EINSTEIN, AlbertBiblio.com
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1916188045Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1916. The foundation of general relativity First separate edition first issue of the work presenting the finalized version of general relativity. The Grundlage was also published in the Annalen der Physik in 1916 but Weil clarifies that the separate publication is now accepted as the earliest published edition of the paper. Einstein had almost finalized the general theory of relativity in 1913. However an error led him to contend that his equations could not be covariant - that they could not be applied without a system of spacetime co-ordinates devised by humans and therefore contextually specific. His first attempt at an overall presentation of the theory as delivered in 1914 was based on this assumption. By 1915 his subsequent reflections had driven him to reapply covariance and in November he published several papers outlining covariant field equations of general relativity. The present work adapts the comprehensive perspective of the 1914 paper with the revised mathematics of the 1915 equations to present "the first systematic exposition of general relativity" Janssen p. 1. Tilman Sauer notes that "in essence Einstein's general theory of relativity of 1916 remains today's accepted theory of the gravitational field" p. 24. This copy includes all the necessary first issue points: the imprint "Druck von Metzger & Wittig in Leipzig. 314" on the title page verso; Ziehen's Die Psychologie as the last title listed in the publisher's advertisement on the rear wrapper; and the imprint "Metzger & Wittig Leipzig" on the rear wrapper. Octavo. Device to title page formulae in the text. Original tan vertically ribbed wrappers printed in black. Light creasing and foxing to otherwise bright wrappers title page remargined at head not affecting text contents crisp: a near-fine copy. Norman 696; Printing and the Mind of Man 408; Weil 80a. Michael Janssen "Einstein's First Systematic Exposition of General Relativity" 2004; Tilman Sauer "Albert Einstein's 1916 Review Article on General Relativity" in Ivor Grattan-Guiness ed. Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940 2004. unknown
19361198491936. Rare typed letter signed by Albert Einstein. One page typescript text in German. The letter is dated 19 June 1936 and addressed to Dr. Hugo Bergman Hebrew University Jerusalem and reads: Lieber Herr Bergmann: Ueberbringer dieses Briefes ist "Seine amerikanische Heiligkeit" Rabbi Silberfeld von Newark New Jersey ein guter Bekannter von mir. Zuhause aller Wege kundig nicht aber in Palaestina. Es ware lieb von Ihnen wenn Sie ihm ein paar Winke gaben damit er sich dort zurechtfindet. Herzlich grusst Sie Ihr "A. Einstein." This translates as: Dear Mr. Bergmann: The bearer of this letter is "His American Holiness" Rabbi Silberfeld of Newark New Jersey a good friend of mine. At home he knows all the ways but not in Palestine. It would be nice of you if you gave him a few hints. yours "A. Einstein." Einstein's close personal friend Rabbi Julius Silberfeld was the rabbi of Temple B'nai Abraham in Newark New Jersey from 1902 to 1939. After it became clear that he could not return to Germany with Hitler's rise to power during his 1933 visit to the United States Einstein resided in England and Belgium for several months before returning to the U.S. where he accepted a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey noted for having become a refuge for scientists fleeing Nazi Germany. It was here that he likely met and formed a close bond with Rabbi Silberfeld. The recipient of the letter Hugo Bergmann was the first rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem between 1935 and 1938 which Einstein was instrumental in establishing in 1925 and was among its first Board of Governors. The letter is in near fine condition with a small paper clip imprint. Desirable with noted provenance. 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. unknown books
19472187Princeton NJ: Halsman 1947. Photograph. Fine. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS IMAGES OF EINSTEIN. Philippe Halsman's now iconic 1947 photograph of Einstein has become not only one of the most celebrated images of Einstein but one of the most recognizable images of the twentieth century. It was used to a 1966 US postage stamp of Einstein and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine honoring Einstein as the "Person of the Century".

 The photographer Halsman in his book Philippe Halsman: A Retrospective explained the circumstances of the photo: I admired Albert Einstein more than anyone I ever photographed not only as the genius who single-handedly had changed the foundation of modern physics but even more as a rare and idealistic human being.
 Personally I owed him an immense debt of gratitude. After the fall of France it was through his personal intervention that my name was added to the list of artists and scientists who in danger of being captured by the Nazis were given emergency visas to the United States.
 After my miraculous rescue I went to Princeton to thank Einstein and I remember vividly my first impression. Instead of a frail scientist I saw a deep-chested man with a resonant voice and a hearty laugh.
 The question of how to capture the essence of such a man in a portrait filled me with apprehension. Finally in 1947 I had the courage to bring on one of my visits my Halsman camera and a few floodlights. After tea I asked for permission to set up my lights in Einstein's study. The professor sat down and started peacefully working on his mathematical calculations. I took a few pictures. Ordinarily Einstein did not like photographers whom he called Lichtaffen light monkeys. But he cooperated because I was his guest and after all he had helped save me.
 Suddenly looking into my camera he started talking. He spoke about his despair that his formula E=mc2 and his letter to President Roosevelt had made the atomic bomb possible that his scientific search had resulted in the death of so many human beings. "Have you read" he asked "that powerful voices in the United States are demanding that the bomb be dropped on Russia now before the Russians have time to perfect their own" With my entire being I felt how much this infinitely good and compassionate man was suffering from the knowledge that he had helped to put in the hands of politicians a monstrous weapon of devastation and death.
 He grew silent. His eyes had a look of immense sadness. There was a question and a reproach in them.
 The spell of this moment almost paralyzed me. Then with an effort I released the shutter of my camera. Einstein looked up and I asked him "So you don't believe that there will ever be peace"
 "No" he answered. "As long as there will be man there will be wars." Silver prints of this photograph have been printed in different sizes over the years. This photograph is an official Halsman silver print with his copyright hand-stamp on the verso measuring approximately 10x13 inches. Princeton NJ. Silver print. Taken 1947; printed 1970s. Image: 13x10 inches 33x25.4 cm. Archivally matted and framed under UV-protecting museum glass to an overall size of 18.5x22 inches. A stunning piece in fine condition. Halsman unknown books
19122508Paris: Gauthier-Villars 1912. First edition. Original wrappers custom box. Very Good. RARE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF THE REPORTS FROM THE HISTORIC FIRST SOLVAY CONFERENCE "THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN PHYSICS EVER ORGANIZED" AND A CRITICAL MOMENT IN THE BIRTH OF QUANTUM PHYSICS. In the short time that followed Planck's hypothesis of the universal constant that would bear his name the greatest minds in physics were largely at a loss about how to deal with the bizarre theoretical results that followed let alone the experimental results which confirmed them!. Much of the focus at the time was on black-body radiation including work by Planck himself as well as Lorentz Rayleigh and Jeans. However shortly before the first Solvay conference a young Einstein had also started investigating the related question of materials' specific heat. Kuhn. "The purpose of the first Solvay Conference was thus two-fold: first there was the need to examine whether classical theories molecular-kinetic theory and electrodynamics could in some undiscovered ways provide an explanation of the problem of black-body radiation and of the specific heat of polyatomic substances at low temperatures; secondly to consider phenomena in which the theory of quanta could be successfully used." Mehra.<br /> <br /> Underlying these questions was the more fundamental mystery of how to interpret the existence of the Planck constant. There were two camps both of which were represented at the conference. Planck's took the constant to indicate some fundamental constraint on the radiative processes of emission and absorption. For example "Sommerfeld introduced a version of the quantum hypothesis which he considered to be compatible with classical electrodynamics. He postulated that in 'every purely molecular process' a quantized quantity of action is exchanged." Staumann. Einstein's camp on the other hand took the quantum of action to represent the physicality of a perhaps pseudo-corpuscular theory of energy exchange - his photons of light.<br /> <br /> Although the debates that followed the lectures included in the proceedings did not rise to the famous heated exchange that Einstein would have with Bohr at the 1927 Solvay conference we do see some of the young Einstein's hotheadedness as he opens the debate following Planck's plenary lecture: "What I find strange about the way Mr. Planck applies Boltzmann's equation is that he introduces a state probability W without giving this quantity a physical definition. If one proceeds in such a way then to begin with Boltzmann's equation does not have a physical meaning." As translated by Straumann.<br /> <br /> It would take another 14 years for quantum mechanics to be fully formalized but the first Solvay conference represents a pivotal point in quantum history:<br /> <br /> "During 1911 the situation changed quickly. Articles that applied the quantum to other topics then outnumbered those on blackbody radiation for the first time and some were backed by impressive experimental evidence. In part because of that evidence physicists like Planck and Lorentz who had previously taken the constant h to be characteristic only of the radiation problem began to consider additional areas in which others had earlier staked quantum claims." Kuhn.<br /> <br /> Albert Einstein and the Solvay Conference:<br /> <br /> Among the most renown scientists of the day - including Ernest Rutherford Marie Curie and Max Planck - Einstein made quite an impression. At age 32 he was the second youngest participant in the conference. The youngest was British physicist Frederick Lindemann later to become scientific adviser to Winston Churchill.<br /> <br /> Although "Einstein had already published so many masterpieces none had actually been put to the test and his theories were looked on rather as tours de force than as definitive additions to knowledge. But his pre-eminence among the twelve greatest theoretical physicists of the day was clear to any unprejudiced observer." Frederick Lindemann quoted in Brian.<br /> <br /> References: Headline quote from the Solvay Institute website. Kuhn T. 1978 Black Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity 1894-1912. University of Chicago Press. Mehra J. 1975 The Solvay Conferences on Physics: Aspects of the Development of Physics Since 1911. Straumann N. 2011. On the first Solvay Congress in 1911. The European Physical Journal H 363 379-399. Denis Brian Einstein: A Life p.82.<br /> <br /> Paris: Gauthier-Villars 1912. Octavo original wrappers; custom box. Splits to top and bottom joint of upper wrapper two creases to front wrapper. Text in fine condition largely unopened. <br /> <br /> FIRST PRINTINGS IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS ARE EXTREMELY SCARCE. Gauthier-Villars unknown
193481265Paris: Flammarion 1934. Fine. Flammarion Paris 1934 12 x 19 cm relié Comment je vois le Monde The World as I See It Paris 1934 12x19cm bound. First edition of the French translation published a year before the English translation one of 10 numbered copies on Hollande most limited deluxe issue. Dark gray half morocco binding spine with five raised bands patterned paper boards gray paper endpapers and pastedowns covers and spine preserved slightly wrinkled and with small tears top edge gilt over untrimmed edges binding signed P. Goy & C. Vilaine. A few foxing spots to endpapers and to some leaves on the untrimmed edges bookplate on pastedown. A very rare untrimmed copy of this fundamental text by the brilliant scientist. Flammarion hardcover
193067602Edition de la Galerie Simon | Paris 1930 | 19 x 25 cm | relié
193481265Flammarion | Paris 1934 | 12 x 19 cm | relié
192749047Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth A.-G 1927. First edition. Good- to fine condition. 176/330. 41 1pp. 42 plates with printed tissue guards. Original quarter vellum over brown paper-covered boards with gilt vignette on cover gilt lettering on spine. Title page with publisher's device and black double frame. Cover design by Lucian Zabel. With an introduction on Russian culture the tradition of ballet and theater set and costume design by Carl Einstein. Many of the plates with dates ranging from 1910 to 1923 including motifs created during the war. The motifs of the plates range from close-up figure drawings to simple folk costumes elaborate gowns for members of the Court mystical figures and various set designs.<br /> <br /> Illustrated with forty-two plates nineteen of them fully or partially colored by hand or pochoir some heightened in gilt or silver three b/w one sepia-toned lithograph and nineteen plates reproduced in high quality offset printing. The title page calls for forty-two plates and six illustrations in the text. Our copy is illustrated with seven tipped-in color offset reproductions and one b/w lithograph as endpiece on page seventeen.<br /> <br /> In addition the work is extra-illustrated with five color offset reproductions: one full-page embossed color plate with extensive hand-applied gilt overlay facing page seven Le Roi a full-page embossed color offset reproduction with extensive silver overlay facing plate one Phedre Thesee dated 1923 and three full page color offset reproductions facing plates fifteen L'Amazone with black overprinting twenty-five Scheherazade embossed and heightened in silver and Lampe d'Aladin multicolor overprint and thirty-six La Sultane embossed and overprinted in gilt facing the same image though with greater detail.<br /> <br /> The copies listed in OCLC vary in publication dates all calling for 42 plates and six in-text illustrations. Auction records call for 1925. One auction record for the 1925 edition calls for the lithograph line drawing in the text. Our copy contains two plates dated 1922 in addition to others dated 1917. We've been unable to find any bibliographic record that describes seven in-text illustrations or the five additional illustrations facing four of the plates and the first page of the text as described.<br /> <br /> Text in German. Binding with light wear along edges but vellum smudged and variously discolored. Block lightly starting at a few plates 11 15 19 27 30 42. A couples of tissue guards for plates loose but present. Binding in overall good- plates in very good to fine condition. Leon Bakst 1866-1924 was a Russian painter costume and set designer. Bakst studied art at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle. In 1893 he moved to Paris for four years studying at the Academy Julian. He founded the magazine 'Mir Iskusstva World of Art' with his friends Alexander Benois Sergei Diaghilev and Valentin Serov. Bakst is best known for his work in set and costume design for the Ballet Russes. Ernst Wasmuth A.-G unknown
19052103Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth 1905. First edition. Contemporary morocco over marbled boards. Very Good. FIRST PRINTING of Albert Einstein's groundbreaking 1905 paper the introduction and derivation of the most famous equation in modern physics: E=mc2. "A few months after first publishing the theory of relativity Einstein discovered something that particularly intrigued him; the relation between inertial mass and energy. He wrote to Conrad Habicht during the summer of 1905: 'One more consequence of the paper on electrodynamics has also occurred to me. The principle of relativity in conjunction with Maxwell's equations requires that mass be a direct measure of the energy contained in a body; light carries mass with it. A noticeable decrease of mass should occur in the case of radium. The argument is amusing and seductive but for all I know the Lord might be laughing over it and leading me around by the nose'" Stachel Einstein's Miraculous Year. Einstein continued to work late into the summer on this "amusing and seductive" problem before proving the mass-energy relationship that would become known throughout the world as the simple and elegant E=mc2. Received by Annalen der Physik on September 27 Einstein's derivation and proof of his most famous equation was a dramatic contribution to his annus mirabilis of 1905. Weil 10. Note: In this paper and others until 1912 Einstein used the symbol "L" for energy in his equations and wrote the formula in the form: Mass= L/c2. In: Annalen der Physik Vierte Folge Volume 18 part 13 pages 639-41. Leipzig: Barth 1905. Octavo contemporary half-morocco over marbled boards. The whole volume 18 offered complete with volume halt-title title and contents. Some scuffing to spine of binding; text exceptionally fine. A rare copy in a contemporary binding with no institutional stamps. Johann Ambrosius Barth unknown books
19482327Princeton NJ: np 1948. framed. Fine. ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED IMAGES OF EINSTEIN SIGNED BY MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER YOUSUF KARSH. On February 11 1948 Yousuf Karsh perhaps the most accomplished portrait photographer of his generation visited The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to fulfill a dream of his: to photograph Albert Einstein. As he later explained: "Among the tasks that life as a photographer had set me a portrait of Albert Einstein had always seemed a 'must' - not only because this greatest refugee of our century has been accounted by all the world as the most outstanding scientist since Newton but because his face in all its rough grandeur invited and challenged the camera." Karsh: Beyond the Camera David Travis ed. "At Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study I found Einstein a simple kindly almost childlike man too great for any of the postures of eminence. One did not have to understand his science to feel the power of his mind or the force of his personality" official Karsh website. "Awed before this unique intellect I yet ventured to ask Einstein his views on human immortality. He mused for a moment and then replied 'What I believe of immortality There are two kinds. The first lives in the imagination of people and is thus an illusion. There is a relative immortality which may conserve the memory of an individual for some generations. But there is only one true immortality on a cosmic scale ant that is the immortality of the cosmos itself. There is no other.' "He spoke of these ultimate mysteries as calmly as he might a student's question about mathematics - with such an air of quiet confidence indeed that I found his answer profoundly disturbing to one who held other views. Knowing him to be an accomplished violinist I turned the conversation and asked if there were any connection between music and mathematics. 'In art he said 'and in the higher ranges of science there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavour. There is no true greatness in art or science without that sense of harmony. He who lacks it can never be more than a great technician in either field.' "Was he optimistic about the future harmony of mankind itself He appeared to ponder deeply and remarked in graver tones: 'Optimistic No. But if mankind fails to find a harmonious solution than there will be disaster on a dimension beyond anyone's imagination.' To what source should we look for the hope of the world's future 'To ourselves' said Einstein. He spoke sadly yet serenely as one who had looked into the universe far past mankind's small affairs. In this humor my camera caught him. the portrait of a man who had traveled beyond hope or despair." Yousuf Karsh Regarding Heroes. Opening quote from: Colin Naylor ed. Contemporary Photographers. Silver print. Photo taken Princeton 1948. Printed later. Signed by Karsh in full beneath the image on photographer's mount. With Karsh's original calling "card" - a 4x10 inch cardboard slip - included. Image: 8x9 inches. Framed to an overall size of 12x15 inches. Fine condition. np unknown books
19166409Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1916. First edition. <p>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.</p>. THE GRAVITATIONAL EQUATIONS FROM A VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE. <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his characteristic numbering in red pencil '34' on front cover; Institut für Theoretische Physik Munich ink stamp on upper 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. </p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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 .</p> <br/> <br/> 8vo 252 x 180 mm pp. 1111-1116. Original orange printed wrappers light vertical crease for posting. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
19166408Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1916. First edition. <p>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.</p>. THE GRAVITATIONAL EQUATIONS FROM A VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE. <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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. </p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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 .</p> <br/> <br/> 8vo 252 x 180 mm pp. 1111-1116. Original orange printed wrappers light vertical crease for posting. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
19502896Princeton: np 1950. Very Good. A beautiful photo of Einstein at work in his study seemingly absorbed with his thoughts. The photographer Hermann Landshoff like Einstein was a German-Jewish émigré who settled in the United States in the 1930s. His large body of work encompasses portraits of some of the most influential figures of the century. Landshoff was highly respected by his peers with his work prompting the American photographer Richard Avedon to claim "I owe everything to Landshoff."<br /> <br /> Landshoff visited Einstein to photograph him several times in the 1940s and early 1950s showing Einstein in quieter moments at his home or study in Princeton.<br /> <br /> With Landshoff's copyright stamp on verso marking this as a "Sample copy" and "Not for sale or reproduction." Also with Landshoff's signature on the original matte board. The original non-archival matte was removed during framing to better preserve the photo but the signature was preserved and is now displayed on verso. <br /> <br /> Gelatin silver print with sepia tones. Taken c.1950 likely a contemporary or early printing. Approx. 9.25 x 10.5 in 235 x 263 mm. Archivally framed under museum glass to a size of 16 x 17.5 in. A few tiny spots to image generally in fine condition handsomely framed. np unknown
19482327Princeton NJ: np 1948. framed. Fine. ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED IMAGES OF EINSTEIN SIGNED BY MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER YOUSUF KARSH. On February 11 1948 Yousuf Karsh perhaps the most accomplished portrait photographer of his generation visited The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to fulfill a dream of his: to photograph Albert Einstein. As he later explained: "Among the tasks that life as a photographer had set me a portrait of Albert Einstein had always seemed a 'must' - not only because this greatest refugee of our century has been accounted by all the world as the most outstanding scientist since Newton but because his face in all its rough grandeur invited and challenged the camera." Karsh: Beyond the Camera David Travis ed. "At Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study I found Einstein a simple kindly almost childlike man too great for any of the postures of eminence. One did not have to understand his science to feel the power of his mind or the force of his personality" official Karsh website. "Awed before this unique intellect I yet ventured to ask Einstein his views on human immortality. He mused for a moment and then replied 'What I believe of immortality There are two kinds. The first lives in the imagination of people and is thus an illusion. There is a relative immortality which may conserve the memory of an individual for some generations. But there is only one true immortality on a cosmic scale ant that is the immortality of the cosmos itself. There is no other.' "He spoke of these ultimate mysteries as calmly as he might a student's question about mathematics - with such an air of quiet confidence indeed that I found his answer profoundly disturbing to one who held other views. Knowing him to be an accomplished violinist I turned the conversation and asked if there were any connection between music and mathematics. 'In art he said 'and in the higher ranges of science there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavour. There is no true greatness in art or science without that sense of harmony. He who lacks it can never be more than a great technician in either field.' "Was he optimistic about the future harmony of mankind itself He appeared to ponder deeply and remarked in graver tones: 'Optimistic No. But if mankind fails to find a harmonious solution than there will be disaster on a dimension beyond anyone's imagination.' To what source should we look for the hope of the world's future 'To ourselves' said Einstein. He spoke sadly yet serenely as one who had looked into the universe far past mankind's small affairs. In this humor my camera caught him. the portrait of a man who had traveled beyond hope or despair." Yousuf Karsh Regarding Heroes. Opening quote from: Colin Naylor ed. Contemporary Photographers. Silver print. Photo taken Princeton 1948. Printed later. Signed by Karsh in full beneath the image on photographer's mount. With Karsh's original calling "card" - a 4x10 inch cardboard slip - included. Image: 8x9 inches. Framed to an overall size of 12x15 inches. Fine condition. np unknown
19256417Berlin: Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften 1925. First edition. <p>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.</p>. BOSE-EINSTEIN STATISTICS - WITHOUT THE STATISTICS. <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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. </p> <br /> <p>The motivation for the publication of this paper is given by Einstein in the opening paragraph translation from Papers Vol. 14 English Translation Supplement:</p> <br /> <p>'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.'</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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</p> <br /> <p>dn = ÏL κT V mVdp1dp2dp3 / h3</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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:</p> <br /> <p>A = L/κT and B = mV/N2/3κT/h2.</p> <br /> <p>To reduce Ï to a function of a single variable Einstein needed further restrictions. "Einstein proposed two of those:</p> <br /> <br /> The entropy of an ideal gas does not change in an 'infinitely slow adiabatic' sic compression.<br /> The required velocity distribution is valid for an ideal gas also in an external field of conservative forces.<br /> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>Einstein deduced from these assumptions that </p> <br /> <p>Ï = ΨA χB </p> <br /> <p>where Ψ and χ are universal functions of dimensionless variables. </p> <br /> <p>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 </p> <br /> <p>Ï = Be-A </p> <br /> <p>i.e. the Maxwell-Boltzmann law. In contrast Einstein's statistical theory had produced the expression</p> <br /> <p>Ï = B/eA - 1.</p> <br /> <p>"Summarizing Einstein pointed out that two aims have been achieved:</p> <br /> <p>'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. </p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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 .</p> <br /> <p>"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.</p> <br /> <p>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 'Ãœberreicht 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.</p> <br /> <p>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 'Ãœberreicht vom Verfasser' on the front wrapper as in the present offprint.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br /> <p>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.</p> <br/> <br/> 8vo 255 x 183 mm pp. 18-25. Original orange printed wrappers. Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
190725711Weinheim: Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Elektrochemie. Nr. 6. 1907 February. First Edition Offprint Issue from Volume 13 number 6. Single sheet approximately 10" x 8" pp 41-42 pp. A very fine example of this rare issue a very minor and unobtrusive stain to an upper corner. SCARCE OFFPRINT ISSUE OF AN IMPORTANT EINSTEIN PAPER OF STATISTICAL MECHANICS and a continuation of his remarkable 1905 and 1906 publications on Brownian Motion which not only led to the proof of the existence of the atom but also worked to determine the size of atoms and how many atoms there are in a mole or the molecular weight in grams of a gas. This paper also contains a note on the technical meaning of "average velocity. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Elektrochemie. Nr. 6. unknown
1949133215Munchen: Paul List Verlag 1949. First German edition of this classic work by Frank a famed contemporary of Einstein. Octavo original cloth. Signed by Albert Einstein on the slip to the title page and inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "To Karl W. Deutsch with the author's compliments Philipp Frank August 10 1950." Philipp Frank was a physicist mathematician and also a philosopher during the first half of the 20th century. He was a logical-positivist and a member of the Vienna Circle. He was influenced by Mach and was one of the Machists criticised by Lenin in Materialism and Empirio-criticism. He studied physics at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1907 with a thesis in theoretical physics under the supervision of Ludwig Boltzmann. Albert Einstein recommended him as his successor for a professorship at the German Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague a position which he held from 1912 until 1938. Very good in a good dust jacket. Much has been written about Albert Einstein technical and biographical but very little remains as valuable as this unique hybrid of a book written by Einstein's colleague and contemporary. Both rich in personal insights and grounded in a deep knowledge of twentieth-century science Phillip Frank's biography anchors the reader with a lucid overview of physics and draws an intimate portrait of the Nobel Prize–winner. Paul List Verlag hardcover
192552559Berlin, Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1925-1929. 1. Einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1925, pp.414-419. Original wrappers. Mint. (Weil 147 / Boni 155).2. Neue Möglichkeit für eine einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1928, pp.235-245. Original wrappers. Mint. (Weil 162/ Boni 175).3. Zur einheitlichen Feldtheorie. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1929, pp.2-7. Original wrappers. Mint. (Weil 165/ Boni 183).4. Einheitliche Feldtheorie und Hamiltonsches Prinzip. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1929, pp.156-159. Original wrappers. Mint. (Weil 166/ Boni 184).5. Über den gegenwärtigen Stand der Feldtheorie. In: Festschrift Dr. A. Stodola, Zürich, Füssli, 1929, pp.126-132. Publishers full cloth. Spine slightly faded. Otherwise mint. (Weil 168 / Boni 178).All in all a very fine set.
192552559Berlin Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften 1925-1929. 1. Einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1925 pp.414-419. Original wrappers. Mint. Weil 147 / Boni 155.2. Neue Möglichkeit für eine einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1928 pp.235-245. Original wrappers. Mint. Weil 162/ Boni 175.3. Zur einheitlichen Feldtheorie. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1929 pp.2-7. Original wrappers. Mint. Weil 165/ Boni 183.4. Einheitliche Feldtheorie und Hamiltonsches Prinzip. Offprint: S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1929 pp.156-159. Original wrappers. Mint. Weil 166/ Boni 184.5. Über den gegenwärtigen Stand der Feldtheorie. In: Festschrift Dr. A. Stodola Zürich Füssli 1929 pp.126-132. Publishers full cloth. Spine slightly faded. Otherwise mint. Weil 168 / Boni 178.All in all a very fine set. <br/><br/><em>Offprint of all four papers and first edition of the final essay constituting Einstein's attempt toward creating a unified field theory: "a new theory of space with a view to unification of all forms of activity that fall within the sphere of physics giving them a common explanation" PMM416. The task of unifying nuclear electromagnetic and gravitational force is nowadays by many considered the holy grail of theoretical physics.Maxwell was the first to develop such a theory when he described the forces of electricity and magnetism as the single force electromagnetism. After Einstein had completed his general theory of relativity a field theory for gravitation he turned his attention towards generalizing his theory even further to include Maxwell's theory. Even though Einstein never succeeded in completing this task in the way that he finished his earlier theories he pioneered and explored many areas of this subject. "It had been repeatedly observed that Einstein's general theory of relativity necessitated a pluralistic explanation of the universe. In 1925 he announced that he had resolved this difficulty but the announcement was premature. In 1928 he attacked the problem once more only to find that Riemann's conception of space on which the general theory was based would not permit of a common explanation of electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena. In a series of papers the present devoted to the development of 'A Uniform Theory of Gravitation and Electricity' he outlined a new theory of space with a view to unification of all forms of activity that fall within the sphere of physics giving them a common explanation. All that would then remain to complete a scientific unison is the correlation of the organic and inorganic".PMM 416Barchas 586 </em> hardcover
1916ABE-1748062254979Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth 1916 Pamphlet finely bound in Dark green quarter leather over marbled boards. Signed twice in ink either by Einstein or a decent forger. Signature faded. First separate edition for the first time with the introduction which did not appear in the "Annalen." - "The theory of relativity has turned astrophysics upside down even the entire scientific world view" Carter/Muir Books That Change the World p. 727. "This separate edition is printed on good strong paper the wrappers are of strong material too 163 x 243 and it is described now as 'the original edition' of this classic paper ." Weil. - Cover slightly browned with a few edge chips top and foredge. Minor repairs to rear cover. Carter/Muir Books That Change the World 408 in "Annals of Physics"; Boni 78; Weil 80a; Laurence 78; Norman 696; Horblitt 26c. Signed by Authors. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth hardcover
19142124Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE of Einstein's important 1914 paper on the development of general relativity. "In summer 1914 Einstein felt that the new theory general relativity should be presented in a comprehensive review. He also felt that a mathematical derivation of the field equations that would determine them uniquely was still missing. "Both tasks are addressed in a long paper presented in October 1914 to the Prussian Academy for publication in its Sitzungsberichte. It is entitled 'The formal foundation of the general theory of relativity'; here for the first time Einstein gave the new theory of relativity the epithet 'general' in lieu of the more cautious 'generalized' that he had used for the Entwurf" Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940. "According to John Norton 'How Einstein Found His Field Equations' this major review article was intended to convey the full content of the 1913 'Entwurf' theory: 'The principal novelty lies in the mathematical formulation of the theory. Drawing on earlier work with Marcel Grossman Einstein formulated his gravitational field equations using a variation principle. Using this richer mathematical structure Einstein offered a proof purporting to demonstrate that his theory had the maximum covariance compatible with the hole argument; that is covariance under 'justified' transformation between the 'adapted coordinate systems' he had introduced with Grossman'" Calaprice The Einstein Almanac. Offprint from: Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XLI 19 November 1914 pp. 1030-1085. Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. Octavo original wrappers; custom box. Neat early ownership name on front wrapper. Only the slightest wear; a fine copy. Rare. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown books
1916140940031Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth 1916. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition. Annalen der Physik Band 48 No. 7. total pp. 769-880 with Einstein's paper "Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie" on pp. 769-822. "Druck von Metzger & Wittig in Leipzig" to foot of pp. 880. Finely bound without wraps opens directly to p. 769 in marbled boards with brown leather spine lettered in gilt with contents lightly toned else Fine. Also contains papers by Otto Stern W. Wein R. Hirsch and H. Lussem. Text in German. The first printing of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and a continuation of his ideas of first set forth in a 1905 paper on special relativity. General relativity refines Newton's laws of gravity describing it as a geometric property of space and time applying it to the universe. Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth unknown books
19142124Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE of Einstein's important 1914 paper on the development of general relativity. "In summer 1914 Einstein felt that the new theory general relativity should be presented in a comprehensive review. He also felt that a mathematical derivation of the field equations that would determine them uniquely was still missing. "Both tasks are addressed in a long paper presented in October 1914 to the Prussian Academy for publication in its Sitzungsberichte. It is entitled 'The formal foundation of the general theory of relativity'; here for the first time Einstein gave the new theory of relativity the epithet 'general' in lieu of the more cautious 'generalized' that he had used for the Entwurf" Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940. "According to John Norton 'How Einstein Found His Field Equations' this major review article was intended to convey the full content of the 1913 'Entwurf' theory: 'The principal novelty lies in the mathematical formulation of the theory. Drawing on earlier work with Marcel Grossman Einstein formulated his gravitational field equations using a variation principle. Using this richer mathematical structure Einstein offered a proof purporting to demonstrate that his theory had the maximum covariance compatible with the hole argument; that is covariance under 'justified' transformation between the 'adapted coordinate systems' he had introduced with Grossman'" Calaprice The Einstein Almanac. Offprint from: Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XLI 19 November 1914 pp. 1030-1085. Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. Octavo original wrappers; custom box. Neat early ownership name on front wrapper. Only the slightest wear; a fine copy. Rare. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
19455054Lancaster PA: American Physical Society 1945. First edition. <p>First edition extremely rare offprints of Einstein & Straus's introduction of the 'Swiss-cheese' model of the universe. "By the spring of 1945 Einstein and Straus had found a new type of possible universe using Einstein's equations . This was a step towards a more realistic universe in which the matter was not smoothly spread with the same density everywhere but gathered up into lumps like galaxies which were spread about in empty space" Barrow The Book of Universes pp. 106-107.</p>. EINSTEIN'S 'SWISS-CHEESE' MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE - OFFPRINT ISSUE. <p>First edition extremely rare offprints of Einstein & Straus's introduction of the 'Swiss-cheese' model of the universe. "After a decade and a half of sometimes intense work on cosmology Einstein returned to the subject only occasionally in his later years. His most significant later contribution was a discussion of the impact of cosmological expansion on the gravitational field surrounding a star i.e. the offered papers . This was an important first step in understanding the impact of global cosmological expansion on local physics" Janssen & Lehner pp. 257-8. In the 1920s and 1930s a general relativistic model of the universe was developed called the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker FLRW model which correctly described the expansion of the universe discovered by Edwin Hubble. But the FLRW model was 'homogeneous' - it described a universe which looks the same wherever the observer is located. The actual universe however is manifestly inhomogeneous - it contains stars galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Einstein and Straus's papers represent the first serious attempt to model an inhomogeneous universe. "By the spring of 1945 Einstein and Straus had found a new type of possible universe using Einstein's equations. It described a universe which looked largely like one of the simple expanding universes of Friedmann and Lemaître containing material like galaxies which exerted no pressure. But it had spherical regions removed from it like bubbles in a Swiss cheese. Each empty hole then had a mass placed at its centre. The mass was equal in magnitude to what had been excavated to create the hole. This was a step towards a more realistic universe in which the matter was not smoothly spread with the same density everywhere but gathered up into lumps like galaxies which were spread about in empty space" Barrow pp. 106-107. Not on OCLC; no copies in auction records.</p> <br /> <p>In 1916 just a few months after Einstein had formulated his general theory of relativity Karl Schwarzschild had found a solution of Einstein's equations which described the gravitational field in the vicinity of a spherical distribution of mass such as a star or to anticipate later developments a black hole. This was in fact the first exact solution of Einstein's equations to be found - Einstein had earlier calculated an approximate solution which was enough to show that his theory correctly accounted for the advance of Mercury's perihelion. However at great distances from the star Schwarzschild's solution approaches the flat Minkowski spacetime with zero curvature and not the FLRW solution that represented an expanding universe. It seemed therefore that Schwarzschild's solution could not correctly describe the gravitational field of a star in an expanding FLRW universe. If the expansion of the universe meant that Schwarzschild's solution had to be modified this could make it possible to detect and measure the expansion of the universe by making local observations rather than by observing the motion of distant galaxies as Hubble had done. The problem of describing the gravitational field of a star in an expanding FLRW universe was addressed by Einstein and Straus in the offered papers.</p> <br /> <p>"In the early 1930s theorists began to develop a richer account of the evolution of the universe based on expanding models. Hubble's results qualitatively agreed with the redshift effect calculated in these models but the utility of the simple dynamical models depends on whether the universe is approximately uniform. The status of this assumption was the focus of lively debate . Relativistic cosmologists regarded the idealized uniformity of the FLRW models as a simplifying assumption . The unrelenting uniformity built into the FLRW models conflicts with the clear non-uniformity of the stars star clusters and galaxies of the local universe but the models might still serve as a useful approximation if the non-uniformities are negligible at larger scales" Janssen & Lehner p. 256.</p> <br /> <p>"By 1944 Einstein had recruited a new assistant at Princeton. His assistants were always talented young mathematicians who could make up for Einstein's self-confessed weakness in this area. Ernst Straus 1922-1983 was something of a mathematical prodigy . He was born in Munich but after the Nazis came to power in 1933 his family fled to Palestine where he was educated at high school and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Straus didn't stay to take an undergraduate degree and instead while still a teenager moved to New York's Columbia University in 1941 to begin graduate research. In 1944 he found himself recruited as Einstein's new research assistant at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The young Straus had no background in physics and his mathematical inclinations were towards number theory and 'pure' mathematical topics but he lost no time in filling the gap left by the departures of Nathan Rosen 1935-45 and Leopold Infeld 1936-38" Barrow pp. 105-6.</p> <br /> <p>Einstein and Straus found an exact solution of the equations of general relativity in which a spherical 'hole' is cut out of an FLRW universe and the hole is replaced by a single mass point e.g. a star surrounded by a spherical cavity. The initially homogeneous matter within the cavity can be thought of as having been "condensed into the star". Einstein and Straus found that the interior of the cavity is described by the standard Schwarzschild solution. The radius of the hole is such that at its spherical boundary the outward pull from the cosmological masses is just balanced by the inward pull from the star. The cavity boundary expands according to the Hubble expansion of the whole universe. The universe outside the cavity is described by the standard expanding homogeneous FLRW solution. The possibility of exactly matching the Schwarzschild solution near the star to the FLRW solution outside it showed that it was not in fact possible to detect the expansion of the universe by making observations close to the star. There were similar solutions with more than one hole - Einstein said that this reminded him of the holes in Swiss cheese. The static vacuum region inside the cavity is now called an 'Einstein-Straus vacuole'.</p> <br /> <p>The methods introduced by Einstein and Straus in these papers have been used extensively to model inhomogeneities in the universe. For example in 1968 Martin Rees and Dennis Sciama investigated the effects of large-scale inhomogeneities such as superclusters of galaxies on the cosmic microwave background the so-called 'Rees-Sciama effect'. The Swiss-cheese model has also been used in the study of inflationary models of the early universe. According to this theory the universe expanded exponentially in the first tiny fraction of a second after the big bang with some parts of space-time expanding more quickly than others. This created 'bubbles' in space-time. The Swiss-cheese "embodies a natural way to model physical problems such as describing the boundary between a galaxy and intergalactic space or the relation between bubbles at the end of an inflationary era by taking two different regions where the behaviour is smooth and joining them at a surface of discontinuity" Ellis et al. p. 426.</p> <br /> <p>In the last decade several authors have suggested that Swiss-cheese models might solve a long-standing problem on the rate of expansion of the universe. Distant supernovas have been observed to be dimmer than expected on the basis of standard cosmological theories indicating that the universe is expanding faster than these theories predict. This has been explained by hypothesizing the existence of 'dark energy' although exactly what dark energy might be is a mystery. But if the light from distant supernovas had to cross large vacuoles in reaching an observer on the earth these would act like concave lenses making the supernovas appear dimmer and further away than they really are. Other authors have noted that the Milky Way is near the centre of a region that has fewer galaxies than other parts of the universe and that we might be living near the centre of a particularly large vacuole perhaps more than a billion light years in diameter see for example Bonnor.</p> <br /> <p>Weil 216. Barrow The Book of Universes 2011. Bonnor 'A generalisation of the Einstein-Straus vacuole' Classical and Quantum Gravity 17 2000 pp. 2739-2748. Ellis Maartens & MacCallum Relativistic Cosmology 2012. Janssen & Lehner eds. The Cambridge Companion to Einstein 2014.</p> <br/> <br/> Together two offprints 4to 267 x 200 mm pp. 120-124 & 148-149. Stapled as issued in original self-wrappers. American Physical Society unknown
191660254Leipzig, Ambrosius Barth, 1916. 8vo. Uncut in the original printed wrappers. Light discolouration to margins of wrappers. Inner hinges with professional repairs. Small stamp (exlibris?) to lower part of title-page. Previous owner's name (Erik Broekmeyer) in contemporary hand to upper outer corner of title-page. A fine copy. 64 pp.
