Einstein, AlbertABAA
214 risultati
1938rif. 366717Princeton New Jersey 1938. 7 lines typed in German on letterhead of the Institute for Advanced Study School of Mathematics watermarked Chieftain Bond signed in ink. 4to 9-7/8 x 7-1/8 inches. Old folds. Fine. 7 lines typed in German on letterhead of the Institute for Advanced Study School of Mathematics watermarked Chieftain Bond signed in ink. 4to 9-7/8 x 7-1/8 inches. Im Jahre 1837 habe ich ein Affidavit für meine Verwandte Fräulein Ursula Einstein ausgestellt. Ich erkläre hiermit dass ich dieses Affidavit aufrechterhalte und bereit bin di notwendigen Unterlagen neu zi liefern wenn es gewünscht wird. den 31. Oktober 1938 signed Professor Albert Einstein. "In the year 1937 I signed an affidavit on behalf of my relative Miss Urusula Einstein. I hereby state that I continue to certify this affidavit is correct and am ready to submit the necessary documents anew if this is requested." Albert Einstein 1879-1955 German-born physicist renowned for developing the theory of relativity in papers published in 1905 and 1916 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 and left Germany in 1933. He was associated with the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. This statement was almost certainly prepared in connection with efforts to assist his relative in emigrating. In a letter to his sister Maja Winteler-Einstein then resident in Switzerland dated December 1938 Einstein wrote "I am now working as some sort of itinerant relief committee and buckets of letters are coming in . I am helping the Ulm relatives with emigrating". Ursula Einstein born 1916 was able to get out; in 1940 she was a refugee in Port-au-Prince and later reached Brazil. Her younger sister Barbara was not so fortunate. Barbara Einstein born 1918 took her own life in March 1943 after her fiancé Harry Jacob was taken off to the concentration camps. A choice Einstein autograph. unknown books
1952rif. 3091Princeton: np 1952. First edition. no binding. Very Good. EXTRAORDINARY EINSTEIN LETTER IN ENGLISH EXPLAINING SIMULTANEITY ONE OF THE CENTRAL TENETS OF RELATIVITY THEORY. Einstein's "1905 paper on special relativity is widely regarded as having destroyed the classical conceptions of absolute time and space along with absolute simultaneity and absolute length which had reigned in physics from the times of Galileo and Newton to the dawn of the twentieth century. The Special Theory teaches us that simultaneity is not as we supposed an absolute concept but is always relative to some inertial frame of reference. If we change the inertial frame of reference we change the events to be reckoned simultaneous." -Craig and Smith Einstein Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity The concept of simultaneity lies at the core of relativity theory. The very first sub-section of Einstein's legendary 1905 paper on Special Relativity is introduced by the title "Definition of Simultaneity" and "in the second paragraph of his 1905 relativity paper Einstein proved that simultaneity as defined in the first paragraph is a relative concept. This means as Einstein explained that 'we must not ascribe absolute meaning to the concept of simultaneity; instead two events that are simultaneous when observed from some particular coordinate system can no longer be considered simultaneous when observed from a system that is moving relative to that system.' In these words Einstein for the first time offered an explicit definition of what he means when he speaks of a relative concept. As we see it is a concept whose validity depends on the coordinate system chosen or in brief it is a frame-dependent concept. Simultaneity is no longer a binary relation depending also on the coordinate-frame involved. Furthermore Einstein's proof of the relativity of simultaneity in this paragraph is the first ever published rigorous proof of the relativity of a physical concept. The relativity of simultaneity became also the first major subject of dispute between proponents and opponents of the theory of relativity" Max Jammer Concepts of Simultaneity: From Antiquity to Einstein and Beyond. When Einstein expanded his relativity theory into his General Theory of 1916 the notion of simultaneity became less well-defined and more problematic and therefore much-debated. Einstein in the present letter is answering a question from Dr. Waldron Gardiner a physician apparently without any particular expertise in relativity theory about the concept of simultaneity in space the domain of general relativity. Dated July 10 1952 the letter reads in full: Dear Sir: "Your difficulty stems from the fact that you do not distinguish between general and special theory of relativity the latter being a limit case where you neglect gravitation. In the latter case there are special coordinate systems inertial systems and with respect to such system the concept of simultaneity has a sharp meaning and can be defined empirically by light signals. In general relativity the space and time coordinates have no direct physical meaning so that also the concept of simultaneity of spatially distant events has no physical meaning. Physical meaning can be attributed to this concept only in certain special cases which are characterized by certain symmetry qualities. Such case is not realized in nature. But in those idealizations which we use to represent expanding space there are coordinate systems representing space-time in the mathematically simplest form. With respect to such coordinate systems simultaneity has meaning but the definition of simultaneity as defined in special relativity theory is out of place here. Very sincerely yours SignedA. Einstein PrintedAlbert Einstein In short Einstein is explaining to Dr. Gardiner that since "space and time coordinates have no direct physical meaning" in cosmological terms i.e. there are no frames of reference that cover all of space his understanding of simultaneity in general relativity is flawed and based on the model of special relativity "a limit case" achieved only through a reductive and localized application of general relativity. Einstein concludes the letter with the provocative comment that in idealized systems representing expanding space simultaneity has meaning and in fact this "meaning" of simultaneity in general relativity has become a fertile area of exploration over the years see Jammer ibid. Note: A carbon of Dr. Gardiner's original letter to Einstein is included. Princeton: July 10 1952. One 8.5 x 11 inch page of Einstein's Institute for Advanced Study letterhead. Signed "A. Einstein" in ink. Date corrected from July 9th to July 10th. Usual but very light folds small spot of soiling at top left corner; a tiny bit of toning to extreme edges. Housed in custom presentation folder. LETTERS BY EINSTEIN DISCUSSING MAJOR ELEMENTS OF RELATIVITY PARTICULARLY IN ENGLISH ARE EXCEEDINGLY RARE. np unknown books
1948rif. 3094Princeton: np 1948. first edition. Very Good. ONE OF EINSTEIN'S MOST DIRECT STATEMENTS ON GOD: A POWERFUL AND CONCISE PRECURSOR TO HIS CELEBRATED "GOD LETTER". In the letter dated September 25 1948 and addressed to the Indiana University student Barbara Homans Einstein writes: "I believe that the idea of a personal God is too anthropomrphic sic and childlike to be considered seriously. We have to content ourselves with that modest insight which is accessible to us." The letter is a strikingly concentrated statement of Einstein's religious philosophy. In two sentences he rejects the notion of an anthropomorphic personal deity while setting against it a characteristically modest view of human knowledge: rather than claiming access to metaphysical certainty "we have to content ourselves" with the limited understanding available to us. That formulation places the letter squarely within one of the most important recurring themes of Einstein's later correspondence: his distinction between conventional belief in a personal God and his own sense of awe before the rational order of the universe. Six years later in his famous letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind of 3 January 1954 Einstein would return to the same subject in far greater detail describing the word "God" as an expression of human weakness and rejecting traditional religious conceptions with exceptional directness. Christie's described the Gutkind letter as Einstein's most fully articulated statement of his religious and philosophical views; it sold in 2018 for $2892500 at Christie's. The present letter is remarkable because the essential position of the later "God Letter" is already present here in distilled form. The shared target is the anthropomorphic personal God: a conception Einstein repeatedly rejected while maintaining that a profound sense of wonder before the structure of nature could still be called religious. It is a direct statement of Einstein's mature religious philosophy anticipating the central argument of the 1954 "God Letter" by more than five years. Typed letter signed "A. Einstein" to Barbara Homans. Princeton 25 September 1948. One page 8 1/2 x 11 in typed on Einstein's Princeton stationery with embossed address at head; signed "A. Einstein" in ink. Folded for mailing with light toning and a few small stains. np unknown books
1953rif. 2270Princeton NJ: np 1953. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. TOWARDS THE END OF HIS LIFE EINSTEIN WRITES TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS FROM THE PATENT OFFICE CONCERNING ONE OF THE CENTRAL STRUGGLES OF HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE. COMMENTING ON THE WORK OF DIRAC EINSTEIN ADMITS THAT ALTHOUGH HE "CAN'T TAKE A STATISTICAL FOUNDATION OF PHYSICS SERIOUSLY" HE FINDS IT "DIFFICULT TO MOVE BEYOND IT". Background: Einstein's struggle with accepting a strictly statistical quantum theory has been one of the most discussed and debated topics of twentieth-century physics. When introduced to the statistically-based quantum mechanics of Heisenberg Born and Jordan in 1926 Einstein famously wrote to Max Born that "Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the 'old one.' I at any rare am convinced that He is not playing at dice." Einstein letter to Born from 4 December 1926. From the onset "Einstein regarded the quantum theory as descriptively incomplete. What he meant was that in typical cases the probabilistic assertions provided by the theory for an individual quantum system do not exhaust all the relevant and true physical assertions about the system. Put briefly according to Einstein the typical statistical story told by quantum theory is not the whole story." Arthur Fine "What is Einstein's Statistical Interpretation or Is It Einstein for Whom Bell's Theorem Tolls". Einstein's discomfort with the new theory haunted him for the next three decades and his challenges to the theory were the cause of some of the most fertile and defining moments of modern science notably the celebrated "Bohr-Einstein debates" begun at the Fifth Solvay Conference 1927 and his monumentally influential "EPR" paper of 1935 "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete" written with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen. As late as 1949 in his "Reply to Criticisms" published in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist Einstein notes that Born and Wolfgang Pauli in their contributions to the volume "deprecate the fact that I reject the basic idea of contemporary statistical quantum theory insofar as I do not believe that this fundamental concept will provide a useful basis for the whole of physics" and spends the majority of the essay explaining his position and distinguishing between his acceptance of the model for "ensembles of systems" while still rejecting it for an "individual physical system". The letter: Dated September 12 1953 and written to his old colleague at the patent office in Bern Joseph Sauter the letter translated from the original German reads in full: Dear Mr. Sauter If I am able to I will gladly assist Mr. Keberle. I have heard of you often from my old friend Besso and I have also received a manuscript which deals critically with handwritten Dirac's presentation of the statistical approach to quantum theory. I have not been able to judge it myself because it is simply impossible for me to take a statistical foundation of physics seriously. But I have to admit that it is difficult to move beyond it. Yours sincerely signed A. Einstein. Albert Einstein. The recipient Joseph Sauter worked with Einstein at the Bern Patent office during the years he was developing the ideas for his revolutionary papers of 1905. "Among his colleagues at the Patent Office Einstein discovered one with similar scientific interests-Dr. Josef Sauter a French-Swiss who had also studied at the Polytechnic and who had been Professor Weber's chief assistant for a while. Sauter like Einstein tried to fill the gaps in the Polytechnic's syllabus by private study so that Einstein was able to discuss with him Maxwell's thermodynamics and Helmholtz's and Hertz's theoretical concepts. The two also discussed Einstein's publications on thermodynamics with the result that Sauter discovered a mistake in them which Einstein accepted 'without being the least upset.' Fifty years later Einstein recalled 'that I had a lot of discussions with Sauter about. my thermal-statistical papers'. At least as important as his help with the 'rewriting and amending' were Sauter's connections with scientific circles in Bern to which he soon introduced his new colleague." Albrecht Fölsing Albert Einstein. Edouard Keberle mentioned in the first line by Einstein was a Bulgarian physicist who at the time of the letter had just left the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Bern over a publication dispute. Not long after this letter - in early 1954 - Keberle accepted a post at the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City. It is unclear if Einstein helped him in any way to get this position. Michele Besso - also mentioned in this letter - was Einstein's close lifelong friend. What prompts Einstein to declare that "it is simply impossible for me to take a statistical foundation of physics seriously" is the mention of a manuscript on the work of Paul Dirac. Philosophically Dirac was almost the opposite of Einstein - he had no interest in probing the interpretations of quantum theory wryly noting in his paper "The Inadequacies of Quantum Field Theory" that "The interpretation of quantum mechanics has been dealt with by many authors and I do not want to discuss it here. I want to deal with more fundamental things." It is revealing in this letter that although Einstein re-states his objection to a statistical basis of quantum theory he has doubts about his position admitting - less than two years before his death - that he still has difficulty moving beyond it. Typed Letter Signed. Princeton NJ: September 12 1953. One 8.5x11 inch sheet with Einstein's embossed Mercer Street address at top. Custom silk presentation folder. With original mailing envelope with postmarks. A few small smudges usual folds; fine condition. ONE OF EINSTEIN'S FINAL STATEMENTS ON ONE OF THE CENTRAL TENETS OF HIS SCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHY. np unknown books
1946rif. 376560Princeton New Jersey 1946. 1 1/2 pages on recto and verso of quarto sheet of letterhead for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. Folded for mailing else Fine. Folding green cloth slipcase. 1 1/2 pages on recto and verso of quarto sheet of letterhead for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. An invitation written in Einstein's capacity as Chairman of the Trustees of the Committee to Lesser to attend a three day conference in Princeton the following month and asking him to be his special guest at a luncheon on the 17th of November. Einstein writes Lesser "as one who shares with American scientists a sense of the responsibility and urgency with which this great new force has impressed upon our lives ." and notes that one of the chief aims of the conference will be for "the scientists to reach final agreement on our program of education for survival ." Perhaps it was in his capacity as film producer that Lesser was considered a potential contributor beyond simple monetary help. The letter is addressed to Lesser at the Paramount Building 1501 Broadway NYC. Lesser 1890-1980 was a successful film producer a career that spanned the silent era up through such productions as THUNDER OVER MEXICO 1939 and OUR TOWN 1940 to the long string of post 1943 Tarzan films when he once again reacquired the rights after having produced the Buster Crabbe serial of 1933. He received the 1960 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. unknown books
1933rif. 45000Paris: Société Anonyme Les Illustrés Français 1933. First edition. Softcover. g- to vg. Large quarto 11 1/2 x 8". 105 3pp. Original photo-illustrated wrappers with white lettering to front cover. This scarce issue of "Témoignages de Notre Temps" Witness to our Time is a loving and moving tribute to Jewish life and culture that spans ancient times to the early 1930s with the spectre of Hitler and the early persecutions of Jews in Nazi Germany Hitler became chancellor a few months prior on January 30th. Includes texts by Albert Einstein Dr. Chaïm Weizmann and others along with hundreds of splendid black-and-white photogravures many full page including Helmar Lerski's impressive series on Jews in Palestine. "Témoignages de Notre Temps" was edited by noted French photographer and publisher Lucien Vogel. Wrappers partly creased along edges. Page 5 with four "Spécimen" stamps not affecting lettering. Lower corner of the first 18 pages slightly creased. Lower front corner bumped thus slightly affecting pages throughout. Text in French. Wrappers in overall good- to good interior in good to very good condition. Société Anonyme Les Illustrés Français unknown books
1926rif. 374131926. Weil 153. Offprint from S. preuss. Akad. Wiss. unknown books
1906rif. 504131906. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Über eine Methode zur Bestimmung des Verhältnisses der transversalen und longitudinalen Masse des Elektrons. In Annalen der Physik 21 1906. 583-586pp. Figs. Text-illust. 214 x 140 mm. Laid-in item: notecard with penciled notes probably in the hand of Lord Rayleigh. Red cloth gilt spine. Frontis portrait of P. Curie d. 1906. Whole volume: viii 1056pp. 9 plates 5 b/w silver photos 4 folding. Small cut on spine starting approximately two inches from the head and is about three inches in length -very thin- otherwise Very Good. First Edition Whole Volume. In his landmark 1905 paper on special relativity Einstein used the velocity-dependent concepts of transverse and longitudinal mass for the moving electron these terms have now been replaced with the concept of relativistic mass first defined by Lewis and Tolman in 1909. In the present paper Einstein proposed an experimental method for determining the ratio of the transverse to the longitudinal mass and invited experimentalists to verify his special theory of relativity. Einstein later abandoned velocity-dependent mass concepts stating in 1948 that "it is better to introduce no other mass concept than the rest mass" quoted in L. B. Okun "The concept of mass" Physics Today 1989: 31-36. Lavenda A New Perspective on Relativity pp. 7-8. Weil's Einstein Bibliography no. 14. Boni's Einstein Checklist no. 14 John William Strutt third Baron Rayleigh Lord Rayleigh 1842-1919 was a british mathematician and physicist; he was one of the very few members of higher nobility who won fame as an outstanding scientist. Rayleigh was born as the son of John James Strutt second Baron and his wife Clara Elizabeth La Touche eldest daughter of Captain Richard Vicars R.E. Lord Rayleigh was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies." Rayleigh provided the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength now known as "Rayleigh scattering" - a process which notably explains why the sky is blue. He also made extensive contributions to fluid dynamics e.g. the Rayleigh number critereon for the stability of the Taylor-Couette flow etc. Rayleigh also formulated the circulation theory of aerodynamic lift. His derivation of the Rayleigh-Jeans law for classical black body radiation played an important role in the birth of quantum mechanics i.e. the Ultraviolet catastrophe. During the first World War he was president of the United Kingdom government's Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Notable students of the 3rd Lord Rayleigh include J.J. Thomson 1856-1940 and Sir William Ramsay 1852-1916 who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the elements in air." In 1871 he married Evelyn Balfour sister of the future prime minister the Earl of Balfour and daughter of James Maitland Balfour and his wide Blanche the daughter of the second Marquis of Salisbury. They had three sons the eldest of whom Robert John Strutt 1875-1946 was to become Professor of Physics at Imperial College of Science and Technology London. Strutt inherited the title of fourth Baron Rayleigh after his father's death in 1919. nobelprize.org. Also in this volume: Einthoven Willem 1860-1927. Weitere mitteilungen ueber das saitengalvanometer. Analyse der saitengalvanometrischen kurven. Masse und spannung des quarzfadens und widerstand gegen die fadenbewengung. Erster teil. In Annalen der Physik ser. 4 21 1906. 483-514 pp. Willem Einthoven 1860-1927 was a Dutch doctor and physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 "for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram" nobelprize.org. . unknown books
1922rif. 37429Braunschweig: F. Vieweg & Sohn 1922. Weil 124. F. Vieweg & Sohn unknown books
1958rif. 325801New York: Monthly Review Press 1958. 12p. staplebound pamphlet very good. Reprinted from the May 1949 issue of Monthly Review. Monthly Review Press unknown books
rif. 74322New York: Monthly Review n.d. 9p. staplebound pamphlet small ink mark at lower left corner crease otherwise very good. Reprinted from the May 1949 issue of Monthly Review. Monthly Review unknown books
1966rif. WMCE001New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1966 First edition first printing. Signed and inscribed by Mays on front free endpaper: "To Joe / Best Wishes / Willie Mays." Publisher's green and orange cloth with "Willie Mays" in blind to front board and spine lettered in black and orange; in its original unclipped dust jacket designed by Bob Korn with white front panel lettered in brown orange and green and a green spine. About fine book with light fading to spine and a hint of rubbing to foot of spine; very good price-clipped dust jacket with light wear to spine ends and some edgewear. With Beckett Letter of Authenticity. Overall a great boldly inscribed copy. Presentation copies from Mays are exceedingly scarce. In this book Willie Mays tells his life story with the help of prolific sportswriter Charles Einstein. Mays started playing professional baseball at 16 in the Negro Leagues and was soon drafted by the New York Giants. He went on to play 21 seasons with the Giants winning a World Series with the team in 1954. His over-the-shoulder catch in that World Series is one of the most iconic moments in sports history. A 24x All-Star and a 12x Gold Glove award winner Mays was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 and was voted to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. . Signed. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Dust Jacket Included. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. hardcover books
1932rif. 40505Los Angeles: Los ANgeles University of International Relations 1932. First Edition. Quarto 26cm. Pictorial card wrappers; 96pp. Mild external soil; Very Good or better. Includes a translation of Dr. Einstein's 1932 address "World Disarmament" delivered at the World Affairs Dinner in Pasadena February 1 1932. Other contributions Ken Nakazawa and N. Wing Mah on the Sino-Japanese Controversy Bernard Mollenhauer et al. Los ANgeles University of International Relations unknown books
1979rif. 228499Beijing: Ke xue chu ban she 1979. v 111p. slender paperback very good. Translation of the fifth edition of "The meaning of Relativity. Ke xue chu ban she unknown books
1934rif. 186351Paris London and New York: Editions Des Chroniques Du Jour and A. Zwemmer and E. Weyhe 1934. Limited to 700 copies. Softcover. Good scuffs to glassine. spine ends rubbed & chipped w/ glassine chipped. textblock split at pg 140 w/ minor splits to multiple minor splits to closing plate section. Grey glued wraps with white lettering on cover and spine. 140 pgs w/ frontis & 102 bw plates; 1 color litho. glassine wrapper. text in French. Color plate with tissue guard intact. Majority of pages are unopened. Photo is of another copy from our collection. Editions Des Chroniques Du Jour (and) A. Zwemmer (and) E. Weyhe paperback books
1934rif. 173435Paris London and New York: Editions Des Chroniques Du Jour and A. Zwemmer and E. Weyhe 1934. Limited to 700 copies. Softcover. Good glassine jackets scuffed marked & foxed; may have chipping & tears to edges corners & spines. spines split; glue & binding intact. Grey glued wraps with white lettering on cover and spine. 2 preliminary leaves 13-140 pages 2 leaves including plates frontispiece prior to p. 13 102 bw and 1 color plate that appears to be a lithograph. Text is in French. Lacks a signed etching. Pages remain bright with instances of foxing. Editions Des Chroniques Du Jour (and) A. Zwemmer (and) E. Weyhe paperback books
1931rif. 37423Berlin: Akad. Wiss 1931. Akad. Wiss unknown books
rif. 08777Np; 1923. First Edition. Fine. offprint from Sitzungsberichten der Presussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Sitzung der physikalishch-mahematischen klasse vom 31 mai XVII. p. 137-140 bound in original orange printied wraps; quarto 254 x 184mm. Einstein's first investigation of Weyl's ideas published in the present work introduced the notion of distant parallelism; however Einstein later rejected Weyl's theory. Housed in a custom quarter-leather clamshell box. A fine copy. unknown books
1923rif. 374071923. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur affinen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 17 1923. 137-140pp. 256 x 185 mm. Original printed wrappers. Fine. First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1923 Einstein published four short papers of which "Zur affinen Feldtheorie" is the third on Eddington's attempt at a unified field theory marking the beginning of a scientific passion that would dominate the remainder of his career. In 1921 British physicist Arthur Eddington had proposed a unified field theory inspired by the work of Hermann Weyl. "Einstein's own initial reaction was that Eddington had created a beautiful framework without content. Nevertheless he began to examine what would be made of these ideas and finally decided that 'I must absolutely publish since Eddington's idea must be thought through to the end.' That was what he wrote to Weyl. Three days later he wrote to him again about unified field theories: 'Above stands the marble smile of implacable Nature which has endowed us more with longing than with intellectual capacity.' Thus romantically began Einstein's adventures with general connections adventures that were to continue until his final hours" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 343. This paper is included on Shields's list of Einstein's most significant papers; see Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist 1949 p. 758. Shields 175. Weil 132. . unknown books
1923rif. 374061923. unknown books
1929rif. 19299Berlin: Verlag der Akademia der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei Walter de Gruyter 1929. FIRST EDITION. Original printed orange wrappers; a fine copy unopened and bound into morocco-backed cloth boards spine labeled in gilt. First edition first issue in the rare author’s offprint form with a newly set title-page. One of Einstein’s last important scientific works this publication of the unified field theory caused quite a sensation. It was the first separate printing of one of a series of five papers published between 1925 and 1929 in which Einstein attempted to develop a unified field theory reconciling in a single formula the laws of electromagnetism and gravitation. Weil 165; Printing & the Mind of Man 418. Verlag der Akademia der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei Walter de Gruyter unknown books
1929rif. 374191929. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur einheitlichen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichten der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1 1929. 8vo. 8pp. Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaft 1929. 256 x 183 mm. Original printed wrappers slightly soiled and creased. Very good. First Separate Edition. "In 1928 Einstein embarked on a new approach to a unified field theory . . . involving what he called 'distant parallelism'. . . . By early 1929 he had solved the main problems involved in writing down field equations for his unified theory. On the day of official publication of the third of a formidably technical series of nine articles on the theory . . . excited headlines appeared in foreign newspapers throughout the world. . . . In this frenzied unscientific atmosphere Einstein's new theory was hailed in the press as an outstanding scientific advance. Yet Einstein had stated in his article that it was still tentative; and soon he found he had to abandon it Hoffman Einstein pp. 225-26. This paper is included on Shields's list of Einstein's most significant papers; see Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist 1949 p. 758. Weil 165. Pais Subtle is the Lord pp. 344-46. . unknown books
1905rif. 2895Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1905. First edition. original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST PRINTINGS WITH EXTREMELY RARE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of Einstein's revolutionary papers of 1905 including the first edition of the initial paper on special relativity; three of the most important papers in the history of science. Beautiful clean copies without any institutional stamps. In the first paper "On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light" published in March "Einstein postulated that light is composed of individual quanta later called photons that in addition to wavelike behaviour demonstrate certain properties unique to particles. In a single stroke he thus revolutionized the theory of light and provided an explanation for among other phenomena the emission of electrons from some solids when struck by light called the photoelectric effect" Britannica. It was for this paper on the photoelectric effect that Einstein was granted the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921. The next paper "On the Motion-Required by the Molecular Kinetic Theory of Heat-of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid" published in May provided a theoretical explanation of Brownian motion. It is generally regarded as the first proof that molecules exist. Although the first two papers were of astonishing originality and importance it was the third paper introducing what would be later known as Einstein's special theory of relativity that would make him famous. "Toward the end of June it was all written up and on June 30 receipt of the manuscript was recorded at the editorial office of Annalen in Berlin. The thirty-page article published three months later was titled 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies'. It was a treatise beyond compare and without precedent one of the greatest scientific achievements in content and one of the most brilliant in style. Of course there were later additions some from Einstein himself and some from others but these were mere addenda to a theory which had appeared before all the world ready and complete valid for all time" Folsing Albert Einstein. Einstein's theory with the premise that "if for all frames of reference the speed of light is constant and if all natural laws are the same then both time and motion are found to be relative to the observer" "involved a complete rethinking of the entire conceptual tradition of modern physics from its beginning" Britannica; Folsing. Weil 6. Weil 8. Weil 9. Grolier/Horblit 26b. Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper in Annalen der Physik Vierte Folge Volume 17 part 10 pp. 891-921; WITH: Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt ibid part 6 pp. 132-148. WITH: Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Warme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flussigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen ibid part 8 pp. 549-560. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1905. Octavo three issues in original wrappers rebacked; three custom boxes. Note: The issues are slightly trimmed indicating that it is likely they were originally bound with the wrappers and then re-assembled. With general title page volume half-title and index included in part 6. Some chipping to exceedingly rare and brittle original wrappers; otherwise fine. Extremely rare in such outstanding condition. Johann Ambrosius Barth books
1923rif. 432881923. Einstein Albert 1879-1955 and Paul Ehrenfest 1880-1933. Zur Quantentheorie des Strahlungsgleichgewichts. Offprint from Zeitschrift für Physik 19 1923. 301-306pp. Original printed self-wrappers. 230 x 157 mm. Light toning but very good. First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1916 after publishing his great work on general relativity Einstein returned to the question of blackbody radiation. In November 1916 he wrote to his friend Besso that "a splendid light has dawned on me about the absorption and emission of radiation" quoted in Pais p. 405 one that led him to a new derivation of Planck's radiation law and convinced him of the reality of light-quanta photons. After publishing these results in three papers culminating with the famous "Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung" 1917 Einstein kept looking for "new ways in which the existence of photons might lead to observable derivations from the classical picture" Pais p. 413. He found none until 1923 when Arthur Compton and Peter Debye independently derived the relativistic kinematics for the scattering of a photon off an electron at rest. The work of Compton and Debye led Wolfgang Pauli to extend Einstein's work of 1917 to the case of radiation in equilibrium with free electrons see Pais p. 414n. "Pauli examined the requirements of detailed balance under Lorentz transformations and found that scattering of light by free electrons must include a term of a form which we would now call stimulated emission . . . Einstein and Ehrenfest then showed that Pauli's results could be obtained by an extension of Einstein's 1917 paper with the unnecessary specialization to discrete energy levels removed . . . The core of Einstein's argument is that the scattering process should be broken into two parts: the absorption of energy from radiation of frequency 1 and the emission of energy as radiation of frequency 2" Lewis p. 42. Lewis "Einstein's derivation of Planck's radiation law" American Journal of Physics 41 1973: 38-44. Pais Subtle is the Lord ch. 21. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 138. . unknown books
1922rif. 374051922. unknown books
