was not in Einstein's own collection of his offprints Christie's 2008. Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his characteristic numbering in red pencil '33' on front cover. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. "Einstein's first paper on a metric theory of gravity co-authored with his mathematician friend Marcel Grossmann was published as a separatum in early 1913 and was reprinted the following year in Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik. Most of the formalism of general relativity as we know it today was already in place in this Einstein-Grossmann theory. Still missing were the generally-covariant Einstein field equations . "In the fall of 1915 Einstein came to the painful realization that the 'Entwurf' field equations are untenable. Casting about for new field equations he fortuitously found his way back to equations of broad covariance that he had reluctantly abandoned three years earlier . on November 4 1915 presented the rediscovered old equations to the Berlin Academy. He returned a week later with an important modification and two weeks after that with a further modification . "When it was all over Einstein commented with typical self-deprecation: 'unfortunately I have immortalized my final errors in the academy-papers;' and 'it's convenient with that fellow Einstein every year he retracts what he wrote the year before.' What excused Einstein's rushing into print was that he knew that the formidable Göttingen mathematician David Hilbert was hot on his trail. Nevertheless these hastily written communications to the Berlin Academy proved hard to follow even for Einstein's staunchest supporters such as the Leyden theorists H. A. Lorentz and Paul Ehrenfest . Ehrenfest's queries undoubtedly helped Einstein organize the material of November 1915 for an authoritative exposition of the new theory . "In March 1916 Einstein sent his new review article 'Die Grundlage der Relativitätstheorie' to Wilhelm Wien editor of the Annalen . In this paper the field equations and energy-momentum conservation are not developed in generally-covariant form but only in special coordinates. Einstein had found the Einstein field equation in terms of these coordinates in November 1915. This part of the review paper is basically a sanitized version of the argument that had led Einstein to these equations in the first place . "As he was writing his review article he was already considering redoing the discussion of the field equations and energy-momentum conservation in arbitrary coordinates. In November 1916 he published such a generally-covariant account in the Berlin Sitzungsberichte the offered paper. This paper is undoubtedly much more satisfactory mathematically than the corresponding part of the review article but it does not offer any insight into how Einstein actually found his theory. Reading the offered paper without having read the November 1915 papers and the 1916 review article one easily comes away with the impression that Einstein hit upon the Einstein field equations simply by picking the mathematically most obvious candidate for the gravitational part of the Lagrangian for the metric field namely the Riemann curvature scalar. This is essentially how Einstein himself came to remember his discovery of general relativity. He routinely trotted out this version of events to justify the purely mathematical speculation he resorted to in his work on unified field theory. "In this paper he derived the generally-covariant field equations from an action principle with the Riemann curvature scalar as the Lagrangian . The present paper fills two important gaps in the review article. First Einstein derived the generally-covariant version of the Bianchi identities which in conjunction with the field equations imply energy-momentum conservation . Second Einstein showed that the identities guaranteeing energy-momentum conservation are a direct consequence of the covariance of the action functional. Einstein had thus in a mathematically impeccable way found a special case of one of Noether's theorems published two years later. "From a purely mathematical point of view the discussion of the field equations and energy-momentum conservation in the present paper is far more elegant than in the review article. This more elegant treatment however obscures the way in which Einstein found the Einstein field equations. It makes it look as if it was a matter ofpicking the most obvious candidate for the Lagrangian the Riemann curvature scalar at which point everything else fell into place. Ironically this is exactly what Einstein in his later years came to believe himself in part no doubt because it made his successful search for the field equations of general relativity look so similar to his fruitless search for a unified field theory. The clumsier discussion in unimodular coordinates in the review article however may serve as a reminder that-whatever he believed said or wrote about it later on-Einstein only discovered the mathematical high road to the Einstein field equations after he had already found these equations at the end of a poorly paved road through physics. Serving as road signs were Newton's gravitational theory Maxwell's electrodynamics and such key results of special relativity as the law of energy-momentum conservation. Considerations of mathematical elegance played only a subsidiary role" Janssen. This author's presentation offprint is of extreme rarity and must be distinguished from other so-called 'offprints' of papers from the Berlin Sitzungsberichte many of which are commonly available on the market. The celebrated bookseller Ernst Weil 1919-1981 in the introduction to his Einstein bibliography wrote: "I have often been asked about the number of those offprints. It seems to be certain that there were few before 1914. They were given only to the author and mostly 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' Presented by the Author is printed on the wrapper. Later on I have no doubt many more offprints were made and also sold as such especially by the Berlin Academy." If the term 'offprint' means as we believe it should a separate printing of a journal article given only to the author for distribution to colleagues then 'offprints' were not commercially available. Although there is certainly some truth in Weil's remark in our view it requires clarification and explanation. Until about 1916 most of Einstein's papers were published in Annalen der Physik; from 1916 until he left Germany for the United States in 1933 most were published in the Berlin Sitzungsberichte. The Sitzungsberichte differed from other journals in which Einstein published in that it made separate printings of its papers commercially available. These separate printings have 'Sonderabdruck' printed on the front wrapper the usual German term for offprint but they are not offprints according to our definition. They were available to anyone; indeed a price list of these 'trade offprints' is printed on the rear wrapper. True author's presentation offprints can be distinguished from these trade separates by the presence of 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' on the front wrapper. In the period 1916 to 1919 or 1920 the Sitzungsberichte trade separates are themselves rare. After 1919 or 1920 however the trade separates become much more common although the author's presentation offprints are still very rare. The reason for this change is that it was only in 1919 that Einstein became famous among the general public. It might seem obvious that Einstein's fame dates from 1905 his 'annus mirabilis' in which he published his epoch-making papers on special relativity and the light quantum. However these works did not make him immediately well known even in the physics community - many physicists did not understand or accept his work and it was two or three years before his genius was fully accepted even by his colleagues. Einstein did not secure an academic position until 1908. Among the general public Einstein became well known only in late 1919 following the success of Eddington's expedition to observe the bending of light by the Sun which confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity. This was front-page news and made Einstein universally famous. See Chapter 16 'The suddenly famous Doctor Einstein' in Pais Subtle is the Lord for an account of these events. Before 1919 the trade separates of Einstein's papers would probably only have been purchased by professional physicists; after 1919 everyone wanted a memento of the famous Dr. Einstein whether or not they understood anything of theoretical physics and the trade separates of his papers were printed and sold in far greater numbers than before to meet the demand. It is telling that when these post-1919 trade separates appear on the market they are often in mint condition - they were never read simply because their owners were unable to understand them. BRL 90; Weil 88. Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. Janssen 'Einstein's First Systematic Exposition of General Relativity' 2004 . 8vo 252 x 180 mm pp. 1111-1116. Original orange printed wrappers light vertical crease for posting. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
1911réf. 6407Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1911. First edition. First edition an extremely rare author's presentation offprint with 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' - Presented by the Author from the library of the eminent German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of Einstein's "first paper completely devoted to general relativity" Brandt Harvest of a Century. In this groundbreaking work Einstein applied the equivalence principle - the idea that acceleration and gravitation are physically indistinguishable - to predict two profound effects of gravity on light: the gravitational redshift and the bending of light by massive bodies. These predictions would later be spectacularly confirmed notably in the 1919 solar eclipse observations cementing Einstein's reputation worldwide. . GRAVITATIONAL RED-SHIFT AND THE BENDING OF LIGHT . First edition extremely rare author's presentation offprint with 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' Presented by the Author stamped on front wrapper from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of Einstein's "first paper completely devoted to general relativity" Brandt p. 105. This epochal paper applies the equivalence principle that acceleration and gravitation are equivalent in their physical effects to demonstrate two effects of gravity on light: the gravitational bending of light and the gravitational redshift. "In 1911 Einstein proceeded to revise and improve his earlier presentation in 1907 making the principle of equivalence the central feature of his treatment. Einstein now included an elegant proof based on a cyclic process reminiscent of thermodynamics that the gravitational mass of a body as well as its inertial mass is increased by the amount E/c2 when the body absorbs energy E c being the speed of light" Collected Papers p. xxix. Einstein applies this result to show first that if light of frequency ν travels a distance d against a gravitational field which would exert an acceleration g on a gravitating body its frequency is reduced by Δν = νgd/c2 - this is the gravitational redshift. And second Einstein deduced the deflection of a light ray moving in the gravitational field of a spherical body - he finds that the light suffers a deflection toward the source given by 2Gm/dc2 where d is the distance of closest approach to the body of mass m and G is the gravitational constant. "The paper ends with a plea to the astronomers: 'It is urgently desirable that astronomers concern themselves with the question brought up here even if the foregoing considerations might seem insufficiently founded or even adventurous'" Pais p. 200. The bending of light was famously observed by Eddington and his team during a solar eclipse in 1919; the gravitational redshift was more difficult to measure but Einstein's prediction was confirmed by Pound & Rebka at Harvard in 1960 using a laboratory experiment not astronomical observations. "Thus in 1911 we discern the first glimpses of the new Einstein program: to derive the equivalence principle from a new theory of gravitation. This cannot be achieved within the framework of what he called the ordinary relativity theory the special theory. Therefore one must look for a new theory not only of gravitation but also of relativity. Another point made in this paper likewise bears on that new program. 'Of course one cannot replace an arbitrary gravitational field by a state of motion without gravitational field as little as one can transform to rest by means of a relativity transformation all points of an arbitrarily moving medium.' This statement would continue to be true in the ultimate general theory of relativity" Pais pp. 195-196. OCLC lists three copies: King's College London; Württembergische Landesbibliothek; Swiss National Library. RBH list only two other copies both sold by Christie's: the Plotnick copy in 2002 and that in Einstein's own collection of his offprints in 2008. Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his characteristic numbering in red pencil '20' on front cover. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. "In 1907 still working at the patent office in Bern Einstein began to study the laws of physics in reference frames with an accelerated relative motion. When he completed this work in 1915 he called it the General Theory of Relativity. At various occasions Einstein recalled his starting point in this project. It struck him that a man falling from the top of a roof he said did not feel his own weight. In the reference frame of the building it is the weight or gravitational force which make the man fall but in a reference frame moving with the man there is another force exactly counteracting the weight so that there is no net force. In that frame the man stays at rest. Einstein realized that acceleration and gravitation are equivalent to each other. That was later called the equivalence principle. If he would be able to extend his theory of relativity to accelerated reference frames he would be able to do for the theory of gravitation what he had done for electrodynamics with special relativity. He gave a first glimpse at his new topic in a review article on special relativity written in 1907 'Über das Relativitätprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen' Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik Bd. 4 pp. 411-62" Brandt p. 105. "A few months before the Solvay Congress Einstein had returned to the questions concerning gravitation and accelerated frames of reference that he first raised in his 1907 review article on relativity. These subjects had gone unmentioned in his papers for four years and hardly ever appear in his correspondence during that time. But in June 1911 Einstein completed a short paper 'On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light.' This was only a month after his letter to Besso announcing that he was abandoning his efforts to create a new theory of radiation. It looks as though his renunciation of that quest set him free to focus his attention once more on gravitation" Collected Papers p. xxix. "It is characteristic for Einstein that in the same paper he proposed a way to verify his predictions experimentally . From his formula for the gravitational redshift he computed that the frequency of a spectral line emitted by an atom on the surface of the sun would be reduced by two parts in a million when that light reached the earth. Thus a line spectrum originating from the sun is shifted to lower frequencies and therefore to longer wavelengths compared to a spectrum emitted in the laboratory. This redshift is difficult to measure because the surface of the sun is a nasty environment with high pressure storms and magnetic fields all influencing spectral lines. But with modern techniques it has been well established even in the laboratory with radiation climbing against the earth's gravitation for only a few meters. "Einstein also computed the bending of light by gravitation. If the light of a star passes near the surface of the sun and is then observed by an astronomer on the earth the star appears to be in a slightly different position because the light was attracted by the sun and thus the ray was bent on its way from star to the earth. Einstein found a bending angle of 0.83 seconds of an arc. This number was too small by a factor of two but nobody knew because the effect had not been measured. However Einstein himself realized that his theory had to be refined. For a homogeneous gravitational field a field that is constant everywhere he could replace gravitation by a single transformation to an accelerated coordinate system. For a more complicated field like that of the sun or that of all stars the transformation would have to be different for every point in space. That seemed a formidable problem" Brandt p. 106. The correct calculation of light bending was made only in 1915 when Einstein had the final version of general relativity. "His 1911 paper was specifically prompted by his new realization that it should be possible to observe the gravitational bending of light . One had to observe a star whose light would travel close by the sun on its way to the observer. This could be done during a total eclipse of the sun . "Einstein took the initiative in consulting experimental colleagues about the possibilities for checking these results. In August 1911 he began corresponding with W.H. Julius of Utrecht about the gravitational redshift among other matters. At about the same time he raised with Erwin Freundlich at Berlin the question of observing the deflecting of starlight by the gravitational field of the sun a subject on which he corresponded with George Ellery Hale at the Mount Wilson Observatory two years later. There would however be no reliable results on either of these subjects for years to come. But whether or not there were experimental results to help in guiding his work generalizing relativity and creating a new theory of gravitation became the problem that absorbed his attention for the next few years. 'I am just now lecturing on the foundations of that poor dead mechanics which is so beautiful' he wrote to Zangger a month after the Solvay Congress. 'What will its successor look like With that question I torment myself ceaselessly'" Collected Papers pp. xxix-xxx. "English interest in the bending of light developed soon after copies of Einstein's general relativity papers were sent from Holland by de Sitter to Arthur Stanley Eddington at Cambridge . a subsequent report by Eddington . stressed the importance of the deflection of light. In March 1917 the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson drew attention to the excellence of the star configuration on May 29 1919 another eclipse date for measuring the alleged deflection . Two expeditions were mounted one to Sobral in Brazil led by Andrew Crommelin from the Greenwich Observatory and one to Principe Island off the coast of Spanish Guinea led by Eddington. Before departing Eddington wrote 'The present eclipse expeditions may for the first time demonstrate the weight of light i.e. the Newton value; or they may confirm Einstein's weird theory of non-Euclidean space which predicted twice the Newton value; or they may lead to a result of yet more far-reaching consequences - no deflection' . The expeditions returned. Data analysis began. According to a preliminary report by Eddington to the meeting of the British Association held in Bournemouth on September 9-13 the bending of light lay between 0.87 and double that value. Word reached Lorentz. Lorentz cabled Einstein . Then came November 6 1919 the day on which Einstein was canonized . the setting a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society resembled a Congregation of Rites. Dyson acted as postulator ably assisted by Crommelin and Eddington as advocate-procurators. Dyson speaking first concluded his remarks with the statement 'After a careful study of the plates I am prepared to say that they confirm Einstein's prediction. A very definite result has been obtained that light is deflected in accordance with Einstein's law of gravitation'" Pais pp. 304-305. The gravitational bending of light has recently found a new application - the search for extra-solar planets. ". the 'most curious effect' of the bending of starlight by the gravity of intervening foreground stars - now commonly referred to as 'gravitational microlensing' - has become one of the successfully applied techniques to detect planets orbiting stars other than the Sun while being quite unlike any other . Gravitational microlensing favours a range of orbital separations that covers planets whose orbital periods are too long to allow detection by other indirect techniques but which are still too close to their host star to be detected by means of their emitted or reflected light. Rather than being limited to the Solar neighbourhood a unique opportunity is provided for inferring a census of planets orbiting stars belonging to two distinct populations within the Milky Way with a sensitivity not only reaching down to Earth mass but even below with ground-based observations. The capabilities of gravitational microlensing extend even to obtaining evidence of a planet orbiting a star in another galaxy" Dominik. BRL 39; Parkinson p. 471; Weil 43. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein vol. 3 The Swiss Years: Writings 1909-1911 Princeton: Princeton University Press 1994. Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. Brandt The Harvest of a Century Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009. Dominik 'Studying planet populations with Einstein's blip' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences vol. 368 no. 1924 2010. Pais Subtle is the Lord Oxford: Clarendon Press 1982. 8vo 222 x 144 mm pp. 1 blank 898-908. Original printed orange wrappers light vertical crease for posting. Johann Ambrosius Barth unknown
1906réf. 6413Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1906. First edition. First edition a very rare author's presentation offprint with 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' from the library of the eminent German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of this important sequel to Einstein's revolutionary 1905 paper introducing the light-quantum hypothesis - the foundation of quantum theory. In this follow- up work Einstein further develops the implications of his light-quantum hypothesis arguing that Max Planck's black-body radiation law implicitly relies on the same assumption: that light itself consists of discrete quanta of energy. . EINSTEIN ON HIS LIGHT-QUANTUM HYPOTHESIS . First edition very rare author's presentation offprint "Überreicht vom Verfasser" from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of this brilliant follow-up to Einstein's landmark 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect for which he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics. "Thomas Kuhn has argued that it is not to Planck in 1900 but to Einstein in 1905 that we owe the origins of quantum theory" Cassidy. In the 1905 paper 'On a heuristic point of view concerning the production and transformation of light' Einstein had explained the photoelectric effect-the emission of electrons from a metal when irradiated by light-by making the revolutionary proposal that light rather than consisting of continuous waves was instead made up of discrete particles of energy "light quanta" which transferred their entire payload of energy to an electron on impact. In the 1905 paper Einstein made use of Planck's formula for blackbody radiation which had introduced the concept of energy quantization. "In a companion paper published in 1906 offered here Einstein exposed appeal to the quantum as fundamentally counter to the ethos of classical physics: 'the theoretical bases on which Planck's radiation theory rests are different from those of Maxwell's theory'. Planck had not initially intended to quantify light-radiation itself but Einstein demonstrated that his own 'light-quantum hypothesis' was implicit in Planck's earlier work" Honner p. 31. "At first Einstein believed that the light-quantum hypothesis was merely 'heuristic': light behaved only as if it consisted of discontinuous quanta . In his 1906 paper Einstein used his statistical mechanics to demonstrate that when light interacts with matter Planck's entire formula can arise only from the existence of light quanta-not from waves" Cassidy. As Einstein stated when he published the 1905 paper "Planck's theory of radiation seemed to me in a certain respect the antithesis of my own. New considerations which are presented in section 1 of this paper demonstrated to me however that the theoretical bases on which Planck's radiation theory rests are different from those of Maxwell's theory and of electron theory. The difference furthermore is precisely that Planck's theory implicitly makes use of the light-quantum hypothesis" p. 199 of the present paper translation from Kuhn p. 182. Later in the paper p. 203 Einstein is forced to make the following assumption: "Although Maxwell's theory is not applicable to elementary resonators the average energy of such a resonator in a radiation field is the same as that which one would compute from Maxwell's theory". "That statement marks the emergence of the basic paradox of the old quantum theory. The theory has recourse to both Maxwell's equations and those of classical mechanics but its further formulation is incompatible with one or both of those classical theories. Other physicists were to exploit the resulting inconsistency as an argument against any form of quantum discontinuity and Einstein himself was deeply disturbed by it . But neither he nor anyone else was successful in finding a classical resolution of the quantum paradox. When two decades later Bohr and others found a way to resolve it Einstein was unable to accept their fundamentally non-classical interpretation" Kuhn pp. 184-185. RBH lists 4 other copies: in the offprint collections of Einstein himself Christie's June 17 2008 lot 100 Richard Green Christie's June 17 2008 lot 101 Hans Albert Einstein Christie's June 14 2006 lot 264 and Harvey Plotnick Christie's October 4 2002 lot 105. This copy was presented by Einstein to one of the leading physicists of the time surely hoping to make himself known in the scientific world when he was still a technical expert in the Swiss Patent Office. Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his signature and characteristic numbering in red pencil '8' on front cover. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. "Einstein started to study black-body radiation well before 1905. Mach's Wärmelehre which Einstein read in 1897 or shortly thereafter contains two chapters on thermal radiation culminating in a discussion of Kirchhoff's work. Kirchhoff showed that the energy emission spectrum of a perfectly black body defined as one absorbing all incident radiation at a given temperature is a universal function of the temperature and wavelength. He inferred that equilibrium thermal radiation in a cavity with walls maintained at a certain temperature behaves like radiation emitted by a black body at the same temperature. "H. F. Weber Einstein's physics professor at the ETH attempted to determine the universal black-body radiation function. He made measurements of the energy spectrum and proposed an empirical formula for the distribution function . anticipating Wien's formulation of the displacement law for black-body radiation. Weber described his work in a course at the ETH given during the winter semester of 1898-1899 for which Einstein registered. "By March 1899 Einstein had started to think seriously about the problem of radiation. In the spring of 1901 he was closely following Planck's work on black-body radiation. Originally Planck had hoped to explain irreversibility by studying electromagnetic radiation but came to recognize that this could not be done without introducing statistical elements into the argument. In a series of papers published between 1897 and 1900 Planck utilized Maxwell's electrodynamics to develop a theory of thermal radiation in interaction with one or more identical charged harmonic oscillators within a cavity. He was only able to account for the irreversible approach to thermal equilibrium by employing methods analogous to those Boltzmann used in kinetic theory. Planck introduced the notion of 'natural' that is maximally disordered radiation which he defined in analogy with Boltzmann's definition of molecular chaos . "Planck calculated the average energy of an oscillator by making assumptions about the entropy of the oscillators that enabled him to derive Wien's law for the blackbody spectrum which originally seemed well supported by the experimental evidence. But by the turn of the century new observations showed systematic deviations from Wien's law for large values of temperature. "Planck in 1900 presented a new energy density distribution formula that agreed closely with observations over the entire spectrum . this expression now known as Planck's law or Planck's formula involves a new constant h later called Planck's constant. To derive this formula Planck calculated the entropy of the oscillators using what Einstein later called 'the Boltzmann principle': S = k log W where S is the entropy of a macroscopic state of the system the probability of which is W and k is 'Boltzmann's constant'. Following Boltzmann Planck took W proportional to the number of 'complexions' or possible microconfigurations of the system corresponding to its state. He calculated this number by dividing the total energy of the state into a finite number of elements of equal magnitude and counting the number of possible ways of distributing these energy elements among the individual oscillators. If the size of the energy elements is set equal to hv where v is the frequency of the oscillators an expression for the entropy of an oscillator results that leads to Planck's formula . "In the 1905 paper Einstein showed that the expression for the volume dependence of the entropy of radiation at a given frequency is similar in form to that of the entropy of an ideal gas. He concluded that 'monochromatic radiation of low density behaves thermodynamically as though it consisted of quanta of energy which are independent of one another' . Einstein opened the paper by pointing out the 'fundamental formal distinction' between current theories of matter in which the energy of a body is represented as a sum over a finite number of degrees of freedom and Maxwell's theory in which the energy is a continuous spatial function having an infinite number of degrees of freedom. He suggested that the inability of Maxwell's theory to give an adequate account of radiation might be remedied by a theory in which radiant energy is distributed discontinuously in space. Einstein formulated 'the light quantum hypothesis' that the energy of a light ray emitted from a point is not continuously distributed over an ever increasing space but consists of a finite number of energy quanta which are localized at points in space which move without dividing and which can only be produced and absorbed as complete units . Einstein asserted that Planck's derivation implicitly assumes quantization of the energies of charged oscillators" Papers pp. 134-142. "In 1905 Einstein could not make sense of Planck's derivation of Planck's law. In fact he seems to have deliberately avoided any reference to Planck's law in his reasoning . The following year Einstein ceased to avoid Planck's law as he discovered a new way to justify Planck's formal steps toward this law. If a resonator of frequency ν can only emit or absorb full light quanta Einstein reasoned then its energy can only be an integral multiple of hν and Planck's characterization of the complexions for a set of resonators receives a dynamical justification. The only remaining difficulty is that Planck's derivation of the relation between the average energy of a resonator and the spectral density of radiation becomes void. Einstein expressed the need of a new derivation based on some quantized dynamics for the interaction between matter and radiation. Ten years elapsed however before he filled the gap" Janssen & Lehner p. 126. In the final section of this paper Einstein gives a new application of his 'heuristic principle' to the explanation of the 'Volta effect' - that when two different metals are placed in contact a potential difference between them is observed. BRL 12; Weil 12. Shields "Writings of Albert Einstein" in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist 1948 pp. 689-758 no. 13; also included in Shields' "Chronological list of principal works" on p. 757. The Cambridge Companion to Einstein Janssen & Lehner eds. 2014. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Vol. 2: The Swiss Years: Writings 1900-1909. Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. Cassidy "Einstein on the Photoelectric Effect." Einstein: Image and Impact. American Institute of Physics n.d. Honner The Description of Nature 1988. Kuhn Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity 1894-1912 1978. Pais Subtle is the Lord 1982. 8vo 222 x 144 mm pp. 199-206. Original printed wrappers small chip from upper edge of front wrapper. Johann Ambrosius Barth unknown
1915réf. 6406Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1915. First edition. First editions very rare offprint issue of the first two papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein's final formulation of the general theory of relativity - the culmination of nearly a decade of theoretical work. These papers represent a turning point not only in Einstein's career but in the history of modern physics. Delivered to the Prussian Academy on 4 and 11 November 1915 they contain the essential framework and mathematical formalism of the completed theory preceding the famous final paper of 25 November by just days. Collectively the November papers form the core of Einstein's definitive breakthrough. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton. . EINSTEIN'S COMPLETION OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY . First editions extremely rare author's presentation offprint not to be confused with the much more common trade separate - see below from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld of the first two of the papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein's final version of the general theory of relativity. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton. "There was difficulty reconciling the Newtonian theory of gravitation with its instantaneous propagation of forces with the requirements of special relativity; and Einstein working on this difficulty was led to a generalization of relativity - which was probably the greatest scientific discovery that was ever made" Dirac quoted in Chandrasekhar p. 3. Einstein's special theory of relativity 1905 showed that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial i.e. non-accelerating frames of reference. It was then natural to ask whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. This problem became linked to a theory of gravitation with Einstein's 'equivalence principle' of 1907 according to which the effects of gravity are locally equivalent to those of accelerated motion. Einstein's first steps towards a geometrical theory of gravitation were taken in August 1912 when his friend Marcel Grossmann provided the necessary mathematical tools. "Some time between August 10 and August 16 it became clear to Einstein that Riemannian geometry is the correct mathematical tool for what we now call general relativity theory. The impact of this abrupt realization was to change his outlook on physics and physical theory for the rest of his life" Pais p. 210. The resulting 'Entwurf' theory 1913 had much in common with the final theory of 1915 but based on a fallacious argument Einstein abandoned the requirement that the theory should be 'generally-covariant' i.e. that arbitrary frames of reference should be allowed. "After three years of fruitless peregrinations the revelation came to Einstein that he had been constantly on the wrong track although in 1913 he had been so near to the right solution" Lanczos p. 211. On November 4 1915 he presented to a plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' "based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1" and stated that he had "completely lost confidence" in the 'Entwurf' equations. On November 18 he published his calculation of the precession of the perihelion of Mercury based on the new theory: its agreement with observation confirmed that the theory was correct the Entwurf theory predicted half the observed value of the precession. Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his characteristic numbering in red pencil '30' on front cover. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. "In June 1905 while still a patent examiner in Bern Einstein submitted his famous work on the electrodynamics of moving bodies to the Annalen der Physik. This work contained his special theory of relativity in which he asserted the equivalence of all inertial frames of reference as a fundamental postulate of physics. The question which then naturally arose was whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. But he could find no workable basis for such an extension until he tried to incorporate gravitation into his new special theory of relativity for a review article in 1907 'Uber das Relativitätsprinzip und die ausdemselben gezogenen Folgerungen' Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Elektronik 4 1907 411-62. The difficulties of this task led him to a new principle later to be called the 'principle of equivalence.' "On the basis of the fact that all bodies fall alike in a gravitational field Einstein postulated the complete physical equivalence of a homogeneous gravitational field and a uniform acceleration of the frame of reference. This extended the principle of relativity to the case of uniform acceleration. It also foreshadowed the problem whose complete solution would lead him to his general theory of relativity: the construction of a relativistically acceptable theory of gravitation based on the principle of equivalence" Norton p. 258. One application of the equivalence principle proved crucial to the subsequent development of his ideas on general relativity. Einstein considered an observer standing on a rotating disc - a non-inertial accelerating reference frame. According to special relativity measuring rods aligned with the circumference of the disc will contract due to their motion whereas measuring rods positioned along the radius of the disc will not. Hence the ratio of the circumference of the disc to its diameter will be less than π. "The spatial geometry for the rotating observer is therefore non-euclidean. Invoking the equivalence principle Einstein concluded that this will be true for an observer in a gravitational field as well. This then is what first suggested to Einstein that gravity should be represented by curved space-time. "To describe curved space-time Einstein turned to Gauss's theory of curved surfaces a subject he vaguely remembered from his student days at the ETH in Zürich. He had learned it from the notes of his classmate Marcel Grossmann. Upon his return to his alma mater as a full professor of physics in 1912 Einstein learned from Grossmann now a colleague in the mathematics department of the ETH about the extension of Gauss's theory to spaces of higher dimension by Riemann and others. Riemann's theory provided Einstein with the mathematical object with which he could unify the effects of gravity and acceleration: the metric field" Janssen p. 65. The first product of this collaboration was the Entwurf einer verallgemeinerten Relativitätstheorie und einer Theorie der Gravitation published before the end of June 1913 which contained many of the essential features of the final general theory of relativity; most importantly it introduced the 'metric' of space-time. In Minkowski's formulation of special relativity 1908 the most important quantity is the 'world function' of two events which determines the metric and causal structure of space-time. If these events have coordinates x y z t and x' y' z' t' in some inertial reference frame the world function is: c2t' - t2 - x' - x2 - y' - y2 - z' - z2 where c is the speed of light. Its crucial property is that it depends only on the two events and not on the choice of inertial reference frame - in other words it is unchanged 'invariant' when x y z t and x' y' z' t' are both subjected to any Lorentz transformation. Einstein and Grossmann began with the world function in differential form: ds2 = c2dt2 - dx2 - dy2 - dz2 If we now subject x y z t to an arbitrary coordinate transformation not necessarily a Lorentz transformation this takes the general form ds2 = g11dx12 g12dx1dx2 . ; the collection of quantities gμν which in general depend on the coordinates x1 x2 x3 x4 is called the metric. Based on analogy with Newton's theory Einstein expected that the gravitational equations should be of the form Gμν = Tμν where Gμν is a purely geometric quantity constructed solely from the metric gμν and its derivatives up to the second order and the 'stress-energy tensor' Tμν contains the information about the matter that is producing the gravitational field including energy density momentum fluxes and stresses. The question was: what exactly should Gμνbe Einstein and Grossmann found that generally covariant equations did not seem to be compatible with energy-momentum conservation or reduce to the equations of Newtonian gravitational theory for weak static fields both essential requirements of the correct theory. Einstein therefore decided to settle in the 'Entwurf' for equations with very limited covariance - instead of arbitrary changes in coordinates only linear ones were allowed. The restricted covariance of the 'Entwurf' field equations continued to bother him until in late August 1913 he convinced himself that such restrictions are unavoidable by means of the infamous "hole argument" first published as an addendum to the reprint of the 'Entwurf' article in Zeitschrift für Physik in January 1914. This ingenious argument showed correctly that if the gravitational equations were generally covariant the metric gμν would not be uniquely determined by the matter distribution i.e. by Tμν. He concluded incorrectly that this implied that general covariance must be ruled out the hole argument does not work if only linear coordinate transformations are allowed. The appropriate analogy is with electromagnetism: the metric is analogous to the scalar and vector potentials of electromagnetism and it was well known certainly to Einstein that these potentials are not uniquely determined by the charges and currents producing the electromagnetic field. That the 'Entwurf' theory was incorrect was made clear by Einstein's attempt in collaboration with Michele Besso another former classmate to explain the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. In 1859 Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had observed the 'precession' of Mercury's orbit: this orbit is an ellipse but the ellipse is not fixed in space but slowly rotates. From early on in his search for a new relativistic theory of gravitation Einstein had been interested in the problem of Mercury's perihelion. In a letter to his friend Conrad Habicht in 1907 Einstein had already expressed his hope that such a theory would explain the anomalous advance of Mercury's perihelion. Besso visited Einstein in Zürich in June 1913 and the two men calculated the precession expected on the basis of the 'Entwurf' theory. Disappointingly it was only about half the observed anomaly. Einstein left Zürich in March 1914 to take up a professorship in Berlin which was to be his home until December 1932. He made no further progress on the gravitational equations until the summer of 1915 although a detailed exposition of the 'Entwurf' theory was published in October 1914 in which Einstein maintained the need for restricted covariance and even claimed that this determined the gravitational Lagrangian uniquely. "Einstein still believed in the 'old' theory as late as July 1915 between July and October he found objections to that theory and his final version was conceived and worked out between late October and November 25 . What made Einstein change his mind between July and October Letters to Sommerfeld and Lorentz show that he had found at least three objections against the old theory: 1 its restricted covariance did not include uniform rotations 2 the precession of the perihelion of Mercury came out too small by a factor of about 2 and 3 his proof of October 1914 of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian was incorrect. Einstein got rid of all these shortcomings in a series of four brief articles offered here . "On November 4 Einstein presented to the plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1'. He began this paper by stating that he had 'completely lost confidence' in the equations proposed in October 1914. At that time he had given a proof of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian. He had realized meanwhile that this proof 'rested on misconception' and so he continued 'I was led back to a more general covariance of the field equations a requirement which I had abandoned only with a heavy heart in the course of my collaboration with my friend Grossmann three years earlier' . "Einstein and Grossmann had concluded that the gravitational equations could be invariant under linear transformations only and Einstein's justification for this restriction was based on the belief that the gravitational equations ought to determine the gμν uniquely a point he continued to stress in October 1914. In his new paper he finally liberated himself from this three-year-old prejudice. That is the main advance on November 4. His answers were still not entirely right. There was still one flaw a much smaller one which he eliminated three weeks later. But the road lay open. He was lyrical. 'No one who has really grasped it can escape the magic of this new theory.' "The remaining flaw was of course Einstein's unnecessary restriction to unimodular transformations. The reasons which led him to introduce this constraint were not deep I believe. He simply noted that this restricted class of transformations permits simplifications of the tensor calculus . The new equations are a vast improvement over the Einstein-Grossmann equations and cure one of the ailments he had diagnosed only recently: unimodular transformations do include rotations with arbitrarily varying angular velocities. In addition he proved that the new equations can be derived from a variational principle and that the conservation laws are satisfied" Pais pp. 250-252. On November 11 he submitted a 'Nachtrag' to his paper of a week earlier. "Einstein proposes a scheme that is even tighter than the one of a week earlier. Not only shall the theory be invariant with respect to unimodular transformations . but more strongly it shall satisfy the condition that the determinant of the matrix gμν is equal to minus one . During the next two weeks Einstein believed that this new condition had brought him closer to general covariance . One week later he remarked that 'no objections of principle' can be raised against it" ibid. pp. 252-253. Norton p. 309 points out that Einstein had in fact made a significant advance in this paper: namely he had finally found generally covariant field equations that reduced to the Newtonian equations in the weak field limit" ibid. p. 253. On November 18 still retaining the restrictions of his paper of a week earlier Einstein presented in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie'"two of his greatest discoveries. Each of these changed his life. The first result was that his theory explains . quantitatively . the secular rotation of the orbit of Mercury discovered by Le Verrier . without the need of any special hypothesis. This discovery was I believe by far the strongest emotional experience in Einstein's scientific life perhaps in all his life. Nature had spoken to him. He had to be right. 'For a few days I was beside myself with joyous excitement'. Later he told Fokker that his discovery had given him palpitations of the heart. What he told de Haas is even more profoundly significant: when he saw that his calculations agreed with the unexplained astronomical observations he had the feeling that something actually snapped in him . "Einstein's discovery resolved a difficulty that was known for more than sixty years. Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had been the first to find evidence for an anomaly in the orbit of Mercury and also the first to attempt to explain this effect . In 1859 he found that the perihelion of Mercury advances by thirty-eight seconds per century due to 'some as yet unknown action on which no light has been thrown . a grave difficulty worthy of attention by astronomers'" ibid. pp. 253-254. A more accurate measurement of 43 seconds was made by Simon Newcomb in 1882 and this was precisely the value predicted by the new theory. The prediction of the bending of light in a gravitational field was treated only briefly in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' probably because no accurate measurement of it had been made so this prediction could not be confirmed at the time. Einstein had realised in 1907 based on the equivalence principle that some bending of light should occur but he believed that the effect was too small to be observed. In 1911 he realized that the effect could be detected for starlight grazing the sun during a total eclipse and found that the amount of bending in that case is 0''.87 - this value could in fact have been computed by Newton from his law of gravitation and his corpuscular theory of light. In 3 Einstein discovered that general relativity implies a bending of light by the sun equal to 1".74 twice the Newtonian value. This factor of 2 set the stage for a confrontation between Newton and Einstein. "It was not until May 1919 that two British expeditions obtained the first useful photographs and not until November 1919 that their results were formally announced . In March 1917 the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson drew attention to the excellence of the star configuration on May 29 1919 an eclipse date for measuring the alleged deflection . Two expeditions were mounted one to Sobral in Brazil led by Andrew Crommelin from the Greenwich Observatory and one to Principe Island off the coast of Spanish Guinea led by Eddington. Before departing Eddington wrote 'The present eclipse expeditions may for the first time demonstrate the weight of light i.e. the Newton value; or they may confirm Einstein's weird theory of non-Euclidean space; or they may lead to a result of yet more far-reaching consequences - no deflection' . The expeditions returned. Data analysis began. According to a preliminary report by Eddington to the meeting of the British Association held in Bournemouth on September 9-13 the bending of light lay between 0''.87 and double that value. Word reached Lorentz. Lorentz cabled Einstein . Then came November 6 1919 the day on which Einstein was canonized" Pais 304-305. At a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society on that date Dyson concluded his remarks with the statement "'After a careful study of the plates I am prepared to say that they confirm Einstein's prediction. A very definite result has been obtained that light is deflected in accordance with Einstein's law of gravitation'" ibid. p. 305. Three remarks may be made on the speed with which after eight years of struggle Einstein completed these final papers on his theory. The first is that Einstein had come very close to the correct gravitational equations in the second half of 1912 - they are recorded in his 'Zurich notebook' - but he discarded them because of his arguments against general covariance as we have seen. Once he no longer believed in these arguments he could return to the work carried out in the Zurich notebook and complete it. The second is that the detailed calculations in 3 relating to Mercury's perihelion were in fact very similar to those he had carried out with Besso in 1913 and so required relatively little extra effort. The final point is that Einstein was in competition with the great Göttingen mathematician David Hilbert. This author's presentation offprint is of extreme rarity and must be distinguished from other so-called 'offprints' of papers from the Berlin Sitzungsberichte many of which are commonly available on the market. The celebrated bookseller Ernst Weil 1919-1981 in the introduction to his Einstein bibliography wrote: "I have often been asked about the number of those offprints. It seems to be certain that there were few before 1914. They were given only to the author and mostly 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' Presented by the Author is printed on the wrapper. Later on I have no doubt many more offprints were made and also sold as such especially by the Berlin Academy." If the term 'offprint' means as we believe it should a separate printing of a journal article given only to the author for distribution to colleagues then 'offprints' were not commercially available. Although there is certainly some truth in Weil's remark in our view it requires clarification and explanation. Until about 1916 most of Einstein's papers were published in Annalen der Physik; from 1916 until he left Germany for the United States in 1933 most were published in the Berlin Sitzungsberichte. The Sitzungsberichte differed from other journals in which Einstein published in that it made separate printings of its papers commercially available. These separate printings have 'Sonderabdruck' printed on the front wrapper the usual German term for offprint but they are not offprints according to our definition. They were available to anyone; indeed a price list of these 'trade offprints' is printed on the rear wrapper. True author's presentation offprints can be distinguished from these trade offprints by the presence of 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' on the front wrapper as in the present offprint. In the period 1916 to 1919 or 1920 the Sitzungsberichte trade offprints are themselves rare: for example RBH list only three 'offprints' of Einstein's famous 1917 Sitzungsberichte paper 'Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' the auction records do not distinguish between trade and author's presentation offprints. After 1919 or 1920 however the trade offprints become much more common although the author's presentation offprints are still very rare. The reason for this change is that it was only in 1919 that Einstein became famous among the general public. It might seem obvious that Einstein's fame dates from 1905 his 'annus mirabilis' in which he published his epoch-making papers on special relativity and the light quantum. However these works did not make him immediately well known even in the physics community - many physicists did not understand or accept his work and it was two or three years before his genius was fully accepted even by his colleagues. Among the general public Einstein became well known only in late 1919 following the success of Eddington's expedition to observe the bending of light by the Sun which confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity. This was front-page news and made Einstein universally famous. See Chapter 16 'The suddenly famous Doctor Einstein' in Pais Subtle is the Lord for an account of these events. Before 1919 the trade offprints of Einstein's papers would probably only have been purchased by professional physicists; after 1919 everyone wanted a memento of the famous Dr. Einstein whether or not they understood anything of theoretical physics and the trade offprints of his papers were printed and sold in far greater numbers than before to meet the demand. It is telling that when these post-1919 trade offprints appear on the market they are often in mint condition - they were never read simply because their owners were unable to understand them. In our view Einstein's author's presentation offprints are rare from any journal and any period though of course some are rarer than others. Before 1919 or 1920 the Sitzungsberichte trade offprints are also rare although not are rare as the author's presentation offprints; after 1919 or 1920 the trade offprints are much more common. BRL 74; Weil 75; Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. Chandrasekhra 'The general theory of relativity: Why "It is probably the most beautiful of all existing theories" Journal of Astrophysics 5 1984 pp. 3-11; Eisenstaedt The Curious History of Relativity 2006; Janssen 'Of pots and holes: Einstein's bumpy road to general relativity' Annalen der Physik 14 Supplement 2005 pp. 58-85; Lanczos Einstein Decade: 1905-1915 1974; Norton 'How Einstein found his field equations: 1912-1915' Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 14 1984 pp. 253-316; Pais Subtle is the Lord 1982. Large 8vo 252 x 180mm pp. 778-786; 799-801. Original printed wrappers light vertical crease from posting. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
1925réf. 6417Berlin: Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften 1925. First edition. First edition very rare author's presentation offprint from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld with his signature and annotations of Einstein's third paper on his quantum theory of the ideal gas of 1924-1925 Einstein's "last major innovative contribution to physics" Pais Subtle is the Lord. "The arguments advanced in this third paper do not make use of the new Bose-Einstein statistics. Instead Einstein invokes arguments involving dimensional analysis and adiabatic compression" Papers Vol. 14. . BOSE-EINSTEIN STATISTICS - WITHOUT THE STATISTICS. First edition very rare author's presentation offprint not to be confused with the more common trade separate - see below from the library of the great German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld with his signature and annotations of Einstein's third paper on his quantum theory of the ideal gas of 1924-1925 Einstein's "last major innovative contribution to physics" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 343. In 1924 Einstein received a copy of the Indian physicist S. N. Bose's paper 'Planck's law and the hypothesis of light quanta.' Einstein immediately recognized its importance and had it published shortly followed by a paper of his own applying Bose's ideas to ideal gases rather than radiation molecules rather than light quanta. These two papers laid the foundations of 'Bose-Einstein statistics.' Einstein published a second paper in which he showed that the new statistics led to the prediction of a new state of matter the 'Bose-Einstein condensate' the creation of which in the laboratory was the topic of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. At the time however many of Einstein's colleagues in particular his close friend Paul Ehrenfest were sceptical of the new statistics. Einstein therefore attempted in the present paper to justify his quantum theory of the ideal gas by more traditional methods rather than the novel statistics he had used in his two previous papers. "It contains an attempt to extend and exhaust the characterization of the monatomic ideal gas without appealing to combinatorics. Its ambiguities illustrate Einstein's confusion with his initial success in extending Bose's results and in realizing the consequences of what later came to be called Bose-Einstein statistics . Its arguments are based on Einstein's belief in the complete analogy between the thermodynamics of light quanta and of material particles and invoke considerations of adiabatic transformations as well as of dimensional analysis. These techniques were well known to Einstein from earlier work on Wien's displacement law Planck's radiation theory and the specific heat of solids" Pérez & Sauer. "In a letter to Ehrenfest he writes that on his next visit in Leyden 'I shall then convince you completely of the gas-degeneracy-equation. I found another safe though not entirely complete approach to it free of the incriminating statistics'. The arguments advanced in this third paper indeed do not make use of the new statistics. Instead Einstein invokes arguments involving dimensional analysis and adiabatic compression" Papers p. lxx. The only other copy of this offprint listed on RBH is that in Einstein's own collection Christie's 2008. Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his signature and characteristic numbering in red pencil '44' on front cover and three annotations in the text. The annotations consist of corrections to formulas 5 on p. 20 11 and 12 on p. 21 16a on p. 23 and 19 on p. 24 to the equation on the last line of p. 22 and to two mathematical symbolson lines 2 and 3 of p. 25. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. The motivation for the publication of this paper is given by Einstein in the opening paragraph translation from Papers Vol. 14 English Translation Supplement: 'Stimulated by a derivation of Planck's radiation formula originating from Bose which consistently supports itself on the light-quantum hypothesis I recently postulated a quantum theory for ideal gas. This theory seems legitimate when one starts out from the conviction that a light quantum disregarding its polarization property differs from a monatomic molecule essentially only in that the quantum's mass at rest is vanishingly small. But because the presupposition of this analogy is certainly not accepted by all researchers and furthermore because the statistical method used by Mr. Bose and me is certainly not beyond doubt but rather just seems justified a posteriori by its success in the case of radiation I looked for other considerations on the quantum theory of ideal gas that are as free of arbitrary hypotheses as possible. These considerations shall be communicated in the following. They provide an effective support for the theory postulated earlier even though the results attained do not yield a full substitute for that theory. Here it is a matter of establishing considerations in the field of gas theory by a method and with results largely analogous to those in the field of radiation theory leading to Wien's displacement law.' "Einstein followed an approach in this paper that was not based only on statistical considerations and that was closer to thermodynamics. He tried to find general conditions that any theory of the ideal gas would have to satisfy mainly by establishing and exploiting analogies with radiation where the displacement law at least provided some hints as to what the radiation law should look like" Pérez & Sauer. The problem Einstein wished to solve was to find the distribution function Ï = ÏL κT V m where L is the kinetic energy κ the Boltzmann constant T the temperature V the volume and m the mass of the molecules. The distribution law will be of the form dn = ÏL κT V mVdp1dp2dp3 / h3 where dn is the number of molecules whose Cartesian components of the momenta are in the range p1 p2 p3 to p1 dp1 p2 dp2 p3 dp3 h is Planck's constant. Einstein did not assume that collisions between molecules are governed by the laws of mechanics. He asserted that if that were the case one would arrive at the classical Maxwell's distribution law. He neglected interactions among molecules this being essentially the definition of an ideal gas. Einstein first used dimensional analysis to place a restriction on the possible forms of the distribution function. He had used similar arguments in his 1909 paper 'Zum gegenwärtigen Stand des Strahlungsproblems' Physikalische Zeitschrift 10 185-193 to deduce Wien's displacement law and in his 1911 paper on the quantum theory of solids 'Elementare Betrachtungen über die thermische Molekularbewegung in festen Körpern' Annalen der Physik 35 679-694. Since Ï is dimensionless a pure number it had to be a function only of dimensionless combinations of L κT V m and h. There are two independent such combinations which means that Ï is reduced to a function of two variables rather than five: A = L/κT and B = mV/N2/3κT/h2. To reduce Ï to a function of a single variable Einstein needed further restrictions. "Einstein proposed two of those: The entropy of an ideal gas does not change in an 'infinitely slow adiabatic' sic compression. The required velocity distribution is valid for an ideal gas also in an external field of conservative forces. Einstein argued that these two properties should be valid disregarding collisions. But the neglect of intermolecular collisions made their assumption unprovable even if they would be 'very natural.' In support of both he announced they would lead not only to the same result but also to a result according to which Maxwell's distribution law is valid in the region where quantum effects can be neglected" Pérez & Sauer. Einstein deduced from these assumptions that Ï = ΨA χB where Ψ and χ are universal functions of dimensionless variables. Einstein then looked at the case in which the constant h disappears from the expression for dn i.e. at the classical limit. He found that Ï = Be-A i.e. the Maxwell-Boltzmann law. In contrast Einstein's statistical theory had produced the expression Ï = B/eA - 1. "Summarizing Einstein pointed out that two aims have been achieved: 'First we found a general condition equation which has to be satisfied by any theory of the ideal gas. Second it follows from the above that the equation of state which I derived will not be changed by either adiabatic compression or by the existence of conservative force fields'" Pérez & Sauer. Why was this paper little noticed by Einstein's colleagues "The practically immediate appearance of the revolutionary contributions of 1925 to quantum theory eclipsed any possible interest of Einstein's paper. The arguments it contains only concern the ideal gas from a thermodynamic perspective. But what is more important it includes hypotheses that were in open contradiction with the course quantum researches had taken. Many physicists had rejected already the laws of mechanics and Einstein assumed their validity for describing the motions of the gas molecules. "The papers of the twenties that refer to Einstein's theory usually mention all three instalments. This indicates that in spite of the almost complete lack of comments on it its existence was known. We are inclined to think that it simply was not of any interest to Einstein's colleagues. Einstein justified the considerations of the non-statistical paper with the deep dissatisfaction over the statistical route by which he had arrived at the new distribution function. However the problem was not whether his colleagues saw Bose's statistics favourably but that in the following months the physicists' ideas around the quantum issues changed substantially. Bose's statistics in spite of implying a way of counting that was incompatible with classical statistics led to an already accepted result. This was much more than could be said of other attempts of explaining for example the Zeeman effect or multielectronic spectra . "In retrospect Einstein's initial suspicion about Bose's statistics will turn into one of the first symptoms of his later distancing himself from quantum mechanics. For this reason we find no justification for the neglect of Einstein's paper by historians of physics. Perhaps we are dealing here with Einstein's last attempt to contribute positively to the construction of the quantum theory for which he had done so much. In addition this paper closed the circle he initiated in 1905 with the hypothesis of energy quanta. First the analogy was going one way now finally it was also going the other way. The statistical dependence among light quanta which had limited the analogy with an ideal gas now was found also among molecules. Hence for the first time the analogy was complete . "The last 'positive contribution' of Einstein to statistical physics includes a paper in which he offered arguments independent of the 'incriminated statistics' because what nowadays is called Bose-Einstein's statistics was not more according to its creator than a calculatory artifice absolutely devoid of any physical meaning. It was simply a consequence of using the wrong mechanics or of not considering some kind of interaction. As Einstein explained to Halpern it 'cannot be considered as giving a true theoretical basis to Planck's law'" Pérez & Sauer. This author's presentation offprint is very rare and must be distinguished from other so-called 'offprints' of papers from the Berlin Sitzungsberichte many of which are commonly available on the market. The celebrated bookseller Ernst Weil 1919-1981 in the introduction to his Einstein bibliography wrote: "I have often been asked about the number of those offprints. It seems to be certain that there were few before 1914. They were given only to the author and mostly 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' Presented by the Author is printed on the wrapper. Later on I have no doubt many more offprints were made and also sold as such especially by the Berlin Academy." If the term 'offprint' means as we believe it should a separate printing of a journal article given only to the author for distribution to colleagues then 'offprints' were not commercially available. Although there is certainly some truth in Weil's remark in our view it requires clarification and explanation. Until about 1916 most of Einstein's papers were published in Annalen der Physik; from 1916 until he left Germany for the United States in 1933 most were published in the Berlin Sitzungsberichte. The Sitzungsberichte differed from other journals in which Einstein published in that it made separate printings of its papers commercially available. These separate printings have 'Sonderabdruck' printed on the front wrapper the usual German term for offprint but they are not offprints according to our definition. They were available to anyone; indeed a price list of these 'trade offprints' is printed on the rear wrapper. True author's presentation offprints can be distinguished from these trade offprints by the presence of 'Überreicht vom Verfasser' on the front wrapper as in the present offprint. In the period 1916 to 1919 or 1920 the Sitzungsberichte trade offprints are themselves rare: for example RBH list only three 'offprints' of Einstein's famous 1917 Sitzungsberichte paper 'Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' the auction records do not distinguish between trade and author's presentation offprints. After 1919 or 1920 however the trade offprints become much more common although the author's presentation offprints are still very rare. The reason for this change is that it was only in 1919 that Einstein became famous among the general public. Weil 145. Shields "Writings of Albert Einstein" in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist 1948 pp. 689-758 no. 195. Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein digital Vol. 14: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence April 1923-May 1925. Pais Subtle is the Lord 1982. Pérez & Sauer 'Einstein's quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas: non-statistical arguments for a new statistics' Archive for History of Exact Sciences 64 2010 pp. 561-612. 8vo 255 x 183 mm pp. 18-25. Original orange printed wrappers. Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
1932réf. 180272Easton Pennsylvania: Mack Printing Company 1932. Einstein revises his "biggest blunder" First edition journal issue of the paper in which Einstein rejected his 1917 cosmological constant and acknowledged the expansion of the universe. Drawing on Hubble's law Einstein and de Sitter proposed that the constant should be set equal to zero thereby offering a new model of the universe. "In 1917 Einstein had shown how to construct a universe that was static by introducing a 'cosmological constant' into his equations. This matched well with the idea current before Hubble's 1924 measurement of the distances to the nebulae of a small and static 'universe' that was confined to the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. Einstein's idea of a static universe suspended between gravity pulling inward and the cosmological constant making the universe expand was ruled out by Hubble's data" Kirshner pp. 9-12. In Einstein and de Sitter's revised model "the galaxies receded forever but the recession rate declines to zero as time approaches infinity. Some sources indicate that this is the first attempt to describe our universe rather than a mathematical abstraction of universes possible under general relativity. Shortly after Einstein formally renounced his cosmological constant and according to George Gamow called it 'the biggest blunder of my life'" Wenner. Einstein and de Sitter 1872-1934 were close collaborators in the 1920s at Leiden where de Sitter was chair of astronomy and Einstein was a visiting professor. De Sitter is also known for the concepts of De Sitter space and the De Sitter universe. Large octavo. Original brown wrappers covers printed in black. Short closed tears to spine a little loss to ends corners gently creased: a very good copy. Boni 214; Weil 184; Wenner p. 256. Robert P. Kirshner "Hubble's Diagram and Cosmic Expansion" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 101 no. 1 December 2003. unknown
1921réf. 148232New York: Harcourt Brace and Company 1921. First edition of this popular science book that made Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity accessible to general readers. Octavo original cloth frontispiece with black and white illustrations. In very good condition name to the title page. Easy Lessons in Einstein 1920 by Edwin E. Slosson is an early and influential work of science communication that seeks to explain Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity in accessible terms for a general audience. Written at a time when Einstein’s ideas were gaining international attention but remained largely misunderstood by the public Slosson's book demystifies complex scientific concepts such as space-time the constancy of the speed of light and the relativity of motion using analogies and clear language rather than technical mathematics. As a chemist and science writer Slosson played a key role in making cutting-edge scientific developments comprehensible to non-specialists. The book reflects both the growing public fascination with modern physics in the early 20th century and the importance of translating theoretical science into broader cultural understanding. Harcourt, Brace and Company hardcover
1930réf. 144683New York: Albert & Charles Boni 1930. First edition early printing of this Einstein biography written by Rudolf Kayser a German literary historian and husband to Albert Einstein's stepdaughter Ilse under the pseudonym Anton Reiser. Octavo original cloth frontispiece of Einstein. In near fine condition. Albert Einstein developed the general theory of relativity one of the two pillars of modern physics alongside quantum mechanics. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. Einstein is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "services to theoretical physics" in particular his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect a pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory David Bodanis. Albert & Charles Boni hardcover
1931réf. 021909New York: Covici Friede 1931. First Edition. hardcover. Some pencil markings in text title page and endpapers darkened not really affecting Einstein's inscription; covers a little soiled. Good to Very Good and quite scarce. With a long biographical note and an appreciation by George Bernard Shaw. Subjects include Disarmament Pacifism the Jewish Homeland and more. This copy INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author with his scarcer full signature on the front endpaper: "To little Pauline/Albert Einstein/1933." An uncommon title to find signed by the man of the century. With a letter of authenticity from James Spence if you need that kind of security blanket. Covici Friede hardcover
réf. 10361210-6Taylor & Francis Group. Used - Very Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Taylor & Francis Group unknown
1996réf. x-0805815368Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc 1996. Hardcover. New. 1st edition. 440 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.25 inches. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc hardcover
2016réf. x-1138984027Routledge 2016. Paperback. New. 438 pages. 9.02x5.98x0.99 inches. Routledge paperback
2004réf. x-0805854037Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc 2004. Paperback. New. 1st edition. 249 pages. 8.75x6.00x0.75 inches. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc paperback
2018réf. x-1138681288Routledge 2018. Paperback. New. 209 pages. 9.25x6.00x0.50 inches. Routledge paperback
2007réf. x-0415409764Routledge 2007. Hardcover. New. 1st edition. 241 pages. 9.25x6.00x0.75 inches. Routledge hardcover
2000réf. x-0312231024Palgrave Macmillan 2000. Hardcover. New. 253 pages. 9.00x5.75x1.00 inches. Palgrave Macmillan hardcover
2019réf. x-0691200734Princeton Univ Pr 2019. Hardcover. New. 368 pages. 10.00x8.00x0.91 inches. Princeton Univ Pr hardcover
2019réf. x-0691655936Princeton Univ Pr 2019. Hardcover. New. 448 pages. 10.00x8.00x1.25 inches. Princeton Univ Pr hardcover
2019réf. x-0691655928Princeton Univ Pr 2019. Hardcover. New. 512 pages. 10.00x8.00x1.25 inches. Princeton Univ Pr hardcover
2003réf. x-0805842411Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc 2003. Hardcover. New. 1st edition. 249 pages. 9.00x6.00x0.75 inches. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc hardcover
2023réf. x-1032358440CRC Press 2023. Hardcover. New. 552 pages. 10.00x7.00x1.10 inches. CRC Press hardcover
2024réf. x-1032378425Routledge 2024. Hardcover. New. 384 pages. 9.19x6.13x0.98 inches. Routledge hardcover
2018réf. x-113868127XRoutledge 2018. Hardcover. New. 256 pages. 0.92x6.25x1.00 inches. Routledge hardcover
2005réf. x-1403944962Palgrave Macmillan 2005. Hardcover. New. new title edition. 256 pages. 8.00x5.25x1.00 inches. Palgrave Macmillan hardcover
1931réf. 146050New York: The MacMillan Company 1931. First edition of this volume of Einstein's speeches and letters concerning his views on Zionism. Octavo original cloth. Boldly signed and dated in the year of publication on the front free endpaper "Albert Einstein 1931." Near fine with light toning to the endpapers in the scarce original dust jacket which is in good condition with some wear. Translated and edited with an introduction by Leon Simon. Exceptionally rare signed. Einstein was a prominent supporter of both Labor Zionism and efforts to encourage Jewish-Arab cooperation. He supported the creation of a Jewish national homeland in the British mandate of Palestine but was opposed to the idea of a Jewish state "with borders an army and a measure of temporal power." In a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru dated June 13 1947 he asserted "Long before the emergence of Hitler I made the cause of Zionism mine because through it I saw a means of correcting a flagrant wrong.The Jewish people alone has for centuries been in the anomalous position of being victimized and hounded as a people though bereft of all the rights and protections which even the smallest people normally has.Zionism offered the means of ending this discrimination." Einstein's speeches lectures and letters concerning Zionism were first published in 1930 by The Soncino Press and eleven of these essays were later collected in The World as I See It published in 1933 which Einstein dedicated "to the Jews of Germany". The MacMillan Company hardcover
