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192928362Berlin Gruyter & Co. 1929. 4to. Orig. orange printed wrappers. Offprint/Sonderabdruck aus Sitzungsberichten.pp. 1-8. Fine fresh copy. <br/><br/><em>First edition in the rare Offprint still called "Abdruck" but having separate printed title and separate pagination. See Weil No. 165 where this is not mentioned.Weil No. 165 with an asterix denoting a major work. "The Unified Field-Theory is one of the last importent works by Einstein. This paper presents a new development which was immediate news; translations and abstracts of ite appeared at once besides numerous articles in general periodicals" W. Alicke.The early Offprints from "Sitzungsberichten." are called "Sonderabdruck" up to Weil No.165 including this. From Weil 166 they are called "Sonderausgabe.". - Before 161 up to 160 the Offprints do not have separate title and pagination the pagination follows the numbering in the periodical. From 166 the Offprint has both separate printed title and pagination. - So Weil Nos 161-165 is still "Abdruck" but with separate title and pagination. These facts are not mentioned in the bibliographies. </em> unknown
192922771Berlin 1929. Orig. printed orange wrappers. Back strengthend with matching paper. Fresh copy. Offprint/Sonderabdr. aus "Sitzungsberichte". pp. 1-8. <br/><br/><em>First edition. Weil No. 165 - with asterics denoting major work. Printing and the Mind of Man 416. </em> unknown
1929374191929. <p>Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur einheitlichen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichten der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1 1929. 8vo. 8pp. Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaft 1929. 256 x 183 mm. Original printed wrappers slightly soiled and creased. Very good. </p> <p>First Separate Edition. "In 1928 Einstein embarked on a new approach to a unified field theory . . . involving what he called 'distant parallelism'. . . . By early 1929 he had solved the main problems involved in writing down field equations for his unified theory. On the day of official publication of the third of a formidably technical series of nine articles on the theory . . . excited headlines appeared in foreign newspapers throughout the world. . . . In this frenzied unscientific atmosphere Einstein's new theory was hailed in the press as an outstanding scientific advance. Yet Einstein had stated in his article that it was still tentative; and soon he found he had to abandon it Hoffman Einstein pp. 225-26. This paper is included on Shields's list of Einstein's most significant papers; see Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist 1949 p. 758. Weil 165. Pais Subtle is the Lord pp. 344-46. </p> . unknown
0484971808.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
1333940327.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
1016678002.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
192328359Berlin, Gruyter & Co., 1923. 4to. Orig. orange printed wrappers. Offprint/Sonderabdruck aus Sitzungsberichten...pp. 32-38. Fine fresh copy.
19152125Berlin: Verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1915. First edition. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST PRINTING IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS IN FINE CONDITION of Einstein's famous November 4 1915 paper introducing his new version of general relativity. By autumn 1915 Einstein experienced a "crisis" in his work on his gravitational equations and the general theory of relativity forcing him to abandon several key elements of his earlier work. In October 1915 "Einstein shifted his focus from the physical strategy which emphasized his feel for the basic principles of physics and returned to a greater reliance on a mathematical strategy which made use of the Riemann and Ricci tensors. 'Einstein's reversal' writes John Norton 'parted the waters and led him from bondage into the promised land of general relativity'. "The result was an exhausting four-week frenzy during which Einstein wrestled with a succession of tensors equations corrections and updates that he rushed to the Prussian Academy in a flurry of four Thursday lectures. It climaxed with the triumphant revision of Newton's universe at the end of November 1915" Isaacson. In this November 4th paper and lecture On the General Theory of Relativity Einstein presented "to the plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity" explaining "that he had 'completely lost confidence' in the equations he proposed in October 1914. His answers were still not entirely right. There was still one flaw a much smaller one which he eliminated three weeks later. But the road lay open. He was lyrical. 'No one who has really grasped it can escape the magic of this new theory'" Pais. Three weeks later - on November 25 1915 - Einstein did indeed eliminate the flaw and "presented to the physics-mathematics section of the Prussian Academy of Sciences a paper in which 'finally the general theory of relativity is closed as a logical structure'. The work is done" Pais. See: Isaacson Einstein pp. 211-221 and Pais Subtle is the Lord pp.250-261. Note: Einstein's November 11 paper was titled "Zur allgemeinen Relativitatstheorie II" but rather than a continuation or advancement of the November 4 paper it was a step backwards introducing a serious mistake that he would correct by November 25. IN: Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin: Verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1915. Vol. 44. 778-786. Quarto original wrappers; custom box. A fine copy. RARE. Verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown books
190438818Leipzig, J.A. Barth, 1904. Contemp. hcloth, tears to hinges at upper part of spine. ""Annalen der Physik. Vierte Folge. Band 14. Herausgegeben von Paul Drude"". VIII,1040 pp. and 3 plates. The Einstein paper: pp. 354-362. Internally clean and fine. The whole volume offered.
1923374061923. unknown books
19156406Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1915. First edition. <p>First editions very rare offprint issue of the first two papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein's final formulation of the general theory of relativity - the culmination of nearly a decade of theoretical work. These papers represent a turning point not only in Einstein's career but in the history of modern physics. Delivered to the Prussian Academy on 4 and 11 November 1915 they contain the essential framework and mathematical formalism of the completed theory preceding the famous final paper of 25 November by just days. Collectively the November papers form the core of Einstein's definitive breakthrough. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton.</p>. <p>EINSTEIN'S COMPLETION OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY</p> . <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 the first two of the papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein's final version of the general theory of relativity. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton. "There was difficulty reconciling the Newtonian theory of gravitation with its instantaneous propagation of forces with the requirements of special relativity; and Einstein working on this difficulty was led to a generalization of relativity - which was probably the greatest scientific discovery that was ever made" Dirac quoted in Chandrasekhar p. 3. Einstein's special theory of relativity 1905 showed that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial i.e. non-accelerating frames of reference. It was then natural to ask whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. This problem became linked to a theory of gravitation with Einstein's 'equivalence principle' of 1907 according to which the effects of gravity are locally equivalent to those of accelerated motion. Einstein's first steps towards a geometrical theory of gravitation were taken in August 1912 when his friend Marcel Grossmann provided the necessary mathematical tools. "Some time between August 10 and August 16 it became clear to Einstein that Riemannian geometry is the correct mathematical tool for what we now call general relativity theory. The impact of this abrupt realization was to change his outlook on physics and physical theory for the rest of his life" Pais p. 210. The resulting 'Entwurf' theory 1913 had much in common with the final theory of 1915 but based on a fallacious argument Einstein abandoned the requirement that the theory should be 'generally-covariant' i.e. that arbitrary frames of reference should be allowed. "After three years of fruitless peregrinations the revelation came to Einstein that he had been constantly on the wrong track although in 1913 he had been so near to the right solution" Lanczos p. 211. On November 4 1915 he presented to a plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' "based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1" and stated that he had "completely lost confidence" in the 'Entwurf' equations. On November 18 he published his calculation of the precession of the perihelion of Mercury based on the new theory: its agreement with observation confirmed that the theory was correct the Entwurf theory predicted half the observed value of the precession.</p> <br /> <p>Provenance: Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 his characteristic numbering in red pencil '30' on front cover. "The son of a physician Sommerfeld was educated at the University of Königsberg. After teaching briefly at the universities of Göttingen Clausthal and Aachen he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Münich in 1906. Sommerfeld should have retired in 1936 in favour of his pupil Werner Heisenberg. Opposition from the Nazi party to Heisenberg's appointment prolonged Sommerfeld's tenure and it was not in fact until late 1939 that he finally retired to be succeeded not by Heisenberg but by Wilhelm Müller a Nazi aerodynamicist without a single publication in physics to his credit. Although Sommerfeld and Heisenberg were not Jewish they were regarded by the Nazis as Jewish sympathizers. Sommerfeld however survived the war and returned to his Münich chair in 1945 continuing to work at physics until he died in a car accident in 1951" Oxford Reference. "Arnold Sommerfeld was one of the most distinguished representatives of the transition period between classical and modern theoretical physics. The work of his youth was still firmly anchored in the conceptions of the nineteenth century; but when in the first decennium of the century the flood of new discoveries experimental and theoretical broke the dams of tradition he became a leader of the new movement and in combining the two ways of thinking he exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. This combination of a classical mind to whom clarity of conception and mathematical rigour are essential with the adventurous spirit of a pioneer are the roots of his scientific success while his exceptional gift of communicating his ideas by spoken and written word made him a great teacher" Max Born p. 275. </p> <br /> <p>"In June 1905 while still a patent examiner in Bern Einstein submitted his famous work on the electrodynamics of moving bodies to the Annalen der Physik. This work contained his special theory of relativity in which he asserted the equivalence of all inertial frames of reference as a fundamental postulate of physics. The question which then naturally arose was whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. But he could find no workable basis for such an extension until he tried to incorporate gravitation into his new special theory of relativity for a review article in 1907 'Uber das Relativitätsprinzip und die ausdemselben gezogenen Folgerungen' Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Elektronik 4 1907 411-62. The difficulties of this task led him to a new principle later to be called the 'principle of equivalence.'</p> <br /> <p>"On the basis of the fact that all bodies fall alike in a gravitational field Einstein postulated the complete physical equivalence of a homogeneous gravitational field and a uniform acceleration of the frame of reference. This extended the principle of relativity to the case of uniform acceleration. It also foreshadowed the problem whose complete solution would lead him to his general theory of relativity: the construction of a relativistically acceptable theory of gravitation based on the principle of equivalence" Norton p. 258.</p> <br /> <p>One application of the equivalence principle proved crucial to the subsequent development of his ideas on general relativity. Einstein considered an observer standing on a rotating disc - a non-inertial accelerating reference frame. According to special relativity measuring rods aligned with the circumference of the disc will contract due to their motion whereas measuring rods positioned along the radius of the disc will not. Hence the ratio of the circumference of the disc to its diameter will be less than π. "The spatial geometry for the rotating observer is therefore non-euclidean. Invoking the equivalence principle Einstein concluded that this will be true for an observer in a gravitational field as well. This then is what first suggested to Einstein that gravity should be represented by curved space-time. </p> <br /> <p>"To describe curved space-time Einstein turned to Gauss's theory of curved surfaces a subject he vaguely remembered from his student days at the ETH in Zürich. He had learned it from the notes of his classmate Marcel Grossmann. Upon his return to his alma mater as a full professor of physics in 1912 Einstein learned from Grossmann now a colleague in the mathematics department of the ETH about the extension of Gauss's theory to spaces of higher dimension by Riemann and others. Riemann's theory provided Einstein with the mathematical object with which he could unify the effects of gravity and acceleration: the metric field" Janssen p. 65.</p> <br /> <p>The first product of this collaboration was the Entwurf einer verallgemeinerten Relativitätstheorie und einer Theorie der Gravitation published before the end of June 1913 which contained many of the essential features of the final general theory of relativity; most importantly it introduced the 'metric' of space-time. In Minkowski's formulation of special relativity 1908 the most important quantity is the 'world function' of two events which determines the metric and causal structure of space-time. If these events have coordinates x y z t and x' y' z' t' in some inertial reference frame the world function is:</p> <br /> <p>c2t' - t2 - x' - x2 - y' - y2 - z' - z2</p> <br /> <p>where c is the speed of light. Its crucial property is that it depends only on the two events and not on the choice of inertial reference frame - in other words it is unchanged 'invariant' when x y z t and x' y' z' t' are both subjected to any Lorentz transformation. Einstein and Grossmann began with the world function in differential form:</p> <br /> <p>ds2 = c2dt2 - dx2 - dy2 - dz2</p> <br /> <p>If we now subject x y z t to an arbitrary coordinate transformation not necessarily a Lorentz transformation this takes the general form</p> <br /> <p>ds2 = g11dx12 g12dx1dx2 . ;</p> <br /> <p>the collection of quantities gμν which in general depend on the coordinates x1 x2 x3 x4 is called the metric. Based on analogy with Newton's theory Einstein expected that the gravitational equations should be of the form</p> <br /> <p>Gμν = Tμν</p> <br /> <p>where Gμν is a purely geometric quantity constructed solely from the metric gμν and its derivatives up to the second order and the 'stress-energy tensor' Tμν contains the information about the matter that is producing the gravitational field including energy density momentum fluxes and stresses. The question was: what exactly should Gμνbe</p> <br /> <p>Einstein and Grossmann found that generally covariant equations did not seem to be compatible with energy-momentum conservation or reduce to the equations of Newtonian gravitational theory for weak static fields both essential requirements of the correct theory. Einstein therefore decided to settle in the 'Entwurf' for equations with very limited covariance - instead of arbitrary changes in coordinates only linear ones were allowed. The restricted covariance of the 'Entwurf' field equations continued to bother him until in late August 1913 he convinced himself that such restrictions are unavoidable by means of the infamous "hole argument" first published as an addendum to the reprint of the 'Entwurf' article in Zeitschrift für Physik in January 1914. This ingenious argument showed correctly that if the gravitational equations were generally covariant the metric gμν would not be uniquely determined by the matter distribution i.e. by Tμν. He concluded incorrectly that this implied that general covariance must be ruled out the hole argument does not work if only linear coordinate transformations are allowed. The appropriate analogy is with electromagnetism: the metric is analogous to the scalar and vector potentials of electromagnetism and it was well known certainly to Einstein that these potentials are not uniquely determined by the charges and currents producing the electromagnetic field. </p> <br /> <p>That the 'Entwurf' theory was incorrect was made clear by Einstein's attempt in collaboration with Michele Besso another former classmate to explain the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. In 1859 Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had observed the 'precession' of Mercury's orbit: this orbit is an ellipse but the ellipse is not fixed in space but slowly rotates. From early on in his search for a new relativistic theory of gravitation Einstein had been interested in the problem of Mercury's perihelion. In a letter to his friend Conrad Habicht in 1907 Einstein had already expressed his hope that such a theory would explain the anomalous advance of Mercury's perihelion. Besso visited Einstein in Zürich in June 1913 and the two men calculated the precession expected on the basis of the 'Entwurf' theory. Disappointingly it was only about half the observed anomaly. </p> <br /> <p>Einstein left Zürich in March 1914 to take up a professorship in Berlin which was to be his home until December 1932. He made no further progress on the gravitational equations until the summer of 1915 although a detailed exposition of the 'Entwurf' theory was published in October 1914 in which Einstein maintained the need for restricted covariance and even claimed that this determined the gravitational Lagrangian uniquely. "Einstein still believed in the 'old' theory as late as July 1915 between July and October he found objections to that theory and his final version was conceived and worked out between late October and November 25 . What made Einstein change his mind between July and October Letters to Sommerfeld and Lorentz show that he had found at least three objections against the old theory: 1 its restricted covariance did not include uniform rotations 2 the precession of the perihelion of Mercury came out too small by a factor of about 2 and 3 his proof of October 1914 of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian was incorrect. Einstein got rid of all these shortcomings in a series of four brief articles offered here .</p> <br /> <p>"On November 4 Einstein presented to the plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1'. He began this paper by stating that he had 'completely lost confidence' in the equations proposed in October 1914. At that time he had given a proof of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian. He had realized meanwhile that this proof 'rested on misconception' and so he continued 'I was led back to a more general covariance of the field equations a requirement which I had abandoned only with a heavy heart in the course of my collaboration with my friend Grossmann three years earlier' .</p> <br /> <p>"Einstein and Grossmann had concluded that the gravitational equations could be invariant under linear transformations only and Einstein's justification for this restriction was based on the belief that the gravitational equations ought to determine the gμν uniquely a point he continued to stress in October 1914. In his new paper he finally liberated himself from this three-year-old prejudice. That is the main advance on November 4. His answers were still not entirely right. There was still one flaw a much smaller one which he eliminated three weeks later. But the road lay open. He was lyrical. 'No one who has really grasped it can escape the magic of this new theory.'</p> <br /> <p>"The remaining flaw was of course Einstein's unnecessary restriction to unimodular transformations. The reasons which led him to introduce this constraint were not deep I believe. He simply noted that this restricted class of transformations permits simplifications of the tensor calculus . The new equations are a vast improvement over the Einstein-Grossmann equations and cure one of the ailments he had diagnosed only recently: unimodular transformations do include rotations with arbitrarily varying angular velocities. In addition he proved that the new equations can be derived from a variational principle and that the conservation laws are satisfied" Pais pp. 250-252.</p> <br /> <p>On November 11 he submitted a 'Nachtrag' to his paper of a week earlier. "Einstein proposes a scheme that is even tighter than the one of a week earlier. Not only shall the theory be invariant with respect to unimodular transformations . but more strongly it shall satisfy the condition that the determinant of the matrix gμν is equal to minus one . During the next two weeks Einstein believed that this new condition had brought him closer to general covariance . One week later he remarked that 'no objections of principle' can be raised against it" ibid. pp. 252-253. Norton p. 309 points out that Einstein had in fact made a significant advance in this paper: namely he had finally found generally covariant field equations that reduced to the Newtonian equations in the weak field limit" ibid. p. 253.</p> <br /> <p>On November 18 still retaining the restrictions of his paper of a week earlier Einstein presented in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie'"two of his greatest discoveries. Each of these changed his life. The first result was that his theory explains . quantitatively . the secular rotation of the orbit of Mercury discovered by Le Verrier . without the need of any special hypothesis. This discovery was I believe by far the strongest emotional experience in Einstein's scientific life perhaps in all his life. Nature had spoken to him. He had to be right. 'For a few days I was beside myself with joyous excitement'. Later he told Fokker that his discovery had given him palpitations of the heart. What he told de Haas is even more profoundly significant: when he saw that his calculations agreed with the unexplained astronomical observations he had the feeling that something actually snapped in him .</p> <br /> <p>"Einstein's discovery resolved a difficulty that was known for more than sixty years. Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had been the first to find evidence for an anomaly in the orbit of Mercury and also the first to attempt to explain this effect . In 1859 he found that the perihelion of Mercury advances by thirty-eight seconds per century due to 'some as yet unknown action on which no light has been thrown . a grave difficulty worthy of attention by astronomers'" ibid. pp. 253-254. A more accurate measurement of 43 seconds was made by Simon Newcomb in 1882 and this was precisely the value predicted by the new theory. </p> <br /> <p>The prediction of the bending of light in a gravitational field was treated only briefly in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' probably because no accurate measurement of it had been made so this prediction could not be confirmed at the time. Einstein had realised in 1907 based on the equivalence principle that some bending of light should occur but he believed that the effect was too small to be observed. In 1911 he realized that the effect could be detected for starlight grazing the sun during a total eclipse and found that the amount of bending in that case is 0''.87 - this value could in fact have been computed by Newton from his law of gravitation and his corpuscular theory of light. In 3 Einstein discovered that general relativity implies a bending of light by the sun equal to 1".74 twice the Newtonian value. This factor of 2 set the stage for a confrontation between Newton and Einstein.</p> <br /> <p>"It was not until May 1919 that two British expeditions obtained the first useful photographs and not until November 1919 that their results were formally announced . In March 1917 the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson drew attention to the excellence of the star configuration on May 29 1919 an eclipse date for measuring the alleged deflection . Two expeditions were mounted one to Sobral in Brazil led by Andrew Crommelin from the Greenwich Observatory and one to Principe Island off the coast of Spanish Guinea led by Eddington. Before departing Eddington wrote 'The present eclipse expeditions may for the first time demonstrate the weight of light i.e. the Newton value; or they may confirm Einstein's weird theory of non-Euclidean space; or they may lead to a result of yet more far-reaching consequences - no deflection' . The expeditions returned. Data analysis began. According to a preliminary report by Eddington to the meeting of the British Association held in Bournemouth on September 9-13 the bending of light lay between 0''.87 and double that value. Word reached Lorentz. Lorentz cabled Einstein . Then came November 6 1919 the day on which Einstein was canonized" Pais 304-305. At a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society on that date Dyson concluded his remarks with the statement "'After a careful study of the plates I am prepared to say that they confirm Einstein's prediction. A very definite result has been obtained that light is deflected in accordance with Einstein's law of gravitation'" ibid. p. 305. </p> <br /> <p>Three remarks may be made on the speed with which after eight years of struggle Einstein completed these final papers on his theory. The first is that Einstein had come very close to the correct gravitational equations in the second half of 1912 - they are recorded in his 'Zurich notebook' - but he discarded them because of his arguments against general covariance as we have seen. Once he no longer believed in these arguments he could return to the work carried out in the Zurich notebook and complete it. The second is that the detailed calculations in 3 relating to Mercury's perihelion were in fact very similar to those he had carried out with Besso in 1913 and so required relatively little extra effort. The final point is that Einstein was in competition with the great Göttingen mathematician David Hilbert.</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 offprints by the presence of 'Überreicht 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>It might seem obvious that Einstein's fame dates from 1905 his 'annus mirabilis' in which he published his epoch-making papers on special relativity and the light quantum. However these works did not make him immediately well known even in the physics community - many physicists did not understand or accept his work and it was two or three years before his genius was fully accepted even by his colleagues. Among the general public Einstein became well known only in late 1919 following the success of Eddington's expedition to observe the bending of light by the Sun which confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity. This was front-page news and made Einstein universally famous. See Chapter 16 'The suddenly famous Doctor Einstein' in Pais Subtle is the Lord for an account of these events. Before 1919 the trade offprints of Einstein's papers would probably only have been purchased by professional physicists; after 1919 everyone wanted a memento of the famous Dr. Einstein whether or not they understood anything of theoretical physics and the trade offprints of his papers were printed and sold in far greater numbers than before to meet the demand. It is telling that when these post-1919 trade offprints appear on the market they are often in mint condition - they were never read simply because their owners were unable to understand them.</p> <br /> <p>In our view Einstein's author's presentation offprints are rare from any journal and any period though of course some are rarer than others. Before 1919 or 1920 the Sitzungsberichte trade offprints are also rare although not are rare as the author's presentation offprints; after 1919 or 1920 the trade offprints are much more common.</p> <br /> <p>BRL 74; Weil 75; Born 'Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld 1868-1951' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 8 1952 pp. 275-296. Chandrasekhra 'The general theory of relativity: Why "It is probably the most beautiful of all existing theories" Journal of Astrophysics 5 1984 pp. 3-11; Eisenstaedt The Curious History of Relativity 2006; Janssen 'Of pots and holes: Einstein's bumpy road to general relativity' Annalen der Physik 14 Supplement 2005 pp. 58-85; Lanczos Einstein Decade: 1905-1915 1974; Norton 'How Einstein found his field equations: 1912-1915' Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 14 1984 pp. 253-316; Pais Subtle is the Lord 1982.</p> <br/> <br/> Large 8vo 252 x 180mm pp. 778-786; 799-801. Original printed wrappers light vertical crease from posting. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
19155863Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1915. First edition. <p>First editions very rare offprint of the first two of the papers published in November 1915 that document his final version of the general theory of relativity. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton.</p>. EINSTEIN'S COMPLETION OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY. <p>First editions very rare offprint of the first two of the papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein's final version of the general theory of relativity. "In the half century and more of Einstein's work in science one discovery stands above all as his greatest achievement. It is his general theory of relativity" Norton. "There was difficulty reconciling the Newtonian theory of gravitation with its instantaneous propagation of forces with the requirements of special relativity; and Einstein working on this difficulty was led to a generalization of relativity - which was probably the greatest scientific discovery that was ever made" Dirac quoted in Chandrasekhar p. 3. Einstein's special theory of relativity 1905 showed that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial i.e. non-accelerating frames of reference. It was then natural to ask whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. This problem became linked to a theory of gravitation with Einstein's 'equivalence principle' of 1907 according to which the effects of gravity are locally equivalent to those of accelerated motion. Einstein's first steps towards a geometrical theory of gravitation were taken in August 1912 when his friend Marcel Grossmann provided the necessary mathematical tools. "Some time between August 10 and August 16 it became clear to Einstein that Riemannian geometry is the correct mathematical tool for what we now call general relativity theory. The impact of this abrupt realization was to change his outlook on physics and physical theory for the rest of his life" Pais p. 210. The resulting 'Entwurf' theory 1913 had much in common with the final theory of 1915 but based on a fallacious argument Einstein abandoned the requirement that the theory should be 'generally-covariant' i.e. that arbitrary frames of reference should be allowed. "After three years of fruitless peregrinations the revelation came to Einstein that he had been constantly on the wrong track although in 1913 he had been so near to the right solution" Lanczos p. 211. On November 4 1915 he presented to a plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' "based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1" and stated that he had "completely lost confidence" in the 'Entwurf' equations. On November 18 he published his calculation of the precession of the perihelion of Mercury based on the new theory: its agreement with observation confirmed that the theory was correct the Entwurf theory predicted half the observed value of the precession.</p> <br /> <p>"In June 1905 while still a patent examiner in Bern Einstein submitted his famous work on the electrodynamics of moving bodies to the Annalen der Physik. This work contained his special theory of relativity in which he asserted the equivalence of all inertial frames of reference as a fundamental postulate of physics. The question which then naturally arose was whether it was possible to extend this principle of relativity to the more general case of frames of reference in arbitrary states of motion. But he could find no workable basis for such an extension until he tried to incorporate gravitation into his new special theory of relativity for a review article in 1907 'Uber das Relativitätsprinzip und die ausdemselben gezogenen Folgerungen' Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Elektronik 4 1907 411-62. The difficulties of this task led him to a new principle later to be called the 'principle of equivalence.'</p> <br /> <p>"On the basis of the fact that all bodies fall alike in a gravitational field Einstein postulated the complete physical equivalence of a homogeneous gravitational field and a uniform acceleration of the frame of reference. This extended the principle of relativity to the case of uniform acceleration. It also foreshadowed the problem whose complete solution would lead him to his general theory of relativity: the construction of a relativistically acceptable theory of gravitation based on the principle of equivalence" Norton p. 258.</p> <br /> <p>One application of the equivalence principle proved crucial to the subsequent development of his ideas on general relativity. Einstein considered an observer standing on a rotating disc - a non-inertial accelerating reference frame. According to special relativity measuring rods aligned with the circumference of the disc will contract due to their motion whereas measuring rods positioned along the radius of the disc will not. Hence the ratio of the circumference of the disc to its diameter will be less than π. "The spatial geometry for the rotating observer is therefore non-euclidean. Invoking the equivalence principle Einstein concluded that this will be true for an observer in a gravitational field as well. This then is what first suggested to Einstein that gravity should be represented by curved space-time. </p> <br /> <p>"To describe curved space-time Einstein turned to Gauss's theory of curved surfaces a subject he vaguely remembered from his student days at the ETH in Zürich. He had learned it from the notes of his classmate Marcel Grossmann. Upon his return to his alma mater as a full professor of physics in 1912 Einstein learned from Grossmann now a colleague in the mathematics department of the ETH about the extension of Gauss's theory to spaces of higher dimension by Riemann and others. Riemann's theory provided Einstein with the mathematical object with which he could unify the effects of gravity and acceleration: the metric field" Janssen p. 65.</p> <br /> <p>The first product of this collaboration was the Entwurf einer verallgemeinerten Relativitätstheorie und einer Theorie der Gravitation published before the end of June 1913 which contained many of the essential features of the final general theory of relativity; most importantly it introduced the 'metric' of space-time. In Minkowski's formulation of special relativity 1908 the most important quantity is the 'world function' of two events which determines the metric and causal structure of space-time. If these events have coordinates x y z t and x' y' z' t' in some inertial reference frame the world function is:</p> <br /> <p>c2t' - t2 - x' - x2 - y' - y2 - z' - z2</p> <br /> <p>where c is the speed of light. Its crucial property is that it depends only on the two events and not on the choice of inertial reference frame - in other words it is unchanged 'invariant' when x y z t and x' y' z' t' are both subjected to any Lorentz transformation. Einstein and Grossmann began with the world function in differential form:</p> <br /> <p>ds2 = c2dt2 - dx2 - dy2 - dz2</p> <br /> <p>If we now subject x y z t to an arbitrary coordinate transformation not necessarily a Lorentz transformation this takes the general form</p> <br /> <p>ds2 = g11dx12 g12dx1dx2 . ;</p> <br /> <p>the collection of quantities gμν which in general depend on the coordinates x1 x2 x3 x4 is called the metric. Based on analogy with Newton's theory Einstein expected that the gravitational equations should be of the form</p> <br /> <p>Gμν = Tμν</p> <br /> <p>where Gμν is a purely geometric quantity constructed solely from the metric gμν and its derivatives up to the second order and the 'stress-energy tensor' Tμν contains the information about the matter that is producing the gravitational field including energy density momentum fluxes and stresses. The question was: what exactly should Gμνbe</p> <br /> <p>Einstein and Grossmann found that generally covariant equations did not seem to be compatible with energy-momentum conservation or reduce to the equations of Newtonian gravitational theory for weak static fields both essential requirements of the correct theory. Einstein therefore decided to settle in the 'Entwurf' for equations with very limited covariance - instead of arbitrary changes in coordinates only linear ones were allowed. The restricted covariance of the 'Entwurf' field equations continued to bother him until in late August 1913 he convinced himself that such restrictions are unavoidable by means of the infamous "hole argument" first published as an addendum to the reprint of the 'Entwurf' article in Zeitschrift für Physik in January 1914. This ingenious argument showed correctly that if the gravitational equations were generally covariant the metric gμν would not be uniquely determined by the matter distribution i.e. by Tμν. He concluded incorrectly that this implied that general covariance must be ruled out the hole argument does not work if only linear coordinate transformations are allowed. The appropriate analogy is with electromagnetism: the metric is analogous to the scalar and vector potentials of electromagnetism and it was well known certainly to Einstein that these potentials are not uniquely determined by the charges and currents producing the electromagnetic field. </p> <br /> <p>That the 'Entwurf' theory was incorrect was made clear by Einstein's attempt in collaboration with Michele Besso another former classmate to explain the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. In 1859 Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had observed the 'precession' of Mercury's orbit: this orbit is an ellipse but the ellipse is not fixed in space but slowly rotates. From early on in his search for a new relativistic theory of gravitation Einstein had been interested in the problem of Mercury's perihelion. In a letter to his friend Conrad Habicht in 1907 Einstein had already expressed his hope that such a theory would explain the anomalous advance of Mercury's perihelion. Besso visited Einstein in Zürich in June 1913 and the two men calculated the precession expected on the basis of the 'Entwurf' theory. Disappointingly it was only about half the observed anomaly. </p> <br /> <p>Einstein left Zürich in March 1914 to take up a professorship in Berlin which was to be his home until December 1932. He made no further progress on the gravitational equations until the summer of 1915 although a detailed exposition of the 'Entwurf' theory was published in October 1914 in which Einstein maintained the need for restricted covariance and even claimed that this determined the gravitational Lagrangian uniquely. "Einstein still believed in the 'old' theory as late as July 1915 between July and October he found objections to that theory and his final version was conceived and worked out between late October and November 25 . What made Einstein change his mind between July and October Letters to Sommerfeld and Lorentz show that he had found at least three objections against the old theory: 1 its restricted covariance did not include uniform rotations 2 the precession of the perihelion of Mercury came out too small by a factor of about 2 and 3 his proof of October 1914 of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian was incorrect. Einstein got rid of all these shortcomings in a series of four brief articles offered here .</p> <br /> <p>"On November 4 Einstein presented to the plenary session of the Prussian Academy a new version of general relativity 'based on the postulate of covariance with respect to transformations with determinant 1'. He began this paper by stating that he had 'completely lost confidence' in the equations proposed in October 1914. At that time he had given a proof of the uniqueness of the gravitational Lagrangian. He had realized meanwhile that this proof 'rested on misconception' and so he continued 'I was led back to a more general covariance of the field equations a requirement which I had abandoned only with a heavy heart in the course of my collaboration with my friend Grossmann three years earlier' .</p> <br /> <p>"Einstein and Grossmann had concluded that the gravitational equations could be invariant under linear transformations only and Einstein's justification for this restriction was based on the belief that the gravitational equations ought to determine the gμν uniquely a point he continued to stress in October 1914. In his new paper he finally liberated himself from this three-year-old prejudice. That is the main advance on November 4. His answers were still not entirely right. There was still one flaw a much smaller one which he eliminated three weeks later. But the road lay open. He was lyrical. 'No one who has really grasped it can escape the magic of this new theory.'</p> <br /> <p>"The remaining flaw was of course Einstein's unnecessary restriction to unimodular transformations. The reasons which led him to introduce this constraint were not deep I believe. He simply noted that this restricted class of transformations permits simplifications of the tensor calculus . The new equations are a vast improvement over the Einstein-Grossmann equations and cure one of the ailments he had diagnosed only recently: unimodular transformations do include rotations with arbitrarily varying angular velocities. In addition he proved that the new equations can be derived from a variational principle and that the conservation laws are satisfied" Pais pp. 250-252.</p> <br /> <p>On November 11 he submitted a 'Nachtrag' to his paper of a week earlier. "Einstein proposes a scheme that is even tighter than the one of a week earlier. Not only shall the theory be invariant with respect to unimodular transformations . but more strongly it shall satisfy the condition that the determinant of the matrix gμν is equal to minus one . During the next two weeks Einstein believed that this new condition had brought him closer to general covariance . One week later he remarked that 'no objections of principle' can be raised against it" ibid. pp. 252-253. Norton p. 309 points out that Einstein had in fact made a significant advance in this paper: namely he had finally found generally covariant field equations that reduced to the Newtonian equations in the weak field limit" ibid. p. 253.</p> <br /> <p>On November 18 still retaining the restrictions of his paper of a week earlier Einstein presented in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie'"two of his greatest discoveries. Each of these changed his life. The first result was that his theory explains . quantitatively . the secular rotation of the orbit of Mercury discovered by Le Verrier . without the need of any special hypothesis. This discovery was I believe by far the strongest emotional experience in Einstein's scientific life perhaps in all his life. Nature had spoken to him. He had to be right. 'For a few days I was beside myself with joyous excitement'. Later he told Fokker that his discovery had given him palpitations of the heart. What he told de Haas is even more profoundly significant: when he saw that his calculations agreed with the unexplained astronomical observations he had the feeling that something actually snapped in him .</p> <br /> <p>"Einstein's discovery resolved a difficulty that was known for more than sixty years. Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had been the first to find evidence for an anomaly in the orbit of Mercury and also the first to attempt to explain this effect . In 1859 he found that the perihelion of Mercury advances by thirty-eight seconds per century due to 'some as yet unknown action on which no light has been thrown . a grave difficulty worthy of attention by astronomers'" ibid. pp. 253-254. A more accurate measurement of 43 seconds was made by Simon Newcomb in 1882 and this was precisely the value predicted by the new theory. </p> <br /> <p>The prediction of the bending of light in a gravitational field was treated only briefly in 'Erklarung der Perihelbewegung des Merkur aus der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie' probably because no accurate measurement of it had been made so this prediction could not be confirmed at the time. Einstein had realised in 1907 based on the equivalence principle that some bending of light should occur but he believed that the effect was too small to be observed. In 1911 he realized that the effect could be detected for starlight grazing the sun during a total eclipse and found that the amount of bending in that case is 0''.87 - this value could in fact have been computed by Newton from his law of gravitation and his corpuscular theory of light. In 3 Einstein discovered that general relativity implies a bending of light by the sun equal to 1".74 twice the Newtonian value. This factor of 2 set the stage for a confrontation between Newton and Einstein.</p> <br /> <p>"It was not until May 1919 that two British expeditions obtained the first useful photographs and not until November 1919 that their results were formally announced . In March 1917 the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson drew attention to the excellence of the star configuration on May 29 1919 an eclipse date for measuring the alleged deflection . Two expeditions were mounted one to Sobral in Brazil led by Andrew Crommelin from the Greenwich Observatory and one to Principe Island off the coast of Spanish Guinea led by Eddington. Before departing Eddington wrote 'The present eclipse expeditions may for the first time demonstrate the weight of light i.e. the Newton value; or they may confirm Einstein's weird theory of non-Euclidean space; or they may lead to a result of yet more far-reaching consequences - no deflection' . The expeditions returned. Data analysis began. According to a preliminary report by Eddington to the meeting of the British Association held in Bournemouth on September 9-13 the bending of light lay between 0''.87 and double that value. Word reached Lorentz. Lorentz cabled Einstein . Then came November 6 1919 the day on which Einstein was canonized" Pais 304-305. At a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society on that date Dyson concluded his remarks with the statement "'After a careful study of the plates I am prepared to say that they confirm Einstein's prediction. A very definite result has been obtained that light is deflected in accordance with Einstein's law of gravitation'" ibid. p. 305. </p> <br /> <p>Three remarks may be made on the speed with which after eight years of struggle Einstein completed these final papers on his theory. The first is that Einstein had come very close to the correct gravitational equations in the second half of 1912 - they are recorded in his 'Zurich notebook' - but he discarded them because of his arguments against general covariance as we have seen. Once he no longer believed in these arguments he could return to the work carried out in the Zurich notebook and complete it. The second is that the detailed calculations in 3 relating to Mercury's perihelion were in fact very similar to those he had carried out with Besso in 1913 and so required relatively little extra effort. The final point is that Einstein was in competition with the great Göttingen mathematician David Hilbert.</p> <br /> <p>Weil 75 76 77; Chandrasekhra 'The general theory of relativity: Why "It is probably the most beautiful of all existing theories" Journal of Astrophysics 5 1984 pp. 3-11; Eisenstaedt The Curious History of Relativity 2006; Janssen 'Of pots and holes: Einstein's bumpy road to general relativity' Annalen der Physik 14 Supplement 2005 pp. 58-85; Lanczos Einstein Decade: 1905-1915 1974; Norton 'How Einstein found his field equations: 1912-1915' Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 14 1984 pp. 253-316; Pais Subtle is the Lord 1982.</p> <br/> <br/> Large 8vo 253 x 180 mm pp. 778-786 & 799-801. Original printed wrappers. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown
1904003207Leipzig: J. A. Barth 1904. First Edition. Contemporary Red Cloth. Very Good. J. A. Barth Hardcover
192328359Berlin Gruyter & Co. 1923. 4to. Orig. orange printed wrappers. Offprint/Sonderabdruck aus Sitzungsberichten.pp. 32-38. Fine fresh copy. <br/><br/><em>First edition in the rare Offprint stilled called "Abdruck". Weil No. 131.The early Offprints from "Sitzungsberichten." are called "Sonderabdruck" up to Weil No.165 including this. From Weil 166 they are called "Sonderausgabe.". - Before 161 up to 160 the Offprints do not have separate title and pagination the pagination follows the numbering in the periodical. From 166 the Offprint has both separate printed title and pagination. - So Weil Nos 161-165 is still "Abdruck" but with separate title and pagination. These facts are not mentioned in the bibliographies. </em> unknown
190438818Leipzig J.A. Barth 1904. Contemp. hcloth tears to hinges at upper part of spine. "Annalen der Physik. Vierte Folge. Band 14. Herausgegeben von Paul Drude". VIII1040 pp. and 3 plates. The Einstein paper: pp. 354-362. Internally clean and fine. The whole volume offered. <br/><br/><em>First edition of Einstein's fifth work. "It was in this last of his early series of papers before the announcement of the theory of relativity in 1905 that Einstein introduced a new theme. Einstein asked for the physical significance of the constant now known as Boltzmann's konstant 'k'.It was already well known from the theory of the ideal gas that 'k' was simply related to the gas constant 'R' and to Avogardo's number the number of molecules in a gram-molecular weight of any substance. Einstein showed that 'k' entered into still another basic equation of the statistical theory the expression for the mean square fluctuation of the energy about its average value. This meant that 'k' determines the thermal stability of a system.the paper contains the seeds of much of his later work.Walter Alicke. - Weil No 5. </em> hardcover
1923374061923. unknown
1923374071923. <p>Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur affinen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 17 1923. 137-140pp. 256 x 185 mm. Original printed wrappers. Fine.</p> <p>First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1923 Einstein published four short papers of which "Zur affinen Feldtheorie" is the third on Eddington's attempt at a unified field theory marking the beginning of a scientific passion that would dominate the remainder of his career. In 1921 British physicist Arthur Eddington had proposed a unified field theory inspired by the work of Hermann Weyl. "Einstein's own initial reaction was that Eddington had created a beautiful framework without content. Nevertheless he began to examine what would be made of these ideas and finally decided that 'I must absolutely publish since Eddington's idea must be thought through to the end.' That was what he wrote to Weyl. Three days later he wrote to him again about unified field theories: 'Above stands the marble smile of implacable Nature which has endowed us more with longing than with intellectual capacity.' Thus romantically began Einstein's adventures with general connections adventures that were to continue until his final hours" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 343. This paper is included on Shields's list of Einstein's most significant papers; see Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist 1949 p. 758. Shields 175. Weil 132. </p> . unknown books
192328357Berlin, Gruyter & Co., 1923. 4to. Orig. printed orange wrappers. Offprint/Sonderabdruck aus ""Sitzungsberichteder Preus...pp. 137-40. Fine fresh copy.
08777Np; 1923. First Edition. offprint from Sitzungsberichten der Presussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Sitzung der physikalishch-mahematischen klasse vom 31 mai XVII. p. 137-140 bound in original orange printied wraps; quarto 254 x 184mm. Einstein's first investigation of Weyl's ideas published in the present work introduced the notion of distant parallelism; however Einstein later rejected Weyl's theory. <br/><br/> paperback books
1923317401923. S.Ber. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 1923/ 8. - Berlin Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften 1923 8° 4 S. orig. Broschur. First edition. A fine fresh copy in the rare off-print form. Marked with an asterisk by Weil denoting a major paper. "Einstein's attempts to formulate a unified field theory stemmed from his dissatisfaction with the general relativity theory which did not adequately incorporate the electromagnetic field into the geometry of space-time. In 1918 Hermann Weyl had begun investigating the possibility of constructing a unified field theory preserving the dimensionality of space-time while formally altering its geometry making it a special case of the class known as affine geometries. Einstein's first investigation of Weyl's ideas published in the present paper introduced the notion of distant parallelism; however Einstein later rejected Weyl's theory." Weil No. 132; Schilpp--Shields No. 171; Alicke No.113; Norman Library 698; Boni 141 unknown
08777Np; 1923. First Edition. Fine. offprint from Sitzungsberichten der Presussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Sitzung der physikalishch-mahematischen klasse vom 31 mai XVII. p. 137-140 bound in original orange printied wraps; quarto 254 x 184mm. Einstein's first investigation of Weyl's ideas published in the present work introduced the notion of distant parallelism; however Einstein later rejected Weyl's theory. Housed in a custom quarter-leather clamshell box. A fine copy. unknown
192328357Berlin Gruyter & Co. 1923. 4to. Orig. printed orange wrappers. Offprint/Sonderabdruck aus "Sitzungsberichteder Preus.pp. 137-40. Fine fresh copy. <br/><br/><em>First edition in the rare Offprint still called "Abdruck". Weil No. 132 with an asterix denoting a major work. - Here Einstein gives his first investigation of the "Affine geometries" and introduces the notion of "Distant parallelism".The early Offprints from "Sitzungsberichten." are called "Sonderabdruck" up to Weil No.165 including this. From Weil 166 they are called "Sonderausgabe.". - Before 161 up to 160 the Offprints do not have separate title and pagination the pagination follows the numbering in the periodical. From 166 the Offprint has both separate printed title and pagination. - So Weil Nos 161-165 is still "Abdruck" but with separate title and pagination. These facts are not mentioned in the bibliographies. </em> unknown
192332429Berlin: Berlin: Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XVIII 1923. First Thus. Soft cover. First Thus. Soft cover. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur affinen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichten der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1923. XVIII. 8vo.4 137-140 First edition. Orange wrappers. A fine fresh copy in the rare off-print form marked with an asterisk by Weil denoting a major paper "Sonderabdruck" & deemed of sufficient interest that a translation was published in Nature Magazine. "Einstein's attempts to formulate a unified field theory the theoretical framework to account for the fundamental forces of nature. stemmed from his dissatisfaction with the general relativity theory which did not adequately incorporate the electromagnetic field into the geometry of space-time". Einstein's first investigation of Weyl's ideas published in the present paper which Weyl had begun working on in 1918. Weyl was investigating the possibility of constructing a unified field theory preserving the dimensionality of space-time while formally altering its geometry making it a special case of the class known as affine geometries. However Einstein later rejected Weyl's theory. "Weil No. 132; Schilpp--Shields No. 171; Alicke No.113; Norman Library 698; Boni 141. Affine Geometry is not concerned with the notions of circle angle and distance. It's a known dictum that in Affine Geometry all triangles are the same. In this context the word affine was first used by Euler affinis. In modern parlance Affine Geometry is a study of properties of geometric objects that remain invariant under affine transformations mappings. Affine transformations preserve collinearity of points: if three points belong to the same straight line their images under affine transformations also belong to the same line and in addition the middle point remains between the other two points." The early Offprints from "Sitzungsberichten." are called "Sonderabdruck" up to Weil No.165 including this. From Weil 166 they are called "Sonderausgabe.". - Before 161 up to 160 the Offprints do not have separate title and pagination the pagination follows the numbering in the periodical. From 166 the Offprint has both separate printed title and pagination. - So Weil Nos 161-165 is still "Abdruck" but with separate title and pagination. Berlin: Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, XVIII unknown
1923374071923. <p>Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Zur affinen Feldtheorie. Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 17 1923. 137-140pp. 256 x 185 mm. Original printed wrappers. Fine.</p> <p>First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1923 Einstein published four short papers of which "Zur affinen Feldtheorie" is the third on Eddington's attempt at a unified field theory marking the beginning of a scientific passion that would dominate the remainder of his career. In 1921 British physicist Arthur Eddington had proposed a unified field theory inspired by the work of Hermann Weyl. "Einstein's own initial reaction was that Eddington had created a beautiful framework without content. Nevertheless he began to examine what would be made of these ideas and finally decided that 'I must absolutely publish since Eddington's idea must be thought through to the end.' That was what he wrote to Weyl. Three days later he wrote to him again about unified field theories: 'Above stands the marble smile of implacable Nature which has endowed us more with longing than with intellectual capacity.' Thus romantically began Einstein's adventures with general connections adventures that were to continue until his final hours" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 343. This paper is included on Shields's list of Einstein's most significant papers; see Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist 1949 p. 758. Shields 175. Weil 132. </p> . unknown
191738838Braunschweig, Vieweg & Sohn, 1917. Contemp. hcalf. Spine worn and covers detached. Internally clean and fine. ""Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft im Jahre 1917. Neunzehnter Jahrgang. Herausgegeben von Karl Scheel."" V,372 pp. Einstein paper: pp. 82-92. The whole volume offered.
