Albert Einstein 0670855456

Citation preview

Albert Einstein B

I

O

ALBRECHT FOLSING

Ci

Canada $45.00

A fresh interpretation of the great thinker’s genius, set in the context of his time Albert Einsteins achievements are not just milestones in the history of science; decades ago they became an integral part of the twentieth-century world in which we

Like no other modern physicist, he altered and expanded our understanding of nature. Like few other live.

he stood fully in the public eye. In a world changing with dramatic rapidity he embodied the role of scholars,

H:

scientist by personal example.

Yet despite Einsteins

exceptional significance, both for physics and for our entire culaire, until

death— the

now— more than forty years after his

true breadth

and

variety of his scientific

achievements and his political, cultural, and social ests have not been documented in one volume.

inter-

Albrecht Folsing, relying on previously unknown sources and letters, brings Einstein’s “genius” into

Whereas former biographies, written in the tradition of the history of science, seem to describe a focus.

heroic Einstein

who fell to earth from heaven,

Folsing

attempts to reconstruct Einsteins thought in the context of the state of research at the turn of the century. 1 hus, perhaps for the first time, Einstein’s surroundings come to

Folsing describes in detail the environment in which the enormous burst of creativity occurred in 1905, when Einstein as a twentysix-year-old at the

light.

Swiss Patents Office in Bern began

making contributions to physics. Einstein’s profound knowledge of literature, his discussions with friends and colleagues, and even his handling of patents for machines proved to be a beneficial framework in which he brought the epoch of classical physics to a towering close with relativity theory and at the same electrical

time opened up

Einstein

new horizons in quantum theory

a searching and balanced work, both an extraordinary portrait of a genius in his time and a distillation

is

of scientific thought.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2017 with funding from

Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/alberteinsteinbiOOfols

A

BIOGRAPHY

ALBRECHT FOLSING Translated from the

German

EWALD OSERS

VIKING

by

VIKING

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairu Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published in

1

3

1997 by Viking Penguin,

USA Inc.

of Penguin Books

a division

7

5

10

9

Translation copyright

4

6

8

2

© Ewald Osers,

1997

All rights reserved

Originally published in

Verlag.

Germany

as Albert Einstein:

© Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main

Lucien Aigner,

The

Eine Biographie by Suhrkamp

1993.

PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS: Advanced Study, Princeton:

Institute for

29;

American

Insti-

tute of Physics, Emilio Segre Visual Archives: 7, 8, 12, 14, 18, 27, 34; Bibliothek

der Eidgenossischen Technische: Hochschule, Zurich:

2,

3, 4, 6, 9;

Bildarchiv

Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin: 11, 17; Bildarchiv Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Berlin and Siiddentscher Verlag, Munich: 32, 33; Bundesarchiv Koblenz: 21; Ein-

The Jewish National and University Lotte Jacobi, Dimond Library, Durham: 1, 25,

stein Archives,

Library, Jerusalem:

24;

26, 28;

Howard

5, 15, 16,

E. Schrader,

Princeton University, Princeton: 31; Siiddeutscher Verlag, Munich: 13, 30; Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin: 10, 19, 20, 22, 23.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Folsing, Albrecht, 1940[Albert Einstein. English]

Albert Einstein

:

a

by Albrecht Folsing translated from the German by Ewald Osers.

biography

/

:

cm.

p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-670-85545-6 1.

Einstein, Albert. 1879-1955. I.

(alk.

2.

This book

—dc20

is

Physicists

—Biography.

Title.

QC16.E5F5913 5307092

paper)

1997 96-26341

printed on acid -free paper.

© Printed in the United States of America Set in Janson

Designed by Francesca Belanger

Without limiting the

under copyright reserved above, no part of this publibe reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, cation

rights

may

recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This book would not have been possible without the work of those

who began

early

on

to collect

and deposit Albert Einstein’s

The

manuscripts, as well as other documents relating to him.

source

letters

central

the Albert Einstein Archive, formerly in Princeton and

is

and

now

maintained in the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem.

I

would

like to

thank

its

curator, Ze’ev Rosenkranz, and

Katzenstein for their generous support during

my

stay in Jerusalem,

and the Einstein Archive, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, its

kind permission to reprint unpublished material.

inspect sets of copies in the in

Mudd

Hanna

Israel, for

was able to

I

Library of Princeton University and

the Science and Engineering Library of Boston University. In

Zurich Beat Glaus was an invariably helpful guide through the history of science collections of the Library of the Swiss Technical University,

ETH.

In the archive of the

Max Planck

Society in Berlin

I

enjoyed the

kind assistance of Eckart Henning, Marion Kazemi, and Andreas K.

Walter. Bernhardt Schell of the Anschutz

enough

to put the correspondence

Anschiitz-Kaempfe I

am

at

my disposal

grateful to Professor

company

in Kiel

between Einstein and Hermann

before

its

publication.

A ehuda Elkana and the Van Leer Foun-

dation, Jerusalem, for enabling

me

to participate in a

workshop on

“Einstein in Context” in April 1990 in Jerusalem, and to

pants for I

many informative

greatly benefited

was good

its

partici-

suggestions.

from conversations with Anne

Renn, and Robert Schulmann of the project of The

J.

Kox, Jurgen

Collected Papers of

Acknowledgments

vi

Albert Einstein Robert Schulmann, especially, generously shared with ;

me

his I

knowledge about Albert Einstein’s early years.

owe

a

debt of gratitude to the publisher Siegfried Unseld for his

great confidence in this difficult project, and for his patience.

My wife, Ulla, patience

my

and our children, Philipp and Julia, had to bear with

prolonged preoccupation with

this

book; for this

I

not

only thank them sincerely but also ask their forgiveness. This apology

should also include our dog, Rufus, for

understand

my changed lifestyle

as I

whom

worked

at

it

was most

my desk.

difficult to

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

v

Foreword

xi 4T

CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, STUDENT YEARS

I

1.

Family

2

School

1

3.

A “Child Prodigy”

32

4.

“Vagabond and Loner”: Student Days

5.

Looking for

.

3

in

Zurich

a Job

48 70

THE PATENT OFFICE

II

6.

Expert

7.

“Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms

122

8

The “Very Revolutionary”

135

.

III

Class

95

Light Quanta

Movement: “My Life for Seven Years” The Theory of Relativity: “A Modification of the Theory of Space and Time”

155

11.

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

199

12.

Expert

221

9.

10.

Relative

II

Class

III

178

THE NEW COPERNICUS

13.

From “Bad Joke”

14.

Professor in Zurich

to

“Herr Professor”

235

258 vii

Contents

viii

Prague

—But Not for Long

15.

Full Professor in

16.

Toward the General Theory of Relativity From Zurich to Berlin

17.

IV

18. 19.

278 301

322

THE NOISE OF WAR AND THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE

A Pacifist in Prussia “The Greatest Satisfaction of My Life”:

“In a Madhouse”:

343

The Completion

3

of the General Theory of Relativity

69

20.

Wartime

2

Postwar Chaos and Revolution

417

Confirmation of the Deflection of Light: “The Suddenly Famous Dr. Einstein”

433

1

.

22.

V 23

.

394

in Berlin

Relativity

SPLENDOR AND BURDEN OF FAME

under the Spotlight

45 5

24.

“Traveler in Relativity”

472

25.

Jewry, Zionism, and a Trip to America

488

26.

More

Hustle,

and a

Little Physics

VI

Long Journeys,

UNIFIED THEORY

a

Lot of Politics, 510

IN

A TIME

OUT OF JOINT

Receives the Nobel Prize and in Consequence Becomes a Prussian

27. Einstein

535

552

29.

“The Marble Smile of Implacable Nature”: The Search for the Unified Field Theory The Problems of Quantum Theory

30.

Critique of Quantum Mechanics

578

28.

31. Politics, Patents, Sickness,

and a “Wonderful Egg”

566

593

32.

Public and Private Affairs

608

33.

Farewell to Berlin

633

Contents

IX

THE PACIFIST AND THE BOMB

VII

34.

Exile as Liberation

659

35.

Princeton

679

36.

Physical Reality and a Paradox, Relativity and Unified

Theory

693

Bomb

37.

War,

38.

Between Bomb and Equations

721

39.

“An Old Debt”

739

Notes

743

Bibliography and Abbreviations

82

Chronology

849

Index

861

a Letter,

and the

706

*

*

FOREWORD

Even four decades

death, an exceptional fascination

after his

evoked by the name of Albert Einstein.

It far

is

transcends the fact that

he was indisputably' the greatest physicist of our century, comparable

Newton

to Isaac

cialists in

—but Einstein

much more

is

is

a subject for spe-

the history of science.

which

Einstein’s legendary greatness,

today,

than

based on

a

still

multitude of factors; but

physics, in several respects.

touches

many

of us

primarily linked to

it is

His concepts of space and time, of the

“fourth dimension,” and of a finite but

unbounded universe

which

in

light travels along a curved path, are regarded as revolutionary,

parable, in their effect

on human understanding, only

com-

to those of

Copernicus. However, the results of his profound reflections on nature are also

— through

his

nected with the atom

legendary formula

bomb and

all

that

E = me —indirectly 2

it

meant

has

in

con-

terms of

destruction, fear, and terror. If ever a theory born of an innocent

search for knowledge

became

a material force,

then

it

was

in the

mush-

room cloud over Hiroshima.

The

creator of this theory lived not in an ivory tower but in a time

of wars and conflicts, and he faced this situation with a strong sense of

humanitarian responsibility and

a

need to intervene

humanism, which assigned greater importance all

to

in politics.

what was

His

common

to

people than to what divided them, gave him a “left-wing” identity.

However, he was not stamped by the the underdog.

tied to

any party doctrine but instead was

social ethics of

Judaism, which include sympathy for

He

put his fame

—he was already xi

a

legend at the age of

Foreword

xii

—

forty

of social

at the service

democratic freedoms, pacifism,

justice,

the welfare of the Jews, and a cosmopolitan internationalism, though rarely with success and frequently setting off controversy.

Einstein’s kindness if

he were

a saint.

was often praised and

There was some

his simplicity

justification for that,

admired

as

but he could

be rude and wounding, and below his modest surface there was

also

unfathomable complexity. Although his birth

was complicated,

unequivocal.

his attitude

his attitude

toward Nazi Germany was

him, despite his passionate pacifism, to write

It led

a

Roosevelt suggesting the development of an atom

letter to President

bomb. After Hiroshima, when he warned

many

toward the country of

regarded him

as

against a nuclear arms race,

wise old man, a personification of the world’s

conscience.

However,

his “excursions into politics,” as

—excursions.

that

physics. Physics

They were never was

nearly as important to

and

his passion

he called them, were

his

life.

No

one

just

him

as

else has ever

enriched a science as Einstein enriched physics during the two decades

between 1905 and 1925.

If asking

who was

the greatest physicist of the

century produces the answer “Einstein, for his theory of relativity,”

then asking

who was

the second-greatest physicist might justifiably

produce the answer “Einstein, for the last three decades of his physics.

His road led to no

life,

result,

all

his other achievements.”

Over

he searched for the foundations of but he never gave up; and right to

the end he remained addicted to physics. In addition, he was a husband (twice), lover, and father (at least

three times).

He

was

a

Jew.

offered the presidency of a

He

was

a citizen

fifth, Israel

of four nations and was

— but he

declined this honor

even though his deepest loyalty was to those he called his “tribal brethren.”

He

was born

in

Germany, and German remained

his first

language, the only language in which he wrote and in which he could

adequately express his feelings and ideas. After the Holocaust he called

German

his

guage even

“stepmother tongue,” displaying at a distance.

The depth and

He never

a fine feeling for his lan-

forgave the Germans.

variety of Einstein’s thinking about nature, the

scope and color of his

life,

and the complexity of

his character

about them something alarming to a biographer; and in

fact this

have

book

Foreword has turned out

have based

more voluminous than

my

I

writing on Einstein’s

xiii

Wherever

intended.

own

possible

testimony: his published

work, his unpublished manuscripts, his countless

letters,

and

his inter-

mittent diaries, so far as they are at present accessible. In addition,

have used firsthand sources that seemed to stories spread

there

reliable.

Some

will cast

I

of the as

in discussing freely invented or unattested,

to offer

much

that

new light on known

facts.

The most

fantastic assertions. Instead, I

manner which

me

about Einstein are not mentioned in these pages,

would be no point

I

hope

is

new, and in

a

important

aspect to me, always, was Einstein’s physics. Physics was at the core of his identity,

and only through physics can we get close to him

seeker after truth,

whose

like

we

shall

not see again.

as a

PART

I

CHAPTER ONE Family

He was born

on March

14, 1879, in

Ulm in

southern Germany, on

a

cold but sunny Friday, half an hour before the church bells rang out

midday. His parents and

relatives,

anxious to perpetuate the family

name, were no doubt pleased that the

who

happens with young couples time, their joy

“When

child

was

“Mother was alarmed first

—

his

But

a boy.

as often

are facing parenthood for the

was clouded by concern and even

he was born”

occiput and at

first

younger

at the sight

thought he was

sister

first

anxiety.

many years

wrote

later

of his exceptionally large angular

monster.”

a

1

The

physician reas-

sured the twenty-one-year-old mother, Pauline Einstein, that this peculiarity

would soon disappear, and

a

few weeks

later the size

of the

baby’s skull was indeed quite normal, though a rather square occiput

remained

The

a lifelong characteristic.

following morning the father,

frock coat and

boy was

went

to the

town

hall to

Hermann

Einstein, put

on

record the birth of his son.

to be called Albert, only faintly

his

The

echoing his grandfather’s

name, Abraham Einstein. Nothing, of course, suggested that the

motto of Ulm, dating from mathematici brilliantly

—“The

people of

confirmed by

for religion,

this

its

medieval prosperity, Ulmenses sunt

Ulm

are mathematicians”

—would

be

Albert Einstein. In the column provided

both parents and child were recorded

as “Israelitic.” 2

In spite of their Jewish origin, Albert Einstein’s ancestors could be

described as true Swabians. settled in the region for

On

the paternal side the family had been

more than two 3

centuries

—not

in

Ulm, but

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

4

some

on Lake

forty miles to the south, in Buchau, a small township

Feder in the

abbey

cratic

foothills of the Alps.

who was

1665

in

was joined by Baruch Moises

it

from the area of Lake Constance, the

originally

large lake separating stein’s

the patronage of an aristo-

Jewish community had been in existence there

a small

from the sixteenth century; Ainstein,

Under

Germany from

Austria and Switzerland. Ain-

descendants later changed the

producing the spelling familiar to

first letter

of their

last

name,

us.

In the Jewish cemetery of Buchau, dozens of tombstones,

now cov-

ered with overgrowth, are silent witnesses to the family history of the Einsteins over

many generations. The

was Siegbert Einstein,

a

great-nephew of the

camp and

Theresienstadt concentration

World War was opening

the

—not only the

for a while after the after the

Second

cemetery and

In 1968 he too was

visitors.

also Albert Ein-

entry in the council records of the then Reich

Town of Buchau,

stein’s last relative in

dated

few occasional

He survived the

Buchau but

buried there

An

its

inhabitant of Buchau

physicist.

mayor of Buchau, looking

gates for

its

last Jewish

March

on Jews

last

Jew

in

Germany.

16, 1665, records the restrictions

settling in the town. Against

and conditions imposed

payment of an annual

“sitting

charge” of twelve guilders, they were granted freedom to practice their religion and their trade

and

cloth.

Buying and

—

in

Moises Ainstein’s

selling

case, dealing in horses

were the only sources of livelihood per-

mitted to Jews until the nineteenth century. In 1806, Buchau was assigned to the southern

German kingdom

of Wiirttemberg, created

under Napoleon’s patronage. There, in 1828,

a

law was eventually

enacted allowing Jews freedom in their choice of trade. This marked the

first

temberg

step in their emancipation as citizens, even this

Some of craftsmen

—

town

in

old

were

still

was not

for instance, furriers

new

opportunities and

became

and bookbinders. They lived in the

respectability, but

its

limitations and poverty

reminiscent of the centuries following the Thirty Years’

War, and conditions much too in

in Wiirt-

fully attained until 1862.

the Einsteins seized the

modest

though

any way.

restrictive to allow

any of them to excel

Family

The tombstones tion of the tury.

5

Jewish cemetery also

testify to the assimila-

Buchau Jews and the Einstein family

in the nineteenth cen-

in the

The Hebrew

become

inscriptions

less

frequent

and soon

disappear altogether; and venerable biblical names, such as Samuel,

David, and Abraham,

come

by German names, such

to be replaced

German

August, Adolf, and Hermann. South

gradual loosening of the formerly strong

more

Buchau Jews

the

so as

Germany

southern

—were

—

which the

liberalism facilitated a

ties to

the synagogue, the

other Jewish communities in

like

strongly rooted in tradition than the

less

Jews of Eastern Europe, with their perity

as

shtetl culture.

Moreover, the pros-

brought to the bigger

industrial revolution

cities

tempted many to escape from the confines of the provincial towns.

The whose

were

walls

just

move

to

Ulm,

down to make room for a The first member of the Einstein family

city.”

in 1864,

was Jette Dreyfus, nee Einstein, with her

husband Kosman Dreyfus, who lowed

after

1

Ulm. According

came from Buchau. She was

who were hoping

1877,

to

who

without

when

southern tower

last,

munity demonstrated

solidarity with the city

its

fellow citizens by a generous

times;

it

seems

related to

much

the city festively observed the five-hundredth

the completion, at long

a local artist.

had

as fellow citizens.

anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the cathedral

by

fol-

make

to a census in 1875, the city then

thousand inhabitants, including 692 Jews,

ado were accepted In

also

869 by several male Einsteins

their fortunes in thirty

the Danube, an ancient city

then being pulled

“new

rapidly expanding to

Ulm on

nearest such center was

Among

of

its

gift: a

likely that, including the

moved from Buchau

to

— the Jewish com-

and with

its

Protestant

sculpture of the prophet Jeremiah

the donors, the

them by marriage,

—and

name

Einstein appears six

Dreyfus and

Moos

at least twelve Einsteins

families

had by then

Ulm. One of these was Hermann,

Albert’s

father.

Hermann chant,

Einstein was born in Buchau, in 1847, the son of a mer-

Abraham

Einstein.

Wiirttemberg, to attend

its

He

was sent to

Realschule

,

a

Stuttgart, the capital of

type of high school. Despite

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

6

Hermann’s

and some sign of mathematical

lively intelligence

no thought of his

there could, given the family’s financial position, be

going to

He

a university.

which

rity” certificate,

classes of society

“medium matu-

therefore left school with a

any rate provided an entree to the better

at

and carried the privilege of having to serve only one

year, instead of the usual three, of military service, officer cadet, with the prospect of a

commission

and of serving

as a lieutenant

However, Hermann evidently saw no point

reserve.

talent,

as

an

of the

in participating in

the two field exercises which were a condition of being commissioned,

and thus spared the royal Wurttembergian army the problem of having to accept a Jew

as a lieutenant

of the reserve.

Albert Einstein’s maternal ancestors also came from the Swabian

Jewry.

They

lived in

Jebenhausen, near Goppingen, on the northern

spurs of the Swabian Alb.

There Julius Dorzbacher,

supported his family with

ther,

name was changed

to

a small bakery. In

Albert’s grandfa-

1842 the family

Koch, and in 1852 Julius Koch moved to

Cannstatt, near Stuttgart. Together with his brother Heinrich he ran a profitable grain business, acquiring within a few years a considerable

fortune and even becoming a “Supplier to the Royal Wurttembergian

Court.” Clearly, the business entirely different class

more ried,

activities

of the

Koch

family were in an

from the small trade of the Einsteins

profitable, but also

more

extensive and worldly.

—not only

When

he mar-

Heinrich Einstein not only became the husband of a pretty young

woman

(she

was eleven years younger than himself) who was regarded

as efficient, well educated, and,

because of her piano playing, musical;

he also made what was called

a

In Einstein’s case, perhaps

more than with anybody

“good match.”

else,

one

is

tempted to engage in the popular game of asking what he might have inherited from

mathematical

he took

whom. One obvious answer would be

gifts

after his

he took

after his father

and with

that with his

his love

of music

mother. There have, of course, been attempts to

find the first indications of Albert Einstein’s exceptional talents

where

in his family tree.

speculations:

some-

But he himself refused to go along with such

Family

7

know virtually nothing about them, nor are there any people alive who could say a lot about them. If talents existed, First of

all, I

then they could not emerge under their restricted living condi-

know

tions. Besides, I talents. It

brought

was

me

perfectly well that I myself have

my

But

ideas.

as for

thinking power (“cerebral muscles”) ent, or

only on a modest

scale.

special

and sheer perseverance that

curiosity, obsession,

to

no

any especially powerful

—nothing

like that is pres-

Exploration of my ancestors there-

fore leads nowhere. 3

More

without any doubt,

significant,

father’s

and on

his

mother’s

side,

is

the fact that both on his

Albert Einstein was born into a large,

widely ramified family, whose members were soon settled in cities

and several countries of Europe.

relatives later.

and

They include an

his favorite uncle,

aunt in

Caesar Koch,

a

We

Italy,

will

meet some of these

who

financed his studies;

brother of his mother,

the grain business had taken as far afield as

Argentina, and sent

him

who

settled in

Antwerp

St.

whom

Petersburg and

—where Albert,

at

age sixteen,

for

young Ein-

his first scientific essay.

These family connections were not only stimulating stein;

many

they also helped him cope with

many

difficult

phases in his

life.

may have been no uncle, there would at least be a close friend of the family who looked after the young man. Much later, it was Professor Einstein, by then in America, who would try to help many of his relatives during the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews. And

if in a city like

Zurich there

After their marriage in 1876, first lived

moved

— thanks alarm.

Helene, on too

at

in the old part of

into a bigger apartment. Early in 1879, with Pauline six

comfortable apartment in

some

young wife

years, at the beginning of Pauline’s first pregnancy,

months pregnant, they moved

seen

Einstein and his

on Miinsterplatz, the cathedral square,

Ulm. After two they

Hermann

to the livelier Bahnhofstrasse 135B, to a

a three-story building.

to his sister’s notes

From

first

fat!” 4 Little

We

have already

—that Albert’s birth was not without

the same source,

we

learn that

seeing her grandson, exclaimed,

Albert seems to have been

a

“Much

Grandmother too

fat!

Much

quiet baby, causing

trouble to those charged with looking after him.

no

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

8

Albert Einstein did not develop any particular feeling for his birthplace, because a year later the family

to

Munich. When, on

photograph, he responded, not without some sarcasm: “For

be born

in,

the house

makes no great at one’s

his

owner of the building presented him with

birthday, the

fiftieth

moved

is

pleasant enough, because

aesthetic

demands

yet; instead

on

one

of

much about

dear ones, without bothering too

a place to

that occasion

first

a

one

screams

all

reasons and

circumstances.” 5 Still,

even though Einstein spent only the

Ulm— growing up

in Bavaria,

and

something Swabian clung to him

first

later in Italy

his

all

year of his

in

life

and Switzerland

For one thing, there was

life.

the soft Swabian dialect, which the family never dropped after leaving

Wiirttemberg and which Einstein,

He

himself became an object of

even

tives:

as a

second wife during his

remained

if less

markedly, kept to his old age.

peculiar tendency toward diminu-

its

grown man, he always remained,

(his

cousin Elsa), “der Alberti”

final years in

—

to his family

and

his

Even

“Little Albert.”

America, his English, which for him always

a foreign language,

seemed

to have

Swabian undertones.

In other respects, too, the Swabians would always have recognized

him

as

one of

their

own:

in his speculative brooding, in his often

roguish and occasionally coarse humor, and in his pronounced, individualistic obstinacy. It

most famous

son, he

comment, he

readily

attaches to one’s

one’s mother. ...

combines

just flattery

was asked by the editor of the

came up with

life as

I

was probably not

something

a

with

a

local

just as

unique

first

child

Ulm’s

paper for

Ulm

as one’s origin

a

from

with gratitude, because

it

simple and sound character.” 6

That Hermann Einstein planned another move so soon of his

as

compliment: “One’s place of birth

therefore think of

artistic tradition

when,

was due to the

initiative

after the birth

of his youngest brother,

Jakob. Jakob was the only one of the five brothers to have higher education. After leaving his Realschule Stuttgart,

had qualified

in the Franco-Prussian

Munich, where he ran

as

he had attended the Polytechnic in

an engineer, and

War

as

an engineer had served

of 1870-1871. In 1876 he had settled in

a small firm that did

water and gas installations.

Family

No

9

doubt Jakob convinced Hermann that there was

Hermann’s business

new

the

—dealing

in goose feathers for

industrial age held out greater

future in

little

bedding

—and

that

promise in more appropriate

fields.

Hermann Einstein moved to Munich with his wife and one-year-old son in the summer of 1880 and became a partner in the firm Jakob Einstein & Cie. The family took an apartment at MiillerAt any

rate,

strasse 3, close to the Sendlinger

Jakob, firm.

still

The

was

a bachelor,

living

division of labor

Tor, in the same building where

and which was

also the address of the

was determined by the

and

interests

abili-

of the two brothers: Jakob dealt with technical matters whereas

ties

Hermann concerned

himself with the commercial

&

boilers. In this

Hermann

way,

workshop and

Cie., a “mechanical-technical

name

boilermaking firm” which had earned a

years

by acquiring two-thirds of

later the brothers enlarged their business

the assets of Kiessling

Two

side.

for itself

making

gas

Einstein productively and profitably

invested the major portion of his wife’s dowry.

Jakob

saw to

also

it

extended to the relatively

new

almost at the same time

as

Cie.,

the

Technical

field

Cie. were

of electrical engineering. In 1882,

they acquired their share of Kiessling

two Einsteins took part

Show

&

that the activities of Einstein

organized in

the

in

International

Munich by Oskar von

&

Electro-

They

Miller.

exhibited dynamos, arc lamps, and lightbulbs, as well as a complete

telephone system. This side of the business developed so well that the brothers soon abandoned gas and water installations and boilermaking. In 1885, they sold their shares in Kiessling their capital, along with loans

from

erty

a

&

Cie.”

newly founded

To

this

end they

major piece of land in the suburb of Sendling, “prop-

No. 14” on what was then Rengerweg but

the unpronounceable residential building,

addition, and behind

with ancient

Cie. and invested

relatives, in a

“Electrical engineering factory J. Einstein

had acquired

&

trees.

name

in 1887

would be given

Adlzreiterstrasse. Facing the street

which was immediately enlarged by which was

The

a rather

factory was set

a

was

a

spacious

neglected but large garden

up

in buildings

on

property, Lindwurmstrasse 125, purchased for that purpose.

a

nearby

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

10

Thus

the Einsteins had established themselves in an innovative

They were what we would

industry with good prospects of growth.

now

A

describe as high-tech venture entrepreneurs.

photograph of Hermann Einstein from

this

time shows him

as a

typical patriarch of

Germany’s early

cropped short; he

clean-shaven, except for a precise mustache; he

is

gazes severely through a monocle, looks like a Prussian. But those

—

ferently

industrial period:

demanding respect

his hair

—

kind and friendly man, esteemed and loved by

as a

family and friends, especially those of the female sex.

He

he

in fact,

who knew him remembered him all

is

dif-

of his

certainly

was

hardworking, but not to an extent that would have interfered with the pleasanter side of

life.

He made

frequent excursions with his family to

the surroundings of Munich, and he enjoyed the ancient Bavarian pas-

time of visiting beer

He was

cellars.

exceedingly fond of his wife, Pauline, and “the character of

the couple harmonized so perfectly that throughout their whole lives

the marriage was not only never clouded, but in fact proved the only solid

and

reliable

been due to the

element

of fate .” 7 This

at all turns

may

also

have

views were in harmony. Both

fact that their religious

of them respected and declared their Jewish origins, and they probably

never considered Christian baptism, either for themselves or for their children, as a

way of assimilating

further.

longer played a role in their family

nor did they pray

at

life:

However, the synagogue no they did not go to a temple,

home. The precepts of kosher cooking were

ignored, and pork was eaten as a matter of course. thinker’s attitude

Hermann even

customs were not practiced in

his

prided himself that Jewish

house

8 .

were scarcely read, and the Talmud not his family

Hermann

With

The writings at

all.

his freerites

and

of the Prophets

Instead, in the circle of

Einstein recited Schiller and Heine 9

—

Schiller as a

Swabian national hero of the enlightened bourgeoisie and Heine a

popular Jewish poet writing in German. Comparing his

may indeed have Hermann Einstein

Heine’s tion:

to be accepted

life

with

buttressed his faith in the progress of civiliza-

—unlike Heine—did not have

by

own

as

his fellow citizens.

to be baptized

Family

1

This, then, was the environment in which Albert Einstein grew up to the pure joy of his parents

first

ization of his personality visited

Munich

in the

and

comes from

summer

grandson: “Little Albert

relatives.

his

earliest character-

of 1881 and said of her two-year-old

him

already not to be able to see

at

grandmother Jette Koch, who

good

so sweet and so

is

The

—

1

that

for such a long time.”

she wrote to Munich: “Little Albert

is

it

me

pains

A week later,

fondly remembered by us; he

was so sweet and good, and we have to repeat

amusing ideas again

his

and again.” 10 Unfortunately, the fond grandmother did not record any of those amusing ideas. Little Albert’s reaction to the birth of his sister

vember

18, 1881,

years and eight

was certainly amusing.

months

had been told of the

old,

new

the Riidele the wheels, of his ,

early hint of his later delight in a little

strikingly slow, as

,

a

where

may have been an or it may have been

making up rhymes,

a plaything. Actually, the

since Einstein’s speech

he himself would

parents were worried because so they consulted a doctor. less

Mddele

toy were. 11 This

was not

more probable,

is

arrival of a

boy’s mishearing and being disappointed to find

that the screaming bundle

explanation

doubt the boy, then two

future playmate, because he promptly inquired

little girl, as a

no more than

No

Maria on No-

I

I

can’t say

development was

later confirm: “It

began to speak

second

is

true that

much

relatively late, so

how old I was

my

then, certainly not

than three.” 12 However, the delay seems to have been due to an

early ambition to speak only in complete sentences. If

him

a question,

an undertone after

he would

—

first

form the answer

deliberately, with obvious lip

someone asked

in his head, try

movements

it

out in

— and

only

assuring himself that his formulation was correct would he

repeat the sentence aloud. This often gave the impression that he was

saying everything twice, and the maidservant therefore called “stupid.” 13

He

gave up this habit only in his seventh year, or perhaps

(according to some testimony) not until his ninth. sion not only of particular thoroughness later

gave for

him

—but

this peculiarity

critical acquisition

—the

One

has the impres-

explanation his sister

also of a boy’s laborious

and

self-

of language, in contrast to most children’s natural,

unproblematical learning.

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

12 Albert’s

younger

sister

—nicknamed Maja—recorded in her warm-

hearted biographical notes that he was fondest of engrossing himself in all

kinds of puzzles, making elaborate structures with building blocks

He

and constructing houses of cards of breathtaking height.

young

interested in playing in the garden with

came

visiting,

street.

and he was

who

relatives

If

less

often

boys in the

totally averse to the fights of the

These boys soon nicknamed him “the bore.”

was

he could not

avoid playing with other children, he deliberately sought the job of

umpire, which, because of his instinctive sense of

justice,

was gladly

assigned to him.

When Albert was five years

woman was

old, a

prepare him for the rigors of school

unequal to another

trait in

life.

the boy’s

engaged

as a tutor to

She, however, found herself

makeup

—one

that the family

believed he had inherited from his grandfather Julius Koch.

something was not to Albert’s

liking,

he was seized by

Whenever a

sudden

temper, his face paled, his nose turned white, and the consequences

were

terrible.

grabbed

On

a chair

and with

fied that she ran sister, too,

one occasion, when he did not

had to

away

it

struck the

“On

tutor,

who was

another occasion he threw

“he

so terri-

and was never seen again .” 14 His

in fear

suffer:

woman

like a lesson,

little

a large nine-

pin bowl at [her] head, and yet another time he used a child’s pickaxe to strike a hole in [her]

head .” 15 Fortunately, these tantrums receded

during his seventh year and disappeared completely during his

first

years at school.

One might

ask at this point

how

such

a child

—with conspicuously

delayed speech development, averse to play and social behavior appropriate to his age,

control

—would

and moreover with an occasional

fare in the tests

enrollment in school. Such

total lack

and examinations that

a child, in a

fit

now

of

self-

precede

of temper, might attack

a

teacher or a psychologist with a chair, just as occurred a century ago

with young Albert Einstein and his tutor. In the accepted view of child psychologists, a child like this should be diagnosed long before starting

school and given

some form of therapy or

other,

when,

as

with

little

Albert, there are speech problems suggesting defective development.

The

psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson,

who

has ventured to

make

this

remote diagnosis on the strength of the records, believes that cases of

Family this

kind deserve or even

demand

careful attention. 16

he regards Albert Einstein’s example tendency to rather than

as a

At the same time,

warning against the present

children into the same mold; this could inhibit

all

fit

13

promote the development of talent. In the

grew up without the benefit of

a therapist

event, Einstein

and developed

tinctive character traits: his determination to apply his

brooding, and his profound

his intense

own

him throughout

to

own

dis-

yardstick,

way of wondering about

Einstein’s receptiveness to “wonders” and “wondering”

mous importance

his

things.

was of enor-

his life as a motivation for pro-

ductive thought, especially in scientific matters. This was a trait which

he

he could not explain to himself, but he commended “won-

felt

dering,” and slowness, in a letter to a colleague, the reate

James

Nobel Prize

lau-

Franckf:-

When

I

anyone

else,

ask myself

who

why

it

should have been me, rather than

discovered the relativity theory,

was due to the following circumstance:

on space-time problems. Anything

An

and time when

I

I

think that this

adult does not reflect

on

that needs reflection

matter he believes he did in his early childhood. hand, developed so slowly that

I

this

on the other

I,

only began to reflect about space

was grown up. Naturally

I

then penetrated more

deeply into these problems than an ordinary child would. 17 It is

clear therefore that Einstein’s notion of

ferent

common meaning

from the

inability to understand. In his

It

“wondering”

of that term

—

a

very

dif-

noncommittal

own view:

seems to occur whenever an experience comes into conflict

with a conceptual world sufficiently fixated within conflict

back

is

child of 4 or

in

manner upon our mental world.

development of that mental world

from “wonder.”

Thus

us. If

experienced strongly and intensively, then

in a decisive

sense, the

ary”

is

5,

—

I

when my father showed me

a

facetiously called his

—he

as Autobiograph isches

a

reacts

In a certain

a continual flight

experienced a wonder of just that kind as

what Einstein

—published

is

it

such

a

compass. 18 “

Nekrolog

recalls

” ,

his

“Obitu-

an experience which

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

14

he frequently related and which agreeing) versions.

He

brought him

his father

sion this instrument

The not

was a

compass

my

behaved in such

I

—the deep and

on me. There had that

lasting impres-

a definite

manner

did

of occurrences which had established

subconscious conceptual world (effects being con-

nected with “contact”).

member

—not suspecting the

would make:

at all into the pattern

itself in

when, no doubt to divert him,

sick in bed,

fact that the needle

fit

recorded in several (basically

is

to be

remember

to this

—or think

day

lasting impression this experience

something behind the

objects,

I

re-

made

something

was hidden. 19

—the

Although the subject matter of Einstein’s great accomplishment

essay Z,ur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper (On the Electrodynamics of

Moving

Bodies) of 1905,

—seems

tivity

too

much

to be

which contains the

special theory of rela-

foreshadowed here, one should probably not read

into this experience.

A

lot

of children wonder about a

rainbow, and some no doubt will have wondered about a compass needle,

which seems

to be

moved by an

fracting light or an apple dropping

and clever questions. Altogether,

from as

invisible hand.

a tree

A

prism

dif-

may evoke wonderment

Sigmund Freud observed, the

intelligence of adults pales against the brilliant intelligence of five-

year-olds.

Still,

among

all

Newton and only one an

these children only one

became an

Isaac

Albert Einstein.

Einstein himself was unable to explain this powerful experience,

because “a person has

little

insight into

what goes on inside him.

may not produce a similar effect on a young dog, nor indeed on many a child. What then is it that determines a particular reaction from an individual? More or less plausible theories may be constructed about it, but one does not arrive at a Seeing

a

compass for the

deeper insight.” 20

first

time

We will have

to content ourselves with the sugges-

tion that a productive result probably depends both

and on the person “wondering.”

on the “wonder”

CHAPTER TWO School

When

Albert Einstein reached the

statutory school age,

parents were spared the problem of choosing a school.

six,

The

his

only

Jewish private school in Munich had been closed in 1872 for lack of pupils, 1 a clear indication of the readiness of its

(One

in fifty of

had remained

Jews to

Munich’s population was Jewish, and

fairly

constant during the

city’s

it

was

proportion

growth over the

decades of the nineteenth century. In the city center higher, and in suburbs like Sendling

this

assimilate.

it

was

last

two

slightly

distinctly lower.) In the

absence of any alternatives, therefore, beginning on October

1,

1885,

Albert attended the nearest school, the Petersschule on Blumenstrasse, a

big Catholic elementary school with

dents from

all

strata

Lindwurmstrasse

it

of the population. At a brisk walking pace

its

stu-

down

could be reached in about twenty minutes. Albert

was accepted into the second grade: despite

more than two thousand

disastrous end, cannot have

Albert was the only

his private tuition, therefore,

been entirely

Jew among some seventy

by the teacher. 2 “The teaching

were

liberal

classmates.

He

par-

and was

in fact particularly

staff in the

elementary school

ticipated in the Catholic religious studies liked

in vain.

and made no difference between denominations.” 3 Such

an attitude was

a result

of both the humanitarian educational reforms

of the time and the progressive views of a large part of the

Munich

bourgeoisie.

Nevertheless, that same teacher of religious studies clearly realize that

among

all

made

Einstein

those good Christians he must feel an

15

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

16 outsider:

“One day

that teacher brought a long nail to the lesson and

had been nailed

told the students that with just Such nails Christ

to the

Cross by the Jews.” 4 This macabre method of teaching the Gospel was an indication that even

from an

innate, if mild, anti-Semitism.

more outspoken dren

liberal teachers were, as Christians,

at the

Among

not free

the students this led to

“Among

aggression, as Einstein recollected:

the chil-

elementary school anti-Semitism was prevalent.

It

was

based on racial characteristics of which the children were strangely

aware and on impressions from religious teaching. Physical attacks and insults

on the way home from school were frequent, but

for the

most

part not too vicious. But they were sufficient to consolidate even in a child a lively sense of being an outsider.” 5

we have no

At the same time, though,

evidence that Einstein ever suffered from his “sense of

being an outsider,” either

as a child or in later years.

and “belonging” were both probably

“Being

a stranger”

most important personality

his

traits

from

Even

in elementary school, therefore, Einstein never stepped out of

his earliest years.

his characteristic isolation.

He

rarely played with coevals, not even

who had meantime been born to Uncle Jakob or boy and girl cousins, who frequently came to visit. In his

with the children with his

deliberate but usually reserved

manner he got on reasonably

What

them, but they gave him the nickname “Goody Goody.” bly helped to earn to finish his

him

homework

that reputation

was the

fact that

before being allowed to play:

well with

proba-

he always had

“No

excuse was

accepted by our parents for any infringement of that rule.” 6 Success followed, for on August

1,

1886, at the end of Albert’s

first

year at school in second grade, his mother wrote to her sister Fanny

was again top of the

Einstein: “Albert got his grades yesterday, he class,

he brought

home

a brilliant report

.” 7 .

.

Admittedly, he had an

ingrained dislike of physical training and games, “as he easily got vertigo

and got

tired quickly.” 8

Yet he did not get

tired at

engrossed with his beloved metal construction

set,

all

when he was

or with involved

fretsaw work, or with manipulating a small, hissing steam engine

which Uncle Caesar Koch had brought him

as a present.

School

17

Albert Einstein the schoolboy would thus have appeared to his parents

and teachers

as a

well-behaved child

who had

of routine and obedience,

inevitabilities

learned to submit to the

demanded by school and

as

the world of adults. But behind that facade of adjustment there was still

a

determination to preserve his individuality, though

manifested

more sublimated,

itself in a

this

now

socially acceptable form: a

dreamerlike, skeptical distancing from other people and things.

Now and

again, however, his dislike of

the facade of the well-adjusted

he was moved from

young man. Thus

class Ilia to Illb,

problems in the wake of one of also, for a

any coercion burst through in

probably because of disciplinary

his last outbursts of anger. 9

Unusual

become

a soldier

boy, was the fact that he wanted neither to

nor to play with toy

November 1886

southern

soldiers. In

German

states like Wiirt-

temberg and Bavaria, the army did not quite enjoy the same overriding prestige as in Prussia; nevertheless, even in see nothing

more wonderful than

Munich young boys could

the hope of one day wearing a uni-

form and serving king, emperor, and fatherland served in the war with France military

pomp. Albert

—

as

Uncle Jakob had

—and most children were fascinated by by

Einstein,

contrast, displayed a definite dis-

like.

On

that

someday he might march along with those men

one occasion, when he was watching

said to his parents:

“When

I

grow up

a

parade and was told in uniform,

he

don’t want to be one of those

I

poor people.” 10 Despite drill

many positive

features, schooling

was pervaded by military

and the principle of absolute obedience. There was an exagger-

on order and

ated emphasis

young Albert

make any

discipline. It

explicit criticism; in retrospect, a

at

was

felt

by the

the

to

however, he regarded his

mixture of anger and contempt: “The

teachers at the elementary school

and the teachers

this

At the age of eight or nine he was not ready

Einstein.

Munich schooldays with

tenants.” 11

seems that

seemed

Gymnasium

At the age of nine and

a half

to

[the

me

like drill sergeants,

high school]

like

lieu-

he completed his three years of

elementary school and moved over to the “lieutenants.”

The

Luitpold

Gymnasium

accepted on October

1,

in

Munich, where Albert Einstein was

1888, was by

no means one of the worst

insti-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

18 tutions. It

was not

strasse, the street

from

far

his old

where he had

elementary school, on Miiller-

lived before the family

Greek were

Sendling. Although here, too, Latin and

education in the humanities, the school

Wolfgang Markwalder

—had

parents:

its

steadily

rate, it evidently

origin

also

had

their

When

Einstein

were 684 students; by 1894, when he severed

his (not

it

had increased to 1,330.

the students were Catholics, but five percent were of Jewish

—two and

purely

Dr.

enjoyed great respect

in education.

altogether easy) relations with the school,

Most of

of

growing number of students cannot have

been due solely to an increasing interest arrived, there

principal,

its

to

gained a reputation as an enlightened,

however modest. At any

among

at the center

where mathematics and the sciences

liberal institution,

place,

—under

moved

statistical

crowded:

a class

times

a half

more than one might have expected on

grounds. Classes, at least the lower ones, were very

photograph of Einstein’s

first

year shows

him with

Other than himself, only two were Jews.

fifty

classmates.

The

old story that Einstein was a bad pupil, or even failed altogether at

school, has been repeated time and again, presumably to console poor

students or their parents

—though low marks

antee of success in later

life.

reflects the a brilliant

In

fact,

the story

at is

school are no guar-

not true:

at

most

it

hope of parents that even the dumbest student might have mind.

as early as the 1920s, Einstein

Still,

was

cited as a

many other fanciful stories smile. Not so, however, a cer-

shining example of this thesis. As with so

about him, he probably

let it pass

with a

tain Dr. Wieleitner, the principal of the

Neues Realgymnasium, the

successor of Einstein’s school.

When, articles

in

1929, on the occasion of Einstein’s fiftieth birthday,

appeared in various journals, mentioning

approval

—Einstein’s

“total

—

if

anything, with

weakness in the ancient languages,” 12 Dr.

Wieleitner was evidently worried that the boy’s allegedly poor grades

might damage the school’s reputation more than that of the man who had meanwhile become

a

famous

physicist.

He

therefore searched the

school records and, in a letter to the editor of a Alunich paper, saved the honor of the Luitpold

had “always [received]

Gymnasium by

at least a 2 in Latin,

pointing out that Einstein

and in the

sixth grade

even

School a

1.

Greek he always had

In

‘secret reports’ there

is

a 2 in his

19

school reports.

no complaint anywhere of

a

.

World War,

.

Even

poor

languages.” 13 As the school records were destroyed in a

during the Second

.

in the

gift for

bombing

the raid

the doughty principal’s letter to the

editor remains the only evidence that Albert Einstein was a

good

stu-

dent in high school.

Despite his good reports, Albert Einstein would later remember his time at school as an almost traumatic experience. 14 While

still

a stu-

dent he suffered in silence; he never voiced any criticism of the school and, presumably, without any comparable experience, was unaware of its

shortcomings

at the time.

child scarcely complained,

“According to the family, the taciturn

nor did he seem too unhappy. Only much

he identify the tone and atmosphere of the high school with

later did

those of the barrack-square, which in his eyes were the negation of

everything human.” 15 Even at the age of forty he told his

biog-

first

rapher that at the Gymnasium, “though he grew fond of some individual teachers, he felt himself harshly touched

by the

spirit

of the

institution.” 16

However, there

exists

Luitpold Gymnasium.

some

rather different testimony about the

Thus Abraham

short time after Einstein and later

has entirely pleasant memories

dox Jew, he would have been

Fraenkel,

became

more of an

attended

it

a

famous mathematician,

a

— even though,

far

who

as a practicing

Ortho-

outsider than Einstein.

Indeed, Fraenkel referred to “nine happy years” 17 spent there. Einstein’s

experience cannot, therefore, have been the fault of the school

alone; there

must

also have

been powerful reasons within Einstein

himself which prevented harmonious integration.

A taste a

glance at the syllabi 18 shows that they were not exactly to the

of Albert Einstein’s “intellectual stomach.” 19 Eight hours of Latin

week

—

in

some grades even ten hours

—plus

much room someone who

six

hours of Greek from

the fourth year on, did not leave

for other subjects.

was not

admitted:

a favorable situation for

weakness was texts.” 20

a

bad memory, especially

There were only three periods

a

bad

for

memory

German,

This

“My principal for

words and

as well as, in the

upper grades, for French. Mathematics was taught only three or four

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

20

times a week; geography and science were taught only twice a week. Physics appeared only in the seventh year; but by then this was no

longer of any interest to Einstein, because “in mathematics and physics ^

I

was, through private study, far above the school requirements, also

with regard to philosophy in so

far as this has

anything to do with the

school program .” 21 Thanks to his private study and the self-assurance this

had given him, he eventually found

it

good

easy, despite

reports,

to leave school early.

Conflicts also

marked the development of young Albert Einstein ’s

reli-

gious sentiments and beliefs. In his elementary school he had partici-

pated in the Catholic religious lessons, while at the same time being

home by

instructed in the Jewish tradition “at

who was father

a distant relation ,” 22

better versed in these matters than Albert’s freethinker

—from

whom

heard

Albert

remarks about dogmatic

rituals .” 23

and unfriendly

only “ironical

At the Luitpold Gymnasium, unlike

the elementary school, there were a few Jewish classmates, for liberal

school

management provided

their

own Jewish

whom a

religious

instruction through Oberlehrer (senior teacher) Heinrich Friedmann.

Friedmann’s exegesis of the Prophets

initially

found

a

very receptive

and grateful listener in young Albert. Like so many adolescents in search of a meaning to

human

existence, Albert Einstein

acutely realized the vanity of hoping and striving, that drove

people restlessly through

life.

Everyone was condemned, by the

existence of his stomach, to participate in this race.

might well be

satisfied

by such participation, but

thinking and sentient being. There the

He a

no longer

ate

The stomach not man as a

way out

strictly

pork

25 .

is

religion

adhered to

He

24 .

ritual

even composed

few short hymns to the greater glory of God, which he sang with

great fervor at

home and

direction of Oberlehrer a

first

keenly studied the preacher Solomon,

precepts, and in consequence

most

as

he was walking in the street

Friedmann and

a rabbi

member on

Under

the

he prepared to become

bar mitzvah, to be solemnly accepted into the Jewish

full

26 .

community

the Sabbath following his thirteenth birthday.

as a

The

School

21

reason this never took place was his encounter with the natural sciences.

One

of the few Jewish customs

was inviting

a

observed in the Einstein

still

home

poor Talmudic scholar to lunch on the Sabbath. For the

Einsteins, admittedly, the Sabbath

had become Thursday, and the

poor student did not want to become

a rabbi:

Still,

his last

weekly

his

he was

a

medical student.

name was Talmud. Max Talmud was twenty-one when

visits

to the Einsteins in Sendling began, in 1889.

Albert, eleven years his junior, he seems to have

been something

For

like a

substitute father in a spiritual or intellectual sense, or at least a substitute uncle.

Max Talmud would

his hosts’ son. In

many

bring popular science books for

respectable families such books

have been considered suitable reading matter for

a

would not

youngster

—they

presented a scientific, materialist picture of the world that reeked suspiciously of atheism and revolutionary attitudes.

boy could engross

givings existed in the Einstein household, the himself, undisturbed, in Buchner’s Kraft

und Stojf (Force and Mat-

which presented the philosophy of the French

ter),

German

the

As no such mis-

also

public in a

studied

the

somewhat

diluted form.

With

great zeal he

twenty volumes of Aaron Bernstein’s Natunvis-

senschaftliche Volksbiicher (Science for the People series);

author of educational works in a

among emancipated Reform Alexander von Humboldt’s physische Weltbeschreihung

Physical

materialists to

(

spirit

Bernstein was an

of enlightenment,

much

read

Jews. In addition, Albert browsed in

five -volume classic,

Kosmos

—Entwurf

einer

—Attempt at a Description of the

The Cosmos

World), and read something by, or

at least about,

Charles

Darwin.

These books soon convinced the boy could not be true.

The

result

combined with the impression ately lied to

by the

state: it

was

was downright that

fanatical freethinking,

young people were being

deliber-

a shattering discovery.” 27

Albert Einstein therefore did not rabbinical standards was not a proper nity.

“that a lot in the Bible stories

become

a

member

of the Jewish

bar mitzvah, and by

commu-

His parents probably did not mind their son’s freethinking any

more than they had minded

his earlier religious fervor. Religious dis-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

22

enchantment now

mask of the

tinder the

From

what had been hidden

also released

well-adjusted schoolboy:

experience grew a mistrust of any kind of authority, a

this

skeptical

approach to the convictions which were current in

whatever

social

never

left

nections,

For

was

from the

found myself

more than compensation

and was yet in

in mathematics.

Albert

While he

still

far

beyond the school curriculum

know one simply calls x and treats it as were known; one writes that context down and deterdoes not

mines x afterwards .” 30

On

another occasion Uncle Jakob drew his

The boy

nephew’s attention to Pythagoras’ theorem. a

” 29

a sense appropriate to Albert’s age, as “the art of lazy

What one

the context

youth

28 .

Uncle Jakob, the engineer, had intro-

duced him to algebra, which was

was

—an attitude which

“religious paradise of [his]

in elementary school,

calculation.

I

subsequently lost something of its original edge

it

his expulsion

still

environment

me, even though, with better insight into causal con-

Einstein found

if

few years

for a

need to prove

it,

there

felt that

“spent three weeks in strenuous reflection ,” 31

and without help from anyone found

a

proof which his

fondly

sister,

overestimating him, even claimed had been accomplished “in an

new way.” Needless to say, Albert’s proof, based on similar right- angle triangles, was new only to him, but he had worked it out for himself. Far more astonishing than even this achievement was entirely

surely his independent discovery that this was something that needed

proving

at

all,

and that

it

could be proved.

These mathematical preludes were the intellectual stimulation, also

coming from Max Talmud. Before Albert

started his fourth year at the

brought him

a

right tune-up for other

Gymnasium

at

textbook of plane geometry

came

to this subject at school,

simpler textbook. Albert began to

work

his

independently, and each Thursday he would

32 :

would be another two

Spieker’s Lehrbuch der ebenen Geometries It

years before he

Talmud had possibly Theodor

age twelve,

a

much

the

book

and then with

way through show

his

mentor,

Max

Talmud, the problems he had solved during the week. The boy’s astonishingly rapid progress left an indelible impression

“After a short time, a few months, he had

on Talmud:

worked through the whole

School

book of

He

Spieker.

matics, studying

These, too,

right.

Soon the

thereupon devoted himself to higher mathe-

by himself Liibsen’s excellent works on the sub-

all

ject. 34

23

I

had recommended to him

flight

if

memory

serves

me

of his mathematical genius was so high that

I

could no longer follow.” 35

While Max Talmud was amazed mainly by the

breathless speed

with which his young friend absorbed his scientific reading, Einstein’s

own

recollection, especially of his acquaintance with the “sacred

little

geometry book,” 36 had more to do with depth, with the mysterious regions of “wondering” that he had

first

experienced with the compass

needle:

At the age of twelve

I

different kind:^ over a

came

to

my

hands

were statements

in

experienced little

at the it,

such

a

second wonder of

book of Euclidian geometry which

beginning of the school year. There as for instance the intersection

three altitudes of a triangle at a single point, which

no means self-evident

of the

—though by

—could be proved with such certainty that

any doubt was ruled out. This scribable impression

a totally

clarity

and certainty made an inde-

on me. 37

Albert Einstein shared this awakening of an overwhelming love of

geometry with other great

made

intellects. Galileo Galilei at

age seventeen

the chance acquaintance of this branch of mathematics, instantly

dropped

his

medical studies, and from then on read nothing but

Euclid. Bertrand Russell wrote about his studies of geometry,

which he embarked

at

age eleven under the guidance of his brother,

“one of the great events of

my

life,

as dazzling as first love. I

imagined that there was anything so delicious.” 38 three

young

enthusiasts was not so

much

What

form by Euclid around 300

as

had not

impressed

all

the richness of geometry as

the certainty and beauty of the axiomatic-deductive in canonical

on

method described

b.c.

Unlike eleven-year-old Bertrand Russell, twelve-year-old Albert Einstein was not bothered by the fact that Euclidian geometry rests on a

foundation which cannot

known

as

accepted.

itself

be questioned.

The

basic statements,

“axioms,” are unproven and unprovable and must simply be

These axioms had been regarded

as self-evident for

more

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

24

than two thousand years, so that the direct application of that ge-

ometry to world.

was considered the most natural thing

real objects

Only in

in the

the course of developing his general theory of relativity

did Einstein realize that the relationship between geometry and reality

— and he succeeded in

can be more complex and far-reaching

eluci-

dating this only after great effort and within a framework of non-

Euclidian geometry.

thought

it

When he

“sufficiently

first

encountered

wonderful that

man is

degree of certainty and purity in thought, strated in

able at

as the

all

geometry, he

to attain such a

Greeks

first

demon-

geometry .” 39

These grand words

—

called the “sacred little

in

which Albert Einstein

He

in his old age re-

geometry book”— suggest that to him the

encounter with mathematics was delight.

classical

far

more than

purely intellectual

a

later interpreted his religious fervor as a boy’s first

to free himself

from “the

attempt

of the merely personal,” from an exis-

fetters

tence dominated by desires, hopes, and primitive emotions .” 40 After the disappointment of his experiment with traditional religion, he had

found in mathematics another road to the same destination, one to

which he could surrender himself with the same emotional

Through

intensity.

private study Einstein thus acquired the principal areas of

higher mathematics, from analytical geometry through infinite series to differential fascinating:

it

and integral

He

found

this

occupation “truly

contained high-points whose effect measured up entirely

to that of elementary

The

calculus.

fact that

geometry .” 41

most people around him

the few exceptions

—Uncle Jakob was one of

—were poor mathematicians and that most of

his

classmates and teachers tended to regard ignorance of mathematics as a virtue

probably confirmed him in the belief that he had made the

right choice for himself.

Although many of the other books given to him by Max a

deep impression on Einstein

freethinking”

“sacred

little

—

their

it

especially

by reinforcing

his “fanatical

impact could not be compared to that of the

geometry book.”

senschaftliche Volksbiicher

with

—

T almud made

He

read Aaron Bernstein’s Naturwis-

“with breathless suspense

” 42

but found fault

because the “presentation [was] almost entirely confined to the

School

No

qualitative aspect.”

25

doubt the theory of biological evolution and

the wealth of the “description of the physical world,” as presented by

Alexander von Humboldt in his Kosmos must have seemed interesting ,

to

young

Albert, but here, too, the presentation was inevitably re-

stricted to verbal argumentation.

was

less

marked

mathematical

“certainty and purity of thought”

in this wealth of detail than

Max Talmud

As

The

it

was

in mathematics.

was soon unable to follow Einstein’s soaring

flights, their

conversations increasingly turned to philo-

recommen-

sophical problems. At the age of thirteen, with Talmud’s

dation and guidance, the boy studied

Reason

Talmud

43 ,

memoirs

as

probably correct in characterizing

is

attempt

Critique of Pure this

work

in his

“incomprehensible to ordinary mortals,” and his statement

that Kant’s philosophy

probably

Immanuel Kant’s

was instantly

a glorified recollection. It

clear to the

seems

likely,

young Einstein

is

however, that Kant’s

formulation of the “conditions of the possibility of

at a strict

cognition” generally was perceived by Einstein as the same striving for “certainty and purity”

by which he himself was motivated.

Because of his feeling that others should share in there emerged, in Einstein, for the

first

to a small public if he could find one.

come back

to

neighborhood where we then that time

which

I

you were beginning

got quite a

lot.” 44

relieved to learn that the

experience

time, an inclination to preach

One

classmate recalled conversa-

tions of “such forcefulness that even today, after a

the actual words

this

me whenever

I

good

happen

thirty years,

to be in the

receiving.

At

to study the Critique of Pure Reason

of

strolled,

With

boy was

all

you

instructing,

this seriousness,

I

one

is

,

almost

also capable of behavior in line with

who was two years younger than Albert and and who became renowned as a musicologist and a

his age. Alfred Einstein,

not related to him,

reviewer for the Berliner Tageblatt once reminded the famous scientist ,

of their “old connection from 1894 or 1895, at the Luitpold

Gymna-

sium, where, in our joint singing lessons, you were fond of pulling

your younger namesake’s

It

was

at

about

this

hair.” 45

time that Albert Einstein discovered his second

great love, after mathematics

much

&

—music. At the Einstein home “there was

good music-making.” 46 Hermann was not

particularly keen

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

26

on music; but Pauline, an partner in her son. violin teacher.

hoped

excellent pianist,

When he was six,

to find a musical

she engaged a Herr Schmied as a

But the technical practice and the boring etudes seemed

to Albert to be merely a continuation of school

and no progress

drill,

was made. Other teachers were engaged and dismissed: Einstein believed that he had had did not go

In a

no luck with them because

them “music

beyond the mechanical aspect .” 47

way which was beginning to be

typical, Einstein’s love

awakened only when he himself became interested and replaced I

for

later

of music

in certain pieces

his lessons with self-teaching:

only began to learn something after

I

was

thirteen,

My

mainly with Mozart’s sonatas.

fallen in love

duce them to some degree in their

unique gracefulness forced

me

to

artistic

improve

when

I

had

wish to repro-

content and their

my

technique; this

I

acquired with those sonatas, without ever practicing systematically. I believe

of duty

—

altogether that love

at least for

me

is

a better teacher

than a sense

48 .

Thus Pauline saw her hopes of

playing duets with her son

fulfilled.

Their repertoire consisted primarily of Mozart and Beethoven sonatas for piano

and

violin: the

mother probably preferring Beethoven and

the son,* quite certainly, Mozart.

Albert Einstein had grown up to be a strikingly handsome young man,

with slightly wavy dark

hair; full,

sensuous

lips,

modified by the down-

turned corners of his mouth into something like skepticism; large

dark-brown gaze. “In

eyes;

all

and

a challengingly self-assured

these years,”

reading any light literature.

Max Talmud recalls, “I Nor did I ever see him in

schoolmates or other boys of his age .” 49 Even

showed the beginning,

at

describe himself as a “loner,

but often dreamy

least,

who

of those

at

never saw him the

company of

age fourteen Einstein

traits

which made him

never belonged with his whole heart

to the state, his country, his circle of friends, or even his closer family,

but

who

being

felt

with regard to

a stranger

all

those

ties a

with a need for solitude .” 50

never overcome sense of

School

Such

a

27

young man would not always be popular,

people in authority, such

German gymnasium. As men-

as teachers at a

them

tioned above, he saw

especially with

as “lieutenants.”

But there were

few

a

who in Albert’s fourth and sixth homeroom teacher. Dr. Ruess taught not

exceptions, like Dr. Ferdinand Ruess,

years was his ordinarius, or

only Latin and Greek but also history and German, and he his students

world.

.

.

.

with great enthusiasm for the beauty of the

The

boy’s fondness

[for] this

teacher,

to satisfy his students’ intellectual hunger,

who

“filled

classical

alone was able

was so great that even be-

ing kept in after school, under his supervision, was a pleasure.” 51 Ein-

had such fond memories of Dr. Ruess

stein

and

a

that, as a

newly appointed professor, he paid Ruess

man

a visit in

of thirty

Munich

presumably Einstein was en route from Bern to Salzburg, where in

Te

September 1909

participated in his

However, Ruess did not recognize afraid that this shabbily dressed

from him. After

a painfully

long

had no choice but to leave in It

his

first

former student and was even

man might want to borrow money moment of embarrassment, Einstein

a hurry. 52

probably never occurred to Einstein to

teachers.

At

sixty,

physicists’ conference.

visit

any of

he recollected that he had detested the “mindless

and mechanical method of teaching, which, because of

memory

for words, caused

pointless to overcome.

descend upon

me

I

me

great difficulties, which

would rather

than learn to

recollection, however,

rattle

let all

it

sters

—but

my

seemed

poor to

me

kinds of punishment

something off by heart.” 53 This

seems hardly compatible with Dr. Wieleitner’s

report about his good to very good marks in the classics. his teachers

his other

Of course,

all

monof Abraham

with the exception of Dr. Ruess might have been that

does not seem very likely in light

Fraenkel’s testimony.

The

conflict

between Einstein and

partly due to him. In his seventh year

new

his schoolteachers it

had reached

ordinarius, Dr. Joseph Degenhart, informed

never get anywhere in

life.” 54

To

Einstein’s

a

him

was no doubt

point where his that “he

would

remark that surely he

“had not committed any offence,” he replied: “Your mere presence here undermines the

class’s

respect for me.” 55 Both sides must have

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

28

wished to terminate

this disagreeable relationship.

was soon able to do so was due to

stein

a

change in

That Albert Einhis parents’ finan-

cial situation.

From

&

its

establishment in 1885, Electrotechnische Fabrik

Cie. speedily prospered.

Within

a

year

it

had gained

Einstein

J.

local

renown

by illuminating the Munich Oktoberfest on Theresenwiese by tricity for the first time. 56

Orders kept coming in for the

elec-

installation

of electric streetlights in Schwabing, a suburb which was then not yet part of Munich; and in the northern Italian cities of Varese and Susa. blatt

&

Favorable reports on Einstein

fur Elektrotechnik and in

Elettricita

57 ,

Cie. appeared in

Central-

In retrospect, the Einstein

brothers’ high-tech firm looks like something that could well have

developed into a

a giant

of the electronics industry, or at least into

sound large-scale enterprise, successful both commercially and

technologically.

The

innovative head of the firm was Jakob Einstein, the engineer.

Three of them were

Altogether, he held six patents.

(which were

still

in

common

use);

for arc

two of these provided

lamps for an

improved method of advancing the carbon electrode and the third was for an automatic circuit-breaker.

The

other three patents were for

meters capable of measuring ampere-hours or watt-hours

electric

vital prerequisite for

an electrified economy. 58

In addition to lamps and electric meters, the Einstein firm factured

dynamos of various

sizes,

gauges.

The

Show

lighting and

Twenty-one

as well

all

to

the equipment

as electrolysis plants

and

firm was important enough to be noticed at the spectacu-

lar International

on urban

electrification,

manu-

from small workshop models

power-plant generators, along with cables and

needed for urban

—

in Frankfurt in 1891, as well as at a

symposium

power transmission which preceded the show.

firms, including

one from America, had been invited

present their concepts of an electrified future. Einstein

&

to

Cie. and

Ingenieurbiiro Oskar von Miller were the only firms from Munich. 59

At

its

peak the firm had

just

under two hundred employees. 60

Its

turnover and profits must have been considerable, and although,

School mindful of

its

29

persistent undercapitalization, the brothers

withdrew

only modest sums for themselves, these were enough to ensure

com-

a

fortable existence for both families.

In 1893, however, the fortunes of the firm changed dramatically.

The

Einsteins had directed

tract for lighting the

factory fully

Munich

employed

their efforts toward

city center,

winning the con-

which would have kept the

for several years. 61 After

tough and

com-

bitter

Germany’s three biggest electrical-engineering firms

petition with

Siemens and

all

AEG from

Berlin,

and Schuckert from Nuremberg

—the

contract went to Schuckert in April 1893.

The modest volume

of business

left in

Germany was not enough

to

cover the Einsteins’ high overhead, and prospects for the future were represented only By a

number of lesser

projects in Italy. In

March 1894

the two brothers, with their Italian representative as a partner, there-

founded the firm of Einstein, Garrone e C.

fore

Italy; in

in Pavia, in

July they liquidated their firm in Munich.

Leaving Munich was painful, especially for the children, to the

northern

moment

who

“right

up

of moving had to watch from their windows the

destruction of their fondest memories.” 62

An

architect and a building

contractor took possession of the fine properties on Adlzreiterstrasse, cut

down

the splendid old trees, and began to construct four-story

residential blocks. 63 In the

summer of 1894

the Einsteins

moved

to

Milan, and the following year they went twenty miles farther south, to Pavia,

where the new factory was

Italy

with her parents. Albert was

some

distant relations, because he

with the Abitur, the

The and

German high

liquidation of a firm in its

effects

geois

life

in

left in

Maja, the daughter, went to

Munich under

was supposed to

the care of

finish school there

school graduation examination.

economic

on the family were

must have been painful

built.

difficulties is

inevitable.

always a sad

For Albert, then

affair,

fifteen,

it

to find that the comfortable security of bour-

Munich was now over

for his family.

referred to this upheaval at a formative time of his

Although he never life,

we may assume

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

30

that his biting remarks

on the vanity of

which

restless striving, to

everyone was “condemned to participate by the existence of his stomach,” 64 had their origin then.

We

may

assume that subliminal anti-Semitic sentiment had

also

played a part in the contract for the

Munich

awarded to an outside firm rather than to only major manufacturer of dynamos

Whatever caused the Einsteins

them

Munich

a

firm

it

—Munich’s

to lose this crucial business, they

as upstarts

was

—which happened to be Jewish.

have been plagued by a feeling that the leaders regarded

city center, since

who

economic and

city’s

down

should be cut

must social

to the petty

trade appropriate to Jews. It is

possible that in the

young Albert

Einstein,

who had

helplessly as his father’s firm folded, the conviction

ground that German society

may

well have

begun

citizenship

the year

No

1

his native country,

Gymnasium and

his

at least in part,

own

when of German

decisions

his renunciation

go back to the profound traumas of

894.

doubt the three years which, according to

was to spend in Munich on eternity.

even before

His negative, distorted

—soon to be followed by

—may,

his family of its

to develop then.

recollections of the Luitpold

the firm closed

was then gaining

whole had robbed

His very reserved attitude to

livelihood.

1933,

as a

watch

to

his

own must have seemed

Moreover, he cannot have wanted to

though he hated

it

—because

the

to

him

finish school

like

an

—even

gymnasium would then have been

followed by the real barrack square, a small boy,

he

his parents’ plans,

among people with whom, even

he had not wanted to march in

as

step. In this situation, the

request by his ordinarius, Dr. Degenhart, to do

him

the favor of

leaving the school must have looked like the benign hand of fate. For

once, Einstein was ready to please his teachers. However, he was not to be

provoked into

a rash decision: instead,

cumspection in order to limit the damage First of

give

him

a

all,

he got

a

doctor

he proceeded with

cir-

as far as possible.

—an elder brother of Max Talmud’s—

to

medical certificate attesting that he was suffering from

“neurasthenic exhaustion” and demanding a suspension of his schooling.

Next he persuaded

his

mathematics teacher, Joseph Ducrue, to

School

31

confirm to him in writing that he had mastered mathematics up to Abitur level and that he was altogether quite an excellent mathematician

65 .

release

Finally,

from

on the strength of the medical

his school.

When

before the Christmas vacations

these formalities were 66

,

certificate,

he applied for all

completed,

he went straight to Munich’s central

railway station and the next day faced his startled parents in Milan

young man of

fifteen,

his

—

schooling cut short, with no plans or

prospects for the future, but happy to have escaped the “lieutenants.”

CHAPTER THREE A “Child Prodigy

Milan at the turn gloomy

as

any

city

of the year can be every bit

as rainy

and

north of the Alps. But for Albert Einstein the skies

were brighter than they had been

for

him

in

Munich

for a long time.

Perhaps in Dr. Ruess’s lessons he had learned of the traditional

German longing for

the south and

now found

himself in the land of his

dreams, or perhaps he was simply happy to be with his family once

more. Certainly he must have been glad to have escaped the tions of his high-school

life

in

Munich and

things he regarded as typically

to have left behind

German. His

parents, of course,

horrified at their son’s decision: their hopes that he

from school, move on

now seemed

tation

to a university,

many were

might graduate

and thus acquire status and repu-

Young

jeopardized.

restric-

Albert, however, steadfastly

declared that he never wanted to return to Munich. that, in this situation, the family council

It

seems probable

was persuaded by Uncle

Jakob’s suggestion that the fugitive schoolboy be sent to the Eidgenossisches

Polytechnikum (Federal Swiss Polytechnic) in Zurich, an

advanced technological institution which did not

insist

on high-school

graduation as a condition for admission. Albert helped assuage his parents’ misgivings by “assuring

most resolutely

that,

by the

fall

them

of that year, he would have prepared

himself by private study for the Polytechnic’s entrance examination .”

His parents

may

also

have been somewhat appeased by the unofficial

testimonial he had brought with tional

knowledge and

1

ability in

him from Munich about

mathematics.

further: in a university bookstore in

32

He

his excep-

even went one step

Milan he purchased the

first

three

A "Child Prodigy”

33

volumes of the German edition of Jules Violle’s demanding Lehrbuch der Physik. Einstein’s notes and glosses in the extant copies of Violle’s physics texts

show

making

that he

was entirely serious about the promises he was

to his parents.

His method of private study, however, caused

some astonishment: His working method was rather strange: even

when

in

.

.

.

company,

there was quite a lot of noise, he could retire to the sofa,

pick up pen and paper, precariously balance the inkwell on the backrest, and engross himself in a

problem

to such an extent that

the many-voiced conversation stimulated rather than disturbed

him. 2

The

sofa

on which- Albert Einstein balanced

his inkwell originally

stood in a large apartment on Via Berchet 2 in Milan, which was also

Garrone

the business address of Einstein,

e C. In addition, offices

had

been established in Pavia and Turin. In view of their reasonable hope

would be commissioned

that the firm

to set

up

a hydroelectric plant,

along with the appropriate transmission lines and electric street lighting in Pavia, the Einsteins in the spring of 1895

an old city on the lower Ticino, just before

The two stein

and

families

his family

moved

the poet

Ugo

Foscolo, for

small factory was built

a floor at

Hermann

Ein-

with three reception rooms in

Via Foscolo

whom

to Pavia

runs into the Po.

into separate apartments;

occupied

magnificent ancient building

it

moved

1 1,

a

formerly the house of

the street was named. 3

on the bank of the Naviglio

connecting Pavia with Milan. In addition to the

A by no means

di Pavia, a canal

money

the Einsteins

Munich and an investment by Signor Garrone, considerable sums on credit came from a cousin, Rudolf Einstein, the husband of Pauline’s sister Fanny, whose affluence came had saved from the liquidation

from a

a textile mill at

reputation in

in

Hechingen

Italy, several

of

in its

Wiirttemberg. As the firm acquired craftsmen and technicians arrived

from Munich to work with the Einsteins

again.

For Albert Einstein, who

known only Munich and its Italy if we may so describe

immediate neighborhood,

until

then had

his flight to

—

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

34 it

—was

major journey. His experience of the southern land-

his first

of a different culture and

scape,

many Germans

impression on him, as on prised”

—he would say four decades how

Italy to see

uses

later

cultural history.

people

I

.

— “when

level

I

crossed the Alps to

.

The

man and woman,

of thought and cultural con-

from the ordinary German. This .

unforgettable

before him: “I was so sur-

the ordinary Italian, the ordinary

words and expressions of a high

tent, so different

made an

lifestyle,

is

due to their long

people of northern Italy are the most civilized

have ever met.” 4

This educational experience, however, was confined to northern Italy.

Trips to Florence and Rome, or farther south, were not possible,

and we do not even know

if

he would have greatly wished to undertake

them. His only longer journey, in the early to

Genoa, to see

traveled the

first

his uncle

Jakob Koch,

a

summer of

brother of his modier’s.

a vacation

As for terms in

which took

at

Airolo on the

new hometown

Gotthard

St.

of Pavia, he described

a letter to a girlfriend in Switzerland:

be defined in mathematical terms

ramrods the various gentlemen

&

as

roughly

ladies

“The

(1)

the

The

pass.

it

in rather rude

could

city’s soul

sum

have swallowed,

created in the observer by the uniformly filthy walls

where.

of some

foot, a hike

At the height of summer he spent

several days. 5

with his family his

He

twelve miles by local train, via Casteggio to Voghera,

and then crossed the Ligurian Alps to Genoa on sixty miles,

him

1895, took

&

of the

total

(2)

the

mood

streets every-

only beautiful aspects are the delightful, graceful

little

children.” 6

Nevertheless the land and

its

people,

an indelible impression on him.

left

its

culture,

When, two

and

decades

its

language

later,

he cor-

responded with the mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita about the gentheory of

eral

relativity,

he asked Levi-Civita to “write

next time.” Einstein profusely thanked in the familiar long-missed Italian.

sure

the

it

gives

most

me

him

in Italian

for the next letter “written

You can

hardly imagine the plea-

to receive such a genuine Italian letter. It revives in

beautiful

memories of my youth.” 7

courage to reply to the mathematician in

come out

me

He could not rally enough

Italian,

“because that would

rather too bumpily.” But in his old age he tried his

that beautiful language

when

me

skill in

writing to a “Cara Ernestina,” a friend of

A "Child Prodigy his sister’s in their

in Italy are

my

younger

most

35

“The happy months of my sojourn

years:

beautiful memories.

.

.

Days and weeks without

.

anxiety and without worries.” 8

Along with technic

main occupation

his

—preparing

for the Zurich Poly-

—Einstein seems to have done various jobs

in the factory

occasionally even to have helped in Uncle Jakob’s design office.

know,

this is quite fantastic

one of

said to

his assistants,

my

about

“where

I

and

“You

nephew,” Jakob Einstein once and

my

assistant engineer

have

racked our brains for days, this young fellow comes along and solves the whole business in a

mere quarter-hour.

He’ll go far one day.” 9

The

chronicler unfortunately does not relate the nature of the “business.”

As

a

spin-off of his private study Albert Einstein during the

summer months described as his standes

1895

'of

first

wrote what

also

is

somewhat grandly

physical essay, Uber die Untersuchung des Aetherzu-

im magnetischen Feld (Examination of the

State of the Ether in the

Magnetic Field). 10 This was probably intended

as a self-test

up

and perhaps

for his entrance examination in Zurich,

dence of his studies for the family. At any together with Brussels,

stand

it:

covering

“It deals

with

letter, to his favorite uncle,

young

a rather specialized subject

fellow like me,

you don’t read the

The

“stuff,”

five

stuff at

electricity,

it is still

also as evi-

this first essay,

Caesar Koch, in

all, I

medium

in

and moreover,

as

is

somewhat naive and imper-

won’t blame you in the

is

least.” 11

an examination of the relationships

magnetism, and the ether

—that nonmaterial sub-

stance which was then being postulated as filling

the

warm-

pages in the neat gothic handwriting he had

learned at the gymnasium,

among

he sent

a

though he could hardly expect that grain merchant to under-

natural for a fect. If

a

rate,

and

all

space and being

which electromagnetic waves, discovered

in

Heinrich Hertz, were thought to propagate themselves. thor announced his essay as “the

first

1888 by

The

modest utterance of

a

au-

few

simple thoughts on this difficult subject,” more of “a program than

a

dissertation.” 12

Albert Einstein argued entirely on the lines of the ether theory of his day, as

according to which the propagation of waves was understood

analogous to the mechanical theory of waves

—which he had come

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

36

across in Violle’s textbook.

He must

have heard something about

“Hertz’s wonderful experiments,” and on that basis he his ideas for

“measuring the

elastic

and the acting forces.”

ether]

He

phenomenon of

route, derived the

now

developed

deformations [occurring in the

by

certainly,

this rather strange

“self-induction”

—without, however, using that term.

—purely qualita-

tively

Some enthusiasts see this first essay come ,” 13 but that is overinterpreting

“harbinger of what was to

as a it.

Hertz’s epoch-making discovery a great

In the wake of Heinrich

many popular

accounts of

electromagnetic theory appeared in Germany, and Einstein would

have read

at least

some of

these. In fact, striking parallels have

found between passages in Einstein’s text and an

article,

been

Die Umwdl-

zungen unserer Anschauungen vom Wesen der elektrischen Wirkungen ( The Revolution in

Our

Concepts of the Nature of Electrical Effects), in a

popular-science monthly

As the

fine Italian

14 .

summer was drawing

Meanwhile

in Zurich inexorably approached.

that this examination stipulated a

to a close, the entrance

minimum

it

exam

had been discovered

age of eighteen.

A special

exemption had therefore to be requested for young Albert, then only sixteen.

To

this

end

a friend of the family,

Gustav Maier,

Zurich, was approached. Like the Einsteins, Maier

where he had been branch manager of the

A

successful career

managed liberal,

a

bank and

freethinking

had led him a

a resident of

came from Ulm,

Deutsche Reichsbank.

local

via Frankfurt to Zurich,

department

store,

where he

and where he was part of the

elite.

Maier must have recommended Albert Einstein

to the principal of

the Polytechnic as a “child prodigy” deserving of special provisions.

But the

principal, Professor Albin

Herzog, in

his

against “taking even so-called ‘child prodigies’ tion in

which they began

pleted .” 15

(still

extant) reply

away from the

that his “information

on the

the mental maturity of the applicant were confirmed in

by the principal of the

minimum-age

institu-

their studies before these studies are

Only on condition

institution

com-

talents

full in

was

and

writing

concerned” would he waive the

rule for Einstein. It appears that Professor

Herzog was

A "Child Prodigy” satisfied

37

with the unofficial testimonial of the mathematics teacher in

Munich, who praised Albert Einstein’s “mathematical knowledge and abilities,”

at the

describing

them

as

equivalent to graduation level. 16 Anyway,

beginning of October, Albert traveled by train to Zurich, where

the Maier family put

him

“With

up.

a sense

of well-founded

diffi-

dence” 17 he reported for the exam, choosing the engineering depart-

ment on

The

the strength of his father’s and uncle’s area of interest.

examination began on October 8 and probably extended over

several days. 18 It covered cific to

a

many

subjects,

character of

my

The

it

made me

realize painfully the

That they

failed

me seemed

to

a “child

—

gappy

me

entirely

were dealing

prodigy” was confirmed. Professor Heinrich Friedrich

so impressed

by the mathematical and physical knowledge

of the young candidate that he invited Einstein tions

was

negative outcome was due mainly to the verbal descriptive

subjects; otherwise, the examiners’ suspicion that they

Weber was

it

previous schooling, even though the examiners were

patient and understanding.

with

others spe-

the candidate’s chosen field of study. For Albert Einstein

disappointing experience, “for

just.” 19

some general and

—against

all

regula-

to attend his physics lectures for second-year students, pro-

vided he remained in Zurich. Einstein, however, followed the sensible advice of the principal that he should spend a year at the cantonal

school in Aarau in order to qualify for study at the Polytechnic. 20

The a

cantonal school in Aarau

— about

thirty miles west of Zurich

great reputation as a liberal, forward-looking institution.

ginally a classical

gymnasium,

languages and science.

It

it

for

its

school, to

ori-

“physical cabinet,” which

was extended, during Einstein’s time there, into

electrical

While

had been enlarged to include modern

was famous

laboratory with a dynamo, an

—had

AC

metering instruments. 21

a

superbly equipped

motor, batteries, switchboards, and

The

principal of this remarkable

which Albert Einstein was admitted on October 26, 1895,

was the physicist Dr. August Tuchschmid, formerly an

Weber at the Polytechnic. Though Einstein was placed in the

assistant to

Professor

noted “great gaps” in

his

third year, his admission report

knowledge of French,

as well as a

need to

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

38 “catch up”

him

on chemistry.

A

teachers’ conference urged

little later, a

to “take private coaching in French, natural science,

On

istry .” 22

and chem-

the other hand, he was exempted from singing, from

physical training, and

—

as a foreigner

—from military

instruction.

Although he was obliged to take additional instruction and was no longer receiving good grades in

all

his subjects, Albert Einstein’s recol-

lections of the cantonal school are very different

the Luitpold

By

its

liberal spirit

left

and by the simple seriousness of

its

unforgettable impressions on me. Comparison with six

clearly realize

German authoritarian Gymnasium made me how much superior an education towards free ,

action and personal responsibility

Of equal importance were

one relying on outward

to

is

True democracy

authority and ambition.

of Jost Winteler.

more than

found his

What a

own

is

no empty

illusion

23 .

Einstein’s domestic circumstances in Aarau.

Gustav Maier had arranged for him to be

—he

teachers,

they were by any outward authority, this school

as

years’ schooling at a

board

memories of

his

Gymnasium:

unsupported has

from

a

paying guest in the

he found there was

far

home

more than bed and

second home, one which probably molded him family had. All his

life

Einstein remained close to

the Wintelers.

Winteler taught Greek and Latin stein

was not one of

his students.

He

at the

cantonal school, so Ein-

had studied

Zurich and

first in

then in Jena, Germany, where he obtained his doctorate with guistic study of the

burg region

who was

24 .

Kerenz

dialect, the

In Jena he had

later always called Rosa.

daughters and four sons

speech of his native Toggen-

his future wife, Pauline Eckart,

With

their seven children

—plus one or two paying

have seemed to Albert Einstein literature.

met

a lin-

guests, they

like a family idyll straight

Before long the two Wintelers were

—three must

out of Swiss

“Mama” and “Papa”

to him.

Albert’s cousin Robert

house next door.

ond

class at the

The same

Koch from Hechingen was age as Albert, Robert was

living in the

still

in the sec-

gymnasium. Gustav Maier, who had arranged for both

boys to be placed in Jost Winteler ’s care, had informed him that Albert

A "Child Prodigy” Einstein

“is

much more mature

39

than his cousin and therefore

less in

need of supervision .” 25 Anna, the eldest of the Wintelers’ daughters,

was

a spoilsport.

he had

He

a great

member

of the household, and never

was fond of conducting

scientific conversations, yet

very respectable

a “pleasant,

recalls that Einstein

sense of humor and at times could laugh heartily. In the

evenings he very rarely went out, he often worked, but more often he

would

with the family around the table, where something was being

sit

read aloud or discussed .” 26

One

classmate claims to have realized even then that Albert Ein-

not

stein did

fit

“into any

mold even

young man ,” 27 but

as a

that the

“The

“sharp wind of skepticism” at the cantonal school suited him.

cheeky Swabian

fitted quite well into that

atmosphere, his original

self-

assurance setting hint apart from the rest.” This classmate painted a

romantically exaggerated portrait of Einstein:

The

grey

felt

hat pushed back over the silky mass of dark hair, he

along with vigor and assurance,

strode

tempted to say sweeping a

world within

it.

rapid

mind

—

A

mocking

protruding lower

lip

trait

I

am

that carried

Nothing escaped the acute gaze of the

superior personality. its

restless

Whoever approached him was

sun-bright eyes.

with

—tempo of the

the

at

large

captivated by his

around the fleshy mouth

did not encourage the Philistine to

tangle with him. Unconfined by conventional restrictions, he

confronted the world

spirit as a

laughing philosopher, and his

witty sarcasm mercilessly castigated

That may sound studies a

like

all

vanity and

artificiality.

dubious, overliterary idealization; yet

group photograph of ten graduates taken in Aarau, one

whom

spots the cheeky, exotic type to

Albert Einstein’s discovery of his

own

one

if

easily

the description would apply.

identity

first

of

all

entailed the

surrender of two identities almost universally regarded as matters of course: citizenship and, albeit to a lesser degree, religious tion. It

is

no longer

possible to discover exactly

he no longer wished to be

Munich, when he

realized that

a it

denomina-

when he decided

German. Perhaps

this

that

happened

in

was the only way of avoiding military

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

40

perhaps

service, or

it

did not happen until later, in Aarau, under the

influence of “Papa” Winteler.

The

records 28

show

by the merchant Hermann

that a “petition

Einstein in Pavia for the release of his son Albert Einstein from Wiirt-

temberg citizenship” was granted on January

28, 1896.

The

reason for

the application was given as “for the purpose of his emigration to

The

Italy.”

step is

—

actual date

on which Hermann Einstein had taken

as the legal representative

unknown, but the motive

however, under the law then in force,

would not be released from

when

there

the

a

still a

minor

avoidance of military ser-

fairly certain:

is

German Reich began

Conscription in the

vice.

of his son Albert, then

this

only

at

age twenty;

male applicant over seventeen

citizenship, to

make

sure he

would be

army wanted him. Albert Einstein must therefore have

been happy when the hoped-for document releasing him arrived parents’ house in Pavia six

weeks before

at his

his seventeenth birthday. In

the register of persons released from Wiirttemberg citizenship Albert Einstein’s assistants first

name

appears in the column headed “trade and business

and factory workers.” 29 In another column we

find, for the

time, the entry “no religious denomination.”

Initially,

ality

Albert Einstein’s decision to renounce

may have been

plied'

him with

nation-

emotional, but “Papa” Winteler must have sup-

rational arguments.

Winteler had watched the the Franco-Prussian

German

rise

War

of

While

German

still

a

student in Jena,

nationalism, especially after

of 1870-71. In his native Switzerland he

missed no opportunity to warn against pan-German expansionism.

own

political

later years Einstein frequently recalled his

mentor’s

Winteler drew Einstein so intensively into thought that in

amazing

political farsightedness. In a letter to his sister

in 1933 during a “I

am

his

summer

vacation in Old

Maja, written

Lyme, Connecticut, he

said:

often reminded of Papa Winteler and of the prophetic correct-

ness of his political views.

I

have always

felt this,

but not with

this

purity and intensity.” 30 Jost Winteler died in 1929 and thus did not see the Nazis’ seizure of

power

in

Germany. But from

about the “prophetic correctness” of his views teler, a

were

it is

Einstein’s

remark

clear that to

Win-

Swiss republican, the gathering clouds of the Nazi dictatorship

less

an incomprehensible disaster than an almost inevitable con-

A "Child Prodigy” sequence of

German

political pathology.

41

At any

rate, in

wrote from Princeton to his friend Michele Besso,

“human

Winteler’s:

mention the clowns

affairs in

in

Germany.

when he

rnind Prof. Winteler had in

our age are

Now

less

it is

1936 Einstein

son-in-law of Jost

a

than agreeable, not to

obvious what

a

prophetic

perceived this grave danger so early

magnitude.” 31

its full

Einstein’s decision, after having

renounced German

nationality, to

apply for Swiss citizenship was surely due largely to the example of this

The

upright Swiss. ticular

prescribed five-year waiting period was no par-

problem. Before World

passports.

With

War I

people were not yet tied to their

confirmation from the authorities in Pavia or the

a

Zurich “residents’ control,” Einstein was allowed to travel wherever he

wished and

as often as

he wished.

In addition to renouncing his old nationality, Einstein also stripped

This step had been foreshadowed ever since

off his religious identity. his brief

The

phase of religious fervor in adolescence:

religion of the fathers, as I encountered

religious instruction

attracted

me.

Nor

community of came

to

know

and

did

I feel

destiny. in

in the

it

in

Munich during

synagogue, repelled rather than

anything

The Jewish

like national

bourgeois

community or

circles,

which

I

my younger years,

with their affluence and lack

me

nothing that seemed to be of

of a sense of community, offered

value. Loneliness, at first painful, then productive

and strength-

ening, was the result. 32

A visible

result

was

that, in the application for release

berg citizenship, his father his request

from Wiirttem-

—certainly with Albert’s agreement

if

not

at

—had entered “no religious denomination.” In the records

of the cantonal school, he was listed as

“Israelitic,”

but this

is

no doubt

because the school believed that every student had to be assigned to

some

religion or other. In a questionnaire for “right-of-residence

applicants” in Zurich, 33 which Einstein had to complete in October

1900, he entered “no religious denomination,” and he would keep this status for

more than two

decades.

In view of persistent assertions that at about age sixteen Albert Einstein

had

left

the Jewish

community 34

— assertions which seem

to be

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

42

borne out by the records this account,

made

At that time

—

worth quoting Einstein’s correction of

it is

a year before his death:

would not even have understood what leaving

I

Judaism could possibly mean. Traditional religion had no place all

in

my consciousness.

even though the realized

The

by

me

full

But

was

I

fully

at

aware of my Jewish origin,

significance of belonging to

Jewry was not

until later. 35

youthful skeptic and freethinker thus distanced himself from the

religion of his forebears, but not

from

his forebears themselves.

Albert Einstein’s maturing personality also underwent the experience

of

first

He

love in Aarau.

did not have far to look:

it

was Marie, the

eighteen-year-old daughter of the house. She had just graduated from the local teacher-training college and was

before accepting her

From

Pavia,

first

still

living with her parents

post in a small village in the canton of Aarau.

where he spent the Easter vacation, Albert Einstein wrote

to his “Beloved darling” in the fullness of his emotional experience: “I

have now,

my

had to learn the

angel,

full

meaning of

nostalgia and

much more happiness than longing gives pain. I only now realize how indispensable my dear little sunshine has become to my happiness.” 36 The two did not have to hide their feellonging. But love gives

ings

from either the Einsteins or the Wintelers. Greetings were

exchanged between Pavia and Aarau, and everything seemed to indicate

something

an unofficial engagement.

like

But when Albert Einstein embarked on

changed

his

his studies in Zurich,

mind. True, the two young people continued to meet

he at

the Wintelers’ house whenever he visited Aarau and she was able to

come home from her teaching

job.

But

six

months

later, in

May

1897,

he communicated his determination to break off the relationship, not to

Marie herself but So

me

as is

to her mother:

not to continue fighting unshakable:

be unworthy of already

I

I

me

a

mental conflict whose outcome to

cannot come to you for Pentecost. to

buy

have inflicted too

a

It

would

few days’ pleasure with new pain

much on

the dear child through

my

A "Child Prodigy”

own

me

fault. It fills

savor myself

with

a strange

some of the pain

that

43

kind of satisfaction to have to

my

frivolousness

rance of such a delicate nature has caused the dear intellectual

&

work

through

“Mama” Winteler

all

the troubles of this

did not blame Albert.

The end

premature

liaison.

Einstein’s

relations with

&

yet implacably

life. 37

Maybe

she was even relieved the risk of a

of the romance certainly did not affect Indeed, he soon became

the Wintelers.

related to them. His sister

Paul.

Strenuous

wisdom was sparing her daughter

to find that his youthful

college

girl.

observation of God’s nature are the angels

that will guide me, reconciling, strengthening, severe,

& my igno-

Maja attended the Aarau teacher-training

from 1899 to 1902 and eventually married the Wintelers’

And Michele

Besso, Einstein’s friend from the Zurich Poly-

who

technic, married Anna, the eldest daughter. Marie,

each other sincerely, but

it

was an entirely

married a

later

watchmaker, wrote about her relationship with Einstein:

When

“We

loved

ideal love.” 38

he was not personally involved, the forward young

could talk about love very differently. Consoling

was unhappily

son,

in love with

a

woman

friend

man who

an older man, the twenty-one-year-old

gave her this rather presumptuous advice:

Do you

really believe

you can

find lasting happiness in

through others, even through the only that animal personally,

myself. I

know

There

is

not

for sure.

all

continues, but

much

that

Today we

tude

Young

—matters

I

to be expected

are grouchy,

From

Yet he always

pany, the

more

know

&

frivolous, the

half-tired of

life.

...

So

than the good

life

felt

girls. 39

women was

not

the enriching love of one “angel” one could

observation of God’s nature.”

self.

tomorrow

a lot better

escape by invoking other angels

“lasting happiness in

I

from them, that

Albert Einstein’s repertoire for dealing with

without refinement.

Oh,

nearly forgot to mention infidelity and ingrati-

which we do

in

love?

from personal acquaintance, being one

next day cold, and then again irritable it

man you

life

— “strenuous

And

intellectual

work

&

rejecting the illusion of finding

through others” looks

like a

reference to him-

comfortable, and even happy, in female com-

so as this feeling was often reciprocated.

Many a young

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

44 or elderly

by

also

woman

was enchanted not only by

which suggested

his appearance,

“He had

is

how

a friend

the kind of male

beginning of the century, caused such

that, especially at the

havoc” 40

but

a passionate Latin virtuoso

rather than a stolid student of the sciences.

beauty

his violin playing,

of his second wife’s described Albert Ein-

stein’s effect.

School, as far as his grades were concerned, remained on an even keel.

The

“reproof” 41

about his unsatisfactory performance in French

recurred throughout

the intermediate reports: despite his private

all

up with

lessons he was unable to catch

bore

his Swiss classmates.

His father

blemish on his report of Christmas 1895 with equanimity:

this

“I

have always been used to Albert bringing home, alongside some very

good grades, stein

made

a

also

some poorer

bad

start also in his

& I am not

ones,

other

modern

disconsolate.” 42 Ein-

language, Italian, but

by graduation had improved, earning the second-best grade. 43 His best was

a 6, in algebra

were

5s or 4s.

With

this

and geometry. In physics he had

Only

French did he get

in

a 5-6,

and the

rest

a 3.

school report, dated September

5,

1895, confirming his

successful completion of the “fourth technical class,” Einstein

was now

able to take the Maturitatspriifung the final exam. 44 This lasted several ,

days, -with a written for

some

and an oral

part.

For the

latter

professors of the Zurich Polytechnic to

it

was customary

come over

to

Aarau

to take a look at their future students. This time Professor Albin

—the man who year school to Einstein —was present.

Herzog

On first

earlier

a

September 18

task

at

seven o’clock Albert Einstein got

heart,

His

German

a half hours, unenthusiastically

to his .

and uno-

teacher, Adolf Frey, out of the goodness of his

marked the outline “mostly

5.”

and physics, though

his

—handled grades — came

Next

way, completed rapidly, and earning high algebra,

down

—outlining the plot of Goethe’s play Gotz von Berlichingen

This he managed in two and riginally.

had recommended the cantonal

work here

Thus one mathematical term was

in a masterly

geometry,

revealed a certain careless-

when

it

should have been “imaginary,” and “Wheatstone bridge” appeared

as

ness.

“Watston bridge.”

No

doubt

his teachers

called “irrational”

had long realized that

this

A "Child Prodigy”

45

student did not waste time over such trifles.They were marked as mistakes but evidently not allowed to affect his grades.

As he had

also

done well

achieved an average of

and

a

commendable

of them.

It

5

V

2

in chemistry

and nature study, Einstein

—the best grade among the nine examinees, who was by

result for the student

far the

youngest

should be pointed out, however, that this examination was

relatively easy.

A German — and no

doubt

sium would have expected more, not only

a Swiss

in the

—

traditional

German

gymna-

essay but cer-

tainly also in mathematics.

French paper, the worst of the

Einstein’s

lot

and marked 3-4,

—not because of the mistakes

most interesting

the

but because of the subject of the essay, for the Future). Despite

its

Mes

execrable French,

also

in every other line,

Projets cTavenir it

is

(My

Plans

shows that Einstein had

found his objectives:

A

happy person

is

about the future.

too content with the present to think

On

the other hand,

are fond of

making bold

young man

to

form

young people

plans. Besides,

as precise

it is

much

in particular

natural for a serious

an idea of the goal of his strivings

as possible.

If I

am

lucky enough to pass

the Polytechnic in Zurich.

mathematics and physics. fields

my

I will

examinations,

I will

attend

stay there four years to study

My idea is to become a teacher in these

of natural science and

I

will

choose the theoretical part of

these sciences.

These

are the reasons

marily a personal

which have

gift for abstract

led

me

to this plan. It

of fantasy and practical talent. Moreover,

to the

same

is

pri-

and mathematical thought and

a lack

resolution. This

is

my hopes lead me

quite natural: one always wishes to

do the things one has the most talent

for.

Moreover, there

is

a

certain independence in the profession of science that greatly

appeals to me. 45

Quite apart from the form of these hopes and dreams, they also contain

something

from

a life

like a third

renunciation of identity,

a

breaking away

pattern linked to his family. Originally he had been sent to

4

46

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

Zurich to study

electrical

and uncle’s firm and eventually to take

father’s

But

as

engineering in order to be useful to his

he explained to

two decades

a friend

it

later,

over and carry

it

on.

Aarau had marked

his

decisive renunciation of the profession of a technologist:

.

because the thoughts of applying

.

.

would make everyday

that

aim of piling up

own

capital,

my

even more sophisticated, with the

life

was unbearable

The

me. Thought for

its

him

subjects during his year in

productively, as he confirmed in a letter three

years later: “In Aarau a

its

propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ether con-

tinued to occupy

which

to

sake, like music! 46

This kind of thought had already found Aarau.

inventiveness to things

I

had

a

good idea

for investigating the

way

in

body’s relative motion with respect to the luminiferous ether

affects the velocity

of the propagation of light in transparent bodies.” 47

This “good idea” appears to have been

a variant

of Fizeau’s famous

experiment of 1853 for determining the velocity of light in moving matter. In fact, this experiment

mentioned by Einstein

six

one of the two

is

from optics

results

years after this letter in his special theory of

relativity.

Far more important was another question, also from the range of

problems of electromagnetic waves stein

—

a

question which seemed to Ein-

“worth asking” that year in Aarau. At the time

been much more than Einstein recalled

it

a puzzle,

and from

a distance

it

cannot have

of sixty years

with forbearance: “If one were to run behind

a

light-wave with the velocity of light, one would have before one a

time-independent wave-field. But that can exist! This

was the

first

it

does not seem that something

childish mental experiment to

like

do with

the special theory of relativity.” 48

However, the cantonal schoolboy Albert Einstein was no longer that childish, and the

problem he recognized

at

all

age sixteen or seven-

teen was then not perceived as a problem by even the greatest scientists.

Einstein’s mental experiment

was precisely what Goethe had

defined as the key to scientific knowledge: “Everything in science

depends on what the

is

called

an apergu,

phenomena. And such

a realization

a realization

is

of what

lies

behind

infinitely fruitful.” 49

This

A "Child Prodigy” applies even

more

to Einstein’s theory of relativity:

case of understanding “what lies behind the

47 it is

not so

phenomena”

as

much

a

an analysis

of what should be understood by the concept “phenomenon.”

It

would

take ten years for the “infinitely fruitful” character of that apergu to

emerge.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Vagabond and Loner”: Student Days

In the second week of

October 1896

Department VI, the “School

Zurich

in

Albert Einstein enrolled in

for Specialized

Teachers in the Mathe-

matical and Science Subjects” of the Polytechnic in Zurich. still

six

months short of the

official

minimum

age

He

was

—eighteen—and

must therefore have been one of the youngest students ever

to have

entered that venerable institution.

The

impressive main building at the foot of the Ziirichberg was

designed by the Polytechnic’s

Semper.

1

One

first

professor of architecture, Gottfried

of the most striking edifices in the

city, it offers

from

its

terrace a. splendid view of the historic city center in the valley of the

Limmat. The Polytechnic, founded

in 1855,

was the

university-

first

type school of the Swiss Confederation (created in 1848). Unlike the later universities

of Basel, Zurich, and Geneva, which were financed

and supervised by the cantons, the Polytechnic was subject directly to the Swiss government in Bern.

Compared with

these universities, the

Polytechnic was of slightly inferior status, but only in that

award doctoral degrees. This was changed

in

upgraded to Swiss Technical University with

all

But the people of Zurich to

this

day refer to

At the turn of the century the

institution

it

1911,

it

could not

when

it

was

academic privileges.

as the “Poly.”

had

just

under

a

thousand

students, 2 the great majority of them in the engineering fields. Science

came under Department VI, the “School

for Specialized Teachers”; in

addition to providing basic mathematical and scientific training for engineers,

the department was

also

48

concerned with fundamental

"Vagabond and Loner” research. Mathematical Section

49

VIA, which comprised mathematics,

was the one Albert Einstein attended

physics, and astronomy,

in 1896,

along with ten other freshmen, including Mileva Marie, the only

woman

student in the Mathematical Section, which then, with the

freshmen, numbered only twenty-three students.

When the

in 1855 the first forty professorial

new

Polytechnic, a journalist with a sense of history wrote: “Since

the foundation of the University of Berlin set

appointments were made to

out on

activity

its

with such

a

no scholarly

institution has

wealth of talent.” 3 This applied not

only to architecture, but also to mathematics, in which the renowned

Rudolf Dedekind was the

first

professor. In Adolf

Hurwitz and Her-

mann Minkowski, Einstein had two outstanding mathematicians as his professors, men from whom he might have received first-rate training, but he

let this

opportunity

mathematics was take

up the short

split into

slip

many specialized

lifetime that

position of Buridan’s

by more or

is

granted

less

unused: “I saw that

areas,

each of which could

us. I thus

found myself in the

which could not make up

ass,

one bundle of hay and another.” 4 Added to

this

was

mind between

its

a certain subject-

specific arrogance: Albert Einstein, in his innocence, believed that

it is

sufficient for a physicist to

have clearly understood the ele-

mentary mathematical concepts and

to have

them ready for

appli-

cation, while the rest consists of subtleties unprofitable to the

—

physicist

a

mistake

I

realized only later, with regret.

My mathe-

me

matical talent was evidently not sufficient to enable

to distin-

guish the central and fundamental from the peripheral, from

what was not fundamentally important. 5 At any

on

rate

he remembered Professor Carl Friedrich Geiser’s lectures

infinitesimal

geometry

of the pedagogic art” 6

what he had

learnt

in his

second year

as “veritable masterpieces

—possibly because he was able

from Geiser while working on

to

his

make use of

own

general

theory of relativity.

Every beginner

him by

in

his professors.

Department VI had

a

study plan worked out for

This consisted of core

subjects, in

which grades

were given, and of useful optional subjects which were not

assessed.

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

50

After the prescribed subjects of the stein

found that he could

at universities.

He

now

first

three semesters Albert Ein-

enjoy the academic freedom customary

soon discovered that

“I

had to content myself with

being a mediocre student.” 7 Perhaps with some coyness, he enumerated

that he lacked for being a

all

“good student”

—ease of comprehen-

on what was being offered

sion, willingness to concentrate

in lectures,

and tidiness in making and processing lecture notes. But gradually he learned “to arrange

Some

interests.

wise

I

my studies

lectures

I

to suit

my intellectual

would follow with intense

stomach and

my

Other-

interest.

‘played hookey’ a lot and studied the masters of theoretical

physics with a holy zeal at home.” 8

“At home” was, Unionstrasse stitute

—

4,

initially,

not

far

the apartment of Frau Henriette Hagi at

from the Polytechnic or from the Physical In-

a separate building set

at a small pension

where he

also

up

in 1890. In his third year he stayed

run by Stephanie Markwalder

had

his

midday meal. In

at

Klosbachstrasse 87,

his last year

he returned to Frau

whom he later moved to Dolderstrasse

Hagi, with

17. All three

student

lodgings were in the bourgeois district of Hottingen, favorably situated both for the “Poly” and for the Hotel Bellevue by the lake.

His monthly draft of 100 Swiss francs came not from but fro$i his wealthy relatives in Genoa.

Garrone for

e C. in Pavia

power

had come to

summer of as

some

grief.

stations, the Einstein brothers

tried to overbid local interests

firm, they

The

1

896, barely

had

to

and had

more than

his parents

reason was that Einstein,

In an attempt to get licenses

and their failed so

Italian partner

had

badly that in the

year after the foundation of the

a

go into liquidation, losing

their entire capital as well

loans from relatives. 9 Uncle Jakob gave

up

his entrepreneurial

ambitions and became an employee. Later, as the manager of an

instrument-making firm in Vienna, he led

mann, on the other hand, wanted

firm in Milan,

and

electric

comfortable

life.

Her-

to try his luck as an entrepreneur

one more time, with help from the

new

a

on Via Manzoni,

family.

He

immediately

for the “production of

set

up

a

dynamos

motors.” Jakob Einstein’s position as technical manager

was taken by an

efficient

foreman named Sebastian Kornprobst, 10 who

had followed the Einsteins from Munich to Pavia. Despite

financial

“Vagabond and Loner” difficulties, the family’s lifestyle in

steins

occupied

When

Milan was

with eleven rooms

a floor

the firm in Pavia

been busy preparing for

his

went into

examination in Aarau. like

have saved him and us from the worst,” 12

went bankrupt.

What

depresses

parents

who

me

pains

me

To his

a

would

the thought that

strength allowed

at

really

all. I

I

1.

He had

as

two years

Maja he wrote is

&

keeps

me

the misfortune of my poor for

many years.

It also

have to stand idly by, without

am

be better

nothing but if I

a

burden to

did not live at

that year-in year-out

upright and must protect

But things soon improved

I

for his parents,

in

feeble

never permitted

me from

and

my

talent at

The

all

for

stateless

Zurich.

my

Only

all.

my

studies

despair. 13

any case Einstein was

not given to prolonged sorrow, knowing only too well “that jolly Joe and, unless

Milan

sadly:

myself any pleasure, any diversion, except that which offer,

had

tried to per-

later the

have always done everything

I

11

Uncle Jakob: “This would

happy minute

an adult person,

being able to do anything family. ... It

sister

most, of course,

have not had

that, as

Bigli 2

liquidation, Albert Einstein

suade his father to seek employment,

firm also

— the Ein-

bourgeois

still

Via

at

51

my stomach is upset or something similar,

am

I

a

have no

melancholy moods.” 14

young student Albert Einstein soon

The Winteler

boys and his cousin Robert

felt

Koch

at

home

often

in

came

over from Aarau, and the house of Gustav Maier, also from Ulm, was always open to him. Maier

with

a

—

a

wealthy

few like-minded friends, had

Ethical Culture,”

where

man

of liberal views

founded

—together

a

“Swiss Society for

social reform, educational

problems, and the

just

danger to peace from militarism and chauvinism were discussed. 15

The

founding members included “Papa” Winteler and Robert Saitchick, professor of literature at the Polytechnic. Einstein’s entree to this circle

ensured that his republican views, and the skeptical attitude

toward Bismarck’s Germany

first

aroused by Jost Winteler, would be

confirmed.

Through

friends in Milan, Einstein also

made

the acquaintance of

the family of Alfred Stern, a notable historian of German-Jewish

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

52

who was

origin,

regularly every

teaching at the Polytechnic. Einstein visited the Sterns

week and enjoyed

For

their cultivated hospitality.

his

personal problems, too, he always found a sympathetic ear with Professor Stern. After completing his studies, to Stern in these touching words: “But

he

summed up

what can

his gratitude

say about

I

the

all

kindness and fatherly friendship which you have always bestowed on

me whenever certain:

I

had the pleasure of being with you?

no one has met me the way you have, and

once came to you in

a dejected

.

.

that

mood and

or bitter

One

.

I

thing

is

more than

there invariably

found joy and an inner equilibrium again.” 16 In addition, Einstein was invited for Sunday lunch every family

named Fleischmann,

in

much

the same

way

as

week by

Max Talmud

a

had

Munich every Thursday. Michael Fleischmann had originally managed the Zurich branch of the been

a

Koch

family’s grain business in

guest in the Einsteins’ house in

Genoa, but had then

firm on Bahnhofstrasse, representing the

Koch

set

up

his

own

interests as an agent.

After his Sunday roast, Einstein would usually be seen in a Bahnhofstrasse cafe, deep in thought while

smoking

a

pipe

—

a

newly discov-

ered passion that he would maintain for a long time.

The 1 00

Swiss francs which the Kochs remitted to

should have been enough for

not poor.

Of course, when

a typical

him each month

student lifestyle

—modest but

Albert Einstein had to pay a ten-franc fine

to the Zurich Residents’ Control 17 because

he had carelessly omitted

money would be tight, especially as he month for the fee that would be payable

to deposit certain documents,

was saving 20 francs every

when he received Swiss citizenship. Now and again he would earn a little money by coaching private students for instance, Dora, the

—

daughter of his fatherly patron Professor Stern.

The

traditional social

life

of a student was not to Einstein’s

taste: in

retrospect he described himself as “something of a vagabond and loner.” 18

That does not mean

that he was lonely at the Polytechnic.

developed a “genuine friendship” with Marcel Grossmann, matics student a year older than himself.

mathe-

a

“Once every week

He

I

would

solemnly go with him to the Cafe Metropol on the Limmat Embank-

ment and

talk to

him not only about our

studies but also about any-

"Vagabond and Loner” thing that might interest

“vagabond” Einstein

53

young people whose eyes were open.” 19 The

felt

strangely fascinated by Grossmann’s firm

roots in the stolid, yet liberal, Swiss environment that he

when visiting the Grossmann home mann in turn was impressed by his is

came

to

know

Thalwil on Lake Zurich. Gross-

in

friend’s intellectual profundity;

he

reported to have told his parents: “That Einstein will one day be

someone

really great.” 20 Einstein regarded

student, close to his teachers

popular.” 21 also

.

.

Grossmann

as a

“model

myself apart and unsatisfied, not too

.

Grossmann not only

zealously attended

lectures, but

all

wrote them up so neatly that they could have gone straight to the

These notebooks were Albert

printer.

Einstein’s “lifesaver” as soon as

examinations approached: “I would rather not speculate

how

I

might

have fared without them.” 22 In later years, too, Grossmann was

a life-

saver

—once

in connection with Einstein’s first post at the Patent

Office in Bern and later with the

first

mathematical calculations of the

general theory of relativity. After Grossmann’s untimely death in 1936, Einstein wrote to his widow: “But one thing

and remained friends

all

our

up

in Italy.

had been born

He

we were

lives.” 23

Another lifelong friend was Michele Besso, Einstein. Besso

great:

is

in the

had qualified

as a

years older than

six

canton of Zurich but had grown

mechanical engineer

at the

Poly-

technic and was working for a firm in Winterthur. Besso advised Einstein to read the

works of Ernst Mach; he discussed with him endlessly

the philosophical foundations of physics, and soon

board for Einstein’s

The

became

a

sounding

ideas.

acquaintance with Besso came about through Einstein’s unswerv-

ing love of music. During Einstein’s

Zurich

meet

home

to

of

a

woman named

skill as a violinist is

afternoons. 24

attested to

school inspector

who had examined

dents in Aarau.

He

“One

semester, they had

Selina Caprotti,

make music on Saturday

siderable

first

met

at the

where people would

Young

Einstein’s con-

by the objective record of

the musical

skills

a

of seventeen stu-

mentioned only one of the examinees by name:

student, [named] Einstein, actually sparkled

performance of an adagio from

a

[in]

his

emotional

Beethoven sonata.” 25

At that time, long before radio and other advanced means of repro-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

54

ducing music, good amateurs

like

Albert Einstein were sought-after

guests at domestic musical entertainments. Hardly any

was immune to Markwalder,

his musical passion

elderly

“charming old

Wegelin

.

am

their is

as

duet partners,

as there

&

spending the Pentecost days

God

which

Susanne

he presented with the

and devotion”; and not an piano

the

like

like

pianist

teacher,

Fraulein

At times one even has the impression that he preferred

woman

older

to her “In loyalty

maid,”

young one

a

whom

his landlady’s daughter,

Mozart sonatas inscribed 26

—not

woman

sends

me

was no

risk of complications: “I

nights with musical pleasures,

who do

through one of those angels

two-edged sword, threaten impressionable

hearts. It

is

not, with

who

a lady

already a grandmother .” 27

As numerous

as

women

the

are the anecdotes connected with

Einstein’s violin playing, often testifying to his considerable self-

assurance.

When,

Markwalders’ house, he had

at the

a small

audience

of women, some of whom began to click their knitting needles during his recital,

disturb

The

you

he simply put in

his violin

back into

its

case:

“We must

not

your work .” 28

extent to which his violin had

become indispensable

to

him

as

an instrument of intimate dialogue became clear to Einstein toward the end of his third year in Zurich,

when he

injured his

hand so

seri-

ously in the physics laboratory that he had to have stitches put in at the clinic.

In a letter to a “Dear lady,” with

whom

he had played duets in

Aarau, he regretted that, as a result of that mishap, he could not play

my old

his violin: “I greatly miss

myself everything myself, or at

that, in

most laugh

friend,

through

sober thoughts,

at

when

I

see

Alongside that “old friend” there was

it

I

whom I say &

sing to

often do not even admit to

in others .” 29

now

also a

new one

of the kind

which, “with their two-edged sword, threaten impressionable hearts.”

This one had nothing to do with music but was Mileva Marie, the one

woman

a

student of physics

student in Section VTA. She came from

Vojvodina, then part of the Hungarian half of the Habsburg empire

and

later part of Yugoslavia,

from

a family of Serbian

had grown up

in

an ethnically colorful region. Mileva came

landowning farmers

in the village of Titel

what was then Neusatz and

later

became Novi

and Sad.

"Vagabond and Loner”

Though not

55

by her family or the school system of

exactly supported

the day, Mileva had set her heart

on going

to the university. 30 Switzer-

women could young women

land being the only German-speaking country where

went

study, she

from

all

at the

which attracted scholarly

to Zurich,

over the world. She had had to pass her “school-leaving” exam

Young

Ladies’ College in Zurich before starting

studies at Zurich University in the

on her medical

summer semester of

1896. In the

winter semester, she switched to the Polytechnic and, simultaneously

with Albert Einstein, enrolled in the program that would lead to

a

teacher’s diploma.

There

is

some evidence

that

by the second semester,

if

not before,

Albert Einstein the loner and Mileva Marie, three years his senior, had

become

closer than just fellow students. Perhaps

it

was Mileva who

was behind Einstein’s decision to break off his relationship with Marie Winteler in the spring of 1897. During the summer vacation,

at

any

Einstein had written to her and she had told her parents about

rate,

him and

excited their interest: “Papa has given

am

to give

our

little

it

to

you myself, he wanted

bandit country.” 31 This

to

letter,

me some

tobacco and

make your mouth water

I

for

however, was posted from

Heidelberg, where Mileva was walking “under

German

charming Neckar

guest student for the

valley,” 32

having enrolled

as a

third physics semester at the local university. locale

some

this

had been planned some time ahead or put into distance

from Einstein

Mileva regarded the move

between the

The

Whether

lines of

a

is

as a

oaks in the

change of

effect to gain

matter of surmise. But the fact that kind of test of her feelings emerges

her letter to Einstein.

physics taught in the

first

few semesters

at the

Polytechnic tended

to be an appendix to the mathematical training of future engineers

rather than a discipline in

its

own

right. In the first

semester there

was only mathematics; in the second and third semesters there was mechanics, taught by Albin Herzog and attended by 140 students, also attuned to the needs of the engineering students. Einstein’s account for

Mileva Marie was: “Herzog dynamics and strength of materials, the

latter

very clear and good

—

natural in a mass course.” 33

in

dynamics

a little superficial, as is quite

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

56

Not until

the third semester was there even a lecture announced as

was given by Professor Heinrich Friedrich Weber and

“physics.” This

met with

great mastery.

I

lectured

on heat

.

.

and with

.

look forward from one of his lectures to the next.” 34

Einstein had in fact taken

he was able to give the selfish

“Weber

Einstein’s applause:

down and

“little

runaway” the

— “advice to get back here

will find everything

you need

Mileva Marie followed Zurich. However,

it

as

soon

—perhaps not quite un-

as possible,

because here you

closely recorded in our notebooks.” 36

this advice

was not

written up this lecture, 35 so that

and from April 1898 was back in that simple to

all

make up

for the

semester she had spent in Heidelberg, so that, despite Einstein’s and

Grossmann’s notes, she had to postpone the “intermediate diploma examination”

—due

Einstein, in his

second semester

after the

own

—by

a year.

eyes a “mediocre” student, had reported in

time for the exam fixed for October 1898 and spent the

working hard, mostly with Grossmann

“When one

sure:

takes such an

thing one thinks and does, as grind, however,

—which was not always

exam one

5.7,

maximum

grade of

6,

feels responsible for every-

After his brilliant

work on

The

in his five subjects Einstein

and otherwise

5.5.

which made him the best student of

Marcel Grossmann came second, scoring

a plea-

in a penal institution.” 37

one were

was crowned by success:

twice received the

an average of

if

summer

This gave his year. 38

5.6.

the intermediate examination, Albert

Einstein spent his third year at the Polytechnic working “with zeal and application ... in Professor this

course

tory”

—described

—Zurich had

H.

F.

Weber’s physical laboratory.” 39 For

in the catalogue as “Electrotechnical

the best possible conditions.

Werner von Siemens, Weber had

Labora-

With support from

created a magnificently equipped

Physical Institute, meeting the requirements both of experimental fun-

damental research and of scientifically based

The

electrical engineering.

building on Gloriastrasse had been completed in 1890, almost

in rivalry with

Semper’s main building, and towering above

situated higher

up on the slope of the Ziirichberg. An American physi-

cist

who

visited

amazed by

its

Zurich

a

opulence:

it,

being

year before Einstein began his studies was

“They not only have

the most complete

"Vagabond and Loner” instrumental outfit

I

57

have ever seen, but also the largest building

ever seen used as a physical laboratory.

.

.

.

Tier on

tier

I

of storage

have cells,

dozens and dozens of the most expensive tangent and high resistance galvanometers.

.

.

.

The

apparatus in this building cost 400,000 francs

—the

Phys. Laby.

($80,000), the building francs.” 40

— alone

cost one million

These perfect working conditions may have reminded Ein-

stein of the

homemade equipment

in

Uncle Jakob’s workshop, but

his

grateful recollection of the fascination of “contact with experience” 41

proves that he was not the narrow-chested thinker that the public

imagined

a theoretician to be,

tical interests

and

but a full-blooded physicist with prac-

abilities.

Einstein was less lucky in “Physical Exercises for Beginners” under

Professor Jean Pernet, which he also took in his third year.

he did not

like his professor

great deal and,

Whether

or the experiments, he played hookey a

“upon written request by Herr Pernet,

citing neglect of

the practical work,” received a “reprimand from the director for lack of application” in

March

wonder

1899. Small

lowed between Einstein and Pernet.

that

When

many a

sharp clash

fol-

the professor asked his

“neglectful” student why, instead of studying the difficult subject of physics, he did not prefer to study medicine, law, or philology, Einstein

even

is

reported to have answered: “Because, Herr Professor,

less talent for

those subjects.

a

1,

have

Why shouldn’t I at least try my luck

with physics?” 42 Pernet had his revenge dent

I

when he gave

the cheeky stu-

the lowest possible grade.

With regard

to theoretical physics, the situation at the Polytechnic did

not meet Einstein’s range of interests either, though for different reasons: “Physics

dent who,

was not greatly favored,” complained Adolf Fisch,

like Einstein,

a stu-

had come to the “Poly” from the cantonal

school in Aarau. Weber, to both of them, was “a typical representative

of classical physics,

who

simply ignored anything since Helmholtz. At

the conclusion of one’s studies one was acquainted with the history of physics, but not with

its

present or future.

We were

therefore depen-

dent on studying the newer literature privately.” 43

Only during

his final semester,

when

Einstein was already working

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

58

on

his

diploma

a lecture

on

mathematician

essay, did the

Hermann Minkowski

supplement to Professor Her-

analytical mechanics, as a

on mechanics. Minkowski, who had

zog’s standard class

Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences), supplied his

(.

teners with a reprint and discussed the subject within the

At the end of

his lecture.

it

told a fellow student: “This

we have heard write his

just written a

ma th ema tisch en

study on capillarity for the Enzyklopddie der senschaften

first

at the

Annalen der Physik

six

Wis-

few

lis-

framework of

Einstein enthusiastically, but also sadly, the

is

Poly .” 44 At

first

months

lecture

on mathematical physics

least the lecture stimulated Einstein to

publication

scientific

give

45 ,

which he submitted

after receiving his diploma,

to the

even though

the subject was not exactly at the center of scientific discussion, nor

indeed of Einstein’s

interests.

seems probable that

It

many

own

—

in Gottingen,

at

one of the better

Bonn, or Berlin

found training more in

line

universities in

Ger-

—Albert Einstein would

have

with his “intellectual stomach,” but his

graduation from the school in Aarau entitled him to study only at the

Zurich Polytechnic. Besides,

Germany

him was

to

a closed chapter,

and switching to Vienna or Paris was out of the question, citizenship that he

hoped

as the Swiss

to be granted required a prolonged stay in

Switzerland.

The

intellectual state of physics at the

end of the nineteenth cen-

tury did not, in retrospect, greatly impress Albert Einstein: “There was

dogmatic

was

on matters of

rigidity

beginning)

a

God

principle. In the beginning (if there

created Newton’s laws of motion, together

with the necessary masses and forces. This derives

is

the

by deduction from the development of

everything else

suitable mathematical

methods .” 46 This observation probably contains truth.

lot:

at least a grain

of

Eloquent propagandists of a “mechanical world picture” had put

forward

a similar

formulation

—only more expansively than Einstein

and the major part of physics teaching

at the

Polytechnic was probably

no more than pedagogical application of those maxims. But physics just before the turn of the century was a lot

more

in fact,

lively

than

Einstein’s characterization suggests, and he himself

was aware of

was fascinated by physics, and was developing

problems for the

future. “I

soon learned to

ferret out that

his

which might lead

this,

to the

"Vagabond and Loner” bottom of things, tude of things that

59

to disregard everything else, to disregard the multifill

mind but

the

detract

from the

essential.” 47

Despite his sarcastic view of the dry, rigid program of universal

mechanics, Einstein, tion for

like

“any receptive person,” 48 was

full

of admira-

what had been achieved within that framework. Yet he was

less

impressed by the solution of even the most tricky problems than he

was by the efficiency of the mechanical program when applied to areas which, at

above

all,

no

glance, bore

first

relation to mechanics.

the kinetic theory of gases,

some of whose

This meant,

essential

theorems

could be plausibly derived only by the assumption that gases consisted of minute globules of matter, whose movements and impacts obeyed the laws of mechanics.

This part of the theory of gases had been dealt with by Professor

Weber

in his lectures.

The

other,

more profound

aspect

—that the

theory of the mechanical treatment of an ensemble of

statistical

mechanical particles was capable of deducing the basic laws of thermo-

dynamics

—Einstein had learned about by private study of the recently Ludwig Boltzmann, 49 which he

published fundamental books of

known

to have read in the

summer

is

of 18 9 9 50 and which show anything

but “dogmatic rigidity.” If one considers that the very existence of

atoms was

being questioned

still

at the

time but

that,

on the other

hand, X-rays, cathode rays, and other types of radiation had just

opened

a

new world

of microphysics, one

is left

with the impression of

an exceedingly interesting phase of scientific research.

This applies equally to the other major development in physics

in

the second half of the nineteenth century: the electromagnetic field

theory developed by James Clerk Maxwell and brilliantly confirmed in

1888 by Heinrich Hertz.

mechanics to

as the sure

foundation of

anchor electromagnetic

derive

it

field

all

a

regarded

physics and had therefore tried

theory in mechanics, or indeed to

from mechanics. This was one of the reasons

of the “ether,” a

Of course, Maxwell and Hertz had

for the invention

strange immaterial substance which initially served as

substratum for the so-called “polarization states” of the electromag-

netic field and

which was subsequently drawn on

to provide a basis for

the propagation of electromagnetic waves, such as light or Hertzian

waves, since these, in mechanical concepts, could not proceed in

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

60

“nothing” but needed an oscillating medium, more or

waves in

The

less like

sound

air.

price paid

by

physicists for tying electromagnetic fields to

mechanics was, of course, rather high, conceptual construct

full

proved to be

as the “ether”

of internal contradictions. As an

pervading body, though weightless and noncompressible, of “ghost existence” alongside normal matter; offer resistance to the

it

a

elastic, all-

it

led a kind

was not permitted to

motion of normal matter or

interact with

it

in

any other way. In order to explain the velocity of light in moving matter,

was to

had to be assumed that the ether, independently of matter,

it

in a state of

permanent

rest.

However, when an attempt was made

measure the Earth’s motion through the ether

in the

famous experi-

ments of Albert Michelson and Edward Williams Morley,

it

had to be

acknowledged, sadly, that apparently there was no such motion. Here,

were enough problems capable of “leading to the bottom of

then,

things,” and, with his sure instinct for the essential, Einstein felt self

drawn

to them.

His thinking probably proceeded from what he had called childish mental experiment to

Our

earliest

psychology

Max

if

riding

on the beam?

one were

to

run

mind,

“problem horizon” during that

at all?

in relation to

after a ray of light?

... If .

.

one were to run .

What

something,

tion to something else

all

Einstein’s

1916 in Berlin.

in

as follows:

What

no longer move

In

had with Einstein

( Gestaltpsychologie ),

probing phase

it

special relativity theory.” 51

Wertheimer, one of the founders of Gestalt

Wertheimer has represented

have

do with the

his “first

information on these reflections comes from a con-

versation which

first

him-

which

is

What

fast

if

one were

enough, would

“the velocity of light”? If

this value

itself is in

it

I

does not hold in rela-

motion. 52

probability Einstein turned these problems over and over in his first

in

Aarau and then during

his first year in Zurich; certainly

we know of no partners in conversation or studies in literature that could have led him to such ideas. In his second year at the Polytechnic he surprised Professor Weber by proposing an experiment to deter-

"Vagabond and Loner” mine the velocity of the Earth

61

relative to the ether

—evidently

in igno-

rance of the Michelson-Morley experiments, as “he learned only later

had already conducted such experiments .” 53

that physicists

As

a

matter of

Einstein’s proposal

fact,

was no more than

a variant

of the Michelson-Morley experiment: “I thought of the following

experiment using two thermocouples. Set up mirrors so that the light

from

a single

source

parallel to the

two

different directions,

motion of the Earth and the other

assume that there beams,

to be reflected in

is

is

one

anti-parallel. If

we

an energy difference between the two reflected

we can measure

the difference in the generated heat using two

thermocouples .” 54 Needless to

say, this

way of building

because “there was no

remained

just a suggestion,

that apparatus.

The

skepticism

of his professors was too great and the persuasive force of the project too small .” 55

We

do not know whether Professor Weber

experiment because he regarded

it

as uninteresting,

rejected the

or as the crazy idea

of a generally odd student, or as technically impossible. In the

one would,

It

in retrospect, have to agree with him.

was chiefly because electromagnetic

problems were not dealt with classes at

last case

at the

field

theory and associated

Polytechnic that Einstein cut

and “studied the masters of theoretical physics with

home .” 56 For him

this

a

holy zeal

was “simply the continuation of an

earlier

practice .” 57

We

owe our

first

clue to

which books on

field

theory he was

studying in his second year to his habit of forgetting his key.

found himself once more keyless

went

and

in a note requested the absent

“be too angry with

me

The

study a

little .” 58

German

physicist Paul

work written

magnetic

field

justice to light

By

Frau Hagi’s locked front door, he

straight to the Pension Bachthold,

staying,

a

at

if in

my need

When he

I

where Mileva Marie was “Dear young lady” not

abduct your Drude, so that

I

to

can

purloined object was a book by the young

Drude, Physik

des Aethers (Physics of the Ether) f 9

in the conviction that

Maxwell’s theory of the electro-

was more

likely

than the old mechanical approach to do

and to Hertzian waves.

the following year Einstein had worked his

way through

the

most important publications of Hermann von Helmholtz 60 and Hein-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

62

emerges from

rich Hertz. 61 This fact

summer

during the

Mileva Marie written

a letter to

vacation of 1899: “I returned the Helmholtz

volume and am now rereading Hertz’s Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (

Propagation of Electrical Force) with great care because

stand Helmholtz’s treatise

on the

trodynamics.” 62 Whatever

it

I

didn’t under-

principle of the least action in elec-

was he

he had

failed to understand,

certainly gained an entirely independent critical attitude toward

Hein-

rich Hertz’s views:

I’m more and more convinced that the electrodynamics of

moving bodies and that

reality,

The

as

it

will

it

presented today, doesn’t correspond to

is

be possible to present

described without,

ing to

it.

I

accomplished

can be

believe, being able to ascribe physical

six

a first hint

mean-

of the abolition of the ether

years later in the special theory of relativity.

of that later study,

shadowed

medium whose motion

63

Here we have

title

in a simpler way.

introduction of the term “ether” into theories of electricity

has led to the conception of a

title

it

On

though admittedly

which Heinrich Hertz had given

his treatise

as

to be

Even the

the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

in this letter to Mileva,

—

,

is

fore-

an echo of the

of 1890.

A

few of

Einstein’s remarks, such as the concept of “electrical currents ... as

the motion of true electrical masses” 64 and the future definition of

electrodynamics as “the theory of the movements of moving electricities

&

magnetisms

empty

in

space,” 65 suggest that he was also familiar

with the work of the great Dutch theoretician Hendrik Antoon Lorentz. 66

still

a

student in Zurich, had thus turned to the same

than

a

year earlier, the Gesellschaft deutscher Natur-

Albert Einstein, subject

as, less

forscher

und Arzte (Society of German

Scientists

and Physicians)

annual convention in Diisseldorf in September 1898.

The

at its

ether and

its

behavior in moving media had been chosen as the topic of a special session, to

which

all

the leading figures had been invited, including

Lorentz from the Netherlands, and for which the young Aachen

assis-

"Vagabond and Loner”

63

Wilhelm Wien had prepared an introductory “over-

tant professor

view” paper.

Wien’s very

first

sentence revealed the confusion of the situation:

“The question whether or not bodies, and

whether

the ether participates in the motion of

altogether to be credited with mobility, has

it is

been agitating physicists for

a

long time, and there

sumptions and assumptions which

make of

it

the properties of the carrier of electromagnetic

dictions arising

all

retical part the discussion

astronomers in the

phenomeof contra-

ether, as well as a

together, thirteen experiments that might yield

movement

information on the Earth’s

iary constructs

a juxtaposition

from conflicting concepts of the

careful listing of,

to pre-

has been thought necessary to

na .” 67 Wien’s observations were essentially

late

relative to the ether. In

its

theo-

was somewhat reminiscent of the debate of

Middle Ages, when epicycles and other

were piled on top of each other

phenomena” and hence

auxil-

for the “salvation of

for defending the concept of the Earth as

resting at the center of the universe.

doomed

no end

is

to failure because they

were resolved only by the

radical

These

efforts

were

all

ultimately

produced new complications, which

new

start

represented by the “Coper-

nican revolution.” In Diisseldorf, though, there were tion in the matter of the ether.

Lorentz,

who

no

heavy) matter, and

its

let

little

as

physical

the

“The

ether, ponderable (that

we knew whether or not matter, with it, we would have a way of peneif

further into the nature of these building blocks and their

mutual relations .” 68 asked,

Professor

us add electricity, are the building blocks

motion, carried the ether

trating a

like

gave the co-report to Wien’s survey, could not imagine

making up the material world, and on

comparable revolu-

Even an authority

the future of physics without the ether: is:

signs of a

None

of the physicists present in Diisseldorf

twenty-year-old Albert Einstein had, whether any

meaning could be ascribed

whether the ether was not perhaps

to that statement a superfluous

—

in other words,

concept for physics,

not to be investigated but to be abolished.

The

student Einstein had not been present at the learned conven-

tion in Diisseldorf, but he

was informed about

it,

probably better

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

64

informed than anyone in Mettmenstetten,

1899 with

From

else in Zurich.

he was spending the

his parents,

Milan, where, after a stay

summer vacation

rest of the

he consoled Mileva Marie, cramming for her

intermediate examination, saying that he too had been “quite

worm

myself

trying to

lately,

of

work out

some of them

several ideas,

very interesting.” 69 “I also wrote to Professor

Wien

my paper on the relative motion of the luminiferous

book-

a

in

Aachen about

ether against pon-

derable matter, the paper which the ‘boss’ handled in such an off-

handed

fashion.

I

this subject. He’ll write

me

was Wien’s paper

treatise”

Wien from 1898 on Polytechnic.” 70 The “interesting

read a very interesting paper by via the

at the Diisseldorf

vious year; Einstein had probably discovered

und Chemie. 11 Unfortunately, Einstein’s even

know whether Wien

replied to

convention of the preit

in

Annalen der Physik

letter is lost,

and we do not

it.

Extant documents, however, show that Albert Einstein in his

second and third year dated,

self-assurance

at the as

a

Polytechnic developed, or

Through

physicist.

at least consoli-

intelligently

chosen

reading he involved himself directly in the mainstream of topical research, and he tices

was strong enough not to be carried away by the vor-

of that stream but to choose his

own

ized any of this, except perhaps Marcel

These years were physics.

a

happy time

bank. But no one then real-

Grossmann and Mileva Marie.

for Albert Einstein,

His father had been lucky with

his

and not only in

newly founded firm

in

Milan, winning contracts for the streetlights in the small towns of

Cannetto sull’Oglio and

Isola della Scala,

both near Mantua. 72 Even

though these contracts had to be immediately pledged to creditor

—

his cousin

Rudolf Einstein

debts exceeded his assets, there was

in

Hechingen

who

admitted to his

sister that “I

at

his

Via Bigli 21 in

also a great relief to Albert,

now sometimes

find time to stroll for

an hour or so in Zurich’s beautiful surroundings.

thought that the worst anxieties are over for lived like

main

— and although

no hardship

Milan now. This change of fortune was

his

my

I

am happy

at the

parents. If everyone

me, romance-writing would never have been invented.” 73

Meanwhile he had

started

on

his

own romance.

Private study was

mostly done a deux and from his 1899 spring break he wrote to Mileva ,

"Vagabond and Loner”

65

Marie from Milan: “Your photograph had quite an

While she studied

lady.

Yes, yes, she certainly

carefully,

it

on

effect

my

old

said with the deepest sympathy:

I

a clever one.” 74

is

During the summer vacation the two were separated. She had prepare for her intermediate examination,

first

in

to

Novi Sad and then

in

Zurich, while he was in Milan, having spent August with his mother

and

sister in

From

Mettmenstetten,

the Pension “Paradies” he reported to Mileva about his “nice,

quiet, philistine

He

be.” 75

just as the pious

life,

then went on:

could not

— and

still

me.

sitting next to less

between Zurich and Zug.

a small village

I

“When

I

& the upright imagine paradise to

read Helmholtz for the

—believe that

first

time

I

I

was doing so without you

enjoy working together

& I find it soothing & also

cannot

boring.” 76

With

his sister,^

he climbed the 8,200-foot

years previously, as a “badly shod tourist” the cantonal school, he

“had not,

would have crashed

he was beginning to

as

on

Santis,

where, three

three-day outing with

a

to his death if a classmate

down the steep slope, quickly pull him up again.” 77 Einstein,

slip

extended his mountaineer’s cane to

however, sent Mileva some news from his “paradise” that was not so

sometimes he

cheerful:

Mama’s

felt

acquaintances. ...

by slipping away end of our stay arrogance

&

if

my

we

I

disturbed by “unpleasant

don’t happen to be at the dinner table. At the

aunt from

Genoa

is

coming,

a veritable

a

like “Dollie.”

monster of

insensitive formalism.” 78

whom

along with

from

can usually escape their mindless prattle

His escape, of course, was straight into physics Marie,

visits

in his letters

southern

He

he

German

still

—and

to Mileva

addressed with the formal

dialect expression

was generous with

Sie,

but

meaning something

his advice for

her exam, which he

himself had passed the previous year, and sincerely wished that “you

could be here with souls

&

me

for a while.

also drinking coffee

announced

that he

would bring

We understand

and eating sausage his sister

one another’s dark etc.” 79 Finally

he

along to Switzerland and take

her to Aarau, where she would attend the teacher training college and live

with the Wintelers. That the mention of Aarau would arouse

divided feelings in Mileva was clear to Albert Einstein, because that

was where the

“critical

daughter with

whom

I

was so madly

in love

4

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

66 years ago” lived

my high fortress I

would

He went on:

80 .

of calm. But

This was neither the

first

I feel

know that if I saw her I

am

nor the

last

Of

go mad.

certainly

I

“For the most part

that

certain

&

a

quite secure in

few more times

fear

it

like fire .” 81

time that Albert Einstein’s

remarks on personal matters were guided

by

less

tact or sensitivity

than by ruthless frankness.

In his fourth and last year at the Zurich Polytechnic Einstein evidently set aside his reflections

moving bodies

—presumably because he had found no new point of

than because of the necessities of preparing for exams

attack, rather

and writing

on the ether and the electrodynamics of

his

diploma

His own interests coincided with those

essay.

of the principal, Professor Weber, in the

field

of heat, so that

have seemed advisable to him to deal with that subject in greater “Scientific

work

consuming of

in

his subjects; in addition

on

technical lectures as well as a

the physical laboratory” was the

most time-

by Professor Weber

82 ,

of mathematics, and “analytical mechanics”

by Hermann Minkowski. Although tual

detail.

he attended the rather more

alternating current, also

minimum

may

it

this lecture suited his “intellec-

stomach,” he stayed away from Minkowski’s advanced mathe-

matics

class, for

“no one could make him attend the mathematical

seminars .” 83 All students

had to attend

special field. Einstein chose,

at least

one

class

each year outside their

and evidently enjoyed, the general studies

of Department VII, the “General and Economics Department,” which

were often taught by original minds attracted by the amenities of a ulty without regular syllabi

more of these

84 .

Einstein in fact enrolled for considerably

lectures than the

spectrum of subjects, such

as

mandatory minimum, covering

morning yet always had

Einstein

heard

met

commended

a lecture

a

wide

started at seven

crowded lecture room. Even

the “magic” of Heim’s

on Goethe by Robert

in his patron

a

“Man’s Prehistory” and “Geology of

Mountain Ranges,” both given by Albert Heim, who in the

fac-

way of

Saitschick,

in old age

lecturing

whom

85 .

He

he had already

Gustav Maier’s Swiss Society for Ethical Culture,

and he heard August Stadler on Kant’s philosophy and on the “Theory of Scientific Thought.” There were also some practical subjects, such

"Vagabond and Loner” as

67

“Banking and Stock Exchange Dealing” and

and Life

“Statistics

Insurance.”

It

was probably

his friendship

with Friedrich Adler that led Einstein in

his final year to attend lectures

on “Fundamentals of Economics” and

on “Income Distribution and the Social Consequences of Free Competition.” Adler

was

a socialist in his family’s tradition: his father,

Victor Adler, was the unchallenged leader of the Austrian Social

Democrats and one of the Friedrich Adler had first

spiritual fathers

come

of Austro-Marxism. 86

to Zurich a year after Einstein.

He

had

studied chemistry, and later also physics, though not at the Poly-

technic but at the university. Einstein revered Adler as “the purest and

most fervent

idealistic character” 87

he ever met.

The two

shared an

admiration for Ernst Mach’s empiricist philosophy and, with their girlfriends

—Einstein

with Mileva Marie and Adler with

woman, Katya Germanishskaya where Hermann Minkowski

—would taught

sit

a

in the small lecture

mechanics.

analytical

probably did not have to work hard to win Einstein over to his ideas,

but he could not persuade him to join the party.

was

that “Einstein

tion, given Einstein’s sense it

applied throughout his

socialistically colored,

dogmas of any Zurich

emotional

a typical

Russian

socialist.” 88

He

room Adler

socialist

concluded

This characteriza-

of justice, was probably quite correct, and life.

His

social attitudes

but he did not

feel

may have been

greatly attracted to the

political party.

at that

time was

a

haven for

socialist

and anarchist student

groups, especially from the Slavic countries, but Einstein’s occasional contacts did not lead to socialism.” It

more than

a

confirmation of his “emotional

was only the horrors of World

into a political person. But he

may

well have

only the foundations of physics could be

War

I

felt in

fragile,

that turned

him

Zurich that not

but those of society

as

well. 89

What

Albert Einstein called his “household” 90 with Mileva Marie

seems to have been somewhat unconventional,

if

not by Zurich stu-

dent standards, then certainly by those of respectable bourgeois morality. Mileva lived within a few minutes of Einstein’s lodgings, in

the pension of Fraulein Engelbrecht at Plattenstrasse 50, and Einstein

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

68

appears to have been a frequent and popular visitor

of foreign

women

him from

his

When, on

Whenever

students.

among

the group

parcels of delicacies arrived for

mother, he would take them straight to Plattenstrasse. 91

the occasion of his twenty- first birthday, a particularly gen-

erous package arrived, Mileva described to a friend the “tremendous

which

effect”

it

had on Einstein: “radiantly he walked down Platten-

strasse, carrying the

right or left.” 92

box

in

both hands, so pleased that he did not look

Sometime

in his fourth year, the

two must have

decided to get married. 93 Einstein and Mileva Marie also spent the spring break of 1900

March Pro-

together in Zurich, working on their diploma essays. In fessor

Weber had

accepted the suggestions of the two candidates, and

Mileva was looking to the future the research ject.” 94

I

The

will

full

of hope: “I

am looking forward

have to do. E. also has chosen a very interesting sub-

essays

had to be completed within three months, so no

com-

real flashes of genius were, or could be, expected. 95 Einstein’s

ment

to

in his old age was:

“My

and

my

first

wife’s

with heat conduction; they were of no interest to

diploma essays dealt

me and

are not

mentioning.” 96 In the assessment Mileva’s essay was given the top grade), while Einstein’s received 4.5

a

worth

4 (6 being

—neither of them

a bril-

liant result. 97

In the actual subject exams Einstein would

much on Grossmann’s

seem

to have relied too

lecture notes, because he did not repeat his suc-

cess in the intermediate examination.

Of the

five

candidates of Section

VIA

the three mathematicians did better than the two physicists, Ein-

stein

and Marie. After various calculations and weightings of individual

grades, Einstein finished fourth with an average of 4.91 and Mileva

Marie achieved only an average of 4.0. The “conference of examiners” therefore decided “to award the diploma to the candidates Ehrat,

Grossmann, Kollros, Einstein, but not

to Fraulein Marie.” 98

The

inevitable

“cramming”

for the exam, even

went on

for only a

few months,

left traces

In his old age he related,

full

though

probably

of trauma in Albert Einstein.

of horror, “that one had to stuff

jumble into oneself for the exams, whether one liked

compulsion had such

a deterrent effect that,

exam,

for

I lost all taste

it

any reflection on

it

all

or not. This

having passed the

scientific

that

final

problems for

a

"Vagabond and Loner” whole year .” 99 However, the

exam

He

reveal nothing of

letters

what he

69

he wrote immediately

after the

called his “intellectual depression .” 100

took some physics books with him on his vacation, and

three days after finishing his

nerves have calmed again

” 101

exam he was writing

down enough,

at the Polytechnic, in

to Mileva:

so that I’m able to

Moreover, he was firmly counting on

a

mere

“My

work happily

a position as assistant

order to establish himself in both the scientific

and the bourgeois world, so that he could marry Mileva. However, he

was soon to discover that “there are worse things in

life

than exams ,” 102

because once more there were long and tortuous routes to be covered before he arrived at his goal.

CHAPTER FIVE Looking

for a Job

Einstein spent the summer of 1900 Lucerne, in the company,

and

his sister,

his

as usual,

in Melchtal, south of

Lake

of his “ghastly aunt” from Genoa,

mother. Tension began on the very

first

evening,

when his mother with affected casualness asked what was now going to become of “Dollie,” to which Einstein, just as casually, replied, “She’ll become my wife.” There then unrolled a family drama, often to be repeated: pillow,

“Mama

and wept

threw herself onto the bed, buried her head in the like a child.” 1

As the mountains were drenched

had no other escape than

rain, Einstein

his books,

famous investigations of the motion of the marveling

What

at this great

in

“mainly Kirchhoff’s

rigid body. 2 I can’t stop

work.” 3

the Einsteins soon called the “Dollie affair” continued to

give rise over the next few years to fierce clashes

between parents and

son. Needless to say, neither his mother’s histrionics

more moderate arguments could shake Albert especially as he believed he

had already

Papa are phlegmatic types and have bodies than

I

have in

my

little

less

won

nor

his father’s

in his determination,

the battle:

“Mama

and

stubbornness in their entire

finger.” 4

But he was mistaken:

his

mother’s obstinacy was quite equal to his own.

Trying

to put himself in his parents’ position, Albert Einstein

wrote to Mileva:

“I

understand

my

wife as a man’s luxury which he can afford only

comfortable

living. I

ship between

have

man and

a

They think of a when he is making a

parents quite well.

low opinion of that view of the relation-

wife, because

it

makes the wife and the

tute distinguishable only insofar as the

70

former

is

prosti-

able to secure a

Looking

for a Job

71

from the man because of her more favorable

lifelong contract

rank .” 5 Such theorizing on bourgeois sexual morality, however,

which are pervaded by

in his letters to Mileva,

longing for his

belong nowhere, and

mouth

of tenderness and kisses .” 6

full

that separation he dialect

miss your two

I

feelings of love

and

And

I

want

—but

I

arms and the glowing

little

up during

to cheer her

would occasionally include

a

few rhymed

ditties in

7

his

mother was

horrified and his father worried about this

liaison, Einstein’s fellow students

so successful with to Mileva Marie.

women

were merely astonished that

should so firmly and inseparably

jealousy. Besides, site

a stately beauty.

to Einstein’s shoulder;

childhood had done lasting damage to her

joints,

she had a noticeable limp. But Einstein did not

When

a fellow

student remarked to

reported to

is

let

him

Nor was

it

in

these matters worry

that “he

component of

sufficient to Einstein.

She was very

with the result that

would never

entirely healthy,”

a

voice .” 8 Important as this acoustic

hardly sufficient.

himself

and tuberculosis

woman who was not have replied: “Why not?

have the courage to marry Einstein

man

—perhaps not without reason—of

was by no means

coming up

short, barely

tie

a

She spread around her an aura of Slavic melancholy,

not indeed gloom, and soon also

him.

rare

.

While

if

is

go anywhere

darling”: “I can

“little

social

She has love

His

may

a

sweet

be,

letters, in

it is

which

declarations of love are oddly intermingled with scientific matters,

instead suggest that as a

bohemian kind of physicist he was

in his future wife as a colleague.

Even though Mileva

still

interested

had to repeat

her diploma examination the following year, Einstein already saw her

working to

working on our new paper. You must continue with your investiga-

tions I

for her doctorate at the university: “I’m also looking forward

—how proud

remain

seemed

a

I

will

be to have

still

totally

stage and

unaware of

amaze the world:

you and squeeze you and

down

to

Ph.D. for

completely ordinary person .” 9 With

future in which the two of them, tific

a little

work

life’s difficulties,

arm “I

in arm,

sweetheart while

cheerfulness which

he painted to her

would bestride the

a

scien-

can hardly wait to be able to hug

to live with

right away, and

a

a

you

money will be

again. We’ll happily get as plentiful as

manure .” 10

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

72

The economic

foundation of their hoped-for

life

together over the

next few years was to be the salary of an assistant at the Polytechnic,

and during the

few weeks of

first

that such a post

would be

Department VI needed

his vacation Einstein

matter of course.

his as a

was convinced

The

professors of

number

several assistants because of the large

of engineering students; and, as only a few students enrolled in the

mathematics and physics, virtually any graduate

lucrative fields such as after his

exam

could,

less

if

he wanted, become an assistant for

a

few years.

This, however, did not apply to Einstein, as he was soon to discover.

With

Professor Pernet,

application,” he too,

who had

had no prospects

initiated his

in

any

case.

a post to

dent, had persistently addressed

him

But Professor Weber, a

German

someone who, even

as a stu-

was not particularly fond of him. Weber,

and therefore unlikely to give

reproof for “lack of

as

after

all,

was

“Herr Weber” 11 instead of

“Herr Professor” and had generally shown scant

respect.

Weber

diploma essay had been rather mediocre,

felt

As Einstein’s

no obligation

toward the rebel graduate and was inclined instead to engage two mechanical engineers

as his assistants.

Einstein probably surmised to the mathematicians.

all that,

On August

9,

and therefore turned

hopes

his

barely two weeks after his exam,

he was in Zurich again “to straighten out

my

‘business and political’

The conditions he found there seemed to him so favorable he summed them up for Mileva to the effect that he would be

affairs.” 12

that

“provided for in any case.” 13

He

felt

so confident that he actually

down a temporary job one of his fellow students offered to arrange for him with an insurance firm: “an 8-hour day of mindless drudgery. One must avoid such stultifying affairs.” 14 turned

.

.

.

Einstein spent most of the vacation with his parents in Milan,

where discussions of the “Dollie

affair”

were poisoning the atmos-

phere. In bed at night he wrote to Mileva:

&

I

don’t have a single

almost

as if I

had

died.

moment

of peace.

aren’t healthy ...

My

often cries bitterly

parents

weep

Again and again they complain that

brought misfortune upon myself by

you

“Mama

oh

Dollie,

way of consolation he was

it’s

my

I

me

have

devotion to you, they think

enough

able to pass

for

on

to drive

one mad.” 15 By

to Mileva the latest

news

Looking

from Zurich,

in a letter

from

for a Job

73

his fellow student

Jakob Ehrat, that one

of Professor Hurwitz’s assistants would be moving into the educational service,

which made Einstein conclude that

“Ell

become Hurwitz’s

ser-

God willing .” 16

vant,

But the vacation was not

lamentation over Mileva. Einstein met

all

Michele Besso, who had been married to Anna Winteler

his old friend

for a couple of years

and had

settled in

Milan

as a technical consultant

to the Societa per lo Sviluppo delle Industrie Elettriche in Italia

(Society for the stein spent

many of his

joys of family his sharp little

Electrical Industry in Italy). Ein-

know

evenings with the Bessos and came to

and fatherhood:

life

mind and

kid .” 17

stein;

Development of the

“I like

him

his simplicity. I also like

A spinoff was

a small

a great deal

the

because of

Anna, and especially their

—but presumably paid —job

for Ein-

how

he examined for Besso’s society the “interesting question:

does electric energy radiation through space occur in the case of

He

sinusoidal alternating current ?” 18 to his

power

his father

on

a trip

plants in Cannetto and Isola della Scala, because he was

anxious to “learn a I

accompanied

little bit

about the administration of the business so

can take Papa’s place in an emergency .” 19 As promised by his father,

detour was

made

more escaped

to Venice.

to the

And toward

mountains

20 ,

ited Isola Bella, the largest of its

By

a

the end of September he once

traveled to

Borromean

Lake Maggiore, and

vis-

Islands.

the end of September Einstein finally thought

it

humble inquiry whether

write to Hurwitz with “the

a

necessary to I

prospect of becoming an assistant in your department .” 21

have any

The Herr

Professor must have been rather surprised, as this student had never

shown up

at the

inquiry, Einstein

mathematical seminars. In response to a courteous

had to confess

Hurwitz without any attempt “As, because of lack of time,

matical seminars ...

I

at I

his omissions.

He

did so in a letter to

whitewash and without any remorse:

was unable to take part

can say nothing in

tended most of the lectures on offer to could easily discover, was a bit of a

tall

my

in the

mathe-

favor except that

me .” 22 Even

that, as

I at-

Hurwitz

story as far as mathematics was

concerned, so that one cannot really blame the professor shelved this rather cheeky application. But

when

if

he simply

Einstein traveled to

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

74

Zurich

at the

beginning of October, he was

post at the Polytechnic: “Hurwitz

still

confident of getting a

still

hasn’t written me, but

I

have

hardly any doubt.” 23

When,

shortly after his arrival in Zurich, Einstein had to face the

unpleasant truth, his financial

must have been

it

a serious

blow to him,

problems were becoming more acute. His

had discontinued

Unsuspecting of the many disappointments

he soon adjusted to the new situation and

woman

him

Isn’t this a

—

about

Mileva Marie at the

only

journeyman’s

we’ll be cheerful

exam

if

still

it,

a

still

few days

we

life,

could find some, which

his

regular sup-

in store for him, later

“We have neither of us landed

friend of Mileva’s:

by private lessons

relatives in Italy

monthly remittance when he received

their

diploma, and his parents were in no position to give port.

especially as

is

wrote to

a job

and

a

live

very doubtful.

or even a gypsy existence? But

I

think

as usual.” 24

had to repeat her fourth year and her diploma

Polytechnic but was intending to work simultaneously on a

doctoral thesis for the university. Albert was planning to develop earlier reflections

toral thesis and,

on the thermoelectric Thomson

some

effect into a doc-

because he needed to conduct the experiments in

Professor Weber’s laboratory, remained enrolled as a student at the Polytechnic. But he probably realized that, given his not too brilliant

diploma grades, some further amiss.

He

therefore

first

of

scientific qualifications all

would not come

developed his ideas on

capillarity,

intended for early publication in a reputable scientific journal.

Interface tubes,

phenomena, which include the

believed he was

I

of water in fine glass

were thought by most physicists to be due to the interaction of

individual atoms and molecules, and

full

rise

on the verge of new

it

was

in this area that Einstein

discoveries.

During the vacation,

of enthusiasm, he had written to Mileva: “The results on capillarity

recently obtained in Zurich

seem

to be entirely

new

despite their

simplicity. ... If this yields a law of nature, we’ll send the results to

Wiedemann’s Annalen

”25 .

On December

13

his

received by the editors of the Annalen der Physik;

appeared on March

1

it

manuscript was

was accepted and

of the following year. 26 Einstein was

now

able to

enclose with his job applications reprints from the most renowned

Looking for

German

Job

75

physical journal, and to that extent the enterprise was a suc-

But he was

cess.

a

less

lucky with the natural law he was hoping to

discover, and even his hypothesis about the forces

which he rather

cules,

gravitation, 27

superficially

between two mole-

connected with Newton’s law of

soon proved to be untenable.

Meanwhile, however, he was entirely happy with and

tried to

develop

it

further. Six

months

Grossmann

Einstein wrote to Marcel

after his first publication,

that he

conceived a few marvelous ideas, which properly hatched. tion forces

I

now

between atoms can be extended

mined without major

difficulties.

now

only have to be

my

theory of attrac-

also to gases,

and that

elements will be deter-

all

Then

relationship of molecular forces and a

had

firmly believe that

the characteristic constants for nearly

his hypothesis

the question of the inner

Newtonian

forces will

move

big step closer to solution. 28

In the event that his expectations were

fulfilled,

he would “use every-

thing achieved so far about molecular attraction for the doctoral thesis.” 29

This suggests that there must have been problems with the

about the

thesis

concluded tives

Thomson

his reflections

effect

with

begun under Professor Weber.

a lyrical

hymn

to the glorious perspec-

of properly understood scientific research, entirely in the

Alexander von Humboldt, whose Kosmos he had read

Munich:

“It is a

as a

wonderful feeling to realize the unity of

phenomena which,

to

He

spirit

of

schoolboy in a

complex of

immediate sensory perception, appear to be

totally separate things.” 30

The field

effusiveness, however, did not yield

of molecular forces of attraction.

saline solutions,

Annalen pursue

,

not in the

applied his hypothesis to

second publication in the

this subject for his doctoral thesis at the

He

now

to be applied, after surfaces

University of Zurich.

and solutions,

also to

submitted his work to Professor Alfred Kleiner sometime in

November tion” 32

a

at least

but nothing of lasting value. 31 Einstein also intended to

His method was gases.

which indeed yielded

He

much,

1901, convinced “that he won’t dare reject

—but precisely that seems

to have happened.

my

With

dissertaa receipt

76

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

dated February

1,

1902, Albert Einstein confirmed

“received back, in cash, the doctoral fee of Frcs. 230

and

on Nov.

thirty) paid

No

33 23, 1901.”

that he

had

(Two hundred

doubt Kleiner took

a closer

look at Einstein’s ideas on the molecular forces than the editors of

Annalen and did not think them tenable. At

least

,

opportunity to withdraw his thesis before

it

he gave Einstein the

was formally turned down,

so that the “rejected” doctoral candidate could at least save his high financial stake.

This receipt

attempt to gain

a doctorate.

The two in the

deep

articles

pit

a

mere

the only extant trace of his second

published in Annalen would have vanished forever

of the history of science

Albert Einstein.

and

is

He himself had no illusions

five years later called

author had not been

if their

about their shortcomings,

them “my two worthless

firstling

works.” 34

Before

it

was even certain that the

Mileva wrote to

a

woman

friend

first

paper would appear in Annalen

how proud

she was of her “sweet-

heart” because of this “very significant” article. vately sent it,

it

we hope

master of

to

Boltzmann and would

he’ll

write us.” 35

statistical

As soon

have also pri-

know what he

Ludwig Boltzmann,

thinks of

the unchallenged

physics and the kinetic theory of gases, held the

chair ©f theoretical physics versity of Leipzig.

like to

“We

—one of the few then existing—

No record exists On March

9,

wrote off to other

1901, he inquired of the experi-

mental physicist Otto Wiener “whether perhaps you require an tant”; 36 in his letter

appeared

a

assis-

he referred to his “small treatise” which had

few days previously and which the Herr Professor was pre-

sumably expected to track down

He

that encouraged

inquired “if

me

to

“it

was your work

produce the enclosed

maybe you might have some use

mathematical physicist” and confessed that only that kind of post would enable

days

famous professor of physical

chemistry Wilhelm Ostwald, with the remark that

on general chemistry

Ten

for himself in the library.

later Einstein enclosed a reprint to the

treatise.”

Uni-

of any reply to Einstein.

as the article appeared, Einstein also

professors in Leipzig.

at the

me

“I

am

.

.

.

for a

impecunious and

to continue

my

studies.” 37

Looking

When

no

there was

reply, Einstein

spring break in Milan sure whether

—wrote

then enclosed

I

for a Job

—

77

few weeks

a

during his

later,

again, with the excuse that “I

my address.” 38 The

more

son’s

explicit,

knowledge he wrote

not

ploy did not work.

This camouflaged cry for help was followed ten days another, this time

am later

by

from Hermann Einstein. Without

his

to Ostwald, after appropriate introductory

courtesies:

My

&

each

his career has

been

son, lacking a post at present, feels deeply

day the thought gains strength in him that

&

derailed

he cannot find

over depressed

not very well

As

He

connection any longer.

thought that he

is

burden to

a

us,

is

more-

who

are

off.

my son

fessor,

at the

a

unhappy

probably reveres and esteems you, dear Herr Pro-

more than any other

physical scientist working today,

I

am

taking the liberty of turning to you with the respectful request that

you

Physik

&

were to find

now

in

Annalen der

perhaps send him a few lines of encouragement, so he

might regain

for

by him

will read the treatise published

his vitality

and working vigor.

possible to find for

it

or for next autumn,

him an

my

If,

moreover, you

assistant’s post, either

gratitude to

you would be

boundless. 39

This

letter

from

a

father

suffering

remained unanswered by Ostwald, and stein ever

knew of

along with his son likewise it is

unlikely that Albert Ein-

his father’s desperate act. It

speculate whether Ostwald

remembered those

would be amusing

letters

when,

to

as the first

of those entitled to propose names for the Nobel Prize, 40 he nominated Albert Einstein in 1909 for the 1910 prize and twice more repeated his proposal. 41

Depressed though Einstein not inactive.

On

may have been

at times,

he certainly was

April 12, 1901, he seems to have bought a stack of

postage-paid reply postcards and to have sent them to a dozen or so professors

whose names he happened

scattershot approach have been

to

know.

Two

samples of

preserved— one addressed

to

this

Heike

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

78

Kamerlingh Onnes, the founder of low-temperature physics,

in

Leyden, the Netherlands, and the other to Professor Carl Paalzow,

at

German

the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, the capital of the

Reich

—

country he was not

a

Kamerlingh Onnes he

fond

at least referred to

fellow student “that there

came

at all

is

your department,” 42 he

straight to the point with Professor Paalzow: “I take the liberty

your department, and,

common

is

It

assistant’s post it.” 43

Otherwise the two in

the fact that both reply cards, to be returned to “Herr

might perhaps be stated here,

Leyden, he

later

became

in

both

cities.

in his regular letters

from Milan, other

Thus Pro-

Gottingen had actually advertised two

tants’ posts in Physikalische Zeitschrift. Einstein applied

“given up on the position.

I

to us

assistant’s post in Berlin or

hopes, and indeed less outlandish ones, were also dashed.

Eduard Riecke

down

in anticipation of later events,

a professor in

As he reported to Mileva

have come

Italia,”

though Einstein did not then obtain an

fessor

vacant in

comma. Another thing they have

Albert Einstein, Via Bigli 21, Milano,

unused.

an

is

of applying for

if so,

postcards are identical to the last

in

in writing to

information received from a

a vacant post in

of inquiring from you whether there

that

Whereas

of.

can’t believe that

assis-

but had soon

Weber would

such

let

a

nice opportunity pass without meddling in things.” 44 Einstein had by

then become convinced that his former professor must be behind his lack of success;

Weber was bound

to put further obstacles in his

way by

references.

He

was, therefore, not surprised

have been here with

my

parents and

when Riecke turned him down, being “absolutely convinced that Weber is to blame.” 45 And to Marcel Grossmann he wrote: “For the past three giving

weeks

him poor

I

find a post as an assistant at

some

university.

am trying from here to And I would have long

Weber wasn’t double-crossing me.” But he was not discouraged: “God created the donkey and gave him a thick hide.” 46 Whatever opinion Weber may have had of his student, he probably found one

if

would not even have had an opportunity of “double-crossing” him.

Most of there

is

the professors simply shelved Einstein’s letters or postcards;

no evidence

that any of

inquiries in Zurich about this

reason for Riecke’s refusal

is

them even took the trouble

odd

applicant.

A much

more

that in his advertisement he

to

make

plausible

had

specifi-

Looking

for a

Job

cally stipulated a doctoral degree; Einstein’s

very impressive

first

79

mediocre diploma and not

publication were surely

no

substitute. Besides, the

time between the publication of the advertisement and Riecke’s rejection

was

too short for any intervention by Weber. 47 There simply

far

was no reason why any professor should have considered appointing

who was unknown

candidate

to

him and whose

qualifications,

a

on

paper, were indifferent.

His rejection by the academic world

Weber’s intrigues

—was very painful to Einstein.

of injury which, ten years

later,

when he was

and shortly to be appointed to technic, a

— due,

made him comment on

as

It is this

The

deep sense

professor in Prague

a full

Zurich Poly-

a professorship at the

Professor Weber’s death in

Zurich friend and colleague that “Weber’s death

for the Polytechnic.” 48

he believed, to

old

wounds were

still

good thing

a

is

a letter to

smarting when, in

1918, the Polytechnic tried to bring Einstein back from Berlin by

making him an exceptionally generous have been

1

8 years ago if I could have

Polytechnic! But

reputation

is

I

couldn’t bring

it

“How happy

offer:

become off!

a

humble

The world

would

I

assistant at the

is

a

madhouse,

everything!” 49

Expecting nothing but bad references from Weber, Einstein conceived the unusual idea of asking his former teachers in

Aarau for references with,

in order to apply for posts in Italy:

one of the main obstacles

as

it is

a

hindrance.

in

And

German-speaking counties in [the]

good connections here.” 50 This referred tant) that a friend of the Einstein family

fessor of chemistry in

“To begin

in getting a position doesn’t exist here,

namely anti-Semitism, which unpleasant

Munich and

Milan and

second place,

I

impor-

was acquainted with

among

physicist

from the North Sea

his Italian colleagues. “I will

a

pro-

an uncle of Michele

Besso, the mathematician Giuseppe Jung, had been asked to inquiries

make

soon have graced every

to the southern tip of Italy with

offer,” 51 Einstein boasted to Mileva, assuring

as

have very

to the fact (not very

that, in addition,

is

my

her that he would not

leave a single stone unturned.

Meanwhile direction.

a

On

glimmer of hope appeared from

a totally

the very day that his father had described

unexpected

him

to Pro-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

80 fessor

Ostwald

“deeply unhappy,” Albert Einstein received a letter

as

from Marcel Grossmann, a

permanent position

“in

be overjoyed

if

what

a

me

that

I’ll

be getting

Patent Office in Bern .” 52

at the Swiss

on, to Mileva: “Just think I’d

which he informed

wonderful job

this

He went

would be

for

something came of it.”

Marcel Grossmann’s father was

a friend of Friedrich Haller, the

director of the “Federal Swiss Office for Intellectual Property”

Patent Office

—and had recommended

for the next vacancy in Bern.

do with an academic

his son’s

Grossmann

need hardly field

of

you

tell

activity,

it

was

still

effusively: “I

your loyalty and humanity which did not

granted such a fine

unemployed colleague

career, the date of the next vacancy

Einstein thanked Marcel

let

that

stein,

am

truly

you forget your old iuckI

would be happy

I

would do everything

and that

also

to be in

knew how

few months of the waiting period. Jakob Reb-

the Technical College in Winterthur, had to enlist for

two-month mandatory

Einstein

if

military service in

mid-May and had

he could stand in for him. “You can imagine

would ,” 54 Einstein wrote

One

touched by

formerly an assistant to Professor Herzog at the Polytechnic and

now teaching at his

first

was uncertain,

rather vague; but

my power not to disgrace your recommendation .” 53 He he would spend the

— the

Work at the Patent Office had nothing to

and the prospect of being appointed to

less friend. ... I

me!

how

asked

happily

I

to Mileva.

of the conditions of employment at the Office for Intellectual

Property was Swiss citizenship, but year of bureaucratic delays, had

become Swiss was due not only Actually, later, recalling the stein wrote:

this condition, after

now been

more than

met. Einstein’s wish to

to the inconvenience of being stateless.

good old days before World

War

Ein-

I,

“An ordinary person then would not even know what

passport was, because none was needed for traveling. Besides, stateless for five years

without any

cumstance .” 55 Nevertheless

it

a

difficulties arising

a

I

was

from that

cir-

had seemed useful to him,

after the

conclusion of his studies, to become a Swiss citizen in order not to exclude himself from state-controlled jobs, such as teaching posts.

An

equally important reason, according to his sister Maja, was the “agree-

Looking

ment between

for a Job

81

and Switzerland’s democratic

his political convictions

constitution.” 56

Swiss citizenship

an automatic consequence of cantonal or muni-

but these require the permission of the Federal

cipal “civic rights,”

Council in Bern.

is

On

October

19, 1899,

Albert Einstein therefore sub-

mitted to the “Illustrious Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation in

Bern”

his application for “permission to acquire Swiss cantonal

&

municipal civic rights.” Fie enclosed a good-conduct testimonial from the Zurich police and his certificate of release from Wiirttemberg zenship. Being his father; this

still

a

citi-

minor, he also needed the written agreement of

he supplied subsequently. 57

The Zurich

cantonal police

sent a “favorable” report to the Federal Attorney’s Office in Bern, and

on March

10, 1900, the

Federal Council approved Einstein’s applica-

At the end of June, therefore, during

tion.

his final

exams

at the

technic, he submitted his petition to the Zurich City Council.

Poly-

This

Council then involved various other departments and immediately charged Detective Hedinger to report on the applicant. Hedinger’s report stated that Einstein was “a very zealous, hard-working, and

exceedingly respectable person (teetotaler).” 58

when summoned on

Einstein confirmed his dislike of alcohol

December

14,

1900, before the Immigration Section of the City

Council, 59 which then

recommended

his application to the

Plenary

City Council. (Einstein remained a teetotaler in his later years.

when, with much hullabaloo, he arrived

December asked

at

Thus

San Diego, California, on

on board the Oakland and

a

newsreel reporter

him what he thought of Prohibition, Einstein

replied, cheerfully

laughing

30, 1930,

at the

Among cants,” 61

his

it is

,

camera: “I don’t drink, therefore

answers to

a

I

couldn’t care less.” 60)

“questionnaire for civic rights appli-

worth noting that he described himself

being of “no

as

religious

denomination” and, under the heading “occupation,” de-

clared: “I

am

manent

giving private lessons in mathematics until

post.” It

is

also interesting that

nowhere

I

find a per-

in these

documents

are there any questions about patriotic avowals or basic civics.

An

applicant’s wish

ments were

and the satisfaction of the

sufficient for the authorities.

knowledge of legal require-

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

82

The

records also disclose that the “directorate of the interior” of

the canton of Zurich gave instructions for Einstein’s financial situation

economic circumstances,

to be examined: “with regard to his as

we endeavored

from

own

his

this day,

it

it

was possible to establish that he has no income

work. Concerning the information received from Milan

emerges that he likewise has no resources from the side of

his parents.” 62 service,

he offered no indication of

to investigate the same,

any kind, except that

in so far

As the “Swiss Information Bureau,”

a kind of civil secret

was not allowed to operate outside Switzerland,

a private

detective was hired to investigate Einstein’s family. After a brief note

on the bankruptcy of the firm of Einstein

Garrone

e

in Pavia, the

detective concluded: “In Milan, Einstein senior seems to be

better

off,

but there

is

no

real estate

information, however, did not trary, it

had

property and Einstein junior could

on pecuniary support from

certainly not count

harm

his father.” 63

the applicant at

a beneficial effect: the authorities

cantonal civic rights to 200 francs

amount

—he

citizen instantly

On

birthday, the Zurich District

examination. vice

book64

Under

listed:

“

recruit

his

to the military

twenty-second

Command summoned him

for a medical

the heading “Diseases and Complaints” his serVarices Pes planus, Hyperidrosis ped,,” in plain lan-

guage varicose veins,

from

a Swiss citizen.

one day before

13,

February 21,

unemployed and

became an object of interest

and on March

authorities,

on the con-

had had to pay twice that

1901, with a badly depleted savings account, the

impecunious Albert Einstein became

all;

This

reduced his fee for the

for the civic rights of the city of Zurich.

The new

somewhat

,

flat feet,

training because

and sweating

feet.

He

was exempted

of his classification of “Unfit A,”

according to which he had to perform only “auxiliary services, local service,”

though

in fact

he was never called on to do even these.

his forty-second birthday

he regularly paid

—-though

of compensation for not serving later,

when he had become

his military taxes this did

a consistent pacifist,

against the Swiss militia system 65 and scientious objector in a letter, telling

to

—by way

not prevent him

from publicly arguing

from encouraging

him

Up

a Swiss

con-

that through his example

Looking

for a Job

83

“the machines of war [would be] destroyed or at least the unworthy

compulsory service abolished.” 66

Whatever other

citizenship Einstein

was to acquire

in later years,

whether through necessity or voluntarily, he always held

He

zenship dearest of all.

invariably traveled

American, he emphasized in

point of view, as

was

a brief

had always remained Swiss:

that he

I

on the red passport of the

when he was

Swiss Confederation, and even

“I

am still

The

Swiss from Switzerland’s

have never renounced that citizenship. In addition,

Academy from 1919

a Prussian.

America and an

in

account of his citizenship career

for a while an Austrian citizen (Prague),

Berlin

his Swiss citi-

to 1933

came

latter

I

and

as a

member

I

of the

even was (horrible thought)

to a dramatic end.

.

.

.

Now

I

am

also

an American. This country generously disregards the fact that one

may

be

also

ognize

a citizen

elsewhere, even though

it

does not

officially rec-

it.” 67

He

always had his

own

ideas about national labels. In 1919,

when

he explained his theory to the English in The Times (London), he startled taste

them with an

“application of the theory of relativity to the

of readers,” while at the same time poking fun at misunderstood

popularizations and national claims to his person:

Today

in

England

I

Germany

am

a

Swiss

am

,

German man of science, and in Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded

called a

represented as a

as a bete noire

come

I

the descriptions will be reversed, and

Jew

Germans and

for the

a

German man

I

shall be-

of science

for the English. 68

This he wrote the

as a

man who had

suddenly become world-famous; for

moment, however, he was no more than

to reconcile himself to the

thought that

remain barred to him and for citizenship

was simply the

whom

a

modest Swiss who had

a university career

would

the principal advantage of Swiss

fact that at least

one formal obstacle

to a

post in the Swiss public service had been removed. Einstein’s job as a

locum

at

would keep him above water

Winterthur Technical College, which

for

two months, was

a challenge for a

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

84

young beginner

He had

in the profession.

to teach thirty hours a week;

moreover, he was teaching descriptive geometry,

a subject

he had

fre-

quently cut at the “Poly”; but, as he repeatedly assured Mileva, quoting a line

from the poet Uhland, “the

valiant

Swabian

is

not afraid .” 69

Before starting the job he had met Mileva for a few days together at

Lake Como. They

sailed across the lake to

Cadenabbia, admired the

lush gardens of the Villa Carlotta, and crossed the Italian-Swiss fron-

by the

tier

snow-covered Spliigen pass in

still

was merrily snowing

sleigh. “It

horse-drawn

a small

the time,” Mileva shortly afterward

all

we drove one moment through long galleries and the next on the open road, where, all the way to the remotest distance, our eyes could see nothing but snow and more snow, so that at a friend 70 “as

wrote to

times

shuddered

I

my

round

us. ... I

more

,

at this cold

sweetheart under the coats and blankets which covered

was so happy to have

so as

must have

I

saw that he was

him

told

patient! You’ll see that

are beginning a

There

is

but

prised Mileva, just read a

am of

for

it

fret, darling. I

aren’t so

this,

bad to

the

Mileva

May

he

his “dear kitten”

of

by the end of

won’t leave you and

happy conclusion. You

my arms

just

rest in,

have to be

even

if

things

awkwardly.” also of happiness, indeed at the very

refers to physics.

who by

then had

That would

known her

beginning

scarcely have sur-

Albert for a few years: “I

wonderful paper by Lenard on the generation of cathode

ultraviolet light.

filled

it

little

mention

a

letter,

by

happy.” Soon after

was pregnant,

that she

will bring everything to a

rays

just as

“Be happy and don’t

a better future.

of the

my lover for myself again for a while,

“How’s the boy ?” 71 Of course he assured

inquired:

my arm

white infinity and firmly kept

Under

the influence of this beautiful piece

with such happiness and joy that

I

absolutely

I

must share some

with you .” 72 His happiness and pleasure were to bear

fruit:

four

years later his theoretical interpretation of the “photoelectric effect”

would become the foundation of quantum theory, and two decades later

it

would earn him the Nobel

Einstein found teaching, and

he had expected.

life,

Prize.

in

Winterthur more agreeable than

He met Hans Wohlwend

Aarau cantonal school

—and rented

a

again

—

a friend

room from Wohlwend’s

from the landlady

Looking at

for a Job

85

Schaffhauser Strasse 38, at the edge of town.

and

friend

his

it.” 73

enjoyed

—

as

he informed Mileva

Sundays he took the

— “an

He made

music with

older lady.

I

really

train to Zurich, twelve miles away,

was in turn cheerful and sad with Mileva, and supplied himself with scientific literature.

him

pleasing

Teaching,

he wrote to Papa Winteler, was

as

“quite extraordinarily.

enjoy teaching as

much

never suspected that

I

as in fact I did.” 74 In

I

would

order to accumulate some

savings he also gave private lessons.

Of vital importance

for Albert Einstein

and

his future plans

was the

surprising and pleasant discovery that the practice of a regular occupation did not exhaust

morning,

I

am still

library in the

him

at

all:

“Having taught

quite fresh and

work on

5

or 6 hours in the

my further education at the

afternoon, or on interesting problems at home.” 75

mean

Failure to find a university post clearly did not

the end of his

love of physics: “I have entirely abandoned the ambition of getting into a university

now

that

strength and inclination

left for scientific

As the Patent Office was,

at best,

feld,

in

Canton Bern, and next

Canton Thurgau

as

it is, I

have enough

endeavor.” 76

long-term prospect, Einstein

a

applied for a couple of teaching posts,

Burgdorf

even

realize that,

I

first at

at the

the Technical College in

cantonal school in Frauen-

—both times without

success.

The

fact that

he

applied for the Burgdorf job twice in short succession and that he sent his application to the

wrong

in the advertisement

might suggest to some psychopathologists that

deep down he was not

The

that keen

all

on becoming

warmly congratulated on

I

do not have

to

tell

was firmly convinced that

I

whom

his success: “[it] will provide for

pleasant activity and a secure future.

only so

a schoolteacher. 77

Frauenfeld post went to his friend Marcel Grossmann,

Einstein a

authority instead of to the address stated

I

myself that

you

too applied for that post, but

I

was too timid to apply. For

had no prospect of getting

this

I

or any simi-

lar post.” 78

Einstein’s self-assurance had not suffered setbacks, and he

Winterthur.

He

was

as

busy

as ever

from the many

pursuing his

reported to Mileva about

a

long

refusals

scientific

letter

and

work

in

he had written

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

86

Drude, “with two objections to

to Paul

his electron theory. He’ll

hardly be able to offer a reasonable refutation, as

my

very straightforward. I’m terribly curious to see

he

what

effect.

if

objections are replies,

mentioned of course that I’m without

I

Drude, however,

who was

and to

a position.” 79

the director of the Physical Institute of the

University of Giessen and also the editor of Annalen der Physik had no ,

post to offer and, besides, was by no means convinced by Einstein’s objections

—which

wretchedness of sary.” 80

eerie

And

Einstein

its

saw

comment by me

author that no further

Papa Winteler he wrote that

to

“I

tance of a sorry example of that species

of Germany.

truth.” 81

.

I

.

will shortly give that

As both Einstein’s

lost,

dubiousness about the

—one of the leading

man

a kick

letter to

up

But

physicists

the greatest

enemy of

Drude and Drude’s

reply have

is

no longer be

Drude’s electronic theory of metals was also

as

cized by other physicists and was not tenable in the long run

which cannot have escaped so eager

—

it is

with

his backside

the factual background of the controversy can

elucidated.

was

neces-

German professors, have again made the acquain-

hefty publication. Befuddled authority

been

his

is

neighbor in the north, and especially about

had by no means been exaggerated.

a

“manifest proof of the

such

as

—

criti-

a fact

reader of the journals as Einstein

a

not impossible that Einstein did in

fact

touch on

a

few sore

spots in Drude’s theory.

Having

more

finished his temporary teacher’s job

15, Einstein

once

joined his mother and sister in Mettmenstetten while Mileva was

cramming

for her

failed again. 82

Novi

on July

exam

in Zurich.

On July 26

it

Deeply depressed, she traveled

Sad. Einstein returned to Winterthur,

room, worked on

his doctoral thesis,

was clear that she had to see her parents in

where he had retained

and kept

his eyes

skinned for

his

new

sources of income. In the Schweizerische Lehrerzeitung (Swiss Teachers' Gazette) he

saw an advertisement for

young Englishman

a “private tutor,” to

for the Swiss “school-leaving”

exam

coach

a

at the private

school of a Dr. Niiesch in Schaffhausen. In order to “be rid of the worries

about where the next meal

offer.

is

coming from,” 83 he accepted the

“You can imagine how happy

I

am

about

it,” a

more modest

Looking

for a Job

87

Albert Einstein wrote to Marcel Grossmann, “even

if

exactly ideal for an independent character.” In

mid-September he

moved from Winterthur

therefore

such

a post

is

not

on the Rhine.

to Schaffhausen

Einstein initially stayed at the house of his employer, Dr. Jakob Niiesch, who, in addition to being a teacher in a secondary school, ran a

“Teaching and Education

on reasonably well with

his

Institute.” Einstein

young English

seems to have gotten

who

student, Louis Cahen,

intended to study architecture at the Polytechnic and therefore needed the Swiss “school-leaving” examination. Neither of zeal. 84

have shown excessive

house of

his

employer,

But he did not

who under

bed and board, in addition to

a

feel at all

mother had

When

to pay 4,000 francs for

on

to live

his

after another,

own

Niiesch’s expense.

live

impudence!

free

and the meals

one year of instruction

huge

for her son,

profit, Einstein

pro-

with the result that he was allowed,

first,

—

all at

a

Mileva he wrote that “the Niiesches are in

vicious rage against me, but

Long

setting

and, next, to take his meals in a restaurant

To

in the

he discovered that Cahen’s

and that Niiesch therefore was pocketing

voked one row

It is

now

I’m just

my guardian

as free as

any other man.

on the position

since the

in Bern, as

.

a .

.

angel in this world.” 85

His only other hope was the Patent Office, but more than

months had elapsed

to

salary of 150 francs. Einstein

would gladly have done without the domestic with the large Niiesch family.

happy

was to provide

their contract

monthly

them seems

six

Grossmanns’ intervention. “Eve given up

no notice has appeared

in the

newspaper

he wrote to Mileva toward the end of November. She in turn,

yet,” 86

writing to a friend, bewailed “the misfortune of Albert not finding a post.

.

.

.

You know

that

my sweetheart

has a sharp tongue and more-

over he’s a Jew.” 87

Albert Einstein

now

once he received

it,

placed his hopes in the effect which his doctorate,

would have on

his search for a post:

“As soon

as I

my doctorate I’ll apply for a secure position. Someday fate will on us.” 88 When he had submitted his thesis to Professor Kleiner

receive

smile

on November 23 and paid that not

his

examination

fee,

he boasted to Mileva

one of his former colleagues, who had landed

assistants’ posts,

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

88

had yet completed first,

hounded

despite being

dure, too, brought

“See, your Johnnie finished his paper

a thesis:

in the process.” 89

But the degree proce-

him nothing but annoyance.

Professor Kleiner, in Einstein’s eyes, was a useless “shortsighted person.” “If

I

had to be

fessor, I’d rather

beck and

at his

remain

a

call in

order to become a pro-

Much

poor private tutor.” 90

to Einstein’s

chagrin Kleiner was in no hurry to read his thesis, and he aroused Einstein’s fury

by refusing

him during

for

to keep the university library

the Christmas vacation,

over from Winterthur:

instinctively

Even

dignity,” 91 he ranted. this

who

view every intelligent youth

especially

when he intended

to

aren’t of their kind. as a

come

the things these old

“It’s really terrible, all

philistines put in the path of people

open

danger to their

They fragile

years later Friedrich Adler mentioned

six

episode as an illustration that Einstein was treated “rather con-

temptuously by the professors

at the Polytechnic”;

of the library, etc.” 92 Einstein,

he was “locked out

who presumably had

included a few

cheekily formulated objections to Drude’s theory of electron conduction in metals,

would

was curious to see how not only Kleiner but

react: “a fine

bunch,

all

also

Drude

of them. If Diogenes were alive today,

he’d be looking in vain for an honest person with his lantern.” 93

It

predictable that this emotionally overcharged degree procedure

would

end

in disaster,

francs

and Einstein was lucky to recover

when he withdrew

at least his fee

was

of 230

his doctoral thesis. 94

Mileva spent these months with her parents. After some outrage

demanded by bourgeois propriety they selves to Mileva’s

would as

pregnancy and,

establish himself in a

soon

as possible.

eventually reconciled them-

like her,

were hoping that Einstein

sound occupation and

as

head of

a family

But that was the very thing Einstein’s parents,

especially his mother,

were dreading. Although they were unaware of

Mileva’s condition, they feared that Albert would not give her up and therefore resorted to drastic measures.

Mileva complained to reviling

me

in a

felt

— “about writing

a friend

manner

“They

that

was

no compunctions”

a letter to

a disgrace.” 95

Toward

my parents, the end of

October, Mileva went to Switzerland. But in order not to compromise the

young

private tutor

by her then “funny shape,” she stayed

at a safe

Looking

from Schaffhausen,

distance

for a Job

else.

.

.

.

“When we

so much, quite frightfully like that too.” 96

When

Soon everything was

river.

are together

And, do you know, in

we

especially

when

I

must love him

see that he loves

me

Mileva returned to Novi Sad again, Einstein

showered her with good advice and seemed to look forward birth of their child without misgivings: “Just take

and keep your

just as

anyone

are merrier than

spite of everything bad, I

much,

am

the Hotel Steinerhof in Stein

at

Rhein, some twelve miles along the in the old days:

89

spirits up,

to the

good care of yourself

and be happy about our dear

Lieserl,

whom I

secretly (so Dollie doesn’t notice) prefer to imagine as a Hanserl.” 97

At

there was cause for optimism.

last

On December

11

Einstein

received news from Marcel Grossmann: “a very sweet letter in which

he said that the position in Bern

weeks and that he’s certain find our lives brilliantly

would be pier for

,

get

be advertised within the next few In two months’ time

it.

changed for the

better,

we

could

and the struggles

when I think about it. I’m even hapGrossmann after all had not promised

over. I’m dizzy with joy

you than

too much. Gazette

I’ll

will

for myself.” 98

The same day

almost as

if it

an advertisement appeared in the Federal

had been tailored for Einstein.

“thorough university education of cally physical direction.” 99

a

The head

It

demanded

mechanical-technical or specifi-

of the Patent Office, Friedrich

Haller, had added the (not normally customary) “physical direction.”

Until then there had been no physicists in the Patent Office. 100 In polite bureaucratic

German, Einstein on December 18 com-

posed his application for the “Engineer

II

Class vacancy in the Swiss

Federal Office for Intellectual Property,” 101 casually mentioning his thesis

“on an aspect of the kinetic theory of gases.” 102

The

following

day he went to see Professor Kleiner in Zurich. Kleiner had not yet read Einstein’s work, but they talked about

all

kinds of physical prob-

lems, and Einstein concluded that the professor was “not quite as

stupid as I’d thought, and moreover, he’s a

count on him for

a

good

fellow.

vacation he stayed in Schaffhausen,

beckon

said

I

recommendation anytime.” 103 Small wonder

Einstein was “absolutely crazy with happiness.” 104

nities that

He

full

can that

Over the Christmas

of expectation of the “opportu-

to us in the near future.” 105

Only on Christmas Day

Childhood, Youth, Student Years

90

and the next day did he allow himself

who had come

with his

a special treat:

sister,

over from Aarau, he spent these two days at the Hotel-

Pension Paradies in Mettmenstetten, known to the family from past vacations.

Nothing

is

known about

the events of January 1902 which led to

from Schaffhausen.

Einstein’s premature departure

We

know

neither

the doctoral thesis nor Professor Kleiner’s reservations which induced

Einstein to withdraw

it.

Bern would have made January.

But

any case the prospect of the post in

in

easy for

it

him

to pack his bags at the

By way of Zurich, where he recovered went

the university chancellery, he probably tainly, as

he wrote to

his doctoral fee

from

straight to Bern. Cer-

he had “cast off with

a friend,

end of

a

bang” 106 from

Schaffhausen and Dr. Niiesch’s institute.

Meanwhile, he had become a letter

a father

from Novi Sad, forwarded

had hoped, was

a Lieserl. It

to

—but

him

was not

Einstein

may have

physical thought.

—but without

for a

damentally important,” as well

little

the end of the year

baggage in the con-

well stocked with creative

young man was as the

baby, as Mileva

Lieserl.

mind by then was

Unusual

The

middle of the year that

Toward

arrived in Bern with very

ventional sense, but his

he learned only from

in Bern.

until the

Einstein could at last start on his job.

Mileva came to Switzerland

this

his focus

on the “fun-

broad spectrum of his

interests.

Alongside the “great” themes of thermodynamics and the kinetic theory of gases, and Maxwell’s theory of the electromagnetic

concerned himself with

capillarity, thermoelectricity,

field,

he

and the elec-

tronic theory of conductivity in metals.

Although

his studies

proceeded on the margin of topical physical

research and largely in an autodidactic manner, he seemed to aim,

almost with

He was

a sleepwalker’s assurance, straight at the central

a regular

problems.

and thorough reader of Annalen der Physik, though he

could not afford to subscribe to the journal himself. In his letters to

Mileva Marie he would regularly comment on cially interested

on the

articles

which had espe-

him. These included not only Wilhelm Wien’s article

ether, Drude’s

work on metal

periments on the photoelectric

conductivity, and Lenard’s ex-

effect,

but above

all

Max

Planck’s

Looking

for a

work, published toward the end of

mula which contained

his

1

Job

91

900, about his

new

radiation for-

quantum, subsequently to be known

as

“Planck’s constant.” Einstein

commented on

as early as April in a letter to

Mileva, 107 and he realized, “shortly after

this article quite critically

Planck’s pioneering work, that neither mechanics nor electrodynamics

can (except in limiting cases) claim exact validity.” 108

As

way out of

a

the dilemma in which physics found itself at the

young Einstein had

turn of the century,

in

mind

a

fundamental theory

along the lines of thermodynamics: “the discovery of a general formal

might lead us

principle

to reliable results.” 109

Such

a

theory was pre-

sented by Einstein a few years later in the form of the special theory of

but his letters from his “apprenticeship period” are already

relativity,

pervaded by already

this

come

theme.

It is

to him- while

possible that the crucial insight had

he was

at

school in Aarau and that since

1898, with a physicist’s tools, he had further pursued the idea. so

happy and proud”

“when we

—he wrote

was “busily

at

Unfortunately

at that time,

it is

he was an Expert

III

his earlier letters

to a

bodies,

which

of work.” 111

come down

or indeed what

treatise”

motion

impossible to conclude from such remarks, in

still

to

to us,

what direction

his thinking

wrong turnings he must have

needed

— and that would come

would succeed

relative

the end of 1901, in Schaffhausen, he

a capital piece

those letters that have

ration

work on

work on an electrodynamics of moving

promises to be quite

His “splendid

Toward

be

Mileva in the spring of 1901

are together and can bring our

successful conclusion!” 110

took

to

“I’ll

a lot

taken.

of work and one flash of inspi-

him only

in the spring of 1905,

when

Class at the Patent Office in Bern. Nevertheless,

already reveal an unshakable conviction that he

in solving the riddle,

down. There probably never was

a

no matter what job he was holding

young man about

to enter a

modest

post with, at the same time, such high-flying plans as Albert Einstein,

when he thing

is

arrived in

Bern

in

February 1902. And the most astonishing

that his hopes in fact

came

true.

PART

II

CHAPTER Expert

SIX

Class

III

Albert Einstein’s move to Bern had escape by an angry

would have

to live

was known

at that

his application

young man

hand

it

the characteristics of an

was rash and not

mouth, subsisting on hope, because

had been received and that the

all

that

it

director, Friedrich

sympathetically as soon as any

were authorized. But he was glad not to have to be Schaffhausen any longer. “It does

me

a

new

posts

a private tutor in

world of good to have escaped

from those unpleasant surroundings.” Besides, 1

ries,

He

free of risk.

point about the post at the Patent Office was that

would consider

Haller,

to

—

all

if

he did have any wor-

he was not going to show them.

“It’s

wonderful here in Bern,” 2 he wrote to Mileva immediately

after his arrival at the

oughly pleasant

beginning of February 1902. “An ancient, thor-

city, in

which one can

live exactly as in

Einstein liked best about this architectural

gem

of a

Zurich.”

What

more than

city,

the

massive ramparts or the impressive baroque towers, were the arcades

along both sides of the old keitsgasse 32 at the lower city,

quite close to the

streets.

He

end of the

found

fine line

Nydegg Bridge and

a

room on Gerechtig-

of streets crossing the

the bear

pit,

where Bern’s

heraldic animals are kept.

There was

still

the problem of a livelihood. Since the matter at the

Patent Office was making no visible progress, Einstein, as

a

holder of

the Swiss specialist teacher diploma, offered his “exceedingly thor-

ough”

services as a private tutor in

local advertising

paper

—with

mathematics and physics

“free trial lessons.” 3

95

He

in the

received a few

The Patent Office

96

including one from an engineer and one from an architect, and

replies,

already saw himself as the professor of a small private college, with

enough earnings

One

of his

to cover the waiting period for the Patent Office.

first

students was Louis Chavan, a French-speaking

Swiss technician in the Swiss Postal and Telegraph Service, and before

long one of Einstein’s most loyal friends in Bern. In his meticulously kept notebooks Chavan not only recorded Einstein’s lessons but also left

us a thumbnail sketch of his youthful teacher: “His short skull

seems unusually broad. His complexion his large

sensuous mouth

is

a

a thin black

matt

brown. Above

light

The nose

moustache.

His striking brown eyes radiate deeply and

slightly aquiline.

voice

is

is

attractive, like the vibrant

note of a

cello.

softly.

is

His

Einstein speaks cor-

rect French, with a slight foreign accent .” 4

Immediately on

his arrival in Bern, Einstein

had received

a letter

from

Mileva’s father, addressed to Schaffhausen but forwarded to him,

which,

when he

read

quite prepared, as an

it,

“frightened [him] out of his wits .” 5

unemployed man

He

was

in his early twenties, to be

accused, in terms of bourgeois morality, of having become, scan-

dalously prematurely, a father, and without the blessing of a rabbi or at

What he was

least a registry office clerk.

not prepared for was to learn

about the serious complications of the birth. Mileva was actually so exhausted that she could not write to him herself. Einstein’s concern

about Mileva’s health, however, was tempered by his concern for and joy over the baby: “Is she healthy and does she cry properly?” he inquired.

“What

resemble? ...

I

are her eyes like?

love her so

a researcher’s curiosity

Now you “I

would

like to

interesting!”

pretation,

much and

don’t even

he continued:

can make observations.”

sion of men’s inferiority

Which one

And

“Is she

of us does she

more

know her yet .” 6 With

looking at things yet?

he made

a frank

admis-

compared with women’s reproductive

ability:

make such

a Lieserl

This wish, almost too

finally

myself one day,

explicit

on

a

it

must be most

psychoanalytic inter-

was to be echoed on many occasions, when Einstein

described his mental efforts as “hatching” and sometimes as “laying eggs.”

Despite Einstein’s protestations

—

“I

long for you every day” and

Expert “I’d rather be in

Bern” 7

97

with you in some provincial backwater than without you

—there was no mention

The

riage.

Class

III

in his letters

much

reason probably was not so

of an imminent mar-

the fact that without a

post at the Patent Office he would not be able to support a family but rather the vigorous opposition of his parents. Pauline Einstein reacted to

what

was anything but

to her

a

happy

event, and to Albert’s sugges-

engagement, by declaring,

tion of at least an official

“We

against Albert’s relationship with Fraulein Marie, and

wish to have anything to do with her. causing

me

the bitterest hours of my

.

.

.

life; if it

anything to banish her from our sight,

I

are resolutely

we

don’t ever

That Fraulein Marie were in

have

my power,

is

do

I’d

a veritable antipathy

any influence on Albert.”

toward her.” 8 She complained of “having

lost

Given

angry resolution not to give

his scorn for “Philistines”

damn about

and

his

the world, this sounds entirely credible. Yet basically he

was an obedient son, reluctant to rebel against determination

engagement,

a

—with the

let

his

mother’s fierce

result that for the time being there

was no

alone a wedding. Mileva, therefore, having to bear the

precarious consequences of premarital

motherhood on her own, stayed

with her parents in Novi Sad, while Einstein was trying to survive in

Bern

until a decision

Max Talmud,

his

came through about the Patent mentor from

Office.

his school days in

Munich, had the

impression that Einstein was only just about managing to survive.

Traveling through northern Italy in April 1902,

were now

that the Einsteins

living in

Milan and

found them depressed, and, in response to son,

was told only that he was now

Talmud remembered them.

visited

his inquiries

living in Bern.

He

about their

Unaware of

the

cause of this estrangement, he went to Switzerland specifically to see his

former pupil,

poverty.”

The

whom

he found in conditions “testifying to great

lodging on Gerechtigkeitsgasse, which Einstein had

described to Mileva as though a “small,

it

were

a

small palace, struck

Talmud

as

poorly furnished room.” 9 In conversation Einstein blamed his

sorry situation

on obstacles

—no

assistant’s post

“laid in his

But Einstein had

and

his failure to get a doctorate

way by people who were a

Although he had arrived

jealous of him.”

knack for making the best of adversity. in

Bern

totally

unknown and with no

contacts

either socially or in university circles, he did not remain alone long.

The Patent Office

98

Paul Winteler, one of the sons of Einstein’s “parents” in Aarau, had

begun

just

stein

to study law there.

knew Conrad Habicht,

He

mathematics.

now

also

And from his time in Schaffhausen Einwho was working on a doctoral thesis in

met Hans Frosch

from Aarau,

studying medicine. Einstein explained some of his physical prob-

lems to Habicht, the mathematician,

my

again, a classmate

good

He

ideas .” 10

who was

“very enthusiastic about

accompanied Frosch to

pathology with “demonstrations ad oculos.”

a

He was

class

on forensic

“so fascinated” by

the drunkards, arsonists, and megalomaniacs presented to the students “that

from now on I’m going

In his

own

to

go every Saturday .” 11

special subject of physics,

cover anything of comparable interest.

however, Einstein did not

Aime

dis-

Forster, the head of the

department, lived in the astronomical observatory, converted into laboratory,

the huge

on the Grosse Schanze, the old

city ramparts,

not

far

a

from

where the new main building of the university was then

site

under construction. Forster had gained some renown, but

as a local

meteorologist rather than a physicist, and his lectures did not go

beyond an elementary theory

12 .

The

seriously and

level;

self-assured

had to find

he made only derogatory remarks about

young Einstein could not

take Forster quite

intellectual contacts elsewhere.

In response to Einstein’s advertisement in the Berner Anzeiger a

young

Jew from Romania, Maurice Solovine, turned up one day. Solovine had come to the University of Bern with a thirst for knowledge but no clear idea of

what

to study.

He

had enrolled

for

both philosophy and

physics but had found Professor Forster’s lectures theoretically and philosophically shallow. So he turned to the private tutor

on Gerech-

tigkeitsgasse. In old age, Solovine recalled climbing the stairs to Einstein’s

room, hearing

his forceful

“Come

in,”

and being impressed by

the brilliant clarity of Einstein’s eyes.

After a few hours of regular, paid teaching, Einstein found

it

more

interesting to discuss with Solovine the general philosophical foundations of physics, for

he

felt like

Habicht

it.

which purpose Solovine was

to visit

him whenever

At the beginning of the summer semester, Conrad

also joined these conversations,

and the three decided to

set

Expert

up

kind of club,

a

a

III

Class

99

discussion circle with a firm agenda and an

absurdly grandiloquent name, Akademie Olympia.

meet regularly

a

honey, and

fruit,

little

enough

Solovine’s recollections, was

for

three would

meal of sausage, some

in the evening for a frugal

Gruyere cheese,

The

tea.

That, according to

them

to “brim over with

merriment .” 13 Regardless of the fun and games, the cheerful “Academy” was

based on a serious, systematic reading program. Solovine has noted the

books the three members studied and discussed with

was probably the driving

program Ernst Mach’s

force, putting

—antimetaphysical works which he knew from

Under

Wissenschaft

the (

on

Analysis of Perception and Mechanics and

Development days.

list,

emphasis on theoretical works touching on the founda-

a clear

tions of physics. Einstein

the

— an impressive

his student

same heading came Karl Pearson’s Die Gramm, atik der

Grammar of Science ) and Richard Avenari us’s two-volume

Kritik der reinen Erfahrung

( Critique

of Pure Experience ), though only

one chapter of this work was discussed. Several weeks were devoted

La

Science et Phypothese

(

Science

Stuart Mill’s reflections his Logic

,

still

Hume

work was of considerable

effect

Now

remembered

good German

(in quite a

on

by Einstein, and

fine literature

was read

— Sophocles’ Antigone

Don

These works were probably more

Quixote.

,

causality.

chiefly conedition).

His

man, Einstein once confessed that did not concern myself

novels .” 15

He

explained

empathy rather than too

this,

however,

little:

aspect was easily lost

much

“It

is

a little

in a kind of “gen-

Racine’s tragedies, and in line with Solovine

and Habicht’s interests than Einstein’s. In reply to

artistic

in the third

and again the “Academy” meetings were enriched by

program

I

John

my development— along with Poin-

eral studies”

later)

“we

that

as

Mach .” 14

violin recital

literary

such

and David Hume’s subtle critique of

cerned ourselves with D.

care and

as well,

on the problem of induction

Five decades later Einstein

to

and Hypothesis) by the great Frenchman

Henri Poincare. But older works were studied

volume of

Its

“as a

a

question from

young man (and

a

also

with poetical literature or as resulting

from too much

partly due to the fact that the

on me because the

fate

of the characters

as

The Patent Office

100 such gripped

me

too strongly.”

mann had “enormously Himmelfahrt aloud

neles

from pain .” 16 His

Thus some

inflamed” him, and “I

had to cry

when

made

“What

I

loved

little

Han-

bliss,

half

him

to

more were books of At any

were served by Baruch Spinoza’s

continued to read frequently, long after the

from

necessary for

it

ideological character, and especially philosophy .” 17 stein’s preferences

read

a friend

like a child, half

sensibility evidently

shape his preferences differently:

by Gerhart Haupt-

plays

Ein-

rate,

Ethics

,

which he

“Academy” had been

scattered to the winds.

Although he had to abandon

his

hope of an

assistant’s post at a univer-

sity,

Einstein had not given up his scientific interests or even the idea

of a

scientific career.

today, was for his

One prerequisite, at the turn of the century as name to become known through publications. Ein-

stein therefore used his electrolysis,

begun

ample

leisure time to

make

his reflections

on

in Schaffhausen or possibly even in Zurich, ready

for publication.

His second

essay, like his

first,

dealt with the conclusions deriving

from the hypothetical assumption of molecular forces and, more parwith the experimental verification of these conclusions.

ticularly,

Toward nalen

,

the end of April the manuscript was sent to the editor of An-

and ten weeks

under

a long,

later,

involved

without any problems,

title 18 .

More

it

was published

significant than his

turgid and ultimately unproductive physical reflections

is

somewhat Einstein’s

concluding apology for “only setting out a meager plan for

manding

a

de-

investigation without contributing anything to an experi-

mental solution.” Because he was in no position to perform the necessary experiments himself, he believed, rather grandly for an

unknown plished

twenty-three-year-old, that his paper would have accom-

its

objective “if

it

induces some researcher to attack the

problem of the molecular forces from

Nothing of the self

sort happened,

would describe

works .” 20 But

paper

his pattern of

leagues to pursue

with every

this

it

as

this angle.

and

” 19

five years later

one of

his

the author him-

“two worthless

throwing out an idea and inducing

was to recur frequently, and within

justification.

a

firstling

his col-

few years

Expert

Because

it

did not yield

had

lecular forces

much

Class

III

in

101

terms of science, the study of mo-

lost its attraction for Einstein.

There were plenty of

problems to be pondered, but for the next two years only one ripened into publications early as

foundations of thermodynamics. As

June 1902, Einstein was able to send off

paper

a

The

titled

Heat Equilibrium and of the Second Law of Thermody-

Kinetic Theory of the

namics.

—the

field

This was the

described in context

first

of a series of three publications which will be

later.

At

this

point

should merely be said that

it

with them Einstein not only established himself

as

an original

researcher but also developed the foundation of his later magnificent contributions to statistical physics. as the

completion of his

after a

first

To him,

however,

thermodynamics

just as

was the

treatise

long and nerve-racking waiting period, he

important

at last

fact that,

got into the

Patent Office.

Spring was well advanced again to

when

two vacancies

fill

the Swiss bureaucracy

moved

into gear

Sometime toward the

in the Patent Office.

end of May, Friedrich Haller invited the candidate Einstein, recom-

mended tion.” 21

to

him by Grossmann

pere

for a

,

“thorough oral examina-

This time Einstein’s hopes were not disappointed:

a

proposal

soon went to the Swiss Federal Council that the mechanical engineer Heinrich Schenk and Albert Einstein be “provisionally elected Technical Experts III Class at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property, at

an annual salary of 3,500 francs each.” 22

Two weeks later came

their

appointment by the Federal Council, and on June 23, 1902, Einstein reported for work.

The “annoying

business of starving” 23 had

an end. Marcel Grossmann had again proved to be

come

a “lifesaver,”

to

and

Einstein would remain eternally grateful to him. But for that opportunity,

he observed,

“I

might not have

died, but

I

would have been

intel-

lectually stunted.” 24

Henceforth, every morning office.”

The

at eight o’clock, Einstein

went

to “the

Patent Office was then on the upper floor of the new,

somewhat pompous building of the tion

on Genfergasse, near the

were

clearly favorable: “I very

soon reported to

a friend,

Postal and Telegraph Administra-

railroad station.

much

“because

like

it is

His

my work

first

impressions

at the office,”

enormously varied and

he

calls for

The Patent Office

102

much

thought.

What I

even better

like

is

my handsome pay .” 25 He

got

on well with the director and the dozen or so colleagues ranked

as

“experts,” but he complained about the workload: “I have a frightful lot

of work. Eight hours

lesson,

and then

I

have

each day and at least one private

at the office

my

work .” 26 Once he had

scientific

though, he found his forty-eight hours per week

settled in,

at the office tolerable.

When his friend Habicht was not entirely satisfied with the school service, in

which he had landed

after

completing

his studies, Einstein sug-

gested that one day he would smuggle Habicht in slaves”

and

commend

tried to

the

work

to

among

the “patent

him by observing

that

“along with the eight hours of work there are also eight hours of fun in the day, and then there

is

Sunday .” 27

also

Even though the Patent Office had been he never

felt that

a

good “patent

haps, the Patent Office even

was

more

the job was merely a matter of survival. For

than seven years he was

refuge:

Einstein’s second choice,

“Working on the

seemed

in retrospect to have

been an

ideal

formulation of technological patents

final

a veritable blessing for

slave, ’’and for that reason, per-

me.

enforced many-sided thinking and

It

important stimuli to physical thought .” 28 In old age he

also provided

even considered himself lucky to have escaped the academic treadmill

by having

young person under tities

Academia, he believed, “places

a practical occupation. a

kind of compulsion to produce impressive quan-

of scientific publications

only strong characters can practical occupations are

—

temptation to superficiality, which

a

resist .” 29

moreover of

He

further argued that “most

a character

which allows

son of normal

gifts to

existence he

not dependent on special illuminations.

is

achieve whatever

scientific interests, let

is

him engross himself

work .” 30 Einstein was

the Patent Office he

managed

When

which

also

he had attained

to

looked back nostalgically, in

If

he has deeper

in his favorite

most

to be of outstanding importance.

and become

a

famous professor, he

a letter to his friend

beautiful ideas and

together .” 31

problems

lucky; in the seclusion of

and sometime col-

league Michele Besso, to “that temporal monastery, where

my

civil

produce “impressive quantities” of

happened

his goal

a per-

expected of him. In his

alongside his regular

publications,

a

where we spent such

I

hatched

a pleasant

time

Expert

Albert Einstein

As

a

may have found

III

Class

103

himself quite

at

home among

patents.

boy he had watched Uncle Jakob, the busy development engineer

of the family firm, applying for

must

ratory he

also

In Professor Weber’s labo-

six patents.

have come into contact with recently patented

inventions. Nevertheless, the duties of an Expert III Class at the Swiss

Patent Office were something a novice had to be instructed

This

in.

was done personally by way of individual meetings with the boss. By almost schoollike instruction of

his strict,

fessor

new

staff

members, Pro-

Haider ensured that the patent examiners would

all

judge sub-

mitted inventions according to objective, verifiable, uniform criteria that could, if necessary, stand

up

in a court of law. Einstein, moreover,

with only slight experience in reading and interpreting

as a physicist

technical drawings, -lagged behind his colleagues with engineering

from the

training; this called for private instruction

director. Einstein

seems to have accepted Haller’s severe regime without demur: he regarded him

as “a splendid character

gets used to his

The

reason

rough manner.

why

and

a clever

mind.

One soon

hold him in very high esteem .” 32

I

the job called for

“much thought” was

that a

patent officer’s central role was as a bookkeeper of technical progress

on

a scientific basis.

As

a rule,

an inventor

—

in Einstein’s days rarely

—would formulate

represented by a patent attorney

in addition to verifying the formal criteria,

officer,

whether the submitted invention was

in fact

patent protection, whether

on

case of

had

more

to be

It

it

infringed

basis of

and the

had to decide

new and

deserving of

existing patents, and, in the

elaborate machinery, whether

done on the

it

actually worked. All that

drawings and specifications.

turned out that for young Albert Einstein, examining patents was

more than

just a livelihood. In fact,

it

characteristic approach to his favorite osity with “mental experiments” lectual

in short, in line

agreed quite strikingly with his

problems in physics. His

was not

all

that far

removed from

penetration of an invention, and his typical

ing in images involved visual

as

his claims;

more than conceptual

had almost providentially landed

with his

own way

in a job

way of

virtuintel-

think-

operations. Einstein,

which was so much

of thinking that he might have experienced

an agreeable exercise in technological and scientific imagination.

it

The Patent Office

104

Even

the procedures favored Einstein’s inclination toward criticism

and contradiction. authority,

course, Te could not oppose Professor Haller’s

Of

but he could

and contradict the applicants

criticize

moreover, on his boss’s instructions. tion, think that

anything the inventor says

“you

his experts; otherwise,

and that

“When you is

pick up an applica-

wrong,” 33 Haller advised

will follow the inventor’s

will prejudice you.

You have

to

remain

way of thinking,

critically vigilant.”

This procedure of “brushing an argument against the grain” and, possible, refuting

by

it

a

counterexample, greatly sharpened one’s

thinking and was entirely to Einstein’s It

would be interesting

opinions, but

Under

we have

the rules,

all

if

taste.

to prove this point with Einstein’s expert

too few traces of his activity at the Patent Office. papers were destroyed after eighteen years of

patent protection. Even in the 1920s,

when

it

was realized that no

other employee of the Bern Patent Office, or any patent office any-

where, would ever

nor

his successor

rise to Einstein’s heights,

neither Friedrich Haller

wished to make an exception from that rule for the

benefit of future biographers.

Thus

the last papers processed by Albert

Einstein probably went into the shredder in 1927. expert opinions has

come down

court record and there survived. official

to us, because It

it

was compiled

Only one of

found

way

into a

when

in the

its

in 1907,

his

judgment Einstein was “one of the most highly esteemed

experts at the Office.” 34 It rejected a patent claim

pany of Berlin

for

by the

an alternating-current collector

as

AEG Com“incorrect,

imprecise, and not clearly drafted.” “As for the various shortcomings

of the design,

we can

deal with those only

patent has been clarified by

when

the subject of the

a correctly drafted claim.” 35

That was

sovereign, curt judgment, entirely in the spirit of Einstein’s chief,

was anxious to teach inventors, especially big This

critical

comment

firms,

for the post

who

the boss.

suggests that Einstein was concerned mainly

with processing electrical-engineering patents.

ment

who was

a

The

original advertise-

had specified “thorough university education of

a

mechanical-technical or specifically physical direction.” As physics had

not previously figured in these advertisements, Einstein believed that “Haller put this in for

my

sake.” 36

young Einstein than about

But

Haller,

this

probably says more about

who, having headed the Patent

Expert

III

Class

Office since 1887 with great propriety,

such

a

105

would hardly have indulged

in

maneuver ad personam.

Actually, Haller’s reason for enlarging his staff of predominantly

mechanical engineers by adding

a physicist

was the rapid development

of the electrical industry and a resultant flood of patent applications in that field.

The

first

decade of the nineteenth century was characterized

by the development of advanced alternating-current and polyphasecurrent machines, by telephone technology, and especially by wireless transmission of information bv means of electrical oscillations.

Werner Siemens and Thomas Alva

this later

a

than the pioneering achievements of the self-taught

far greater extent

geniuses

To

Edison, the inventions of

period were based on a theoretical understanding of electro-

magnetic phenomena

—which was why Einstein,

as a physicist familiar

with Maxwell’s theory, found a rich and interesting

field

of activity at

the Patent Office. Also, he enjoyed

long after he

left

working with patents, and he continued to do so

Bern. In later years he often served as an expert or

consultant on patents, and he kept up the connection with his “temporal monastery” by having a few of his

When

Switzerland.

own

inventions patented in

anyone expressed surprise that such

scholar should stoop to technology, he would say: “I to

.

.

.

a

famous

never ceased

concern myself with technical matters. This was of benefit also to

my scientific stein there

research.” 37 His

was “a

first

biographer even noted that for Ein-

definite connection

between the knowledge he

acquired at the Patent Office and the theoretical results which, at that

same time, emerged

The “handsome

as

examples of the acuteness of his thinking.” 38

pay” of 3,500 francs

a

year was about double what

Einstein could have expected from an assistant’s post

grand but sufficient for theless, there

was too

was

great,

still

and

modest bourgeois family

no question of marriage. His

so, despite all his protestations,

dependence on them. possible circumstance

Hermann

a

He

finally received their

—when

his father

existence.

life as

Never-

parents’ opposition

was

his

emotional

consent in the saddest

was dying.

Einstein’s health had been prematurely

the ceaseless worries of his

—by no means

undermined by

an entrepreneur. Although his two

The Patent Office

106

power

plants in northern Italy did not, for once,

go bankrupt, they did

not yield enough profit to repay his loans, chiefly from

“The

relatives.

poor things have been constantly aggravated and worried about the

damned money,” 39

is

how

his

them

uncle Rudolf (“The Rich”) has been nagging

Hermann

of 1902, just after

birthday, his heart proved

Milan

just in

“My

son described the situation.

dear

terribly.” In the fall

Einstein had celebrated his fifty-fifth

no longer up

to the stress. His son arrived in

time to see his father on his deathbed. At that painful

hour of parting, Einstein received

his parents’

Hermann Einstein died on October 10, Milan. “When the end came, Hermann asked riage.

room, so he could die on

his

consent to his mar-

1902, and was buried in all

own. His son never

of them to leave the recalls that

moment

without a sense of guilt.” 40

Less than three months after his father’s death, about the turn of

1902-1903, Einstein

summoned Mileva

modest room on Gerechtigkeitsgasse

to Bern.

in

He

had given up

his

August and had moved to

Kirchenfeld, an area newly developed after the construction of a

bridge over the Aare. In a pretty house of typical Bernese style on Tillierstrasse 18

cony and

home

he had rented

a splendid

a small attic

apartment with

a big bal-

view of the Bernese Alps. This became the

first

of Albert and Mileva Einstein.

On

January

6,

without

much

registry office in the old city.

No

from Einstein’s or from Mileva’s

wedding took place

at the

wedding guests had arrived

either

ado, the

family.

The

witnesses were the other

two members of the Akademie Olympia, Conrad Habicht and Maurice Solovine.

Then

the small party

evening they celebrated

When

went

to a photographer,

and

in the

a little.

the newlyweds arrived at Tillierstrasse, Einstein had to

rouse the landlord: he had forgotten the key to his apartment. 41 That tells

us something.

Einstein, in fact, drawing riage that eventually ried primarily

from

ended

a “sense

embarked on something that he

up the balance sheet of an unhappy mar-

in divorce,

would

recall that

he had mar-

of duty.” “I had, with an inner resistance,

that simply exceeded

my strength.” 42 The

had wrested consent to that marriage from

his father

fact

under

Expert

III

tragic circumstances

must have been

admitted to himself.

And

marry outside the cipation, have

hung

as a

trauma than he

a greater

and eman-

reproach between them.

if silent

when he was

at first

of his family to

first

also, despite their assimilation

grave

years later, in Princeton,

107

the fact that he was the

must

faith

Class

Many

asked by Jewish students in

a

discussion whether marriage outside the tradition was permissible, his

answer reflected

“That

his personal experience:

then, any marriage

is

while Einstein was

—but

Mileva shortly before the

his

—the

mar-

fate

of

child’s birth,

waiting for his job in Bern, the only question

still

“how

yet to be resolved was

keep our Lieserl with

to

us; I

wouldn’t

to have to give her up.” 44 Despite these initial intentions, the girl

at first

remained with Mileva’s parents

None first

which

stress to

must have been subject from the outset

their daughter. In a letter to

want

dangerous

dangerous.” 43

However, he never mentioned the greatest riage with Mileva

is

Novi

Sad.

of these problems or any other problem

accounts of his

new

She looks

is

reflected in his

marital status. “So I’m a married

he reported to Besso, “and lead

my wife.

in

man now,” 45

very pleasant comfortable

a

after everything splendidly,

is

a

life

with

good cook, and

is

always cheerful.”

Einstein also had every reason to be satisfied with his scientific work.

Immediately before assuming off his heat, 46

first

and two weeks

after his

dent”: 48 the explanation of

wedding

second

He

treatise,

developing

thus took up again a sub-

a

very great impression on the stu-

many

superficially disparate properties of

matter, especially of gases, solely

on the

countless minute particles

as the derivation

a

was ready. 47

which had already “made

ment of

Patent Office he had sent

study on the molecular-kinetic explanation of the theory of

this subject in greater depth,

ject

his post at the

basis of the

mechanical move-

— the atoms or molecules—

of the laws of thermodynamics through the

as well

statistical

treatment of mechanical systems. In Professor Weber’s lectures at the Polytechnic

been made of the

Boltzmann

latest

no mention had

advances by James Clerk Maxwell or Ludwig

in this field. Einstein

had acquainted himself with the

theory through private study. By September 1902 he believed he had

The Patent Office

108

achieved something suitable for Annalen

:

have lately concerned

“I

myself thoroughly with Boltzmann’s work on the kinetic theory of gases

&

supplying the

He

my

over the past few days have written a small piece of final

brick to a chain of proof started by

did not publish

it

wanted to use the idea withdrawing

his thesis

own,

him .” 49

immediately, though, presumably because he in his doctoral thesis.

he produced

But

five

months

after

a treatise “deriving the laws

on

heat balance and the second law of thermodynamics solely by the use

of mechanics and probability calculus .” 50 Einstein began by declaring that while “Maxwell’s and Boltzmann’s theories had already

would

“fill

a

gap”

come

close to that objective,” his observations

—without,

however, revealing to the

somewhat bewildered reader what hand, the gaps in Einstein’s

more

are

own

exactly that gap was.

(to this day)

On

the other

acquaintance with Boltzmann’s work

obvious: although he had studied Boltzmann’s two-volume

Vorlesungen zur Gastheorie (Lectures on the Theory of Gases), he

knew

nothing of the subtle investigations which Boltzmann had published in the Accounts of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna, to which

Boltzmann primarily owed theoretical physics in eries in his tedly,

his reputation as the

Germany .” 51 Thus

“unchallenged head of

Einstein

made some

paper that he might have found in the

Boltzmann’s acute reflections were

far

literature.

from being the

discov-

Admit-

common

property of physicists at the time, or even of those interested in theory;

but even so the novelty value of the paper must have been greater for its

author than for the few experts in the

field.

Nevertheless, Einstein had reason to be proud of his interpretation

of some central concepts of thermodynamics, such as temperature and entropy, and in deducing these he formulated essential aspects of statistical

mechanics which were to remain valid

that discipline.

Most noteworthy, however,

as far as possible

is

as the

his

foundations of

endeavor to manage

without specific assumptions about mechanics and to

base his arguments on general laws alone.

Now and

again the reader

crudely reminded that only very slight use has been chanics eral

52 ;

this justifies the

assumption “that our results

than the mechanical presentation

commonly

used.”

is

made of meare more gen-

Summing

up,

Expert

III

Class

109

Einstein claims that “no assumptions had to be

made

.

.

.

about the

nature of the forces, nor even that such forces occur in nature .” 53

were obvious:

Einstein’s next steps

one thing, to further reduce

for

the assumptions about mechanics; for another, to include the difficult

problem of irreversibility, considering that

Somehow

himself to states of equilibrium.

in the past

he had confined

mechanics had to

statistical

resolve the inherent contradiction that the basic equations for the

atoms are reversible in time, but not the macroscopic processes which, though ultimately reduced to these mechanics, do have a direction in time.

Thus milk

is

stirred into coffee a million times each day,

resulting in light coffee, but that process,

i.e.,

no amount of

stirring will ever reverse

separate out the few drops of white milk and restore

the black coffee.

This next paper was completed only “after

a lot

amending,” which kept Einstein busy, in addition to during his

first

few weeks of married

and simple, so that

“On

I

am

life.

“But

quite satisfied with

now

it ,” 54

of rewriting and his official duties,

it is

perfectly clear

he wrote with

relief.

the assumption of the energy principle and atomic theory, the

concepts of temperature and entropy, as well as

thermodynamics

in

its

.

most general form follow

.

the second law of

.

logically.” If certain

assumptions on the structure of mechanics were to be found correct,

he saw “the generalization achieved by of the concept of force

” 55

as

my last paper in the

being entirely in the

spirit

elimination

of Heinrich

Hertz’s theoretical program.

This paper too contained in

a

few things the author might have read

Boltzmann, especially on the subject of

point there was even in his footnotes to

a false

the

is

The

and on

this

fact that Einstein referred

Boltzmann’s Vorlesungen demonstrates his isolation

from the mainstream of ever, the paper

conclusion.

irreversibility,

scientific discussion; at the

a brilliant

same time, how-

testimony to his creative treatment of even

most complex problems. Both papers would have deserved to become milestones of

tical

mechanics. That

ignored

—was

this did

due to the

not happen

fact that

— that

statis-

they were largely

an epoch-making study by the

American Josiah Willard Gibbs, Elementary

Principles in

Statistical

The Patent Office

110

Mechanics, which included the topics also treated by Einstein, had been

published in 1902.

Max

“The resemblance

is

Born’s comment. Discussion in the

mined by Gibbs’s comprehensive beginning of his career, was

nomenon,

field

treatise.

a victim

Thus

Einstein, at the very

of that by no means rare phe-

German

its

not come across

He

translation.

“masterpiece, though tough reading, and most of lines,” 57

adding that “many have read

was

was henceforward deter-

parallel discovery. Einstein actually did

Gibbs’s book until 1905, in

startling” 56

downright

it,

verified

it,

later called

it

it

a

between the

and not understood

it.” 5 *

One

person

who had

read and understood Gibbs was Paul Hertz, a

privatdozent at Heidelberg and a distant relative of the great Heinrich

Hertz. Referring to Gibbs in 1910 lication

—Paul

Hertz

upon

less

demands

like Einstein, that

probable ones, one

ducing a special assumption which certainly

after Einstein’s

criticized his derivation of the

thermodynamics: “If one assumes, distributions follow

—eight years

special proof.” 59

is

pub-

second law of

more probable thereby intro-

by no means evident and which

is

Such proof,

as

Hertz

realized,

was

of course not possible. Clearly, in 1902 young Einstein was unaware of the pitfalls besetting any proof of the second law of thermodynamics;

nor did he know Boltzmann’s

analysis,

probable distributions follow on

less

according to which more

probable ones not inevitably but

merely with overwhelming probability. Therefore,

it is

not certain but

only overwhelmingly probable that entropy increases. After Paul

Hertz had

visited Einstein

—by then

Professor Einstein

—

in

Zurich

and their conversation had produced complete agreement, Einstein unhesitatingly announced in Annalen that he regarded “this criticism as entirely correct.” 60 Besides,

book

earlier,

he added, had he known of Gibbs’s

he would “not have published those papers

at

all,

but

confined myself to the treatment of some few points.” 61 At the time of publication, however, he viewed the papers in a different light: they

were to ensure

Among

his entree, albeit

by

a side door, to

an academic career.

his colleagues at the Patent Office Einstein discovered

with similar

scientific interests

— Dr. Josef Sauter,

a French-Swiss,

one

who

Expert

had

III

Class

and

also studied at the Polytechnic

Weber’s chief

who had been

assistant for a while. Since Sauter

than Einstein, they had not met before. Sauter, fill

Professor

was eight years older like Einstein, tried to

the gaps in the Polytechnic’s syllabus by private study, so that Ein-

stein

was able

him Maxwell’s thermodynamics and

to discuss with

Helmholtz’s and Hertz’s theoretical concepts.

To

the astonishment of

his older colleague, Einstein frequently declared: “I

The two

also discussed Einstein’s publications

with the result that Sauter discovered stein accepted “without

Einstein recalled “that

my

1 1

1

a heretic .” 62

on thermodynamics,

mistake in them, which Ein-

being in the least upset .” 63 Fifty years later

had

I

a

am

a lot

of discussions with Sauter about

thermal-statistical papers ,” 64 but

.

.

.

he had forgotten “what aspects

were then being discussed.”

At

least as

important

as his

help with the “rewriting and amending”

were Sauter’s connections with soon introduced

his

new

scientific circles in Bern, to

which he

colleague. Thus, shortly after starting

work

at

the Patent Office, Einstein was incited, as Sauter’s guest, to the meetings of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft (Natural Science Society) in

Bern, an association of professors, high school teachers, and the

prominent figures

inevitable

absence of

modest

a Swiss

scale,

was there,

if

in

medicine and pharmacology. In the

Academy, the Bern Society played the

part, if

on

of the great scholarly institutions in other countries.

not

earlier, that

Einstein

made

a It

the acquaintance of a

friend of Sauter’s, Dr. Paul Gruner, a high school teacher and simulta-

neously

a

privatdozent in physics at the university.

Gruner was

a

may have seemed

man

to Einstein an ideal

hood and academic

more

with predominantly theoretical interests and

prestige than

career.

The

money,

as a

title

combination of practical

liveli-

privatdozent, of course, yielded

privatdozent received no salary from

the university but was entitled only to teach and collect the lecture fees

of his few students. But, after the doctorate,

represented the

first

rung on the academic ladder and was the customary prerequisite

to a

it

professorship after the ponderous Habilitation procedure sive original thesis plus a trial lecture. Einstein

— an impres-

now hoped

to

become

a

privatdozent like Gruner, even though Gruner had to spend nine years

The Patent Office

112

academic limbo before he was granted the humble position of

in that

titular professor

—

with the right to

really

call

no more than

privatdozent, unsalaried, but

a

himself professor

—

in 1903

the risks of an academic career based chiefly

Normally

on

and thus personified

theory. 65

doctorate was a prerequisite for Habilitation

a

,

but

someone, possibly Gruner, must have drawn Einstein’s attention to an exceptional regulation for Bern, 66 according to which doctorate and Habilitation thesis could be dispensed with in the case of “other out-

standing achievements”

— and these Einstein believed he had accomon thermodynamics.

plished by his two papers

have

now

“I

of course that

I

my doctorate,

as this doesn’t

begun

me.” 67

He as

we have no

,

can get away with help

away with

did not get

therefore wrote in

decided to become a Privatdozent provided

January 1903:

to bore

He

it.

I

it.

won’t, on the other hand, take

me much

and the whole comedy has

He must have

an early stage,

failed at

indications even of a properly initiated, though subse-

quently disallowed, procedure. It is

not hard to imagine that the professors

regard Einstein’s

demand

at the university

would

The

of youthful impertinence.

as a piece

exceptional regulation was intended for “other achievements” by considerable scholars, not for

two papers

in

Annalen by

a

greenhorn.

doubt any number of physicists whose published work

fell far

No

short

of Einstein’s papers had been appointed to professorships, but no

one

in the

department in Bern was able to recognize the importance

of Einstein’s work

Aime

— and

this

included the head of the department,

Forster. Einstein, refusing to

university here

of time.” 68

is

a pigsty. I

Thus ended

acknowledge

won’t lecture there,

Einstein’s

first

that, ranted:

“The

would be

waste

it

attempt to become

a

a “great

professor.”

Nevertheless, the episode was not entirely in vain. Einstein had

contact in Bern with circles interested in science. At

May

2,

1903, held as usual in the assembly

its

room of

made

meeting of

the Storchen

Hotel, “Hr. Alb. Einstein, mathematician at the Patent Office” was

accepted as a

member

of the Naturforschende Geselischaft. 69 That

evening Gruner gave the customary lecture: he spoke about atmo-

Expert

On December

spheric electricity.

was the speaker:

A

Waves.” cine

Class

III

1903, Einstein, for the

5,

time,

second lecture that same evening was on veterinary medi-

became

Einstein

Only once more, on March

the rostrum: to report

Suspended

interests in the society.

a fairly regular visitor to the meetings,

exactly a zealous speaker.

“On

in Liquids,” a subject

but not

23, 1907, did he

the Nature of Microscopic Particles

which he had discovered

physics in his annus mirabilis

tical

first

was “The Theory of Electromagnetic

his subject

— evidence of the broad spectrum of

mount

113

1905.

,

More

for statis-

often than in the

Storchen, Einstein would give informal lectures at Paul Gruner’s

home; apart from

Sauter,

Gruner was probably the only person

to rec-

ognize Einstein’s outstanding talent. In 1936, after

he had

when left

the Society observed

its

150th anniversary, and long

Bern, Einstein was elected an honorary member.

He

4T

was obviously touched:

“It was, in a sense, a

vanished youth,” 70 he wrote to scroll.

“The

memory.

its

message from

president, thanking

pleasant and stimulating evenings

my

him

for the

emerge again

had the charter framed straight away and hung

... I

long

in

it

my

up

in

my study — the only one among similar acknowledgments where I have done this — as a memento of my time in Bern and my friends there.” Sometime reached

in the

summer of

a decision to part for

before she was born,

1903, Einstein and his wife must have

good from

when Mileva

their daughter, Lieserl.

Even

visited Einstein in Schaffhausen

with her “funny shape,” 71 they must have discussed the option of

having the child adopted. There are to Einstein, in

which some kind of

for Mileva’s friend

husband and had

Helene

just

Savic,

become

a

a

few hints in

role

from Mileva

seems to have been intended

who was

mother

a letter

living in Belgrade with her

herself.

Although Mileva did

not then wish to say anything to her friend about her baby, she asked Einstein to write to her every

now and

then:

“We must

treat her

well” 72 was the explanation, “because she can help us with something

important.” In the circumstances, the “something important” can only

have concerned their child’s future.

Meantime had

initially

Lieserl had remained in

been delighted with

Novi Sad with Mileva. Einstein

his daughter,

but after their marriage

The Patent Office

114 Lieserl

was evidently not wanted

in Bern.

Judging by what we know,

her existence was carefully concealed from their friends in Bern.

The

reasons for this remain uncertain.

Einstein, after the disappointments of

It

might be supposed that

two years of job-hunting, did

not wish to jeopardize his position in the Patent Office. After

was only “provisionally elected”

—

in other words,

on

trial

— and

all,

he

a pre-

marital child might have offended the Swiss authorities’ sense of pro-

though naturalized, was

priety, especially as Einstein,

Jew. But

it is

equally possible that

on

his

deathbed

a foreign

still

Hermann

Einstein

had consented to Albert’s marriage, but not to the legitimation of child “born in shame.”

handed over

ally

Whatever the

to strangers. In

Novi Sad, most probably

Belgrade

—

how the

stein asked her

in order to

envisaged two years child

was eventu-

August 1903 Mileva went to her par-

ents in

a possibility

real reason, Lieserl

a

earlier.

take the child

to

On a postcard Ein-

was registered, voicing some concern

lest

disadvantages might accrue to her. 73 During her journey, meanwhile,

Mileva had discovered that she was pregnant again. Einstein did not

mind and recommended

careful “hatching.”

He

never saw his

first

child.

Evidence of the

beyond

The

that, the fate

two years of

Lieserl’s life

of Albert Einstein’s

first

daughter was never again mentioned in a

sive searches office

If it

first

no

entries have

few indications

— then

it is

totally

unknown.

and despite inten-

been found in parish

registers, registry

else.

was Einstein who regarded it

is

scant enough;

letter,

documents, or anywhere

best solution and enforced

child

is

this parting

with their daughter

—an assumption supported by

as the

at least a

not surprising that Mileva did not regain in days.

She spread around her an

aura of melancholia, mistaken for a Slavic

phenomenon, which con-

Bern the cheerfulness of her student

trasted dangerously with her husband’s jovial, extroverted nature. later described

ing

this,

with

a

her basic attitude then

common

as “depressive

He

or gloomy,” 74 attribut-

overestimation of genetic factors, to an

inherited schizophrenic disposition in the family of Mileva’s mother, as well as to Mileva’s limp.

These were probably

oversimplifications.

“Generally she was very cool and suspicious toward anybody who,

Expert in

some way or

came

other,

III

Class

115

close to me,” 75 he complained, but there

were some exceptions, such

as his friends

of the Akademie Olympia,

especially the “kind Solovine.” Solovine reports that Einstein’s

riage ally

had made no difference to

which were now usu-

their meetings,

held in the young couple’s apartment,

mar-

when

Mileva, “clever and

reserved, listened to us attentively without ever intervening in our discussions.” 76

As for Einstein’s conversations on physics with Paul

who came to Bern later, she all; at least we have no indica-

Gruner, Josef Sauter, or Michele Besso, apparently did not take part in those at tion that she did. Nothing, therefore,

work

seems to have come of the joint

when

so often referred to in earlier years,

Einstein would be

“proud and happy” when “we are together and can bring our work on to a successful conclusion.” 77

motion

relative

After the disappointment of two failed exams prising

Mileva had

if

domestic

on

his

own. Certainly there

November 1903

is

the

no indication of any

this fine

narrow

city,

moved from

It

was reached by

a steep

and consisted of two rooms, one of them with large

staircase

fine street.

was to be born.

He

manner: “We’ll have

In the

Kirchenfeld

renting a third-floor apartment at

house would lead one to expect.

May

the

This apartment was more modest than the exterior of

windows onto the

born on

close collaboration

more modest way. 78

Einsteins

neighborhood back into the 49.

a

her husband to pursue his scientific endeavors

role, leaving

Kramgasse

sur-

and withdrawn into

lost all interest in physics

or even that Mileva helped in a

In

would not be

it

This was where Einstein’s second child

announced the event a

14, 1904,

pup

in a

in his usual boisterous

few weeks.” 79

The

child, a boy,

was

and was named Hans Albert.

summer of 1904 Michele Besso

joined Einstein as a col-

league at the Patent Office. In Trieste, Besso had experienced difficulties

earning a living as a freelance engineer. Thus,

“Technical Expert

II

a

vacancy for

a

Class” was advertised toward the end of 1903,

Einstein drew his friend’s attention to

Needless to

when

say, the

Expert

III

it.

Class Albert Einstein had also

applied for this higher position, but the director judged that, while he

had “displayed some quite good achievements,”

it

would be wiser

“to

The Patent Office

116

become

wait with his promotion until he has

mechanical engineering, because by his qualifications he cist.” 80

Einstein

is

with

fully familiar

a physi-

is

unlikely to have blamed his boss for rejecting his

rather premature application, the less so as the post, which carried a

went

salary of 4,800 francs,

Michele out of a

to his friend

of thir-

field

teen applicants. Einstein himself, in line with regulations, was “made definitive”

on September

16, 1904, after

more than two

employ-

years’

ment. 81 His salary was increased to 3,900 francs, but his status continued to be Expert

III Class.

now had

In Besso Einstein

an ideal friend, both

To

also during their leisure hours.

our joint way

home

.

.

.

at

work and

often

Einstein their “conversations on

[were] of unforgettable charm.” 82

Although

Besso had studied mechanical engineering, his quick, acute intellect

was not

satisfied

with

that;

he was passionately interested in nearly

questions in the exact sciences, both philosophical issues and the

all

more

prosaic aspects of research.

During

his student days in

stimulation from Besso,

the emphasis

now

much

by eight

Bern

his senior

shifted. Einstein

active researcher with tant,

who was

Zurich Einstein had received

some

years, but in

was no longer

a

student but an

brilliant publications and,

more impor-

an acute awareness of the problems of contemporary physics.

former mentor was hardly able to offer stimulation, but he was

The

a valu-

able critic: not exactly a collaborator but an ideal sounding board. 83

Einstein’s only publication in 1904

end of March, before Besso’s because, for the

first

had been completed toward the

arrival.

It

should not be overlooked

time in the pages of Annalen

Einstein on a creative, original path, in a

is

a strange similarity

month. And you too

shows the young as

He mapped

between

shall receive a

us.

a

mathematical

prepa-

out his

Grossmann, who had written

about the joys of parenthood and sent him

“There

it

way that can be seen

ration for the strokes of genius soon to come. objective in a postcard to Marcel

,

to

him

treatise:

We too will have a child next

paper which

I

sent to

Wiedemann’s

week ago ( General Molecular Theory of Heat). You deal with geometry without the axiom on parallels, I with the atomistic theory of

Annalen

a

heat without the kinetic hypothesis.” 84

Expert

This paper,

a

III

mere eight pages,

is

Class

117

rather disparate. Since his prob-

lematical derivation of the second law of

thermodynamics of January

1903 had not satisfied him even then, 85 he

now begins by presenting

alternative,

which, however, does not stand up to criticism either.

then analyzes the constant later

named

stein first of

all

finds a

new

it

relation

He

Boltzmann, which occurs

after

in such a variety of connections in the kinetic theory that Einstein

have assumed that hidden behind

an

may

was the crux of that concept. Ein-

between

this

fundamental constant

and the equally important Avogadro number N, which for any sub-

number of molecules

stance gives the

becomes

a

one mole. The constant thus

kind of yardstick in the microcosm of molecules.

But Einstein had more to

meaning of these tion

in

phenomena

basic laws of

constants,

—

a surprising

new

in the analysis of fluctua-

thermodynamics on

thermodynamics naturally

molecules.

uncovers

which emerges

in a sense, a

sisting, like all objects in

number of

He

offer.

a small scale.

The

refer to “large” systems, con-

our everyday experience, of an enormous

Even though,

strictly speaking, these laws are

merely statements about mean values, they are nevertheless regarded as strictly valid

number of

may

still

because

all

irregularities are

molecules. However, in “small” systems, which of course

consist of

many thousands

or millions of molecules, the

movements

chaotic confusion of molecular that

evened out by the colossal

thermodynamic magnitudes should

values. Admittedly,

is

no longer evened

reveal deviations

no one had yet observed such

out, so

from mean

fluctuations,

and the

theoreticians, occasionally running ahead of experiment,

had discussed

concept only sporadically and controversially. In

this situation

this

Einstein briefly and tersely develops a simple theory of these fluctuations for the energy of a system stability

and derives

a

condition of the thermal

of a system, in which Boltzmann’s constant appears as a yard-

stick for the

magnitude of the

relation because “it

fluctuations. Einstein greatly liked this

no longer includes any quantity

that

is

reminiscent

of the assumptions underlying the theory.” 86

At the time,

it

seemed out of the question

to specific systems consisting of molecules.

to apply these reflections

Boltzmann and Gibbs, the

two giants of statistical theory, had discussed the observability of fluctuations and ruled

it

out,

and Einstein too, “at the present

state

of our

The Patent Office

118

knowledge,” sees no possibility of this. But he does not leave

He

at that.

it

assumes, of a totally different kind of physical system, “that energy

fluctuations attach to

it:

vacant space

this is

radiation.” 87 In a daring step, justified

with temperature

filled

by nothing except

a kind of

primal confidence in methods he had worked out by himself, he applies the formulas developed for material molecules to immaterial

own

electromagnetic radiation. Perhaps to his

surprise,

empirically verifiable relation between the energy

he obtains an

maximum

of the

which agrees with Wien’s

radiation and the temperature, a relation

displacement law. This, he concludes, “given the great generality of

The

our assumptions, cannot be attributed to coincidence.” 88 nature of the treatment of fluctuation treatise

phenomena

would be shown the very next

Brownian movement and

first

seminal

tested in this

year, in Einstein’s theory of

in his radiation theory.

Before the year 1904 was out, Einstein had become a collaborator of the Beibldtter zu den Annalen der Physik Physics),

(,

Supplements

to

the

Annals of

an early “journal about journals” founded in 1877. In

it

were

published not original papers, but reviews of papers in other journals

—especially

foreign-language journals

reviews of books. sixty- two

— and

in rare

cases

also

We do not know how Einstein came to be one of the

referees of Beibldtter

89 ,

but

we might not be wrong

assuming that the editor had noticed Einstein’s

in

five publications in

Annalen and had therefore invited him to referee papers on the “theory of heat.”

The

subjects

were

laid

down by

the editor, who, whenever

necessary, supplied the referees with offprints of articles to be refereed, or with review copies.

At the end of the year there was even

a

modest honorarium. All together, Einstein

which appeared

in 1905.

wrote twenty-three reviews, twenty-one of

Over the next two years he wrote only one

book review each year but one of these two was worthy review of

Max

Planck’s

Wdrmestrahlung (Lectures on stein

had sent to him

Vorlesungen

in 1906, his note-

iiber

die

Theorie

the Theory of Heat Radiation) in 1906.

articles

from the most varied

Philosophical Magazine of the British

journals,

der

Ein-

from the

Royal Society to the Schweizerische

Expert

III

Class

119

Bauzeitung ( Swiss Construction News). In addition to

he also refereed French and

tions,

He

both languages.

publica-

being familiar with

Italian papers,

also reviewed four articles written in English, a

language he had not learned; with them

German

it is

probable that someone helped him

—possibly Mileva, who knew

a little English, or a colleague

Patent Office.

at the

Depending on the

and on

fees paid for his reviews,

his

own

range

of interests, Einstein’s reviews differed a good deal. Sometimes he

would seem

apathetic, writing a

some awful mistake; 90

mere

at other times

five lines

he went into such

review might have replaced the original a

work’s usefulness outweighed

little

book

its

berating the author for

article.

He was

detail that his

generous when

shortcomings, as in the case of

called Die Grundziige der mechanischen

a

Wdrmelehre (Funda-

mentals of the Mechanical Theory of Heat), which despite “some inaccuracies”

he recommended to any polytechnician facing an exam with

incomplete lecture notes. 91

His work for the to acquaint himself

Beibldtter provided Einstein with

more thoroughly with

would otherwise have been Patent Office. Without the occasion of

it

an opportunity

the topical literature than

possible, given his official duties at the

he might easily have missed the

Ludwig Boltzmann’s

sixtieth birthday,

Festschrift

on

which included

117 contributions by prominent authors and thus offered an exceptionally broad

panorama of physics

at the

beginning of the twentieth

century. Einstein discussed three papers from this volume, and he

probably read the reputation

rest.

Needless to

say, his

—but by the time most of them

reviews also enhanced his

appeared in print he no

longer had any need of that.

If,

on

toward the end of 1904, Albert Einstein had decided to concentrate a career in the

work,

this

science.

league

Swiss public service and to abandon his scientific

would probably not have been considered

His contemporaries would scarcely have noticed that

who had his

a col-

published a few papers but otherwise was quite

unknown had stopped found

a serious loss to

writing. Professor

judgment confirmed that

this

Weber

in

Zurich might have

impertinent young

man would

The Patent Office

20

never achieve anything worthwhile.

And many decades

by himself, developed an equivalent Actually, Einstein’s publications

his-

But no one

physics.

up to

point were only the sur-

most

difficult

come together

ruminations would

mirabilis in

an explosion of creativity.

was probably

this

problems of

—perhaps not even Einstein himself—suspected

that these ,

all

to Gibbs’s statistical physics.

face of his ceaseless wrestling with the

letter

some

might have been surprised to discover that an outsider had,

torian

It

later,

in late

from Einstein

in

1905, his annus

in

May

of 1905 that Conrad Habicht received a

Bern

—undated,

as usual

—which may well be

the most remarkable letter in the history of science. After a boisterous

and jocular opening, Einstein promised to send Habicht four papers, the receive

first

of which

I

could send off soon, as

I

am

to

my free copies very shortly. It deals with radiation and the

energetic properties of light and see provided

you send

is

very revolutionary, as you will

me your paper

first.

The second paper

is

a

determination of the true size of atoms by way of the diffusion

and internal

The

stances.

friction of diluted liquid solutions of neutral sub-

third proves that,

on the assumption of the mo-

lecular theory of heat, particles of the order of magnitude of Viooo

millimeters suspended in liquids must already perform an observable disordered

movement, caused by thermal motion. Move-

ments of small inanimate suspended bodies have

been

in fact

observed by the physiologists and called by them “Brownian lecular

movement.” The fourth paper

is

at the draft stage

an electrodynamics of moving bodies, applying

a

mo-

and

is

modification of

the theory of space and time; the purely kinematic part of this

paper

is

certain to interest you. 92

These four papers would transform the brief span between

than three months. far

ahead of

Nobel

Prize.

its

The

March

physics.

They were completed

17 and June 30, 1905

—

a little

in

more

— “very revolutionary” —publication was

first

time but sixteen years later would earn Einstein the

The

Zurich University,

second, which soon earned is

him

a doctorate

from

one of the most frequently quoted works of the

Expert

III

Class

121

The third established him as the founder of modern statistical mechanics. The fourth contains in fundamental form what would soon century.

come

to be called the special theory of relativity.

Never before and never by so much

And tions

in

such

a short

since has a single person enriched science

time as Einstein did in

his creative vigor continued: over the next

came

thick and

fast.

The man

place twentieth-century physics spectives that

To

on

a

annus

two years

mirabilis.

his publica-

Patent Office in Bern would

new foundation and open up

per-

would influence research well into the next millennium.

enable the reader to understand this unique climax of scientific

creativity, its external conditions, 7

at the

this

through

1 1

What

inner connections, Chapters

as

between

reception and their consequences.

initial

own words may serve is

its

will present Einstein’s contributions to physics

1905 and 1907, with their Einstein’s

and

an introduction to

essential in the life of a

man

of

my

kind

this material:

lies in

what he

thinks and how he thinks, and not in what he does or suffers. 93

CHAPTER SEVEN “Herr Doktor Einstein”

and the Reality of Atoms

One

more original contributions

of the

to the observances in

1979 of the hundredth anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth was of papers in

all

areas of the exact sciences,

between 1961 and 1975, still

had

a

1

in other

words papers which,

list,

lowed by

his

was

A New

Of

the eleven

Einstein had written four (the other

seven had seven different authors). list

after half a cen-

major influence on ongoing research.

“classics” at the top of the

ping the

from physics through chem-

published before 1912 and most frequently cited

istry to physiology,

tury,

a list

Of the

four works by Einstein, top-

Determination of Molecular Dimensions

2 ,

fol-

paper on the Brownian movement. 3 Both deal with the

reality of molecules.

Counting

citations or footnote references,

sarily the best

way

to

measure

epoch-making papers of 1905, on were not included influence

modern ally

on

in this

list,

is

not neces-

work’s scientific value. Einstein’s

light

quanta and on relativity theory,

and that was because they had too much

scientific progress.

physics and have

a

however,

become

They

are the prerequisites of

all

so integrated into physics that virtu-

no one quotes them any longer. In

fact,

hardly any physicists today

have read the original papers: everyone has learned about them in classes or

from textbooks.

To return to Einstein’s top-ranking papers on the list,

these have of

course affected an unusually wide range of investigations. Both of

them

deal with the

in liquids

movement of large molecules

and were therefore quoted, for instance,

or colloidal particles in ecological studies

of the dispersal of aerosols in the atmosphere and in dairy research

122

— "Herr Doktor Einstein" and the Reality of Atoms

123

papers dealing with the behavior of casein particles in milk during

cheesemaking. 4

interesting to note that

It is

it

was

this

counting of

footnotes that led to the posthumous discovery of Einstein’s doctoral thesis,

which had been dismissed by

mandatory academic

exercise,

his biographers as

an insignificant

not to be compared to the three famous

papers of 1905. 5 Physicists and historians of science had also ignored it6

when

writing about his annus mirabilis

appear in that famous in 1906. It

Volume

—possibly because

it

did not

17 of Annalen but was published later,

had been completed on April

however, in close

30, 1905,

connection with his work on the Brownian movement.

who had given up the idea of a doctorate “as this doesn’t help me much and the whole comedy has begun to bore me,” decided after all to get his Ph.D. The reasons for his In the

summer of

1905, Einstein,

7

change of mind are obvious:

at the

him, and for an academic career it

Bern or

in

in Zurich,

it

he asked

Patent Office

was

it

a prerequisite.

could well help

Should he try for

his colleague Dr. Sauter,

experienced in such matters. Sauter’s reply was: “Zurich

be

it’ll

It

who was

— and

for

you

a cinch.” 8

would have been the custom

for Einstein to agree

on the subject

of his thesis with the head of the department. Instead, though

according to his

sister

Maja

—Einstein

completed Electrodynamics of Moving of

relativity,

which “seemed

a little

first

submitted his recently

Bodies, in

other words the theory

uncanny

to the decision-making

—having, Proproblem” — simply picked

professors” 9 and was rejected. Einstein thereupon fessor Kleiner records, “chosen his

from

his

“work

in progress”

own

as

10

whatever he thought would

least upset the

department: nothing too revolutionary or too speculative, but solid assumptions, conventional mathematics, and (since pure theory was in

still

bad odor in Zurich

as

something rather

exotic) an investigation

based on experiment. These criteria were best met by his investigation of the

movement of large molecules

On July

aqueous solution.

20 Einstein addressed his degree application to the dean

and, together with his treatise, sent

drawing to

in

a close,

the paper, with

everything

comment, was

it

to Zurich.

moved very circulating

As the semester was

quickly: within four days

among

the faculty. Kleiner

The Patent Office

124

emphasized that “the arguments and calculations are among the most difficult in

who

hydrodynamics and could be approached only by someone

possesses understanding and talent for the treatment of mathe-

matical and physical problems, and

has provided evidence that he fully

with

scientific

is

it

seems to

me

that

Herr Einstein

capable of occupying himself success-

problems .” 11 Because of the tricky mathematics,

Kleiner had brought in the head of the mathematics department, Pro-

who had thereupon “examined

fessor Heinrich Burkhardt,

the most

important part of the calculations, especially the passages marked by

my

colleague Herr Kleiner.

every respect, and the

What

I

have examined

manner of the treatment

mastery of the mathematical methods concerned

matics professor had missed one mistake quences, but not until four years

recommended accepting

later.

I

found correct in

testifies to

” 12

In

—which

fact,

a thorough

the mathe-

had some conse-

Like Kleiner, Burkhardt

the thesis, though he criticized

it

for a lack of

fastidiousness in detail: “Stylistic infelicities and slips of the

pen

in the

formulas will have to be, and can be, eliminated for publication in print.” Einstein

That

was now

did not cost

happy

days,

it

much,

free to take his as

it

emended paper

to the printer.

was only seventeen pages long. As

in less

was dedicated to “my friend Dr. Marcel Grossmann.”

After handing in the prescribed copy to the university, Einstein

now

was Herr Doktor Einstein.

The dissertation belonged to a his own later characterization

range of subjects where

—according to

—Einstein was concerned

chiefly with

“discovering facts which would establish with certainty the existence of

atoms of definite

finite

magnitude .” 13

It

may seem

strange to us that at

the beginning of the twentieth century the existence of atoms was in contention.

Even stranger

dispute, especially

is

still

the passion which characterized the

among German

scientists.

Radioactivity and the

electron had already been discovered; moreover, ever since the

first

decades of the nineteenth century chemists had been regarding the transformation of substances as combinations of atoms into molecules or as reactions between molecules. In the second half of the nineteenth

century this view became universally accepted, and chemists

were not plagued by metaphysical questioning

—were

in

—who

no way both-

"Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms

125

ered by the fact that they had never actually seen an atom and that,

considering what was being discovered about the dimensions of atoms

and molecules, they were not

The

situation

likely ever to see one.

was entirely different

Although the suc-

in physics.

cess of the atomistic hypothesis in the kinetic theory of gases

bodies was perhaps even

more

impressive,

some

and

solid

influential scholars,

mainly those priding themselves on methodological strictness and philosophical acumen, regarded the

deed harmful, invention

atom

as a superfluous, if

not in-

—partly because they had not yet seen one and

partly because they refused to accept the fictions of chemists as an

acceptable basis of physics.

Ostwald headed

a

Thus

the great physical chemist

school of thought which hoped to base

Wilhelm

all scientific

research on the concept of energy; and another, shorter-lived school believed that electromagnetism was the basis of

all

physics.

The

influ-

4T

ential

Ernst

Mach

is

reported to have asked anyone

atoms to him: “Ever seen one?” Mach’s statement that atoms exist” 14 positively alarmed his colleague in

who mentioned

“I

do not believe

Ludwig Boltzmann

Vienna. At the turn of the century Boltzmann, aware of “how

powerless an individual

damage

is

against the trends of the day,” lamented “the

to science if the theory of gases

rary oblivion by the prevailing hostile

on September

15, 1906,

tion to this dispute

to be relegated to

tempo-

mood.” 15 Boltzmann’s

suicide

were

should not, of course, be seen as a direct reac-

—but perhaps he would have borne

science had brought

him more

his life longer if

joy and recognition.

Einstein later regarded Mach’s and Ostwald’s rejection of atomic

theory

as

intellect

dice

“an interesting illustration of

how

even researchers of bold

and subtle instinct can be prevented by philosophical preju-

from an interpretation of

facts.” 16 In this instance

positivist belief “that facts alone

man from

had been the

without free conceptual constructs

should and could lead to scientific knowledge.” the

it

the Patent Office helped

make

More

than anyone

else,

the skeptical positivists

eventually accept the atom.

Ever since

his

student days, Einstein had as a matter of course

regarded the existence of atoms

as

unquestionable. All five of his publi-

cations had, in a sense, been variations

on the atomic theory of natural

The Patent Office

126

phenomena. His

now aimed

dissertation

at

providing evidence for

atoms and molecules. Naturally, he was not able to make an atom or even

a

molecule visible

—that

would become possible only

in the

1950s, with the field-ion microscope. But Einstein invented his

own

kind of “microscope”: an elegant theory which allowed the size of sugar molecules to be determined from something as ordinary as the

aqueous sugar solution.

viscosity of an

Einstein had worked out the basic

you already calculated the absolute

method two

size

enough

that they are spheres and large

years earlier.

“Have

of the ions, on the assumption for the equations of the hydro-

dynamics of viscous liquids to be applicable to them?” 17 he had then asked Besso. “I would have done the time; you might also draw neutral salt molecules. If

write

you again

it

myself, but

upon

I

lack the literature and

diffusion to obtain information

you don’t know what

in greater detail.” It

I

mean,

I’ll

on

be glad to

seems that Einstein did have to

explain himself in greater detail, and the dissertation therefore looks like a direct fulfillment

of his promise given to Besso, as well as an

attempt to convince Ernst

Mechanik

Mach

—that atoms were not

Einstein’s

—whom he otherwise revered

fictional.

argument proceeded not

gases but, for the

first

time,

for his

(as usual)

from the theory of

from the behavior of liquids. Because

contrast to a similar theory of gases

—

a molecular-kinetic

—

in

theory of liq-

uids would, in Einstein’s view, be faced with “insuperable difficulties” 18

he confined himself to solution of a substance

a

simpler model. His model was an aqueous

whose molecules

molecules of water, so that

(in a

are large

reasonable approximation) the water

can be treated as an unstructured homogeneous

on the dissolved molecules, which assumed to be increases.

This can be measured. As

ume

between

this

medium

in

its

effect

for the sake of simplicity are

spherical. If a substance

establish a relation

compared with

is

dissolved in water, viscosity

a first step,

Einstein was able to

change in viscosity and the

total vol-

of the dissolved molecules. Despite his simplified assumption, this

called for involved calculations

and represented the most demanding

part of the investigation. As a second step, mathematically simpler but

more demanding

in terms of physics, Einstein dealt with the diffusion

of a swarm of molecules dissolved in the water, obtaining a diffusion

"Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms

127

coefficient which, with experimentally determinable values, again gave

information on the size of the molecules.

method which,

surprisingly,

He

had thus developed

a

combined experimentally measurable

properties of solutions, such as viscosity and diffusion, to create his

Though one could not, of course, “see” the “microscope” made it possible to determine their

ingenious “microscope.” molecules, Einstein’s size.

Such it

a

theory demands practical application, and Einstein provided

for sugar water because experimental data

The

were

available for this.

way

radius of the sugar molecules he found in this

millionth of a centimeter tercheck,

—was new. Added

to this,

—one

by way of

a

ten-

coun-

was the determination of the Avogadro number, and

Einstein’s result in fact agreed “satisfactorily, as for order of

tude, with the values found for that quantity

This confirmed both the

reliability

magni-

by other methods,” 19

of the method and the reality of

molecules.

The

judges at the university in Zurich were satisfied with Einstein’s

results,

but Paul Drude, the editor of Annalen, was not. Einstein had

submitted his treatise to Drude in August 1905, after the conclusion of the degree procedure; however,

it

was published not within the cus-

tomary eight weeks, but only about

months

six

later.

This had never

before happened with any of Einstein’s papers, nor did afterward.

Drude

must have asked

evidently

knew of better

for a small

ever happen

data for sugar solutions and

addendum. 20 Einstein supplied

beginning of the following year, with for the

it

a substantially

at the

it

improved

result

Avogadro constant. 21

Nothing happened

for the next four years.

With

the sensation

caused by Einstein’s paper on the Brownian movement, his dissertation was scarcely noticed. This applied also to Jean Perrin, a

professor at the Sorbonne in Paris,

who

with superb experimental

was investigating the Brownian movement

in

who had

fessor in Zurich, used the opportunity to

draw

just

become

a

pro-

Perrin’s attention to his

autumn of 1909. Thereupon one of

leagues, Jacques Bancelin, took the subject

skill

1909 and corresponded

with Einstein on the subject. Einstein,

dissertation in the

young

Perrin’s col-

up experimentally. 22

He

did

The Patent Office

128

%

not dissolve molecules, but instead suspended accurately prepared microscopic mastic globules of Einstein’s theory

known dimensions

Much

of

was confirmed by Bancelin’s experiments, but on one

point there was a major discrepancy.

he was unable to find

culations,

in water.

When

Einstein repeated his cal-

mistake. Although he did not rule

a

out some experimental error, he nevertheless requested Ludwig Hopf, the assistant at the Zurich institute, to have another good look at the dissertation:

have

“I

now

re-examined

arguments and not found

a

my

earlier calculations

mistake in them,” 23 he wrote to

during the Christmas vacation. “You would be doing the subject

if

you could

my

seriously check

and

Hopf

a great service to

investigations.”

Hopf

found the mistake, which the mathematician Burkhardt had previously

—

also failed to spot

but

a rather trivial slipup,

it

threw off the nu-

merical result. Einstein sent a correction to Annalen with an acknowl,

edgment of Bancelin’s and Hopf’s work and with an even for Avogadro’s

Nine days had

May ment,

number. 24

after

his next

completing his dissertation

paper ready;

11, 1905. Its title is

Demanded

Liquids at Rest.

it

He

that he could only

in the

—Einstein

might have at the

called

more

it,

On

the

Move-

of Particles Suspended in

,

succinctly,

On

the

very beginning of his paper he admitted

assume “that the movements to be here dealt with

me

movement.’ However, the

are so inaccurate that

I

cannot form

a definite

this.” 25

entitled

A

Brown

privately published a paper in

brief Account of Microscopical Observations, conducted

months ofJune, July and August 182 7, on

the Pollen of Plants;

organic

not sooner

of almost baroque convolution:

In 1828 the botanist Robert

London,

if

was received by the editor of Annalen on

are identical with the ‘Brownian molecular

data available to

—

by Molecular-Kinetic Theory

Brownian Movement, but

opinion on

better result

and inorganic

and on bodies.

the particles contained in

the general existence of active molecules in

Brown

described

how he

had, under his

microscope, seen pollen grains in a permanent trembling movement.

He

regarded this

as a typical characteristic

of male sex

cells,

similar to

spermatic filaments. But he had the brilliant idea of testing this

assumption by observing minute particles of inanimate matter in

— "Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms

He

water.

found that the same permanent

129

movement was

erratic

present in very finely ground splinters of glass and granite, as well as in

smoke

particles.

Hence

the cause could not be the vitality of living

matter, and the “Brownian

movement”

therefore passed from the

hands of botanists or physiologists into the hands of physicists. In the second half of the nineteenth century

some

physicists sug-

gested a molecular-kinetic model to explain the Brownian movement.

The

zigzag

movements of the suspended

particles,

due to impacts from the molecules of the liquids cally sound,

up

but

26 .

they believed, were

This idea was

basi-

the theories had serious flaws 27 and failed to stand

all

to experimental testing.

The

theoretical situation remained con-

fused and controversial.

Even

if

and even

he had known everything there was to

if

Brownian movement, a brilliant

ever,

He

work of

Einstein had been familiar with the

his theoretical explanation

his predecessors,

know about

would

the

have been

still

achievement. Unburdened by any previous knowledge, how-

he chose an entirely different and more fundamental approach.

asked himself

demanded by

if

movement of

the irregularities in the

molecules,

the molecular-kinetic theory, might not after

observable effects.

To

his

own

cause

surprise he discovered that the theory

in fact predicted fluctuations observable

scope, and that the

all

under

measurement of these

a

conventional micro-

fluctuations represented a

kind of penetration into the microcosm of atoms. This was an original, theoretically

founded concept of the Brownian movement and of

characteristic properties

its

nomenon

that

as

a

fluctuation

had been observed for nearly

a

phenomenon

—

a

phe-

hundred years without

being understood. Einstein therefore observed not molecules in solution, but sus-

pended still

particles

clearly visible

about

under

a

a

thousandth of

a

microscope and

millimeter in diameter actually, in kinetic theory,

gigantic macroscopic structures. Unlike his predecessors

repeat

—were unknown to him) Einstein evidently realized

(who

—

to

from the

outset that the velocity of the particles could not be observed directly.

According to simple calculations, their velocity would amount to about one-tenth of

a

millimeter per second: in other words, a particle would

The Patent Office

130

about one hundred times

travel a distance

second.

Under

viewing

field like a wraith.

own

its

diameter in one

microscope, such a particle would

a

However, the

particle

flit

through the

also greatly

is

slowed

down by the liquid and simultaneously struck by individual molecules. The result of these two effects is an extremely irregular trembling movement whose track and velocity cannot be measured directly. At the same time, though, a kind of mean value, the mean square dis-

—

placement, should be observable under the microscope, and this would

be enough. Einstein tion

first

of all demonstrated

—and

—that “osmotic pressure,” which

dynamics should

exist

more

was

a very

according to

bold innova-

thermo-

classical

only in solutions, was present also in suspensions

of “gigantic” spheres or globules. Next, in dissertation, but

this

elegantly,

much

he worked out

the same

way

a diffusion

as in his

formula for

the spherules and examined the interplay of diffusion and ceaseless

impacts from the molecules of the liquid as a

statistical process.

mean displacement of

He

finally

obtained an expression for the

ticles,

depending only on measurable or otherwise familiar values.

From

this

he was able to calculate that

the par-

his standard particle of

one-

thousandth of a millimeter, suspended in water, must after one second

have moved by

under one-thousandth of

just

one minute by six-thousandths of

a millimeter,

a millimeter.

and

after

Conversely, the Avo-

gadro "number could be determined from that expression, provided the displacement and the time were measured.

That suggestion was minute spherules,

a

surprising to experimental physicists: with

microscope, and a clock they were to count atoms.

Einstein, moreover,

had formulated

his

argument

as

a

yes-or-no

experiment. If his prediction was not correct, “this would

mean

weighty argument against the molecular-kinetic concept of heat.” 28 therefore concluded his article with an exclamation mark:

a

He

“May some

researcher soon succeed in deciding the question here posed, a question vital to the theory of heat!” 29

This time Einstein could not complain that he got no reaction. Soon after the

appearance of the paper on July

18, 1905,

Henry Siedentopf

wrote to him from Jena, Germany, confirming that the predicted phe-

“Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms

nomenon probably was

the Brownian

131

movement. 30 Siedentopf,

at the

Carl Zeiss Works, was engaged in improving the ultramicroscope

invented in 1903 by Richard Zsigmondy. This instrument illuminates objects

by

scattered

by them, makes

stantially smaller

ment

is

from the

light projected

it

side and,

by intercepting the

possible to view particles

which

light

are sub-

than the wavelength of light. As the Brownian move-

even more erratic for smaller and therefore lighter particles

than for larger ones, this

new ultramicroscope made

it

possible to

study particularly hectic trembling. Zsigmondy compared what he saw in colloidal gold suspensions to a

swarm of midges dancing

in a sun-

beam. But he had not, any more than Siedentopf, carried out any measurements that might have permitted comparison with Einstein’s detailed predictions.

Einstein quite obviously enjoyed this subject.

Even before Christ-

S'

mas of 1905 he dispatched appropriate

title,

On

Annalen

a further

paper, this time with an

the Theory of the Brovonian

presented the theory in further,

to

a substantially

more

and in particular discussed the

something no one had seen yet

—

1

it

it

it

limits of its validity for short

As

a

Brownian

a

bonus he calcu-

rotation, that

trembling rotational movement of the suspended particles. If could be measured,

he

elegant form, developed

periods: less than a ten-millionth of a second. lated

Movement} In

is,

a

this

too would be suitable for determining the Avo-

gadro number. Interest in the stein

numerous

Brownian movement increased and brought Ein-

letters

from

scientists, as well as

Zangger, professor of forensic medicine later to

become famous

as the

at the

visitor.

Heinrich

University of Zurich,

founder of emergency medicine and

director of spectacular rescue actions in the interested as a researcher in the

one

mining industry, was

Brownian movement.

When

he ran

into difficulties with his counting under the microscope, the professor

of mechanics, Aurel Stodola, had told him to “go and see Einstein in Bern.” 32

The meeting was

did not yield any

new

the beginning of a lifelong friendship, but

insights into the

it

Brownian movement. These

came from elsewhere. In Uppsala, Sweden, a

young

physicist,

The

Svedberg, was experi-

menting with the ultramicroscope. Unfortunately he had

failed to

The Patent Office

132

mean displacement (the had to make a slight correc-

observe the difference between velocity and

only observable quantity), so that Einstein tion, 33

“which corrected only the worst mistakes, because

bring myself to impair Herr studies, including

his

work.” 34 Other

failed to

Proof came only

in 1908,

when Jean

and, in a series of excellent experiments, confirmed

all

theory. Einstein was delighted: “I wouldn’t have thought

movement

Perrin in his

movement

means of

a sophisticated

aspects of the it

possible for

to be investigated with such precision;

piece of good luck for this subject that

cine-

provide unequivocal proof of

laboratory at the Sorbonne in Paris studied the Brownian

the Brownian

could not

some by the Frenchman Victor Henri, using

matographic pictures, likewise Einstein’s theory.

enjoyment of

S.’s

I

it is

it.” 35

you undertook to study

a

By

method of tagging minute mastic spherules

Perrin was even able to measure the Brownian rotation calculated by Einstein,

which surprised him

measurement of the rotation

wouldn’t have thought a

greatly: “I

possible.

To me it was merely an amusing

pastime.” 36 This was the final proof.

Einstein meanwhile had been concerned

On March 23,

more with

popularization.

1907, he gave a lecture at the Natural Science Society in

Bern 37 on the Brownian movement, and the following year,

at the sug-

gestion of Richard Lorenz, the professor of chemistry at the Polytechnic, he wrote Elementary Theory of the Brownian

Movement

38 ,

to be

comprehensible also to chemists. In addition, he was on the lookout for other macroscopically observable fluctuation as his

second paper he had considered an

discussed

what subsequently came

rise to his

own

to be

phenomena. As

electrical circuit 39

known

as “noise.”

and briefly

This gave

experimental study of the Brownian movement, though

in the field of electricity, in voltage fluctuations in condensers. tially

early

He

ini-

published a theoretical concept, 40 and then, together with the

Habicht brothers, began to build an apparatus for measuring very small amounts of charges.

More about

this “little

machine”

will

come

later.

Einstein must have been exceedingly gratified by a letter from Wil-

helm Conrad Rontgen, the

first

Nobel

laureate for physics, even

though Rontgen objected that the Brownian movement

“will

be

diffi-

“Herr Doktor Einstein” and the Reality of Atoms cult to reconcile with the

reply

is

lost

—

second law of thermodynamics.” 41 Einstein’s Einstein had never thoroughly examined

a great pity, as

this tricky question.

133

However,

second paragraph of

in the

his first

paper he had pointed out that in the observation of the Brownian

movement “along with

the regularities to be expected

thermodynamics can no longer be regarded

.

.

classical

.

even for

as absolutely valid

microscopically distinguishable spaces.” 42 This was something he had

surmised anyway, and

it fit

problems of physics. But

it

into his overall ideas of the fundamental

took another quarter-century before Leo

Szilard satisfactorily proved that

that

would

it

was impossible to build

machine

a

energy of the suspended particles for

utilize the kinetic

work, or to withdraw energy from the solvent. Einstein never disclosed

when he had

Brownian movement he had predicted. tunity to see

it

in Bern, but

himself

He would

he must have seen

it,

first

seen the

have had an opporif

not before,

at the

annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft der Naturforscher und

(German Society of Natural

Arzte

Salzburg in September 1909,

with demonstrations.

A

Scientists

when Henry Siedentopf gave

few years

later,

visible.

in

In a

it

Brownian movement

made

the disordered elemental processes are

manner of speaking, one can

a lecture

Einstein would write, with

restrained emotion, that the significance of the

was “that

and Physicians) in

see, directly

directly

under the micro-

scope, a part of the thermal energy in the form of the mechanical

energy of moving

particles.” 43

This was

and the

a spectacular assertion,

agreement of the theory with Perrin’s accurate measurements played major part

in convincing

even the

last skeptics

a

of the reality of the

atoms. In 1913,

when

Einstein was to be brought to Berlin,

an expert opinion emphasized,

among many

stein’s contribution to the kinetic

effect

on experimental research

beautiful

Max

Planck in

other points, that Ein-

theory of matter “had

in different directions,

a

seminal

above

all

the

measurements of the Brownian molecular movement, which

acquired their real value primarily through Einstein’s work.” 44

In 1926, three protagonists of the research on the Brownian

ment met

in

move-

Stockholm. Jean Perrin was awarded the Nobel Prize for

The Patent Office

134 Physics.

The Svedberg and

Richard Zsigmondy received the Nobel

— Svedberg

Prize for Chemistry tively, for

1925. As early as 1910,

for

1926 and Zsigmondy, retroac-

when

Einstein was

Ostwald, the Nobel committee had pointed out in that the theory of the

occasions in his nominations; but it

was

its

proposed by

internal report

Brownian movement had earned Einstein great

recognition. This achievement was mentioned

prize in 1922,

first

when he was

for a different paper,

on

several subsequent

eventually awarded the

though from the same

leg-

endary year, 1905. That paper had been completed in March and was actually the first of his magnificent series. It dealt with light quanta.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The "Very Revolutionary Light Quanta

Albert Einstein did not

see physics as a sequence of scientific

revolutions, nor did he see himself as a revolutionary. Indeed, he was

extremely cautious about describing discoveries or theories

as revolu-

4T

tionary. In his references to his

come

across only

Conrad Habicht

own

contributions to physics,

one use of the word

—

Habicht’s attention the

first

to

when he commended

to

of the four promised papers: “It deals with

radiation and the energetic properties of light and

you

tionary, as

hyperbole;

it

will see.” 1

have

workshop report

in his

in the spring of 1905,

I

is

very revolu-

This confident assessment was not youthful

was accurate

at the

time and

is

even more so in retro-

spect. In this paper, Einstein questioned the universally recognized

model of

light as waves,

and with

it

the unlimited validity of

Max-

wellian electrodynamics; instead, he “invented” a granular structure

—the

for light

light

quantum, the

netic radiation. This radical and

young author In his

a father

title,

particle associated with electromag-

immensely bold proposal made

its

of quantum physics.

Einstein did not promise anything like a theory, but

rather “a heuristic viewpoint concerning the generation and transfor-

mation of

This may have seemed

light.” 2

a bit frivolous to

some

readers of Annalen “heuristic viewpoints” did not form part of theo:

retical physics at the turn

of the century.

A concept was

confirmed and therefore open to future verification or

which case worth

it

was regarded

in practice, in

as a hypothesis; or else

which case

it

it

would be elevated

either not yet

falsification, in

had proved

its

to the rank of

theory. Einstein had presumably encountered “heuristic viewpoints”

135

The Patent Office

136

in the course of his philosophical studies, perhaps as early as in his

schooldays,

when he

read

Immanuel Kant, who frequently used

The purpose

“heuristic principles.” 3

of Einstein’s “heuristic view-

point,” like that of Kant’s “heuristic principle,” was to state, or perhaps

from which

invent, an assertion

From

familiar facts could then be deduced.

the outset, therefore, Einstein was focusing on something that

would emerge only

at the

end of the paper. Experimentally observed

phenomena

oddities of the photoelectric effect and other

that posed a

riddle within the

framework of Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetic

waves were to be

effortlessly explained

by reference

to the “heuristic

viewpoint” of the light quanta. Einstein thus took seriously the

quantum hypothesis introduced all

by

Max

Planck

contemporaries and indeed unlike Planck himself,

his

years

into physics

would remain reluctant

On December in Berlin,

14, 1900, at a

Max

for

many

to accept Einstein’s radical step.

meeting of the German Physical Society

Planck had presented his famous radiation formula,

which contained the quantum of action This was

who

—unlike

later to

be named for him.

a crucial innovation and, in retrospect, constituted the birth

of the modern quantum theory of the microcosm, the theory which

gave twentieth-century physics an entirely different appearance from nineteenth-century physics. All physics not involving the quantum

now became

“classical” physics.

At the time, Planck was scarcely aware of the

radical nature of his

work. At forty- two he was at the peak of his vigor, but by nature he was “peaceable and averse to risky adventures” in science. 4

an unwilling revolutionary, anxious, almost split

between

his

own

at

any

He

had become

cost, to avoid

any

—though

this

research and “classical” physics

term was not yet being used.

What Planck was tion of an old

after

was not

problem expressed

a revolution in physics,

in

1

but the solu-

860 by Rudolf Kirchhoff. This

concerned heat radiation. Everyone knows that heated metals glow red at

first,

turning yellow at higher temperatures, and eventually

turning almost white. In each case, this radiation ferent frequencies, with light: into ultraviolet at

its

spectrum extending

is

a

far

mixture of

beyond

dif-

visible

high frequencies and into infrared, invisible

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta

On

heat radiation, at low frequencies.

dynamics, Kirchhoff derived a absorption, valid for

all

137

the basis of abstract thermo-

number of statements on emission and

materials. In these, a central role

was played by

an ideal object, the “black body,” which completely absorbs tion striking

it.

The

ideal case of “black radiation,” totally

of the properties of materials, was postulated radiation ture,

is

in a state of equilibrium,

with the material of the walls.

radiation”

observed and

its

radia-

independent

as a cavity in

which the

determined solely by temperaof this “black-body

If a small part

allowed to escape through a minute opening,

is

all

it

may be

frequency spectrum analyzed.

Kirchhoff brilliantly

summed up

all

that

was known and surmised

about “black radiation” by claiming that for the emission capacity of “black bodies” there must exist a function that depends solely on tem-

perature and frequency. “It

is

a task

of great importance to discover

that function. Its experimental determination culties, yet there

by experiment,

seems to be

as

justified

undoubtedly

it is

is

hope that

faced with great it

diffi-

may be determined

of a simple form, as indeed are

all

functions discovered so far that are not dependent on the properties of individual bodies.” 5 Every part of Kirchhoff’s statement was correct,

including the great experimental

difficulties.

it

possible to

compare

failed at

a level

theoretically derived radiation for-

mulas with actual measurements. However, later revealed

until after his death

measuring techniques reach

in 1887 did experimental skill or

which made

Not

all

formulas sooner or

major shortcomings: the best of them, Wien’s formula,

low frequencies

in the infrared range;

and Lord Rayleigh’s

what Paul Ehrenfels

resulted at high frequencies in

later called “the

disaster in the ultraviolet.”

Max

Planck, Kirchhoff’s successor at Berlin University, firmly be-

lieved that the frequency distribution of “black cavity radiation”

“something absolute. And to

me

as the

the finest research task,

I

was

search for the absolute always seemed tackled

it

with zeal.” 6

When

Planck

concentrated on this problem in 1894, he was helped by the fact that

some outstanding experimental

physicists

were equally fascinated by

it.

Friedrich Paschen, for instance, regarded Kirchhoff’s problem as

important enough to “decline

a

professorship for

its

sake.” 7

He

The Patent Office

138

remained

duced

in his laboratory at the Polytechnic in

Hanover and pro-

graph with which he was able to improve the numerical factors

a

of Wien’s formula. For two or three years solution

it

looked

as if this

was the

—but that proved to be wrong.

At the Physical-Technical Reich

Institute in Berlin, then probably

Lummer and

Ernst Prings-

heim had greatly refined the measuring techniques,

especially in

the world’s best-equipped laboratory, Otto

infrared, in the range of long wavelengths. Heinrich

Rubens and Fer-

dinand Kurlbaum achieved a new degree of precision by Rubens’s “rest radiation” method,

whereby the

were

rays of shorter wavelengths

faded out, so that very reliable measurements were

made

possible in

the extreme longwave infrared at high temperatures. All the results in that range contradicted

Wien’s formula.

contradiction that provided the key to the

The

date

when

very precisely.

were

October

7,

visiting with the Plancks.

talking shop, and

ments

at the

was the resolution of

new

1900, a Sunday,

The men were

Rubens informed Planck

this

physics.

new quantum theory was born can be

the

On

It

Rubens and

stated

his wife

unable to refrain from

that the latest measure-

Reich Institute had shown that

at

very long wavelengths

the energy density of radiation was proportional to temperature. This

information must have excited Planck greatly, because that same evening, as soon as the guests had his efforts over

Rubens bore

many

fruit.

he got down to work. Thanks to

years, the information

all

data.

one was interpreted by Planck

molecule and was

later

unknown

However,

a

The

little

to

do with

in physics, having the

formula arrived at by

a radiation for-

formula had two con-

as a gas

named Boltzmann’s

speaking, Boltzmann had until then

he had received from

That same night Planck developed

mula which accurately matched stants:

left,

constant for a single

constant (though, strictly

it);

the other was a quantity

dimension of action.

trial

and error, no matter

accurate, needs theoretical interpretation. This

how

was what Planck con-

cerned himself with during the next few weeks. According to “classical” physics the total

cavity,

energy would pass from the walls into the

with no equilibrium being established. Overcoming his past

rejection of the atomic view, Planck

was eventually compelled to

inter-

a

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta

139

pret the radiation as the emission of individual atoms; he conceptualized

them

“harmonic

He now

processes.

mann’s

as

He

was

model

treated these “resonators” with

methods

statistical

ceptable.

oscillators,” the simplest

—which

until recently

desperation,” 8 meaning, evidently, what to

With

Ludwig

Boltz-

he had found unac-

whole business

later to describe “the

use of atomic concepts.

for periodic

as

him seemed an

these methods, however,

an act of

illegitimate it

followed

from the equilibrium between matter and radiation “that energy

is

compelled from the outset to keep together in certain quanta.” 9

On December

14, 1900,

Planck presented

tation of the radiation formula to a

laying great emphasis

most

the

posed of

on

its

novelty:

his theoretical interpre-

meeting of the Physical Society,

“We therefore regard — and

essential point of the entire calculation a

very definite

number of

is

com-

to be

equal finite packages, making use

for that purpose of a natural constant h

unimaginably small, though

—energy

this

=

6.55

X

10 — 27 ergsec.” 10 This

“magnitude”

is

written with

twenty-six zeros after the decimal point) represented the

abandonment

finite,

(it

of the continuity-based conceptual apparatus of “classical” physics and the foundation of a

To I

Planck, the

didn’t give

and

at

it

new

physics.

quantum was

much

whatever

But

was not realized

this

initially “a

purely formal assumption and

thought, except only that, under

cost, I

until later.

had to produce

all

circumstances

a positive result.” 11

He

was,

moreover, able to placate his “peaceable” nature because the energy quanta would play

a role

only in

statistical

counting procedures by the

resonators, while radiation

would continue

with Maxwell’s theory,

continuous wave in the ether.

as a

Neither Planck nor his

new microphysics

to be understood, in line

listeners suspected that a terra incognita

—was opening up before them. Indeed,

for a

—

whole

decade Planck endeavored “somehow to harness the quantum h into the framework of classical physics,” 12 and other physicists, like

Lord

Rayleigh and James Jeans in England and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz in

Leyden, the Netherlands, were doing the same. These clever

were examining such rial

delicate

problems

as the interaction

men

of the mate-

resonators with the ether, never for a minute questioning the strict

validity of Maxwell’s theory

and thus never questioning the wave

The Patent Office

140 nature of light.

Only one man thought

come

the revolutionary element which had

quanta

—the “heretic”

at the

differently,

recognizing

to physics with energy

Patent Office in Bern. •x

Albert Einstein had a student. lehre

,

He came

first

interested himself in heat radiation while

work

across Kirchhoff’s

which he studied, along with

in Ernst

own measurements

his

Weber

second

presented

of the energy spectrum of heat radiation,

together with an empirical formula, and

it

may well have been

ture that led Einstein to further reflection. After the

semester he wrote to Mileva Marie:

beginning to take on more substance will

Mach’s Wdrme-

his assigned reading, in his

year at the Polytechnic. In his third year Professor

still

“My

—

I

this lec-

end of the winter

musings on radiation are

myself am curious

if

anything

come of it.” 13

Two

years later, during the depressing period of job-hunting, he

—which came immediately before the discovery of the correct radiation formula — but he studied at least one of Planck’s papers in Annalen

had “reservations of a fundamental nature, so much so that I’m reading his

paper with mixed feelings.” 14 Einstein

in Proceedings of the Physical Society but ,

comprehensive issue in

which

article in the

his

own

he

March 1901

may have is

missed the report

sure to have read Planck’s

issue of Annalen, the

“firstling” publication

on

capillarity appeared.

At the beginning of April Einstein was intending to “have now,” 15 but we have no record of radiation formula.

Only

his

,

it

a

go

at it

immediate reaction to Planck’s

in his Nekrolog did

period. According to the Nekrolog

same

he refer back to that

had quite early struck Einstein

that Planck’s derivation of the radiation formula “is in conflict with the

mechanical and electrodynamic basis on which that deduction otherwise rests.” 16

It is true that

Planck’s thermodynamic arguments, and

especially his abstract subdivision of total energy into separate ele-

ments, seemed like an attempt to avoid an explicit discussion of the role of energy quanta. “In reality,” Einstein said, lier reflections,

summarizing

his ear-

“the deduction implicitly assumes that the energy can

be absorbed and emitted by an individual resonator only in ‘quanta’ of

magnitude hv that therefore the energy of an ,

oscillating mechanical

structure, as well as the energy of radiation, can only be converted into

The “Very Revolutionary" Light Quanta such quanta namics.

.

.

.

—

in contrast to the laws of

All this

I

141

mechanics and electrody-

realized a short time after the publication of

Planck’s fundamental paper.” 17

This realization had been helped along

also

by Einstein’s

interest in

the photoelectric effect, which was then being investigated quite sepa-

from the problem of the radiation formula. Heinrich Hertz had

rately

discovered this effect about 1888 in the course of his experiments on the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

made him

was not

The

it

how-

significance of that observation,

at first realized. It

was only by the discovery of X-rays

1895 and of the electron two years

Soon

fortunate coincidence

notice that in a spark gap illuminated by ultraviolet light, a

spark gains in brightness. ever,

A

later that this

matter was

was assumed that the cause of the photoelectric

in

clarified.

effect

was the

release of electrons

from gas molecules or metal surfaces

irradiated

with ultraviolet light

—those molecules which had

identified

as the

been

Max-

corpuscular components of the so-called cathode rays.

well’s theories sity

just

would have

led

one to expect that with increasing inten-

of light both the number and the energy of the electrons would

increase.

But

this

was not

so.

Sophisticated experiments, especially by Hertz’s former assistant

Philipp Lenard, showed that the energy of the electrons was not gov-

erned

words

at all its

by the intensity of light, but only by

“color”

—

this

invisible ultraviolet or

its

frequency, in other

term being understood to apply

also to the

X-ray radiation. The yield of electrons certainly

increases with the intensity of the light, in normal conditions, but for

every metal there

observed

Above

at

this

all,

is

frequency below which no electrons are

a definite

no matter how long or

intensively they are irradiated.

threshold frequency, on the other hand, electrons are

emitted even at exceedingly weak irradiation

—

all

this in contradiction

to accepted theory.

This was very much to the

gauged from the opening of

taste

of young Einstein,

a letter to

Mileva Marie:

as

can be

“I just read a

wonderful paper by Lenard on the generation of cathode rays by violet light.

Under

the influence of this beautiful piece

such happiness and joy that

I

I

am

ultra-

filled

must absolutely share some of

it

with with

The Patent Office

142

you.” 18 Although his “dear kitten” had just informed him that she was pregnant, he came to that topic only in a later passage of his

Some

of Einstein’s letters suggest that he also concerned himself

with the photoelectric effect

as

an experimenter. Thus he intended,

after his third year of study at the university, “to

with

a

letter.

work

scientifically

gentleman from Aarau.” 19 This was Conrad Wiist, principal of

who was

the Aarau district school, a physicist

No

experimenting with

known about

their

cooperation, but “radiation experiments” were at least intended. 20

Even

X-rays in his school laboratory.

as a student, Einstein

details are

had regarded the ether

as superfluous,

had

in-

tended to deprive electromagnetic waves of their substrate, and had believed that “electric forces can be directly defined only for

space.” 21

Thus

it

seems reasonable to assume that

empty

as early as 1901, after

studying Lenard’s and Planck’s papers, he had been toying with the idea

wave

that light could propagate not as a

but as a stream of corpuscles

—

medium such

in a

“light quanta”

as the ether,

—through empty space.

Einstein begins his article by highlighting a contradiction to which the

become

supporters of atomic theory, at any rate, had that they scarcely

opening Einstein

saw liked.

it

hidden contradiction, and in that device

whenever

This was the kind of

as a contradiction.

His

own his

style

so accustomed

of reflection was fired by

fundamental

treatises

possible. In this particular case

it

a

he would use

was the “deep-

going formal difference” 22 between the atomistic structure of matter

and the description of all electromagnetic phenomena, including

by continuous mathematical functions material

body

is

understood

as the

sum over

which therefore cannot be subdivided into size

Thus

in space. its

just

light,

the energy of a

atoms and electrons,

“any number and any

of small parts,” whereas according to the wave theory of light the

energy of

a ray of light “is continuously distributed

increasing volume.”

It

soon emerges that Einstein

resolve that contradiction

by ascribing

over is

a steadily

proposing to

a corpuscular structure to light.

Naturally, Einstein concedes that the wave theory has “superbly

proved will

its

worth for the description of purely

optical

probably never be replaced by another theory.”

however, that optical observations relate to

mean

phenomena and

He

points out,

values over time for

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta a

multitude of waves, so that

of

light,

it is

at least

143

conceivable “that the theory

operating with continuous spatial functions, will clash with

when

experience

applied to

phenomena of

and

light generation

light

transformation.” After this preparation, and an announcement that entire “groups of phenomena will appear

on the assumption

more

that the energy of light

is

readily comprehensible

distributed in space dis-

continuously,” the “heuristic viewpoint” comes as a thunderbolt:

On

the assumption here to be considered, energy during the

propagation of a ray of light

is

steadily increasing spaces, but

ergy quanta localized

not continuously distributed over

it

consists of a finite

at points in space,

moving without dividing

and capable of being absorbed or generated only

This

is

number of en-

as entities

23 .

the most “revolutionary” sentence written by a physicist of the 4T

twentieth century.

Though statement of

its

formulated apodictically and programmatically, Einstein’s

is still

provisional, merely a “heuristic” assumption.

value and usefulness will be the extent to which

be shown that

physical

phenomena.

nomena

to a very great extent.

It will

paper endeavor to make

this

The

it

it

The

test

helps explain

does explain those phe-

next fifteen pages of Einstein’s

viewpoint and

its

significance

compre-

hensible or at least plausible.

As Einstein has no compelling theory to paragraphs he presents disparate arguments.

a

He

panorama of what

offer, in the first

few

at first glance are rather

begins with a critique of Planck’s formula for

“black radiation” by pointing out that in deriving

it

Planck used two

other formulas which contradict each other. Next follows an elegant

determination of the Avogadro number from Planck’s black-radiation formula. (A few weeks offer

later, in his statistical papers,

Einstein would

two further methods of determining Planck’s important con-

stant.) All

he

is

trying to demonstrate here

tion of the elementary

quantum

set

of his theory of ‘black radiation’

is

out by Herr Planck ” 24

—

having to accept what Einstein regarded

is

independent

in other words, that

quanta and Planck’s black-radiation formula

interpretation.

“that the determina-

as a

may

energy

be used without

mistaken derivation and

The Patent Office

144

Next come thermodynamic

reflections

on the entropy of radiation.

Einstein confines himself to the range of high frequencies, for which

Wien’s formula

is

valid,

and derives an expression for the volume-

dependence of the entropy of monochromatic radiation

The

radiation density.

reason for this

is

at a slight

that in a paper he wrote the

previous year, volume-dependence played an important role in his investigation of the energy fluctuations of radiation. Einstein next interprets the expression he obtained in light of what, for the

“Boltzmann

time, he calls the

entropy of

a

system

is

principle,” according to

first

which the

related to the probability of the system’s state.

Next he considers the same

situation in gases

and in dilute solutions,

obtaining formally identical formulas for the volume-dependence of entropy, on the one hand for gases and on the other for radiation.

The purpose

of Einstein’s disparate argumentation

he concludes, by analogy, that

just as a gas consists

now

emerges:

of atoms, so radia-

“Mono-

tion should be seen as consisting of independent particles.

chromatic radiation of slight density (within the validity range of

Wien’s radiation formula) behaves in

heat-theory respect as

a

if it

consisted of mutually independent energy quanta of a magnitude

bv” 25 That much cise

—

his

contemporaries might accept

crazy, perhaps, but harmless. After

vation what

is

all, it is

as a theoretical exer-

irrelevant for obser-

thought about radiation enclosed in

announced

follows the “heuristic viewpoint”

and only to him,

“it

seems reasonable

now

in the

to

But

a cavity. title.

examine

To

if

Einstein,

the laws

the generation and transformation of light are of a nature as consisted of such energy quanta.”

now on

if light

Whereas Planck’s energy quanta had

been postulated only in connection with involved argumentation

in

order to derive the radiation formula, Einstein, in a manner of speaking, has liberated the for a

quantum from

its

whole range of other phenomena.

quences by

The most was

his

him

a

a

cavity

He

and made

it

illustrates the

useful

conse-

number of examples.

interesting consequence of Einstein’s “heuristic viewpoint”

law on the photoelectric

Nobel Prize

in 1922.

effect,

and not only because

it

won

(The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta awarded the Nobel Prize to Albert Einstein for retical physics, especially for his discovery

electric effect.”)

quantum

light

—

later

to

be called

a metal,

of the law of the photo-

“photon”

a

this effect, a

—penetrates

like

a

there encounters an electron, and transfers

whole energy to that electron.

tron can lose

“his services to theo-

According to Einstein’s explanation of

minute missile into its

145

some of the energy

On

that

its

way

to the surface, the elec-

was transferred to

it

by the

light

quantum, and additional work has to be done to escape from the surface.

These

mum

relations can be rather involved in detail, but the maxi-

energy of

a photoelectrically ejected electron

on the frequency of the incident inable manner:

E=

hv 2

P,

where

light,

P is

depends solely

and in the simplest imag-

work

the exit (or photoelectric)

function.

This was the “second appearance” 26 of the quantum of action, but its first

appearance outside the black cavity, and

it

constituted the basis

of an unequivocal prediction: energy, plotted against frequency, must

be

a straight line,

identical with the

gram

whose gradient

quantum

is

represented by a constant that

in the radiation equation.

Here was

a

is

pro-

for experimenters.

The

only conclusion which

was then possible to draw from

it

Lenard’s measurements was that the energy of photoelectrically emitted electrons depended solely on the frequency of the incident light,

not on the intensity of irradiation

of the incident effect,

light.

—that

is,

not on the “quantity”

Quantitative investigations of the photoelectric

however, were exceedingly delicate because there were

of interference, especially electrostatic.

The

best

all

kinds

measurements were

obtained for the “threshold frequency” at which the irradiated metal did not yet lose any electrons but with a minimal increase in frequency electrons

obtained

would be a result

ejected.

which

For

this

“as for order of

Lenard’s results.” This was about

by Einstein

threshold frequency Einstein

had to

as “pioneering,”

all

magnitude agrees with Herr

that Lenard’s treatise, praised

offer; in particular, his data

were

not nearly adequate to verify the linear dependence of energy on frequency. Einstein therefore had to confine himself to the statement that his concept, “as far as

observations.

I

can

see,

does not contradict” Lenard’s

The Patent Office

146 “groups

Further

of phenomena”

which the frequency

Stokes’s law of photoluminescence, according to

of luminescence, or re-radiation,

by Einstein were

discussed

than that of the incident

is less

light;

and the ionization of gases by ultraviolet lightl^Both of these phe-

nomena by

conflict with the

wave theory of light but are

easily explained

light quanta.

Almost exactly

a year later, Einstein also derived a relation

between

the so-called Volta effect and photoelectric diffusion. This was done in a

marginal note in

a

and Light Absorption

,

paper entitled in

On

the Theory of Light Generation

which Einstein continued

his

argument with

Planck’s theory of radiation. Although Planck’s theory had initially

seemed

to

him

own

“counterpart” 27 to his

a

“heuristic viewpoint,”

was now able to show that the “theoretical

basis

he

on which Eferr

Planck’s radiation theory rests differs from the basis that would follow

from Maxwell’s theory and from electron theory

—

specifically in that

Planck’s theory makes implicit use of the above-mentioned light

quantum hypothesis.” 28 According to Einstein’s argument, Planck’s formula presupposed that the energy of an elementary resonator could

which were energy of

integral multiples of hv. It followed, therefore, that “the

a resonator

leaps, specifically

acquired a

changes by absorption and emission only by

by an integral multiple of hv.” 29 The quanta had thus

new meaning, and

undoubtedly correct but had provided with

not in

Planck’s radiation formula (which was until then lacked justification)

at least a provisional theoretical

classical physics, as

foundation

like

it

hallmark of “revolutionary” work in science

poraries refuse to follow

was

now

— admittedly

Planck would have wished, but in the newly

emerging quantum physics. Planck did not

If a

assume only values

it

and that

it

at

is

all.

that one’s

takes a great

many

contem-

years to be

accepted, then Einstein’s “heuristic viewpoint” was indeed “very revolutionary.”

The

fact that his

without any quibbles 30

paper was evidently accepted by Annalen

testifies to

the liberal attitude of

Max

Planck,

the coeditor responsible for theoretical papers, since initially he does

not seem to have regarded light quanta In the

summer

as

even worthy of discussion.

of 1906, a year after publication of the paper, Planck’s

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta assistant

Max von Laue

wrote Einstein in Bern: “Incidentally,

my chief. Maybe

discussed your heuristic viewpoint with ferences of opinion

on

147

it

the elementary

between him and me.” 31 The very different

summer of

quantum of action

vacuum

equations. At least,

I

letter

1907: “I look for the

quantum) not

(light

but at the points of absorption and emission, and processes in the

never

there are dif-

opinion of his “chief” emerges from the earliest extant

Planck to Einstein, in the

I

from

meaning of

in the

vacuum,

believe that the

I

by the Maxwellian

are accurately described

don’t as yet see any compelling reason for

departing from this assumption, which, for the moment, seems to

me

the simplest one, and one which characteristically expresses the contrast

between ether and matter.” 32

In 1909 Hendrik

Antoon Lorentz, who

had been

for a long time

reluctant to accept even Planck’s radiation formula, attempted to con-

nect the quantum of action only “with a limitation of the degrees of

freedom of the ether.” 33 And so

it

curious apology which Planck, in the his otherwise

the Prussian

may

all

summer of

the

way

to that

1913, inserted into

overgenerous nomination of Einstein for membership in

Academy of Sciences

That sometimes, he

continued,

in Berlin:

as for instance in his

hypothesis on light quanta,

have gone overboard in his speculations should not be

held against

him too much,

for without occasional venture or risk

no genuine innovation can be accomplished even

in the

most

exact sciences. 34

Einstein of course did not see this nomination, but he was aware of Planck’s views. At almost the same time, using a kind of imaginary dialogue, Einstein in a tribute to Planck referred to the difficulties of the

radiation formula with

which everything had

flippant tone, he observed: “It

would be

started. In a cheerfully

uplifting if we could place

on

a

balance the amount of brain substance sacrificed by theoretical physicists

on the

altar

of this universal function

sight yet of these cruel sacrifices!” 35 It

—and

there

is

no end

in

would take ten years more

before light quanta were eventually accepted, on the eve of the

new

quantum mechanics.

Why

did

it

take

two decades

for Einstein’s “very revolutionary”

The Patent Office

148

concept to be generally accepted? There has never been

a

comparable

For one thing, there

situation in twentieth-century physics.

no

is

doubt that the stubborn opposition to the new idea of light quanta was primarily due to the fact that the wave theory of light had proved itself in a

thousand different ways and that discarding

able.

But there were other

factors,

it

was almost unthink-

'some of them having to do with

experiments and others with Einstein himself. Let us look

first at

the

experiments.

Although Einstein’s equation for the photoelectric was

difficult to

effect

confirm or disprove experimentally.

It

was simple,

remained an

object of contention for a whole decade. For example, Lenard,

received the

Nobel Prize

it

for his cathode-ray experiments in the

who of

fall

1905, corresponded with Einstein soon after the publication of the “heuristic viewpoint”

papers,

your

and even sent an offprint of one of

his

own

which Einstein “studied with the same sense of admiration

earlier

work.” 36 But Lenard,

to a resonance theory based

no reason

as

as

an experimental physicist, clung

on Maxwellian electrodynamics and saw

to take account of light quanta.

Rudolf Ladenburg, three

years younger than Einstein, in a thorough, sixty-page overview in

1909, 37 juxtaposed the two views, clearly emphasizing the advantages

of Einstein’s light quanta. His experimental data, however, were insufficient to let

him decide

for or against a linear relation

between energy

and frequency.

From about 1905 Robert Andrews

Millikan at the University of

Chicago was working on the photoelectric

effect, at first

along with

other problems and unaware of Einstein’s equation. After 1912, he

devoted

a great deal

In 1915, contrary to “to assert

its

of effort to an attempt at refuting that equation. all

his expectations,

he found himself compelled

unambiguous experimental

unreasonableness since

it

seemed

verification in spite of

to violate everything that

its

we knew

about the interference of light.” 38 In his publications of 1916, though, Millikan did not hesitate to attack the assumptions behind the experi-

mentally confirmed equation

as if

they had

outsider rather than from a scientist

come from

who by

a fantasizing

then was famous. In

a

The “Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta comprehensive

article

intended for publication in

149

Germany he

first

gave Einstein the good news “that the Einstein equation accurately represents the energy of electron emission under irradiation with light,” 39

only to continue by saying that he considered “the physical

theory upon which the equation

any

rate, his result for the

was

in close

is

based to be totally untenable.” At

numerical value of the quantum of action

agreement with Planck’s, and from

this

he concluded that

were “the most direct and most striking evidence so

his findings

obtained for the physical reality of Planck’s

far

A” 40

Millikan’s measurements had confirmed Einstein’s equation for the

photoelectric effect, but by light quanta.

distinction

As

no means the

late as 1922, the

“heuristic viewpoint”

Swedish Academy emphasized

when, avoiding the suspect terminology,

Nobel Prize

when

it

this

awarded the

to Einstein solely for “the discovery of the law of the

toelectric effect.” It chose the

lowing year,

it

pho-

same cautious language again the

fol-

awarded the prize to Millikan. However, the

breakthrough occurred almost simultaneously, in 1923, when the fusion of light

on

on electrons demonstrated

dif-

that light did in fact consist

of discrete energy packets.

The

exceedingly hesitant acceptance of the light quanta

been partly due

to Einstein’s

own

language.

He

may

also

have

never actually asserted

the existence of light quanta but preferred a form of words between the conditional and unreality.

behaved hv

.

”

“as if

Such

abandon

it

Monochromatic

radiation,

he

said,

consisted of independent energy quanta of magnitude

“as if” formulations

their faith in the

were not

likely to

persuade physicists to

proven wave theory of light.

If in later years

Einstein referred to the “light quanta hypothesis” and once even to his

“theory of light quanta,” 41 these were concessions to else just stylistic slips. Basically,

—

all

of which

made

usage or

he stuck to his “heuristic viewpoint”

and even emphasized the “provisional character of cept” 42

common

this auxiliary

con-

his colleagues feel entitled to reject light

quanta. Einstein’s choice of

words had nothing to do with excessive cau-

tion, let alone insecurity;

it

was based on what he expected of a genuine

The Patent Office

150 theory. So

far,

quanta tended to highlight cracks in the established

new concept

theory rather than fitting into a

That was why Einstein stayed with

based on

first

principles.

his provisional “heuristic view-

point” even when, before the end of 1906, he presented a further,

exceedingly important, application of the quantum concept in an

one that was moreover supported by experi-

entirely different field,

mental

results.

This was the third appearance of quanta:

this

time not

in radiation but, for the first time, in the behavior of matter

theory of specific heat.

It

was the

first

quantum theory of solid

Dulong and

In 1820, two Frenchmen, Pierre

Alexis Petit,

—

in a

bodies.

had made an

interesting observation during an investigation of the thermal behavior

of solid bodies. a

The amount

body by one degree was

weight. For

many

as for sulfur,

metals,

of heat needed to raise the temperature of

virtually constant if

was related to atomic

it

from copper through nickel

to gold, as well

they invariably found the same value of “specific heat.” 43

Their surprising discoveiy indicated an atomic structure of matter and suggested that “the atoms of

simple bodies have exactly the same

all

capacity for heat.” 44 This “law of

Dulong and

Petit” did not receive

when Fudwig

theoretical foundation until half a century later,

mann,

firmly based the empirical regularity found by the two

Frenchmen on the But

as so often

kinetic theory of matter.

happens in physics, no sooner was the theory estab-

began to accumulate which would not

lished than experimental results fit

into that neat concept at

Weber, subsequently

As

all.

a

young man

and then for boron and

silicon,

the Dulong-Petit law.

Only

these three substances

“specific

through diploma

it

at

for

diamond

high temperatures did specific heat

was much too low even

it

diminished, and for

at

room temperature.

student under Weber, Einstein became familiar with this

heat anomaly,” his

first

and had found marked deviations from

agree with expectations; at lower temperatures

still a

in Berlin in 1870,

Einstein’s teacher at the Zurich Polytechnic, had

investigated specific heat at various temperatures,

While

Boltz-

fundamental “equipartition theorem” 45 of sta-

in 1876, with his

tistical physics,

its

own

thesis,

partly

through Weber’s

lectures,

partly

laboratory work, and possibly also through his

which dealt with heat conduction.

The “Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta

The

first

inspiration

had come to Einstein on

a train.

151

As he reported

to

Mileva, while traveling to see his parents in Milan in the spring of 1901, he “came up with an interesting idea.

It

seems to

me

that

not

it is

out of the question that the latent kinetic energy of heat in solids and

thought of as the energy of electrical resonators.” 46 This

liquids can be

idea

may have been

earlier,

inspired by his study of Planck’s

work of

immediately before the quantum of action. In

a

year

with his

line

microphysical concept of matter, Einstein was linking the thermal and optical properties of matter, because “if this

is

the case, then the spe-

heat and the absorption spectrum of solids would have to be

cific

related.”

He

immediately commanded

his “little devil” to

library,

because he was interested in these relations for

you can

find

some

literature

on

“See

glass:

if

this!”

may have

But whatever Mileva

go to the

discovered then

(if

anything), the

subject required a fewlnore years of “hatching” and pondering, especially

on the

basis of Planck’s radiation formula, before Einstein

able to bring

it all

together in the

fall

of 1906, under the

title

was

Planck's

Theory of Radiation and the Theory of Specific Heatd 7

In this article, Einstein again starts with a

mean energy of

new examination

Planck’s oscillator, “which clearly reveals

to molecular mechanics.”

And

its

of the

relation

again he presents a further variation of

the “Boltzmann method,” which differs from Planck’s procedure.

From

these reflections

—which

are

by no means mere preliminaries

and which actually contain an interesting mathematical innovation 48 that

would be rediscovered two decades

later

—Einstein derives

a

pro-

found transformation of mechanics in the interaction of atoms or molecules with electromagnetic radiation. This

reminder that

in the

microcosm everything

is

will

the

first

explicit

be different from

everyday experience based on the senses, and hence also from the “classical” physics based

Whereas

until

now

as subject to the

on

that everyday experience:

the molecular

same

movements had been regarded

regularities as those valid for the

of bodies in the world of our senses,

we now

motion

find ourselves

compelled ... to make the assumption that the variety of

states

The Patent Office

152

which they are capable of assuming

is

than for bodies of our

less

experience. 49

Transfer of energy proceeds not continuously, but only in discrete packets of magnitude hv. Einstein asks

to “the other oscillating systems suggested

heat,” that

to the

is,

atoms of

might perhaps apply

if this

also

by the molecular theory of His answer

solid bodies.

not long in

is

coming.

homoge-

Einstein confines his observation to a simple model: a

neous isotropic

whose atoms

crystal

about their equilibrium.

oscillate

Initially Einstein

with a single frequency

thought only of electromag-

netic forces as the cause of the oscillations, so that his

model would

represent only electrically conducting substances, whose atoms are separated into heavy ions and light electrons.

gone

He amended

because in

it,

oscillations,

radiation.

after his

his error in a “Correction,” 50

which

is

for the first time, quanta appear in purely

and thus become

Applying

paper had

he realize that there was no reason for

to the printer did

tation.

Only

totally

formula for specific heat, which, just

important

mechanical

independent of electromagnetic

quantum formulas he

his

this limi-

derives, in a

few

as it should, leads at

steps, a

high tem-

peratures to the Dulong-Petit law, and at low temperatures results in a

down

steady diminution of specific heat

to absolute zero.

The tem-

perature above which the old rule remains valid would later be called “Einstein temperature.”

It is closely

connected with the oscillation

quency of the atoms, which in turn characterizes the

fre-

optical properties

of the crystals. For light atoms such as carbon, the Einstein temperature

fairly

is

high

—

for

diamond around 1,000°

from the Dulong-Petit law already appears noble crystal on

a beauty’s

at

C — so

room

that deviation

temperature. That

neck thus displays quantum

characteristics.

Einstein compared his quantum-theoretical formula with the data

found for diamond by

ment of

his theoretical

H.

his teacher

F.

.

.

.

will

prove

its

in 1875.

graph with the measurements

worth

is

The

agree-

so excellent

it

“probable that the

new

in principle.” 51

At the same time he

real-

that Einstein felt justified in thinking

view

Weber

ized that “there can of course be “exactly matching the facts.”

He

no thought” of the new

had been using

a

theory’s

model which he

The "Very Revolutionary” Light Quanta

had too many simplifications; in particular he regarded the

realized

assumption of as

153

a single

temperature-independent oscillation frequency

“undoubtedly inadmissible.” 52 Nevertheless, the theory, quite apart

from

pioneering character, would certainly “prove

its

worth

its

in

principle.”

Unlike Einstein’s “heuristic viewpoint” on light quanta, his quantum

moved

theory of solid bodies soon

was due not to

Max

Planck,

who

into the scientific spotlight. This

quantum concept, but

application of the

new

preferred to keep silent on this to his colleague

Walther

Nernst, the professor of physical chemistry at Berlin. In 1905 Nernst

had not so much derived

as postulated a general

thermodynamic law

according to which entropy rather than energy, and in consequence also specific heat, disappears at absolute zero.

devoted himself with 'the passion of

quences of his law

thermodynamics In 1875,

—

—now

possible,

to suspend his

measurements when the snow

and even hydrogen had meanwhile

air

providing

— 273°C. Nernst had

experimental conse-

low temperatures.

thawed; but liquefaction of

become

a lover to the

raised to the status of the third law of

at really

Weber had

Henceforward Nernst

close

a

approach

absolute

to

zero,

built a plant for the liquefaction of hydrogen,

an entire army of young coworkers

were busy measuring the

at his institute

specific heat of the

and

on Bunsenstrasse

most varied substances

over wide ranges of temperature.

For

this research

program Nernst could not disregard

new quantum theory of specific lication

it

was

clear that his

heat.

quantum formula was

in describing the actual conditions;

hensive

article,

stated: “It

Three years

is

and

after Einstein’s

compre-

obvious that the observations in their

theory.” 53 After that,

of Planck’s and Einstein’s

quantum theory was no longer

excluded from discussions of the behavior of solid bodies shall see, Einstein

pub-

substantially correct

in 1911 Nernst, in a

totality provide a brilliant confirmation

quantum

Einstein’s

had gained an

influential supporter

— and,

to be as

we

and patron. But

although he was the most vigorous propagandist of quantum theory,

Nernst was never

really sure

whether

to regard Einstein’s concept as a

kind of mathematical tool or the foundation of

a totally

new

physics.

The Patent Office

154

Having

visited Einstein in Switzerland in the spring

and discussed with him

question and

this

many

break of 1910

reported to a colleague about Einstein’s theory, sounding as let

himself in for a very enticing but Einstein’s

quantum hypothesis

ever thought up. If correct, so-called ether physics will

The

it

somehow

is

did remain “a beautiful

all

it

in

false, it

times. 54

—but

it

nevertheless

for the “ether physics”

no longer had anything

and he discarded

theory of relativity.

all

at least “in principle”

had discarded the ether implicitly light quanta;

illegitimate affair:

molecular theories. If

memory.” As

tioned by Nernst, Einstein

he had

opens entirely new roads both for

and for

—

if

probably the strangest thing

remain “a beautiful memory” for

theory was correct

Nernst

others,

to

do with

March 1905 with

explicitly three

men-

that.

He

his invention of

months

later in his

CHAPTER NINE Re at I

tt

My

It happened

ve Movement:

Seven Years

Life for

about the middle of May

1905, shortly after he had

on the Brownian movement. Einstein could not

sent in his paper

remember

i

the exact date, only that

it

was

a “beautiful day.” 1

He

had

4T

visited his friend

and colleague Michele Besso

question with him.

“We

discussed every aspect of the problem,” Ein-

stein reported seventeen years later.

where the key night, with

to this

to discuss a difficult

problem

He must

lay.”

some mathematics and

“Then suddenly

a lot

I

understood

have spent an exciting

The

of concentrated thinking.

key he had found in conversation with Besso magically opened

a

door

to a

new understanding

The

following day, “without even saying hello,” Einstein pounced on

his friend

Thank

of the fundamental concepts of

all

physics.

with the explanation: you. I’ve completely solved the problem.

the concept of time was defined, and there

is

my

solution.

An

Time cannot be

analysis of

absolutely

an inseparable relation between time and

signal velocity. 2

Einstein’s analysis started off with the question of what

simultaneity in two different places.

He

friends and colleagues as he pointed to

is

meant by

was observed gesticulating to

one of Bern’s

bell

towers and

then to one in the neighboring village of Muri. Michele Besso was the first

person and Josef Sauter the second 3 to

manner

whom

he explained in

this

that the synchronization of spatially separated clocks repre-

sented a problem which, properly understood, must lead to profound

changes in the concept of time.

If the

155

customary concept of space, and

The Patent Office

156 a lot else in physics,

matter

how

had to undergo

exciting they seemed,

then these, no

a transformation,

were simply

logical consequences.

“Five or six weeks elapsed before the completion of the publication

Toward

in question.” 4

the end of June

it

was

June 30 receipt of the manuscript was recorded

on

written up, and

all

of

at the editorial office

\

The

Annalen in Berlin. later,

was

On

titled

months

thirty-page article, published three

the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

5 .

was

It

a trea-

beyond compare and without precedent, one of the greatest scien-

tise tific

achievements in content and one of the most

course, there

some from

were

later additions,

few years theory”

later it

all

was called the “theory of

as the “special

a

theory which had

ready and complete, valid for

—not by Einstein but by others—and

became known

all

time.

after a

few more years

thrall

which had occupied him

for at least seven years:

He

was

later to declare that this

development of

him

in

the relativity principle in electro-

had been

his “life for over

seven years and this was the main thing,” 6 but he found retrace the

to

for a decade

include his schooldays in Aarau) and which had held

dynamics.

it

theory of relativity.”

fruition an intellectual adventure

we

A

relativity” or “relativity

At the age of twenty-six Einstein had successfully brought

(if

Of

some from Einstein himself and

were mere addenda to

others, but these

appeared before the world

brilliant in style.

his ideas over that period. 7

it

difficult to

These

ideas

involved a complete rethinking of the entire conceptual tradition of

modern its first

The

physics from

250

its

beginning. Let us therefore briefly consider

years.

principle of relativity had been discussed at the very beginning of

modern

science. It

Two Chief World

was formulated by Galileo

in his Dialogue on the

Systems published in 1632. Galileo gave ,

colorful setting that

was then fashionable.

On the

it

the kind of

“Second Day” of the

Dialogue Galileo’s alter ego Salviati invites his friends to assemble in a spacious

room

inside a ship, a

as well as a fish tank.

from the vessel.” 8

ceiling,

Finally,

room

containing midges and butterflies

Then comes an

instruction:

from which water drips into also

in

the

service

“Suspend

a second,

of science,

a

bucket

narrow-necked

the

friends

are

— Relative

Movement: “My

Life for

Seven Years”

instructed to leap forward and backward, and see

157

what distance they

cover.

The and

stage, of course,

a ship in

motion.

provided only

its

is

set for a

“Now let the

movement

comparison between

any of the observed phenomena.” 9

the

as before,

fish.

The

any speed whatever:

at

uniform and does not fluctuate one way

is

or the other, you will observe that there

about

move

vessel

a ship at rest

and no difference

is

not the slightest change in

The midges and

will

butterflies will fly

be noticed in the movements of

by leaping remains the same regardless

distance achieved

movement

of whether one leaps in the direction of the ship’s opposite direction. Perhaps most convincing of

all is

or in the

the fact that

all

the drops continue to be caught in the lower container with the

narrow neck: “Not one of them

many spans

the ship covers

With

this

will fall

on

while the drop

argument Galileo intended

assumption of

a revolving Earth.

entirely correctly

and

—that there

textbook

precisely, is

no way

case of two referential systems

is

its

rear part, even though

in midair.”

to dismiss objections to the

At the same time he demonstrated and not in the dry

in

of a modern

style

mechanics of distinguishing, in the

moving

and uniformly

rectilinearly

with constant velocity) relative to each other, which of them

motion and which

is

in

at rest.

Fifty years later this idea

monumental

(i.e.,

was included by Isaac Newton

Principia Mathematical the

in his

fundamental presentation of

modern mechanics.

It

appears, however, not in a prominent position as

an axiom, but only

as

an addition,

as

bodies included in a given space are the same

whether that space line

is

at rest,

position fs] of

among

themselves,

or moves uniformly forwards in a right

without any circular motion.” 10 However,

corollary that

“The

Corollary V:

Newton was not concerned with

it

is

clear

from

this

equivalent referential

systems, but that he postulated an “absolute space” relative to which the “given space” was either at rest or in motion. Moreover, the

“absolute space” in Newton’s concept, “in

its

own

nature, without

regard to any thing external remains always similar and immovable,” 11

and he needed

it

in order to explain inertia as well as the objective

character of rotational movement.

It

was

a

kind of all-embracing con-

The Patent Office

158 tainer within tial

which the privileged

status of

uniformly moving referen-

systems could be defined.

Newton’s “absolute space” was by no means accepted

uncritically,

but the overwhelming success of his mechanics eventually silenced objections, with the result that this concept

was soon elevated to

requisite of thought. In the philosophical analysis of

who a

gether

12 .

movable

which

all

immovable)

and hence

is

“The space

motion must ultimately be imagined (which therefore

is

called the pure, or also the absolute, space .” 13

and uniformly

moving

each other was not seen

relative to

principle of relativity

This

as well as philosophers, that the equiva-

lence of referential systems or “relative spaces”

it

of knowledge alto-

a prerequisite

called the material, or also the relative, space;

was so evident, to physicists

The

Immanuel Kant,

Restating Newton’s Corollary V, Kant declared:

is itself

that in is

a pre-

revered Newton, his concept of space was confirmed as “pure

priori experience”

that

all

as a

was so securely anchored

in

rectilinearly

problem

at

all.

mechanics that

did not even have a name.

However, toward the end of the nineteenth century, when

seemed advisable

it

to take a closer look at the foundations of mechanics,

referential systems

moving uniformly with regard

given their

modern name,

calculating

from one

“inertial systems ,” 14

The

were

and the simple rules for

system to another became

inertial

“Galileo transformations .” 15

to each other

known

as the

principle of relativity could therefore

be briefly formulated to the effect that the laws of physics have the

same form

in all inertial systems,

and that they must therefore be

invariant with regard to Galileo transformations.

That was evident

in mechanics, but the

emergence of the new

minology indicated enhanced awareness. This was due electrodynamic theory

as a

uniform way of describing

ter-

to the use of all electrical,

magnetic, and optical phenomena. Maxwell’s theory, however, did not satisfy the relativity principle

of mechanics, because

are clearly not Galileo-invariant.

The

its

basic equations

ether, moreover, represented a

privileged referential system.

After Einstein, the ether was so thoroughly swept out of physics that today a lot of historical

importance attached to

it

empathy

is

required to appreciate the

by nineteenth-century

physicists.

The

fact

is

Movement: “My

Relative

hundred years ago the ether was

that less than a

an ocean

Seven Years

Life for

159

as real as air, light, or

In interpreting their optical experiments even the

liner.

were

cleverest researchers felt that they

“virtually touching the ether

with their fingers.” 16

Maxwellian electrodynamics, the

finest

and most impressive contri-

bution to nineteenth-century physics, had actually the center of

Take

physical thought.

all

electricity

moved

Thus Heinrich Hertz

the ether to

observed:

out of the world, and light vanishes; take the

luminiferous ether out of the world, and electric and magnetic forces can

no longer

Electromagnetic

fields

travel

through space. 17

and waves,

as well as light

waves identified

as

such, were transversal oscillations of the ether, perpendicular to their

direction of propagation; and for Hertz and

made proper

sense only once they were reduced to mechanical models

of that medium. a

most of his colleagues they

“new kind of

When Wilhelm

Conrad Rontgen

in 1895 discovered

and theoretical physicists had an

ray,” experimental

interpretation ready: X-rays could be nothing other than the long-

suspected longitudinal oscillations of the ether, in the direction of propagation.

Ether physics 18 was fascinating and intellectually demanding, but

found

was

itself in conflict, in a variety

of ways, with the mechanics which

to continue as the foundation of

should be able to describe the ether share in the

it

all

physics and which therefore

as well.

A medium which

movement of matter and which pervaded

all

did not

space offered

and simultaneously preferred, referential system for

itself as a natural,

the propagation of light, as the only system in which the velocity of light has

its

value of 300,000 kilometers per second. 19 As the Earth

could hardly be

made

at rest in the

for the sun

—the

ether

Earth’s

—that assumption could

movement through

have to be observable through optical

around the sun of

thirty kilometers per

expected to be in the readily measurable {v

=

velocity; c

=

speed of light),

i.e.,

effects.

first

be

the ether would

At an

second these

at best

orbital speed

effects

could be

order of magnitude of v/c

one ten-thousandth; but nothing

of the sort was observed. In 1881 the

American Albert Abraham Michelson, then not yet

The Patent Office

160 thirty,

achieved

With

a fantastic increase in precision.

support of Helmholtz, he constructed in Berlin

the benevolent

two-arm

a

ometer for determining the second order of magnitude v 2 /c2

interferi.e.,

,

one

hundred-millionth. His apparatus was so sensitive that even the horse cabs passing outside the Physical Institute impaired

its

operation;

it

was therefore moved to the solitude of the Astrophysical Observatory in

Potsdam.

The outcome,

movement of the Earth

published in 1881, was disappointing: no

relative to the ether could

experiment was repeated, with

later the

Michelson and

his colleague

be proved. Six years

greater accuracy, by

still

Edward W. Morley

in Cleveland, but

merely confirmed the surprising Potsdam findings. admitted”

—Michelson consoled himself

American

to receive the

in 1907,

Nobel Prize (not

for similar optical precision

“I think

will

it

when he was

the

it

be

first

for his ether experiments but

measurements)

— “that

leading to the invention of the interferometer,

the problem, by

more than compensated

us for the fact that this particular experiment gave a negative result.” 20

But no one wanted to go back to before Copernicus, to

a geocentric

view, or conclude from the Michelson-Morley experiment that the

Earth was resting motionless in the ether. Instead,

were designed to prove that

it

relative to the ether. In these

was impossible

it

came

to observe a

insights: while

it

remained wedded

fairly close to the relativity theory.

was important because

a reconstruction

eral principles represented

movement

endeavors the theory of Hendrik An toon

Loren tz offered the most valuable to the ether,

brilliant theories

To

Einstein

it

of Lorentz’s theory from gen-

one of the touchstones of his own new con-

cept of space and time.

In 1877,

when he was not

yet twenty- five, Lorentz was invited to take

the newly created chair of theoretical physics at the University of

Leyden

in the Netherlands. In the 1890s, after fifteen years of

work, he developed a

new

hard

version of electrodynamics, his “electron

theory.” His terminology reflects the increase in knowledge during the final

decade of the nineteenth century: in 1892 he referred simply to

“charged particles”; in 1895, in his comprehensive Attempt at a Theory of Electrical and Optical Phenomena in

Moving

were

two years

called “ions”;

and

after 1899,

Bodies carriers of charge ,

after the discovery

of

Movement: "My

Relative

charged light

particles,

Life for

Seven Years

he called them “electrons.”

161

The

fields exist

independently of the charge carriers in the ether and react back on matter by exerting quently came to be a

known

theory embracing

at the time, a

on the charge

a force

carriers.

“Lorentz force.”

as

On

this basis

electromagnetic and optical

all

theory that proved

This force subse-

phenomena known

worth even with new phenomena.

its

In 1896 Lorentz’s assistant, the privatdozent Pieter

Zeemann,

ceeded in observing the splitting of spectrum lines in field

— an

had been sought

effect that

was such

a

a

suc-

magnetic

in vain since Faraday.

This

spectacular triumph for Lorentz’s theory that he and his

assistant

were honored

physics.

Even

in

in his old

1902 with the second Nobel Prize for age,

Einstein was enthusiastic whenever

Lorentz’s theory was mentioned: “It clarity,

he created

and beauty

as

is

a

work of such

consistent logic,

has been rarely achieved in a science based on

empiricism.” 21 It is

true that in Lorentz’s theory the relativity principle could not

find expression

through the “Galileo invariance” of mechanics.

of relativity principle was upheld in Galileo’s sense

—that

menters have no way of distinguishing whether they are

uniform

rectilinear motion.

problem of motion

with his theorem of “corresponding

at rest

— the

states.”

By

this

relate the electromagnetic values in

ether at

rest.

or in

relative to the ether

ingenious device

moving

inertial sys-

tems to the one system for which the Maxwellian equations are valid

experi-

But even that statement entailed consider-

able effort. Lorentz solved the

he was able to

A kind

To

that

end he invented

for the

strictly

moving

system an auxiliary construct which he called “local time,” in which “true time” appeared linked with the spatial coordinates. This was the first

bold

manipulation of the parameter of time in as

it

was, “local time” to Lorentz was

a physical theory;

no more than

a

but

mathe-

matical artifice without any consequence for the traditional under-

standing of time. After

all,

he had merely invented

a trick to

make

theory agree with observation, to “explain away” the first-order

For second-order

effects,

such

ment, Lorentz had to resort to

as the

a further

the

effects.

Michelson-Morley experi-

hypothesis, which had simul-

taneously and independently been introduced by George Fitzgerald.

According to

this

hypothesis,

the dimensions of a

body moving

The Patent Office

162

through the ether are shortened in the direction of movement by characteristic factor

dependent on

a

velocity: 1

This contraction was understood by Lorentz real

dynamic

forces, caused

by

as

an effect based on

compression (not specifiable in

a

detail)

of the charge carriers through their interaction with the ether.

Lorentz was thus able to develop netic

phenomena

—the

of light

in a system

title

theory for electromag-

a consistent

moving at any

velocity not reaching the velocity

of his comprehensive treatise of 1904, in which the

approximations of earlier versions were overcome and the theory was valid for

orders in

all

v/c.

The

success of Lorentz’s extension of

Maxwell’s theory was so impressive that physicists, especially in Ger-

many, already saw

it

as the

overthrow of traditional mechanics-based

physics. All physics, including mechanics,

was now to be rebuilt within

the framework of an “electromagnetic picture of the world.”

Henri Poincare was then the world’s most famous mathematician, with epoch-making contributions to both the fundamentals of his discipline

and

its

applications, especially in physics. Poincare

thetic to Lorentz’s theory but at the

creating

Not

more and more hypotheses

same time

for every

criticized

new

was sympaLorentz for

experimental

only did he encourage Lorentz to improve his theory

1904 Lorentz in tions 22

—but he

analysis

fact

made some allowance

himself

made

result.

—and

after

for Poincare’s objec-

substantial contributions to a critical

and mathematical structuring of the theory.

A good

opportunity was provided in

1

900 by

a Festschrift in

honor

of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Lorentz’s doctorate. Poincare in his contribution 23 showed,

among

other things, that Lorentz’s “local

time” could be interpreted as equivalent to

were synchronized by

light signals.

a

procedure whereby clocks

This interesting link between

Lorentz’s “local time” and the problem of time measurement was presented by Poincare four years later at the International Congress on the Arts and Sciences held, in true American style, the

World

Exhibition in

St.

on the occasion of

Louis in 1904. As an internationally

Movement: “My

Relative

Seven Years

Life for

acknowledged authority he was entrusted with the key Present State and the Future of Mathematical Physics

his synchronization procedure,

show

one might

call ‘local time,’

therefore

it .”

25

This

is

arranged in such

a

whether they were

the

first text in

—Poincare explained

“The

show the

so that one of

another. This does not matter much, as

mining

—the

a different time.

followed Lorentz in the concept of “true time”:

manner do not

On

along with the consequence that clocks

in different inertial systems also

nized in that

lecture,

M

In a section devoted to the relativity principle

which not only the subject but the name appears

163

them

However, he

clocks synchro-

true time, but

what

slow with regard to

is

we have no way

of deter-

hardly surprising, as everything had been shrewdly

way at rest

that experimenters could not possibly

tell

or in motion, just as was called for by the

relativity principle.

This lecture contained some other hints

at the future

development

of physics. Actual calculations and experiments showed that the mass of electrons was

apparently not

constant

—

expected as a matter of course from the time of sier

—but depended on

care

summed

their velocity.

“From

all

Newton and

Lavoi-

these results,” Poin-

up,

provided they are confirmed, an entirely arise,

would have been

as

new mechanics would

characterized mainly by the fact that no velocity can exceed

the velocity of light, just as

no temperature can drop below

absolute zero. For an observer himself in a translational motion,

which he does not suspect, no velocity whatever can any longer exceed that of light

This

is

the

first

26 .

indication that the velocity of light could play a major

role, structuring

theory not only in optics and electrodynamics but

also in mechanics.

Poincare, however,

when

made no

in the following year

use of this far-reaching assumption

he published Dynamics of the Electron

21 .

This did not go beyond Lorentz’s theory in terms of physics, but

moved

its

mathematical structure into

a

new

light.

Poincare combined

the three spatial coordinates and time into a “quadruple vector” and

operated with these structures as in conventional Euclidian geometry.

The Patent Office

164

The

transformations of Lorentz’s theory, which mediate between

“local time”

tion

and true time on the one hand, and

—between the

spond to

spatial coordinates

on the

—because of contrac-

other,

would then corre-

four-dimensional space. Poincare also proved

a rotation in a

that the transformations,

which he

called “Lorentz transformations,” s

displayed the kind of structure mathematicians call a “group,”

its

important characteristic being that two consecutive Lorentz transfor-

mations for their part represent an admissible transformation. Specifically this

means

against

that,

must not

expectation, “addition”

all

simply be performed arithmetically, but that the combination of two

produces

velocities always

a result that

smaller than the velocity of

is

light.

This was probably

as

much

Poincare for electrodynamics as theory were

now

could be achieved by Lorentz and

as

a physics

of the ether. But two types of

suddenly standing side by

side: first, the physics

of

matter, mechanics, with a powerful relativity principle, realized in

invariance toward the Galileo transformations; and second, the physics

of the ether, electrodynamics, in which the Lorentz transformations

had to be

valid in order that

ether, as the privileged

any

system

relative

movement with regard

at rest,

could not be observed. This

was certainly realized by the theoreticians, but they

conflict

ciled themselves to

it.

It

was certainly never

to the

also recon-

clearly formulated in dis-

cussions at the beginning of the century, except in a few prophetic

apergus by Henri Poincare.

The

conflict,

of the Expert

On

the

stein

III

however, was

at the center

of the scientific endeavors

Class at the Patent Office in Bern.

When

Dynamics of the Electron appeared in Paris on June

was

just getting his solutions

for the press. It

5,

Poincare’s 1905, Ein-

of this and other problems ready

was something no one had expected: the theory of

relativity.

The

axiomatic structure of Einstein’s paper betrays

lectual efforts, the roads

him

other ways

—

of the intel-

and the wrong turnings, which eventually led

to the solution. Footnotes are

among

little

in that

it

no help

here: the paper

does not contain

is

unique

a single bibliographical

Relative reference. 28

Movement: "My

The few

Seven Years

Life for

165

extant letters between 1903 and 1905 contain

nothing about the ideas that led Einstein to his

relativity theory,

means

must

that any reconstruction of his thinking

recollections of others and

papers

tific

on the equally scant

—and, of course, on

were not recorded

until very

much

later,

But

is

not the same

are colored

as the

by what

viewing angle.” 29

am

I

Two

one of fifty,

and Einstein himself,

thirty,

at present, in

weeks before

rian of science that he himself

if

man

Einstein’s recollections are

still

in his

of sixty-

other words by a deceptive

his death

he told

young

a

had “always found himself

they are not always consistent, and

scien-

or twenty. All memories

source of information concerning the genesis of his

even

own

his recollections

Nekrolog written in 1946, points out that “the present

seven

on the scant

rest

hints in his

his recollections.

which

at

own

a

histo-

very poor

ideas.” 30

But

times even contradictory,

our best and certainly our most inter-

esting source.

Einstein often described the beginning of the ten-year incubation

period

—

a

mental experiment in his schooldays in Aarau.

tured an observer running after a ray of light.

would be

He

What he would

had

pic-

perceive

similar to the impression of a surfer riding ahead of a wave,

at rest relative to the

water while between two

crests.

In the case of

light this situation corresponds to a electromagnetic field spatially

oscillating but at rest:

But such

a

thing does not seem to

exist, either

on the grounds of

experience or according to the Maxwellian equations. But intuitively

it

seemed

to

me

clear

from the outset

that,

judged by

such an observer, everything would have to unroll according to the same laws as for an observer at rest relative to the earth. For

how could is

that first observer

in a state of rapid

know, or be able to discover, that he

uniform motion? 31

This paradox clearly revealed

On

a

crack in the foundations of physics.

the one hand there was mechanics, in which an observer traveling

with the speed of light or even faster was entirely thinkable; on the other hand there was electrodynamics, according to which such an

1

The Patent Office

66

observer would have to see something that evidently does not

That was why an

observer, or indeed any material body, could never

attain the velocity of light

—which

how

any observer, no matter

fast

is

therefore a limiting velocity, for

theory was already present in that paradox

cial relativity

stated that this mental experiment like

move in any inerthe germ of the spe-

the observer might

system. In retrospect, Einstein believed “that

tial

exist.

an inner compass,

it

He

32 .

had always been with him

33 .

later

And

seems to have led the student straight to what

was “fundamentally important

” 34

During the summer vacation

after Einstein’s third year at the Poly-

in physics.

technic the old problem emerged in a letter to Mileva,

now

against the

background of his study of Helmholtz and Hertz, and with remarkable self-assurance for a

young man:

I’m more and more convinced that the electrodynamics of

moving bodies reality,

The

and that

as it

it

is

will

presented today doesn’t correspond to

be possible to present

it

in a simpler way.

introduction of the term “ether” into theories of electricity

has led to the conception of a

described without,

meaning

to

A month

believe,

I

medium whose motion can be being able to ascribe physical

it 35 .

later,

evidently in connection with Fizeau’s famous ex-

periment, Einstein “had a good idea for investigating the a

way in which

body’s relative motion with respect to the luminiferous ether affects

the velocity of the propagation of light in transparent bodies.

I

came up with

a

me .” 36

Einstein, in a

manner of

theory about

it

that seems quite plausible to

even

speaking, had imbibed the ether with his

mother’s milk, and despite his doubts that statements about

ment had any meaning, he intended,

as a

good

its

move-

empiricist, to tackle

it

with the tools of observation.

At about that time he conceived another experiment, analogous

to

the Michelson-Morley experiment though not based on any detailed

knowledge of

Weber, was

Wien

in

it ; 37

but this was not performed because the “boss,”

skeptical.

Aachen

38 .

We

Disappointed, Einstein turned to Wilhelm

do not know

if

he received

a reply,

or what

Movement: "My

Relative

came of

Seven Years

Life for

these efforts generally, but

it is

year at the Polytechnic he was very

167

obvious that during his

much concerned

last

with relative

movement.

much

After his exam, while he was job-hunting, Einstein placed

hope

completion of

in the

no idea what

a

paper on relative movement. 39

paper contained.

this

Nor do we know

We

have

anything about

another experiment which Einstein had thought up: “I have

much

method of

now

thought of

a

movement

of matter against the luminiferous ether,” he informed his

friend

very

simpler

Grossmann, “one that

is

based on ordinary interference experi-

ments. If only inexorable fate would grant necessary for them.” 40 theory: “I

am

busily at

which promises had doubted

investigating the relative

Toward

me

the time and tranquillity

the end of 1901 he was back with

work on an electrodynamics of moving

to be quite a capital piece of work.” 41

his ideas,' but

when he

bodies,

At one time he

discovered that only a “simple cal-

culation error” had slipped in and spoiled everything, he was jubilant: “I

now

them more than

believe in

what he believed

ever.” 42

But we

still

do not know

in.

Ele certainly explained his ideas to Professor Kleiner of the University

of Zurich, and this experienced physicist had liked them:

advised

me

to publish

my ideas

on the electromagnetic theory of light

of moving bodies along with the experimental method,”

summed up

the conversation for Mileva.

“He found

proposed to be the simplest and most expedient. about the success. sure.” 43

I’ll

I

the

is

how

method

he

I’ve

was quite happy

write that paper in the next few weeks for

However, he probably was,

He must have

“He

encountered

again, overoptimistic.

difficulties in

putting his ideas on paper,

because instead of publishing he decided to “get

down

to business

now

and read what Lorentz and Drude have written about the electrodynamics of moving bodies.” 44 Jakob Ehrat,

a

former fellow student and

now an assistant, “will have to get the literature how much Einstein may have read, his reading thing that went into print.

making

Versuch of 1895,

use,

now

me.” 45

No

matter

did not produce any-

A year later, by then at the Patent Office, he

was once more “engaging theory,” 46

for

in

comprehensive studies

probably not for the

available in

German.

first

in

electron

time, of Lorentz’s

The Patent Office

168

Einstein by then had totally lost his

initial belief in

the ether.

Even

as a

student he had considered the possibility that electrodynamics might

become “the theory of the movements of moving netisms in empty space.” 47 Poincare in La Science

electricities

et

Phypothese

&

mag-

—which,

according to Solovine’s account48 “for weeks on end captured and

members of

cinated” the

the

Akademie Olympia

—had

fas-

reduced the

ether to a hypothesis which was “convenient for the explanation of

phenomena” and even predicted

that “one day the ether will undoubt-

may have understood this he was himself much closer

edly be discarded as unnecessary.” 49 Einstein

programmatic

as a

invitation,

but by then

to that opinion than the great mathematician.

This must have been recognized by Josef Sauter cal ether

Annalen

am

when he wanted

own

ideas

on the mechaniin

and once more declared:

“I

50 .

Einstein was not interested at

all

His intensive study of radiation theory had convinced

“that Maxwell’s theory does not describe the microstructure of

radiation and therefore ally

to discuss his

models of Maxwellian theory, which had been published

a heretic.” 51

him

his Patent Office colleague

is

not universally tenable.” 52 This view eventu-

culminated in Einstein’s “heuristic viewpoint” on light quanta,

which no longer had any use

for the ether.

Two

months before

state

of knowledge at the time he developed his relativity theory: he

his death, Einstein replied to a question

said that in 1905 “I only

knew Lorentz’s important

treatise

on

his

of 1895,

but not Lorentz’s later work, nor Poincare’s follow-up work. In that sense

my work

in 1905

was independent.” 53 Most probably Lorentz’s

publication of 1904, which for the

first

time presented the “Lorentz

transformations” in generally valid form, was not available in Bern,

having been published in the Proceedings of the Amsterdam Academy,

which was not widely

distributed.

But he must have known

a lot

more

than only Lorentz’s Versuch of 1895. Einstein’s passionate interest in Annalen

is

unlikely to have dimin-

ished during his time in Bern, especially as he was tributor to

it.

now

a regular

con-

my free

time

Although he once complained that “during

Movement: “My

Relative the library

closed,” 54 he should have

is

with publications. His

169

had no problem keeping up

would have occasionally involved

the city and university libraries, so that, in addition to elec-

visits to

trical

official duties

Seven Years”

Life for

engineering publications, he could have studied physical jour-

nals. 55 If that

him some

was not enough, Professor Gruner would surely have lent

publication for excerpting.

therefore seems virtually impossible that Einstein could have

It

missed the seventy-five-page treatise Principles of the Dynamics of the Electron 56

by the Gottingen privatdozent

Max Abraham. He

had Abraham’s paper, published in 1904, On Radiation Pressure

own

paper.

57 ,

or at least notes on

it,

certainly

the Theory of Radiation

and

when he wrote

available

That same year Einstein would have been

his

able to read in

Annalen Wilhelm Wien’s Differential Equations of the Electrodynamics of

Moving

Bodies, 58

which contained many references

ture, as well as a

subsequent polemic between

to the latest litera-

Wien and Abraham,

in

which Wien not only quoted Lorentz’s work of the same year but actually provided an outline of

On

Annalen

59

The

Emil Cohn likewise published

retician

tions

it.

,

outstanding Strasbourg theohis

phenomenological

the Equations of the Electromagnetic Field for as

Moving

reflec-

Bodies60 in

an alternative to Lorentz’s theory.

The most important

experimental contribution of those years,

Walter Kaufmann’s measurements of the deflection of electrons electric

and magnetic

kalische Zeitschrift, 61

fields,

founded

in

appeared not in Annalen but in Physi-

in 1900,

which was

also available in Bern.

Indeed Einstein must have positively had his nose rubbed in

it

by

Abraham’s and Wien’s theoretical treatment of that question.

The text

is

only aspect of this discussion of immediate interest in

this

con-

the fact that the velocity of light was emerging as a limit for the

movement of the

electron, with

Wien,

for instance, declaring that “by

exceeding the velocity of light an infinite amount of work would be

performed.” 62

More

particularly, the

increment in the mass of the

electron at increasing velocity was seen as an indication of the electro-

magnetic origin of

all

mass, the

more

so as this view fitted well into

endeavors for an “electromagnetic world picture” physics and as an alternative to mechanics.

as the

foundation of

The Patent Office

170

Despite their physical sophistication and mathematical virtuosity, the theories put forward and discussed at the beginning of the century

must have seemed imperfect

to Einstein because of their adherence

to the ether as a referential system at rest. Also,

he had long been

unhappy about the customary view of electrodynamics, of

if

asymmetry. This concerned Michael Faraday’s

its

ment,

only because

classic experi-

simple school experiment watched by millions of students

a

much thought in them. To Einstein, however, it was of crucial importance. This we can read between the lines of the opening paragraph of one of his publications, and we know about it without setting off

from

a

manuscript, completed in 1920, for a special issue of the

English periodical Nature devoted to relativity theory.

When

ready he complained to his translator that “unfortunately so long that fact, a

very

I

much doubt

if it

it

has

it

was

grown

can be published in Nature” 63 In

greatly abridged version 64 was published, leaving out

(among

other things) some personal reminiscences which, fortunately, have

come down

to us with the thirty-one-page original version. 65

After nineteen pages of objective didactic exposition, Einstein

abandoned

his

dry

scientific style

and offered

a surprising insight into

the subjective aspects of his reflections:

In the creation of the special relativity theory the following, not

mentioned, idea about Faraday’s magnetoelectric

previously

induction played a leading role.

During the electric

circuit

induced in the is

moved or

relative

movement of a magnet with

an electric current latter. It

is,

according to Faraday,

makes no difference whether the magnet

the conductor, what matters

only. According to the

regard to an

is

the relative

movement

Maxwell-Lorentz theory, however, the

theoretical interpretation of the

phenomenon

is

very different for

the two situations. If the

magnet

is

moved,

a time-variable field exists in space,

which, according to Maxwell, gives

rise to

closed electric lines of

a physically real electric field; this electric field

force,

i.e.

sets in

motion the movable

electric

then

masses within the conductor.

Relative If,

Movement: "My

however, the magnet

moved, then no

at rest

is

electric field

Life for

is

Seven Years

and the

171

electric circuit

is

created. Instead, the current

is

caused in the conductor through the fact that the electricities

moved with

the conductor are subject, through their (mechani-

cally enforced)

motion

relative to the

magnetic

an elec-

field, to

tromotive force hypothetically introduced by Lorentz.

What

described

Einstein

Faraday in 1831

as

here had been discovered by Michael

one of the milestones on the road to

a

understanding of electricity and magnetism. Quite apart from retical

it

gave

rise to the

development of generators

an electrical current and motors to use electrical

In

electrical

it.

As

a

to

produce

youngster in the family’s

machines from

his uncle Jakob.

As

for the pitfalls of

had probably encountered those

as a stu-

Polytechnic in August Foppl’s 66 book on Maxwell’s theory.

at the

its

theo-

engineering firm, Einstein must have learned something

theoretical interpretation, he

dent

its

importance, Faraday’s demonstration had enormous practical

consequences:

about

uniform

chapter,

fifth

“The Electrodynamics of Moving Conductors,”

Foppl analyzed the arrangement of magnet and conductor in terms of relative

movement

—without, however, noting any profound

conflict

of principle. Einstein’s friend and colleague Besso believed that

it

was he who

had introduced the topic into their conversations, and “thereby having participated in the relativity theory, realizing as an electrical engineer that

what

in the

induced part

as

framework of Maxwellian theory appears

an electromotive force or

as

ing to whether the inductor of an alternator

must be viewed

in the

an electric force, accordis

at rest or in rotation”

“as a peculiar practical anticipation of the relativity

concept.” 67 Einstein, of course, had been aware of that problem since his student days, so that his talks

with Besso merely gave

it

sharper

outline.

Let us

see, then,

what conclusions Einstein drew from the asym-

metric description of Faraday’s experiment:

The to

idea that these

me.

I

were two disparate situations was intolerable

was convinced that the difference between the two was

The Patent Office

172 merely

of the station of the observer.

a difference in the choice

Viewed from the magnet there present, viewed

The

existed.

from the

certainly

electric circuit,

was no such a

electric field field certainly

existence of the electric field, therefore, was a rela-

according to the state of motion of the system of co-

tive one,

ordinates

used,

and only the

electric

and

magnetic

fields

of motion of the observer, or the —regardless of the kind of objective system of coordinates — could be adjudged state

jointly

a

This phenomenon of magnetoelectric induction com-

reality.

me

pelled

From

a

to postulate the [special] relativity theory

footnote to the above account

we may conclude

“The

difficulty to

be overcome was in the constant nature of

the velocity of light in a vacuum, which initially

This

to discard.”

that Einstein

was toying with alternatives to the Lorentz-Maxwell

for a while

theory:

68 .

is

I

thought

I

would have

one of the few indications of endeavors in the

course of which he intended to do without the universally constant velocity of light, inherent in the theory.

The velocity of light was

to be

constant only for an observer stationed next to the light source,

whereas

different value,

the source. ideas

on

moving

observers

all

relative to that source

depending on their own

That was not only

rel.

relative velocity

with regard to

he

later

theory

it

wrote of one such “emission

was

also

mine .” 69

But Einstein returned penitently to Lorentz’s theory,

by the knowledge that the independence of state

of motion of the

theory, even

if it

light’s

before. Later he

Mechanically

him back

light’s velocity

richer

from the

to the

relativity principle in

same contradictory

would sum up that dilemma all inertial

now

source must be a crucial part of any future

openly contradicted the

chanics. This brought

me-

situation as

as follows:

systems are equal. According to experi-

ence, this equality extends also to optics, or electrodynamics.

This equality, however, seemed unattainable in the theory of the latter.

due to

At an early stage a

a

plausible but also in line with Einstein’s

light quanta. In fact,

theory” that “prior to the

would measure

I

gained the conviction that this was

profound imperfection of the theoretical system.

wish to discover and to eliminate

this created in

me

The

a state

of

Movement: "My

Relative

Life for

Seven Years

173

psychological tension which, after seven years of vain searching,

was resolved by the dimension

relativization of the concepts of time

70 .

These “profound imperfections,” however, were not

to be eliminated

by the well-tested methods of “normal science,” even level

of Annalen. In this Nekrolog Einstein described

was aware of those looked for I

and

difficulties

at the exalted

how

intensely he

and in which direction he eventually

a solution:

was more and more

in despair

ering the true laws by

about the possibility of discov-

means of constructive

efforts

based on

known facts. The longer and the more desperately I tried, the more I gained the conviction that only the discovery of a general formal principle could lead us to safe

dynamics

as a

the theorem:

results. I

regarded thermo-

model. There, the general principle was stated in

The

laws of nature are of such a character that

impossible to construct a perpetuum mobile (of the

second type). But

Not

how was

until Einstein

such

a principle to

it is

first

or

be discovered ? 71

had actually discovered the principle did he

understand that his earlier efforts to resolve these painful paradoxes

had been “doomed to acter of time

failure so

long

as the

axiom of the absolute char-

and simultaneity were anchored,

the subconscious .” 72

What was

from the subconscious

it

albeit unrecognized, in

about time that Einstein had to

to the conscious

mind before he could

raise

“rela-

tivize” it?

“WTat is time?” This question was asked long ago by St. Augustine, who was not the first to find himself perplexed by it: “If no one asks me about it I know it, but if I am to explain it to a questioner I do not know it .” 73 Not so the fathers of modern physics. Newton, for one, was less

concerned about any internal experience of time than he was

impressed by the regularity of the planetary system and the logic of mechanics.

he

said,

He

“of

saw an “absolute,

itself,

and from

its

true,

and mathematical time” which,

own

nature flows equably without

regard to any thing external and by another

Newton

name

is

called duration .” 74

himself must have been aware that this explanation was

cir-

The Patent Office

174 cular

—and that

this absolute time,

unchanging and independent of the

material world, evidently could not be measured or read off anywhere.

What was measurable was something different: “relative, apparent, and common time,” which according to Newton “is some sensible and external (whether accurate or unequable measure of duration

means of motion, which an hour,

common

a day, a

is

month,

commonly used

a year.”

by the

instead of true time, such as

This distinction between absolute and

human

time was forced on Newton, not only by fluctuating

perceptions of time and by the inaccuracy of the clocks of his day,

but also by small irregularities in that best of the rotation of the Earth.

was no motion by which But

this did

Newton even thought

common

it

natural timepieces, possible that there

time could be measured accurately.

not affect the existence or unchangeability of true time;

and getting close to true time was equable, progress of absolute time

True

all

time,

though not

a

is

a task

of science: “The true, or

no change.”

liable to

substance like the ether, was regarded as

an objective “something,” present throughout space, but independent of space and of matter, or of their states of motion. If someone in Lon-

moment as “now,” then this “now” would also be valid not only for Hamburg or Beijing, but also for the moon or for Sirius. This is in line not only with human perceptions of time but also don defined

a

and more significantly for physicists

—with

Newtonian mechanics.

Gravity, according to Newton’s law of gravity, propagates instanta-

neously throughout space, so that a stone falling to the ground on

Earth must, “at the same moment,” cause effects surably small ones

—

albeit

immea-

—on the moon. That was why everybody, especially

mathematicians and physicists, had been happy for centuries with

Newtonian uniform

As time”

time. Einstein later caricatured this idea as an “eternally

tic-tac perceptible

a student Einstein

made no

only to ghosts, but to them everywhere .” 75

had already learned from Mach that “absolute

sense. In his Mechanik,

Mach

pointed out that absolute

time could not be measured anywhere and that therefore practical

and also of no

knows anything about

scientific value; it,

it

a

is

no one

to physics. But

it

“was of no

entitled to say that

he

useless ‘metaphysical’ concept .” 76

Mach’s strong language was confined to

no importance

is

it

criticism

must have been

and

initially

was of

to the taste of the

Relative rebellious student,

Movement: "My

who

Life for

Seven Years

probably remembered

175

from the

that, apart

definition of time spans with clocks of whatever kind, there

“time in

was no

itself.”

From

his study of Poincare, Einstein gathered that time should be

regarded merely

as a

convenient convention. In La Science

et

Vhypothese

Poincare not only rejected “absolute time” but widened his critique to other intuitive certainties such as simultaneity at different locations:

“Not only do we have no times, but

direct experience of the equality of

we do not even have one

two

of the simultaneity of two events

occurring in different places.” 77 For details Poincare referred to his essay The Measure of Time

,

published in 1898 in a philosophical

journal 78 not read by physicists.

Given the eagerness with which, according

members of

the

the

would be surprising Poincare concluded of

all

line

Akademie Olympia studied Poincare’s book, if

before

it

could be measured, time would

—not, however,

in an arbitrary

first

manner but

in

with the simplest possible form of the laws of nature: “Simul-

two events or

their sequence,

and the equality of two spaces

way as

to ensure the simplest possible

of time must be defined in such a

formulation of natural laws. In other words, definitions, are

merely the

fruits

power over human minds because

a

it

to enlightened

it.

—

all

these

as well

and gained such

A

good opportunity

for ele-

optimism was provided by Lorentz’s electro-

dynamics through the introduction of (t

these rules,

naive sense of time and Newton’s

theory of gravitation had converged in vating

all

of unconscious optimism.” 79

This unconscious optimism had worked

=

it

they had not also gotten hold of that essay.

that,

have to be defined

taneity of

t'

to Solovine’s account,

vx/c2 ) for referential systems

a

transformed “local time”

moving with

a velocity v relative

to the ether. Lorentz, however, clung to the idea of “true time”

regarded “local time”

A

as

merely

a

and

mathematical device.

physical interpretation of Lorentz’s local time was provided by

Poincare in his outline of a method of synchronizing clocks by light signals

—the same procedure Einstein would subsequently use

element in constructing

his relativity theory.

as a vital

This would suggest that

Poincare came very close to the relativity theory himself, but in fact he never intended any further modifications, believing with Lorentz that

The Patent Office thus regulated “show not the true time, but what could be called

.v/vKS

‘local time.’

” 80

He

thus remained within the conceptual framework of

Lorentz’s theory, and relativity theory was discovered by someone else.

Einstein’s paper of 1905 reveals nothing of the

background to

stroke of genius, and in later years he always referred to table brevity.

The

such reference was in

first

a

it

his

with regret-

major overview

article

written toward the end of 1907 for the Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Elektronik 81 (to be referred to later as his “Jahrbuch article”). “It turned out, surprisingly, that

precisely

enough

to

it

was only necessary7 to define the time concept

overcome the

realization that an auxiliary

by him

called

‘local

.

.

.

needed was the

difficulty. All it

term introduced by H. A. Lorentz and

time’ could be defined as ‘time’ purely and

simply.” 82

His

comments were,

later

he wrote: “Only ficulty

after years

if

anything, even

of probing did

I

more

laconic. In

become aware

1920

that the dif-

was due to the arbitrary nature of the basic kinematic con-

cepts.” 83

And

four years

later:

“By means of a

simultaneity in a shapable form theory.” 84 Further details are genesis of the theory self “in a strangely

came up

I

revision of the concept of

arrived at the special relativity

nowhere

Whenever

to be found.

in conversation, Einstein expressed

impersonal manner.

He

the

him-

hour of birth of

called the

” 85

Thus we know that the hour of birth was that fine May evening when Einstein discussed his “difficult problem” with Besso, and we also know that Einstein found his soluthe relativity theory ‘the step.’

tion

by “an

them

analysis of the time concept.” 86

discussed, and

how

But

just

what the two of

the crucial idea emerged, and

how

immediately afterward, “completely solved” his problem

Einstein,

—

all

that

probably happened during that conversation with Besso?

It is

remains concealed in the darkness of a night in May.

What

likely that the friends

which he presented

had before them one of Poincare’s papers

his

method

for the synchronization of clocks as

being equivalent to Lorentz’s “local time” St.

—either

Louis or his contribution to the Lorentz

quoted by Einstein

a

year

in

his

Festschrift.

later, in a different context, 87

1904 lecture in

The so

it

latter

was

must have

Movement: "My

Relative

Seven Years”

Life for

177

been available to him in Bern. As for Poincare’s lecture The State and Future of Mathematical Physics Einstein could have found that either in ,

a

widely read journal 88 or in

hot off the press, of a collection of

a copy,

essays called The Value of Science

.

89 It

also

seems

versation Einstein and Besso discovered

synchronization procedure that

may

con-

likely that in their

some

aspects of Poincare’s

have escaped Poincare himself.

How would it be — the two friends, by then skeptical about “true time,” might have asked not just

a

—

if

the time defined by Poincare’s experiment was

mathematical device for Lorentz’s “local time” but in

fact

everything that a physicist could expect of a meaningful concept?

Admittedly

this

would give

a different

“time” for every inertial system,

but the constancy of the velocity of light for any observer would in that case be inherent in Poincare’s definition of simultaneity and not, as with Lorentz, have to be forcibly

brought about by

would

a laborious

adjustment to theory.

The

fruitfulness of this exceedingly daring idea

struck Einstein at

home, when he

cept,

as

—introduced an independent hypothesis — from

by Lorentz into

this

his

modified time con-

without any further assumptions, and in thus obtaining

formation of the local coordinates. As

later

succeeded in deriving the

easily

“Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction”

theory

might have

a trans-

a skilled electrodynamicist

he

would then have examined the behavior of the Maxwell-Lorentz equations

under these transformations.

When

it

emerged

his nocturnal calculations that these equations that,

moreover, the “Lorentz force,” introduced

in the course of

were invariant and as

an independent

hypothesis into electron theory, also resulted readily from the trans-

formation behavior, virtually everything was accomplished. Relativity principle and universal constancy of the velocity of light, Maxwellian

theory and Lorentz transformations: everything came together in the most wonderful way, and the following lantly

informed

his friend

morning Einstein

jubi-

Besso that he had “completely solved” the

problem.

This discovery was undoubtedly Einstein’s most intense experience.

The

happy time

five

weeks he needed to prepare

for him. In fact, he

colleague Sauter he merely said:

it

for publication

was speechless with happiness.

“My joy is

indescribable .” 90

were

To

a

his

CHAPTER TEN

The Theory

of Relativity:

“A Modification of the

Space and Time”

of

It

obvious from the

is

Theory

style

and structure of Einstein’s paper On

Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies that

author expected

its

it

only in Annalen der Physik, but also in the annals of history.

with great care, and but also

its

its

Part” which in turn

of these parts

is

a

his friend

mere

novelty

five

is

introduction

followed by the “Kinematic

is

succeeded by the “Electrodynamic Part.” Each

further subdivided into five sections. Einstein had

tain ... to interest

on

its

written

definitive character.

The programmatic

promised

to live not

It is

axiomatic structure reflects not only

the

Conrad Habicht: “the purely kinematic part

you”

1 ;

and in

two sections of that

fact the first

printed pages, contain

all

is

the essentials of the

cept of time and space. In the next three sections of the

cerpart,

new con-

first

part the

consequences affecting the kinematic space-time structure are purely deductively derived. In the second part

trodynamics are presented in their

new

some

central problems of elec-

garb, as a practical application

of what has just been set out.

The

structure of the paper, giving preference to kinematics over

dynamics, indicates that

ongoing debate, but

it

will

be not just

a revision that

a

new

contribution to an

should transform the conceptual

foundations of physics.

“Kinematics”

is

the theory of the purely geometrical

movements of

bodies without any consideration of forces; once forces are included, physicists speak of “dynamics.” Einstein’s

then

all

would

at

concentrating on dynamics;

most undergo

it

famous contemporaries were

was expected that kinematics

certain modifications through the theoretical

178

The Theory of Relativity

development of dynamics. The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

But

content

its

is

not:

taneously obtains a

As stein

— On

the

entirely in line with that tradition.

is

by presenting

a

new

new dynamics, and

again begins with

Maxwell’s electrodynamics

moving

kinematics, Einstein simul-

thus a

a

contradiction:

—

as usually

new

physics.

is

“It

well

is

understood

at

known

present

In this

first

—when to

sentence Einstein suggests not

anything wrong with the theory, but only that

wrongly interpreted. Nevertheless,

that

seem

bodies, leads to asymmetries that do not

phenomena .” 2

attach to the that there

of Einstein’s paper

title

paper on his “heuristic viewpoint” of light quanta, Ein-

in the

applied to

—

179

this will

make

all

it

is

the difference,

because in an appropriate interpretation, he implies, the symmetry of the

phenomena would

be reflected in the theory. This

also have to

profound change in fundamental concepts.

call for a

Actually,

no one

else

had regarded these asymmetries

worth discussing, so that the opening sentence

known

as a

—beginning

problem

“It is well

—urgently needs an explanation. Einstein provides

.” .

will

.

this

by

using the example of Faraday’s induction experiment, one of the main

themes of

his years

of “pondering.” Although the magnitude and

depend

direction of the induced current

ment of conductor and magnet, present,”

makes

magnet and conductor.

solely

on the

a strict distinction

fact that Einstein

does not of course belong in

move-

the theory, “as usually understood at

between the situation of moving

stationary conductor versus stationary

The

relative

found

this

magnet and moving

asymmetry

“intolerable

”3

a scientific publication.

Einstein next establishes a surprising link between this “intolerable”

asymmetry and

a totally different

a class

problem:

Examples of a similar kind, confirm

a

of experiments which seem to represent

as well as the unsuccessful

motion of the Earth

attempts to

relative to the “light

medium,”

lead to the assumption that not only in mechanics, but also in

electrodynamics, there are no properties of the

phenomena

that

are in accordance with the concept of absolute rest.

At

first

glance, there

is

no connection between the

theoretical descrip-

tion of the induction experiment (involving conductor and magnet)

The Patent Office

180

and the experiments on ether

drift.

To

have recognized

both are connected with the problem of

how

closely

movement was

relative

a

stroke of genius. It brought together the difficulties of interpreting

Maxwellian theory and led straight to the

relativity principle as a sign-

post on the road to resolving them.

A tries

system involving absolute rest results in “intolerable” asymmeand, moreover,

is

not observable by ether-drift experiments or

any other methods. Such

a metaphysical

monster makes no physical

sense and should therefore be banished from physical theory. For that reason, Einstein continues: ... in

all

coordinate systems in which the mechanical equations

are valid, also the as has already

same electrodynamic and

optical laws are valid,

been shown for quantities of the

made

This proposal

is

Galileo’s ship,

moving uniformly and

a

kind of update,

are unable to determine

first

possible

4 .

by Poincare, of

whose occupants

rectilinearly,

whether they are

order

or in motion, no

at rest

matter what mechanical or electrodynamic-optical experiments they

may perform. Immediately afterward, Einstein compresses the entire range of his thinking

—from the mental experiment of

his schooldays in

—into

the complexities of the Maxwell-Lorentz theorytence,

which already contains

We

Aarau to

a single sen-

a hint of the solution:

(whose content

shall raise this conjecture

will

principle of relativity”) to the status of a postulate

be called “the

and

shall intro-

duce, in addition, the postulate, only seemingly incompatible

with the former one, that in empty space light gated with a definite velocity

of motion of the emitting body

The state)

which

c

is

observer

—for instance,

one

always propa-

independent of the

state

5 .

“principle of relativity” implies (though that the velocity of light

is

is

it

does not explicitly

constant not only for a single

sitting at the light source

—but

for

any

observer.

These two

postulates are mutually incompatible in

mechanics. Einstein’s main

task, therefore, will

Newtonian

be to prove that

this

The Theory incompatibility

is

of Relativity

181

only apparent. At the same time Einstein announces

firmly and bluntly that the “luminiferous ether” will “prove superfluous.”

Thus

the concept that governed throughout the nineteenth

century will be discarded.

Toward

the end of his introduction Einstein

points out that his theory will base itself

on the kinematics of

rigid

bodies, “since assertions of each and any theory concern the relations

between

rigid bodies (coordinate systems), clocks,

He

processes .” 6

and electromagnetic

thereby indicates that the “new thinking” will repre-

sent a reinterpretation of space and time in concretizing the measure-

ment of spatial and time

new

prerequisite of

No

all

distances

—

in fact, a theory of

measuring

as a

physics.

one had considered anything so elementary to be necessary or

even to make sense. Despite the complexities of Lorentz’s theory, the procedures for measuring space and time were so

much

a

matter of

course in physicists’ prescientific, unconscious “old thinking” that even Poincare, though he

made

profound critique in several directions,

a

did not achieve a decisive revision.

Before turning to Einstein’s

new

ideas of space

and time,

useful to examine the methodological status of his tions: the “principle

it

may be

two presupposi-

of relativity” and the universal constancy of the

velocity of light.

Both principles not

a direct

are,

of course, related to experience, but they are

consequence of experience.

though inherent

in mechanics,

is

The

“principle of relativity,”

not inherent in electrodynamics

based on the ether. Only with major efforts had “rescue”

it

as a generalization

For Einstein

to elevate

on philosophical

it

up

it

been possible

to magnitudes of first order in

to a general postulate, based at least as

on experience, was therefore

reflection as

to

v/c.

much

a signifi-

cant step beyond empirical knowledge. Einstein’s procedure, based

more

on postulated

clearly with his second presupposition.

of light

is

independent of the

state of

principles,

The

emerges even

fact that the velocity

motion of

its

source

is

purely

empirical and might equally well have turned out otherwise. In his

Jahrbuch

article,

this question:

two and

a half

whether or not

years later, Einstein would return to

this

presupposition

“is in fact really ful-

The Patent Office

182 filled in

nature

anything but

is

a

matter of course, though

it is

rendered

of coordinate system of — for motion — by the confirmations which Lorentz’s theory, based upon the

probable

at

least

assumption of an ether

definite

a

a

state

from experi-

at absolute rest, has received

ment.” 7 Direct experimental evidence of Einstein’s postulate was unobtainable at the beginning of the century. 8

Thus

his presupposition

does not follow inevitably from experience but can be justified only by success.

According to Einstein’s announcement, such success consists

in the fact that “these

two postulates

suffice for arriving at a simple

consistent electrodynamics of moving bodies rest.” 9 In his

theory for bodies at

two

on the

and

basis of Maxwell’s

principles, therefore, Einstein

reached that firm ground which, on the model of thermodynamics, “could lead to reliable results.” 10

Einstein’s decisive step

more

was the

accurately, his careful examination of what

intervals

means

His

in physics.

and time,

“relativization” of space

definitions,

or,

measurement of time

set

down

tion with these principles, jointly provide the foundation

in conjunc-

from which

everything comprised by the “special relativity theory” can then be derived.

The formulation in which the theory was born is actually known today. Subsequent presentations, some by Einstein placed the emphases well as the

the

somewhat

more demanding

“new thinking”

still

differently, 11

as it

is

himself,

and most textbooks,

popularizations, have followed

suit. 12

emerges more clearly than anywhere

Einstein’s paper of 1905, especially in the

“kinematic part.”

scarcely

A fairly full

first

as

But

else in

few sections of the

account of that “prelude”

is

as

tempting

indispensable, although the contents of the later sections can be

sketched out only in their essentials.

The

first

sound

section

trivial, as

Einstein had to cisely.

To

that

is

headed “Definition of Simultaneity.” This may

we all know

believe

we know what

precisely7

simultaneity means. But

and to formulate

end he proceeds from

a

“system

his definition pre-

at rest,” the

customary

three-dimensional Euclidian space with Cartesian coordinates, in

which the movement of

a

body

is

described by

its

coordinates as a

The Theory of Relativity function of time. This

why

asked themselves

so conventional that

is

physical meaning, ‘time.’

” 13

we

many

readers must have

was even mentioned. Einstein, however, con-

it

by stating that “for such

tinues

183

have to

first

Here we have

a

mathematical description to have

a

clarify

what

is

to be understood

a

by

suggestion that this has not been the case in

the past, and, evidently using Poincare’s critique of the customary

understanding of time, Einstein makes involving time

tions

events.”

To

always propositions

are

all

our proposi-

about simultaneous

ensure that no one will miss the importance of this asser-

tion, Einstein illustrates

with what

it

sentence ever printed in Annalen arrives here at 7 o’clock,’ that

small

hand of

neous

events.’

This

clear “that

it

my

:

“If,

is

perhaps the most unassuming

for example, I say that ‘the train

means more or

less, ‘the

pointing of the

clock to 7 and the arrival of the train are simulta-

” 14

sufficiently defines a “time,”

though

Anyone who has ever

tion of the clock.

initially

reflected

only for the loca-

on time, whether

a

physicist or not, will readily extend this plausible understanding of

“time” to the whole universe, in the sense that the position of the

hands of the Bern station clock shows the “true” time not only for

Geneva or Zurich, but even be correct

if

also for the

moon and

for Sirius.

This could

signals propagated instantaneously or, in other

words, at infinite velocity. Einstein,

moving

however,

concerned with the electrodynamics of

is

bodies, and that

is

—which

velocity of light

why

it

makes sense

finite.

That

is

why

in the

enormously high, but

is

it is

Einstein insists that his definition of simultaneity

valid only for the location of the clock. “It as series

overwhelming role

plays such an

Maxwell-Lorentz theory. This velocity

to introduce here the

becomes

insufficient as

is

soon

of events occurring at different locations have to be linked

temporally, or

—what amounts to the same—events occurring

at places

remote from the clock have to be evaluated temporally.” 15 This would require a definition of the assignment of times to spatially separated locations, to be effected

by

specific clocks

and

real physical processes.

Einstein accomplishes this assignment by proposing a synchronization procedure tical

which

is

exactly the

same

as Poincare’s.

clocks at spatially separated locations

A

Let two iden-

and B indicate “A time”

The Patent Office

184

and “B time.”

The

time

common to A and B

thing that exists and can has

now

by the

“B time”

2b,

B

and

are synchronous

“A time” 2a

at

arrives

back

at

tA

“A time” of a clock

at location

may be

is

reflected

is

equal to the

at rest” for

t' B

~

t

a

spatial location

(t 'a

+

B can be

tf)

which these observations were

—that the velocity of

a universal constant. Einstein thus obtained a

fered fundamentally

set to the

17

stated “in accordance with experience”

with Maxwell-Lorentz theory

A at

from B toward

A in accordance with l

it

B

A at “A time” 2'a. The two clocks

=

ts— h For the “system

,

any

this definition all clocks in

made,

A to

if16

by definition

tB~

With

physicist. It

needs to travel from B to A. For, suppose a ray of light

it

A toward

leaves

some-

be determined by establishing by definition that the

“time” needed for the light to travel from “time”

not, for Einstein,

discovered, but something that

to be appropriately established

first

can

somehow be

is

—

initially

in line

i.e.,

light in a

vacuum

time concept which

is

dif-

from that of Newtonian theory, where any “A

time,” just like any “B time,” was valid throughout the universe. This

new

definition of time

theory, with

its

ether at

would have been useful even

for Lorentz’s

ultimately equivalent to Lorentz’s local

rest, as

time. Poincare had noticed that but

had

failed to

draw the implied

conclusions. Einstein,

on the other hand, would draw important conclusions

from these seemingly pedantic

reflections

—

in the next section,

he considers rigid bodies, clocks, and observer in motion

where

relative to

each other.

At the beginning of the second

section,

sions and Times,” Einstein once

precisely as possible.

“Suppose let it

a

have

rod a

the Relativity of

more formulates

measured with

/.”

Now

a

Dimen-

two principles

his

Then, abruptly and without any

at rest;

length

“On

lead-in,

he

measuring rod likewise

suppose the rod

is

put into

as

says:

at rest;

a state

of

The Theory of Relativity

motion with

moving

the

constant velocity

a

rod, describes

how

v.

185

Einstein, asking about the length of

can be determined by two funda-

this

mentally different operations.

To

be sure, Einstein

throughout

referring,

is

using almost “prerelativist” terminology by

this section, to a

rod, either at rest or in motion,

system “at rest” in which the

—

the background of Lorentzian theory

lets

through,

reader can lose the thread. For that reason

formulation

this

motionless ether

a

which even an

also leads to complications in

it

While

observed.

is

I shall

—shine

attentive

use two referential

systems: this will deviate from Einstein’s text but will not change his

argument. In

fact, in his

next section Einstein himself goes over to this

clearer presentation.

Consider, then, two referential systems k and K, both furnished

with measuring rods and synchronized clocks,

and congruent.

The

initially at relative rest

length of the rod arranged parallel to the

of course, the same in both systems:

/.

v.

v relative to K, with the rod at rest in k but

The

length of the rod in k can

now

is,

Let the rod and system k

be accelerated until they move along the x-axis ity

.r-axis

at a

constant veloc-

moving

in

K at velocity

be “thought to be obtained by

two operations.” 18 First let an observer determine the length of the rod at rest in

k.

must be the same

as

“According to the the length

/

relativity principle” this length

of the rod at rest in K.

Any

deviation

would annul the

equivalence of the two systems and thereby violate the relativity principle. ciple

While no one

at this

—would expect anything

point

— even without the

different, the

relativity prin-

second operation immedi-

ately brings a surprise.

An

observer in system K, relative to which the rod

velocity

ends

A

v,

now

and B of the rod are

one obtains “also ” 19

This

is

principles,

This

is

a

is

at a definite

at

and

moment.

length which one might

will

it

call ‘the

moving rod

now determine

will find

If the distance

measured with the measuring rods from K,

the length tab of the

announces that he

two

moving

determines by means of the synchronized clocks where

between these two points

rod.’

is

in striking contrast to the

in system K. Einstein

this length

to be different

length of the

from

“on the

basis of

our

/.” 20

commonsense

idea

—which had

The Patent Office

186

been the well-tested

basis of physics for several centuries

length of the rod should be entirely independent of whe ther

—that the it is

at rest

or in motion relative to the observer. In his Jahrbuch article Einstein will use the at rest

term “geometric shape” for the length which an observer

next to the rod determines by the application of measuring rods;

moving rod

the length of the

is its

“kinematic shape.” “It

that an observer at rest relative to an inertial system

only the kinematic shape, related to K, of

but not

To

its

K can

body moving

a

obvious

determine

relative to K,

geometrical shape.” 21

determine the kinematic properties of the rod

moving

is

in K,

imagine clocks

A

ends

fitted to

at rest in k

but

and B of the rod, these

clocks being synchronized with those in system

K and

hence showing

the

same time

his

thought experiment, “that each clock has an observer co-moving

with

it,

as the clocks in K.

“Suppose

also,” Einstein continues

and that these observers apply to the two clocks the criterion

for synchronization formulated in §1.” 22

emitted from A; this tA- All times,

is

reflected at

B

At time

time

at

tA a

ray of light

and returns to

ts

is

A at time

Einstein points out in a footnote, are those of system K.

Allowing for the constant velocity of light in

K

,

the time differences

on

the forward and return travel are:

~ tA ) = tab + v ( tB - tA ~ tB) = tab — v it ~ tB) and hence c it t'A — tA — TAB / (c + v) + TAB / (c - v) c ( tB '

If the clocks

were synchronous

along with the rod clocks at in

k.

A and

'

B

—the equation

in k t'A

—that

~

for observers

2 tab/c

are therefore synchronous in

Einstein thereby demonstrates “that

meaning

—

tA

is,

when observed from some

apply.

The

K but not for observers

we must not

to the concept of simultaneity, instead

simultaneous

would

moving

ascribe absolute

two events that are

particular coordinate system

when observed from a system.” There are as many

can no longer be considered simultaneous system that

is

moving

relative to that

“times” as there are inertial systems:

i.e.,

an infinite number. This

the burden of Einstein’s critical reflections

on time and

also the

is

proof

of the relative nature of simultaneity. In the heading of his second section Einstein also mentions the

The Theory relativity

187

of Relativity

of dimensions, and in the text he actually proposes to deter-

mine the length

vab “and find that

discovery the reader waits in vain.

paragraph or two intended to unthinkable

let

may have been

The

lost at the

failed to

/.”

But for

this

text strongly suggests that a

proof stage. But

the reader perform that exercise

—he certainly

from

different

it is

make

if

Einstein

—which would not be

that clear.

The gap

remains

unexplained, even though after what has been said in the demonstration of the relativity of time, the relativity of dimensions

entirely

is

plausible.

In conclusion,

it

can be stated that in his

used no more “mathematics” than

The

I

first

have used in

recognition that every inertial system has

two sections Einstein this account.

its

own

time and that

kinematic dimensions in different inertial systems differ from each other cannot, of course,, benefit physics until the relationship between those times and dimensions has been discovered. This stein addresses in his third section,

Transformations.”

He

the task Ein-

is

“Theory of Coordinate and Time

presents a purely kinematic deduction, not

drawing on any other physical assumptions or theories, but based solely

on the two

principles and

on the

definition of time. This reduc-

tion of assumptions underlines Einstein’s endeavor to establish his

transformations as the structure of space and time

—and

hence

as

affecting physics as a whole, not merely as a feature of a special theory

such

as

Lorentz’s electrodynamics.

K with a thus K moves

Consider, therefore, two coordinate systems k and

common

x-axis.

Let k move

relative to

K at velocity v;

relative to k at velocity —v. In “traditional kinematics,” in line with

Galileo’s and

Newton’s ideas of space and time, the Galileo

mations would be the simple relations x nates with a prime sign

representing K. If in

K

(')

— x —

and

t'

=

t,

coordi-

representing k and coordinates without

the velocity of light has the value

according to the Galileo transformations, in k

This would be

vt

transfor-

in conflict with Einstein’s

then,

c,

has the value

c

—

v.

second principle of the uni-

—therefore,

versally constant velocity of light

it

it

other transformations

must be the correct ones. Einstein thus proceeds from the postulate that clocks synchronized

The Patent Office

188

by

light signals

cally

and

at rest in

system

K record

time

whereas identi-

t,

synchronized clocks at rest in system k record time

has therefore to be found between

and

t'

t'

A relation

and between x and

t

x.

rather lengthy derivation of the transformations (this takes

After a

up four

pages and incidentally, like the whole of the “Kinematic Part,”

man-

ages with quite elementary mathematics), Einstein obtains

x—vt

X

V

—v 2 /c2

1

and

,

These

are the relations

t—v/c2 x

_

V

—v2 /c

1

2

which Lorentz had presented

a

year earlier and

which Poincare had meanwhile named “Lorentz transformations.” 23

However, Einstein was acquainted neither with Lorentz’s paper of 1904 nor with Poincare’s of June 1905. “In that sense,” he was therefore able to claim, it

“my 1905 paper was independent.” 24 Above

was independent in

its

all else,

fundamentally different justification and

interpretation of these transformation equations.

some

Einstein must have begun with

idea of

what he wanted

to

deduce. At an opaque point in his deduction he introduces, without

any warning or explanation,

a slight

purpose becomes obvious only

if

mathematical operation whose

the desired result

is

already known. 25

This underhand device, by means of which he rather forcibly “computes his way” to the Lorentz transformations, deprives the deduction

of some of its elegance and stringency.

Thus

it is

Einstein actually arrived at his formulas in the his paper. In fact, in later years

scarcely credible that

way he

he never again used

presents

them

in

this rather

awk-

was conclusive, Einstein was

able,

ward method.

Whether or not without any

this derivation

difficulties

or tricks, to demonstrate that his equations

were the correct ones and, a constant velocity

of

particularly, that they

light.

When

were compatible with

the Lorentz transformations are

applied for time and space coordinates, an electromagnetic spherical

wave propagating from the origin of the coordinate system

in

K

is

The Theory of Relativity again a spherical wave in system k a velocity v

—propagating

—which

in

is

189

motion

in k at the velocity of light. 26

K at

relative to

He

has thereby

resolved the seeming contradiction and demonstrated “that our two

fundamental principles are compatible.” In his Jahrbuch article Einstein would proceed in the opposite direction and derive the Lorentz transformations from the postulate that a spherical

spherical

wave

wave

one

in

inertial

system invariably results in

any other

in transition to

procedure that would prevail and, within

inertial system. a

This

is

a

the

few years, would enter the

textbooks as a “classical” method.

The

transformation equation for time

t—vx/c2

V highlights

Einstein’s

1

—v 2 /c2

clearly than the equation for the spatial coordinates. Because

time with the spatial coordinates,

it is

“dimension.” Three years

“Henceforward space on

bast:

into

later, Einstein’s

Hermann Minkowski was

mere shadows, and only

serve

its

a

own and

as the fourth

former mathematics pro-

to introduce

its

it

with rather more bom-

time on

its

own

will decline

kind of union between the two will pre-

independence.” 27 Minkowski’s presentation not only

elegant but would soon also prove very useful

formulation has long been his ebullient rhetoric

common

and especially

—with the

in textbooks.

On

his reference to

is

theory

is

exceedingly complicated in

an intellectual construct

enlightenment so,

With

is

the other hand,

time

as die “fourth

required to understand

it.

rela-

mathematics, and that

so abstruse that

may take solace from the ideas much more simply.

and we

lated his

is

it

its

very

result that his

dimension” have encouraged the erroneous popular belief that tivity

links

it

the physical basis of the four-

dimensional presentation of relativity theory, with time

fessor

more

departure from Newtonian kinematics

some

special,

Needless to

fact that Einstein

the Lorentz transformations as equipment,

as

higher

say, this

is

not

himself formu-

it is

now

easy for

Einstein, in the fourth section of his paper, to deduce a few conse-

The Patent Office

190

quences “concerning moving rigid bodies and moving clocks.” For an observer “at rest,”

a

measuring rod moving

Vl-U/c

ened by the factor

2

at velocity v

in the direction of the

appears short-

movement. This

already applied in Lorentzian theory, except that there

dynamic

was

it

a

produced by interaction with the ether, so that the

effect

“Lorentz contraction” was an asymmetrical phenomenon, valid only for a

measuring rod moving

however,

it

is

relative to the ether. In Einstein’s theory,

clear “that the

same

results apply for bodies at rest

uniformly moving sys-

in a system ‘at rest,’ ”

when viewed from

tem. 28 This

for Einstein to highlight the difference be-

tween

is

enough

and Lorentz’s

his theory

—

a

a difference that

could hardly be

more fundamental.

To Einstein this a

purely kinematic

contraction has nothing to do with any forces;

consequence of the

effect, a

Moreover, the contraction

move

relative to

is

symmetrical:

if

of

finite velocity

two observers

A

each other, then the measuring rods at rest for

shortened to observer A, and the measuring rods at rest for shortened to observer B.

To

and B

B seem

A

seem

“real” or “apparent”

is

misses the point: the only thing that can be measured is

light.

that extent the question, often asked

uncomprehendingly, whether the contraction

shape, and that

it is

is

the kinematic

shortened for any measuring rod in motion relative

to an observer.

Up-to-date physicists, already familiar with the Lorentz contraction, “merely” had to get used to Einstein’s purely kinematic symmetrical interpretation; but even Einstein himself described the results

obtained for moving clocks as “peculiar.”

To

he

begin with, he found, by

simple reflection and even simpler calculation on the basis of the trans-

formation formula for time, that time measured in that time lag

Such

a

there, only

is (1

a

a

moving clock

system assumed

as

being “at

is

slow compared with

rest.”

The amount

of

— V 1 — v 2 /c 2 ).

“time dilatation” was totally alien to Lorentzian theory:

one time existed

was understood purely stein’s result,

— “true” time— and transformation of time

as a

mathematical device. That was

why

Ein-

along with his proof of the relativity of simultaneity, was

The Theory

bound

of Relativity

191

to shock, or at least surprise, his contemporaries.

To make

that

surprise complete, Einstein escalates the consequences.

Imagine

system with time defined by synchronized clocks

a

If a clock at a point

with

this

A is moved

movement

at a velocity v relative to

taking time

t,

then

no longer be synchronous with the clock

the

amount

— V 1 —v 2 /c 2 )t. As any number

produced by joining straight

which points

A

lines, all

some point

this clock after its arrival at

will

(1

at rest.

B

but will be slow by

at B,

of polygonal lines can be

way

the

B,

to a closed figure in

and B would therefore coincide, the same considera-

tions that apply to the transportation of a clock along a single straight line also

apply to transporting

it

along such

mating polygons to evenly curved

a

polygon.

By

approxi-

Einstein arrived at the

lines,

remarkable statement: “If there are two synchronous clocks in A, and

one of them until

on

it

its

is

moved along

closed curve with a constant velocity

has returned to A, which takes, say, arrival at

A

Earth’s equator

tv 2 c 2 sec.” 29

by

As

“A balance-wheel

experimental point:

tical

a

must be very

a

t

sec,

good

then

this clock will lag

physicist,

clock that

slightly slower than

is

he adds an

located at the

an absolutely iden-

clock ... at one of the Earth’s poles.” 30

Simple and convincing

as

time dilatation was for rectilinear uniform

motion, once Einstein’s definition of time and his view of the Lorentz transformations were accepted, this was not necessarily the case for closed paths.

With

a

closed path, the two clocks were evidently not

equal, because acceleration along a closed path violates the

otherwise present in relativity theory. This

symmetry

difficulty, as well as

Ein-

led to widespread controversy, not only

stein’s paradoxical

result,

among people who

refused to accept Einstein’s theory but also

among

the “relativists” themselves.

In this regard, the “twin paradox”

paradox

is

became very popular. The twin

based on the fact that biological processes, despite their

insufficient “regularity,” can be accepted as clocks in the physical

sense.

This idea was

first

mooted by Einstein

in a lecture to the

forschende Gesellschaft in Zurich on January attracted only slight attention.

Much more

16,

Natur-

1911, 31 though

it

sensational was a striking

The Patent Office

192

elaboration of Einstein’s deduction by the French physicist Paul

Langevin April 191 as

at a philosophical 1.

32

congress in Bologna a few months

Langevin discussed

whom

who was

In the audience was the famous Henri Bergson,

impressed by Einstein’s ideas a

as

later, in

he was challenged to oppose them.

thought experiment: a pair of twins, one of

remains on Earth while the other, in a Jules Verne cannonball,

goes off on a journey through the universe. At a velocity sufficiently

approaching that of aged by died

a

mere two

light, the traveling

twin might return to Earth

years, while his brother

would have long since

—two hundred years having elapsed on Earth.

The

twin paradox, running counter to our everyday concept of

time, was as difficult to grasp then as

it is

now. Small wonder that

opposition to relativity theory focused primarily on the relativization

of time

and on

its

counterintuitive

consequences

—the

more

so

because no direct experimental evidence of time dilatation was then attainable.

Half

a

century would pass before time dilatation was

observed as an isolated

elementary particles of

effect convincingly

demon-

by accurate “atomic clocks” carried by passenger

aircraft

cosmic radiation. strated

Not

effect, first in certain

was the

until 1971

around the world. 33 But by then

relativity

theory had long been

a pillar

of physics, so that no one expected anything but a confirmation that Einstein had been right in 1905.

In the

fifth

and

final section

of the “Kinematic Part” Einstein derives

the “theorem of Addition of Velocities.”

In Galilean-Newtonian

mechanics the combination of two equidirectional velocities v and

would amount tivity

to a simple arithmetical addition u

—

v

+

theory this operation must have a different form,

w.

But in

w

rela-

if

only because

of the special role played by the velocity of light. After

some simple

and transparent arguments Einstein arrives

at the

somewhat more

complicated expression

v+w 1

In a kind of consistency

+vw/c2

test, this

formula

starting concepts of the entire theory: the

now

confirms one of the

overwhelming importance

The Theory

of Relativity

193

of the velocity of light, which had been used to synchronize the clocks.

While

still

working on

his physical interpretation of the

Lorentz trans-

formations, Einstein had referred to the velocity of light as a limit that

could not be exceeded

34 .

Now

he demonstrates

and w, which are smaller than

velocities v

never be greater than

u

is

not changed

velocity. In that case, invariably,

—=

c+w

= 1

ties,

two

the relativistic “sum” u can

c,

xMoreover, the velocity of light

c.

by combination with another

Finally, Einstein

explicitly that for

c

+CIV/C1

expands the addition procedure for three veloci-

and thereby for any number of

velocities.

He

tion with an outline of a proof that, thanks to his

concludes the sec-

theorem of addition,

the transformations for spatial and time coordinates exhibit the mathematical structure of a group

Thus, on the

first

—

must .” 35

“as they indeed

sixteen pages of his treatise, Einstein derives the

essential elements of “a kinematics that corresponds to ciples ,” 36 tivity.

our two prin-

and with them the complete foundation of the theory of rela-

The

paper consists of applications showing the

rest of the

efficacy, elegance,

and profundity of the new

relativistic

viewpoint.

In the second part of his paper, the “Electrodynamic Part,” Einstein first

a

examines the transformation behavior of Maxwell’s equations for

vacuum.

To

do so he uses

of writing the formulas clear thinking

37 ;

but then

a frightful,

still

customary, way

behind the awkward notation, however,

and simple calculations. The essence of

this exercise

lie is

not only the Lorentz invariance of the equations for the electromagnetic field, but also a demonstration that a force acting

arrived at effortlessly if the field relative to the charge.

From

is

transformed into

this follows a

“Lorentz force,” postulated by Lorentz

a

on

a

charge

system

is

at rest

ready explanation of the

as

an independent axiom

added to the Maxwellian equations.

Reducing the number of axioms of

a

theory has always been con-

sidered an intellectual triumph, and Einstein savored his triumph,

though

in the restrained

developed ,” 38

as

he

now

language of calls his

a

physics paper. In the “theory

achievement,

this force

merely plays

The Patent Office

194

“the role of an auxiliary concept

cumstance that the

electric

whose introduction

is

due to the

and magnetic forces do not have an

cir-

exis-

tence independent of the state of motion of the coordinate system.” In the same breath,

duced by the

it

follows “that,

relative

motion of

a

when

considering the currents pro-

magnet and

a

conductor, the asym-

metry, mentioned in the Introduction, disappears.” For the same

reason the fiercely debated questions about the “location” of the elec-

tromotive force in unipolar machines are declared to be “irrelevant.” In the next section Einstein applies the same methods to two prob-

lems from optics: the Doppler effect and the aberration of

He

starlight.

devotes a whole section to the “Transformation of the Energy of

Light Rays”; in sure exerted

it

he simultaneously develops

on the

magnetic radiation

reflecting surface.” is

theory of “light pres-

Here the treatment of electro-

entirely “classical,” just as if his paper

quanta, completed three

months

first

new garb

example of the strength of relativity

brilliant

For

classical physics in the

light pressure acting

on

light

appearance of his rela-

theory with the “very revolutionary” light quanta. Even

triumph of

on

had never been written.

earlier,

Probably he did not wish to encumber the tivity

a

so, it is a

of relativity theory, and a as a

computational

a mirror, Einstein obtains

tool.

an expres-

sion “in agreement with experience and with other theories .” 39

The

other theories, which he neither identifies nor quotes, must have been those of Loren tz and,

Abraham. Annalen

40 ,

A

more

especially, the

year previously,

mathematical virtuoso

Abraham had unfolded

printed pages.

To

arrive at the

same

result, Einstein

the problem in

more than

using established methods and requiring

Max forty

needed not quite

three pages.

As with most of

his results

on electrodynamics, Einstein did not

claim to have discovered anything new; what was

new was

his relativist

method, whose efficiency he emphasized: “This reduces every problem in the optics of

moving bodies

bodies at rest .” 41 far

And with

this

more comprehensibly and

to a series of

problems

in the optics of

method, the problems could be treated

elegantly than had been possible so

far.

In the ninth and penultimate section Einstein sketches out the Lorentz invariance of the Alaxwellian equations with regard to

moving

charges,

The Theory

of Relativity

195

the foundation of the so-called electronic theory. This seemed

i.e.,

appropriate not only for completeness but also because the “important

proposition can be deduced” that electric charges do not change under

Lorentz transformations: their amount and sign have the same value in

any coordinate system.

This

is

an important result not only in

preliminary for the

final section,

field,

mechanics. Here Einstein makes

clumsy

Max

follow. First of

all,

velocity in such a limit:

Planck, 43 but

right,

but also as

a

it

a

thus extending relativity to slip,

which was soon

to be

does not affect the arguments which

mass and kinetic energy are found to depend on

way

that the speed of light once again

“As in our previous

sibility

own

which deals with the dynamics of the

electron 42 in the electromagnetic

corrected by

its

results,

emerges

as a

superluminal velocities have no pos-

of existence.” 44

In conclusion Einstein electron

.

.

.

lists

three “properties of the motion of the

that are accessible to experiment”: a relationship between

velocity and the ratio of electrical to magnetic deflection; a relation-

ship between velocity and voltage traversed in an electrostatic

and the radius of curvature in

a

magnetic

The

field.

field;

formulas he

arrived at are declared to be “a complete expression of the laws by

which the electron must move according

to the theory presented

here.” 45 Experiments with fast electrons had been conducted for a

number of years, and results.

Einstein must have

known

at least

In his paper, however, he ignores them.

The

some of

the

reason was

simple: they contradicted the “theory presented here.”

At the very end, there concluded his citing

treatise

—

a

is

a novelty:

an acknowledgment. Einstein

paper without bibliographical references,

no names other than those of Maxwell, Hertz, and Lorentz, and

these only as labels for theories and formulations that

“my

work on

many By

friend and colleague

M. Besso

—with the remark

steadfastly stood

the problem here discussed and ...

I

am

by

me

in

my

indebted to him for

a valuable suggestion.”

the time the foundation of relativity theory was presented to the

world of physics, in the September 28, 1905, issue of Annalen, the editors

had already received

a

supplement from Einstein. Under the

The Patent Office

196

rather unusual interrogative

title Is the

Inertia of a Body Dependent on Its

Energy Content Einstein presented what was subsequently considered his

most famous and most spectacular conclusion

He

mass and energy.

—the equivalence of

answered the question posed in the

most of his colleagues would have regarded

which

title,

as rather abstruse,

with an

enthusiastic yes. Einstein’s initial ideas

about

this

velocity-dependence of mass in the

Perhaps they did

weeks

later,

could have arisen from the

of his great

final section

treatise.

A few

but he preferred to keep silent just then.

arise,

perhaps during his reading of the proofs, the idea was fully

developed. “I have thought of yet another consequence of the electro-

dynamic paper,” he reported to

The

relativity principle in

his friend

Conrad Habicht:

connection with the basic Maxwellian

equations demands that the mass should be a direct measure of the energy contained in a body; light transfers mass.

With radium

The

there should be a noticeable diminution of mass.

amusing and enticing; but whether the Almighty and

is

leading

This was the Almighty. cally, as

me up

first

The

the garden path

but not the

reference to

last

—that

I

laughing at

is it

cannot know. 46

time that Einstein brought in the

God, meant

less

piously than metaphori-

the creator of the world more geometrico

,

whose construction

plans needed to be discovered, pleased Einstein and in

is

idea

would

later

appear

many variations.

To return

to the relation

between mass and energy,

this

was then

subject of research in the Bern Patent Office and elsewhere.

a

The

velocity-dependence of the electron’s mass, experimentally confirmed at

least

seemed

qualitatively

and integrated into the prevailing theories,

to support the idea.

Moreover, the champions of an “electro-

magnetic world picture” tried to interpret mass energy of the electron and hence

“innate

magnetic

field.

In 1904, the Vienna

a prize to Friedrich

shown

as

electromagnetic

an effect of the electro-

Academy of Sciences had awarded

Hasenohrl for research in that

that radiation enclosed in a

as

vacuum has

area.

Hasenohrl had

to be credited with an

apparent mass, proportional to the energy of the enclosed radiation.

It

The Theory is

of Relativity

would have missed HasenorhPs

scarcely credible that Einstein

winning paper, which was published not refer to

197

Annalen

in

47 ,

prize-

but he certainly did

it.

Einstein addressed the problem quite differently, and his result

much more his

elegant and of incomparably greater universal validity. In

supplement he considers any body emitting radiation conditions

site

second in

a

is

—

first in

a

system in which the body

system in which the body

is

moving

at

in

is

two oppo-

at rest,

and

constant velocity.

Referring to the formula he had derived in his treatise on the transfor-

mational characteristics of radiation energy, Einstein succeeds, in than two pages, in deducing the following theorem: “If the energy

E

form of

in the

radiation,

its

a

releases

mass decreases by E/r2 .” 48

Einstein follows this with the rather cryptic remark that is

body

less

it

“obviously

here inessential that the energy withdrawn from the body happens to

turn into radiation” in order to proceed to “the

“The mass of

sion”:

energy changes by E/c2

a

E

body

a

is

measure of

its

more

general conclu-

energy content;

if

the

then the mass changes in the same sense by

,

” 49 .

He also has an idea about the experimental implications of the formula E = me2 “Perhaps it will prove possible to test this theory using :

bodies whose energy content

is

variable to a high degree

(e.g., salts

of

radium).” Einstein, however, did not concern himself with the practicality

of such

a test for

the decay of radium. This was taken up by a

colleague the following year, with the result that the effect “for the

time being probably

To

lies

beyond the realm of possible experience.” 50

Einstein the relation between inertial mass and energy was

clearly of great importance.

His

first

follow-up paper on relativity

theory, completed in

May

of this subject. In

the “theorem of the constancy of the mass” was

understood “as year, in

May

it

1906, was devoted to the theoretical aspects

a special case

of the energy principle.” 51 After another

1907, he endeavored to test “the necessity and justifica-

tion of these assumptions [made in 1905] in a

Eventually, in the

fall

more general way.” 52

of 1907, in his extensive Jahrbuch

article,

Einstein returned in detail to the “dependence of mass on energy,” 53 calling his formula a “result of exceptional theoretical importance” and

The Patent Office

198 also

thoroughly discussing

approached

it,

its

experimental side. But whichever

way he

the requisite accuracy of measurements was “of course

impossible.”

was understandable

It

that,

given the state of knowledge at the

on

time, Einstein had focused his attention

The atomic

nucleus

made

its first

radioactive disintegration.

appearance in physics in 1911, and

the binding energy of nuclei was soon interpreted as a “mass defect.”

But

it

took

first

mass spectrometer, and next as the test

improvement of the

the invention and subsequent

—

in 1932

—the discovery of the neutron

second building block of the atomic nucleus, before

a reliable

of Einstein’s formula through nuclear binding energy became pos-

sible.

Within

a

few years,

it

was confirmed with

multitude of nuclear reactions, and by 1937

fantastic accuracy it

was regarded

by

as

a

an

empirically confirmed “fundamental law of physics.” 54

When

on August

6,

1945, Einstein learned of the destruction of the

Japanese city of Hiroshima by an atom bomb, he

reminded of what, nearly four decades Jahrbuch

well have been

he had written in

article:

However, in

earlier,

may

which

original

it is

possible that radioactive processes will be detected

a significantly

atom

will

higher percentage of the mass of the

be converted into the energy of

radiations than in the case of radium. 55

a variety

of

his

CHAPTER ELEVEN Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

It

widely believed

is

temporaries

is

a

that remaining unrecognized

hallmark of genius, not only in the

As Alax Planck once observed: “A new

ence.

a rule prevail

because

its

arts

by one’s conbut also in

scientific truth

sci-

does not

as

opponents declare themselves persuaded or

convinced, but because the opponents gradually die out and the

younger generation

is

made

familiar with the truth

was the experience of Adax Planck,

this

from the with

a scientist

it

be true of a youthful outsider

at the

However, Einstein had no reason complain

—of any lack of response

of his annus

Of course,

mirabilis.

to or

to

a straight-

how much more

forward career within the academic establishment,

must

start.” 1 If

Patent Office in Bern?

complain

— and

never did

acknowledgment of the papers

his publications did

not exactly have

the effect of bombshells: physicists are too reserved, conservative, and skeptical for that.

But the

ered. this

genius

And

scientific

who had

siasm and others

them

of course there was opposition, some of it blink-

community on

the whole accepted the ideas of

suddenly emerged, some physicists with enthu-

more

hesitantly.

Still

others resolutely rejected

—but no one ignored them.

Einstein’s “very revolutionary” light quanta had already attracted

much

notice and discussion.

Thus

the winner of the 1905

the experimental physicist Philipp Lenard,

Nobel

Prize,

whose measurements of the

photoelectric effect had been a basis of Einstein’s “heuristic viewpoint” paper, honored the in the

unknown man

at the

Patent Office with an offprint

autumn of 1905. Einstein thanked Lenard, assuring him

199

(as

we

The Patent Office

200 saw

Chapter

earlier, in

8) that

he had studied the

article

“with the same

2 sense of admiration as your previous work.”

A tant

letter to Einstein

Max von Laue

first letter;

and

it

on the quantum problem from Planck’s

dated June

2,

assis-

1906, suggests that this was not the

seems probable that Planck had also written to Ein-

stein,

with the result that soon after the publication of his paper Ein-

stein

was in correspondence about light quanta with the most famous

experimenter and the most respected theoretician in the Germanspeaking world. As tion but

we have

seen, this earned

him sympathetic

by no means acceptance. With regard to

light

atten-

quanta,

Einstein actually stood alone for nearly two decades. His statistical interpretation of the

gained

him

Brownian movement, on the other hand, soon

the recognition of his colleagues.

What,

then,

was the

response of leading physicists to the theory of relativity?

The

cliche of the

misunderstood innovator was perpetuated by Maja

Einstein in her sketch, written two decades after the event, of her brother’s state of tivity:

mind following

“The young

scientist

the publication of his paper

had believed that

on

rela-

his publication in the

respected and widely-read journal would be noticed immediately.

But he was

The

.

.

.

bitterly disappointed. Icy silence followed the publication.

next issues of the journal did not mention his paper in a single

word.” 3 But in

fact,

the situation was quite different.

Certainly Einstein was a temperamental, impatient as a regular

young man. But

contributor to Annalen he would have realized that, given ,

the usual lapse of two

comment on

months from submission on September

his paper, published

appear before Christmas, even

if

to publication,

28, 1905, could hardly

some colleagues

did find something

to say within four weeks. Actually, only

two months

end of November, Walter Kaufmann,

in

ments with electron beams, 4

first

any

later,

toward the

an account of his experi-

mentioned Einstein’s treatise—

though not in Annalen but in the Sitzungsberichte Proceedings of the ( ) Prussian

might

Academy of

easily

Sciences in Berlin, a publication that Einstein

have missed.

We

may

also

assume that Einstein was

not immediately informed that several leading physicists were con-

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

201

cerning themselves intensively with his concept immediately after

its

publication.

May 1906 Einstein was able to some complacency: “My papers are meeting with

In any case, by the beginning of report, not without

much acknowledgement and Prof. Planck (Berlin) wrote

are giving rise to further investigations.

me

about

it

recently.” 5

seven months after publication. Seven years Planck, Einstein recorded his gratitude: “It

mined and

manner

cordial

in

is

That was

a

mere

in a tribute to

later,

largely due to the deter-

which he supported

this

theory that

it

among my colleagues in the field.” 6 do not know when Planck first wrote to Einstein, or what he

attracted notice so quickly

We

wrote. Einstein evidently believed that he had better things to do than

keep

letters, 7

even

if

they were from the top

men in the

field.

And most

of Einstein’s letters to Planck perished along with Planck’s house

bombs

in

doubt that Planck’s role

as

under

sive

a hail

of

World War

II.

Nevertheless, there

an advocate of relativity theory was of deci-

importance.

As the coeditor of Annalen responsible

a

key

for theory, Planck held a

position in the information network of physics.

with

no

is

He discharged his tasks

very open mind. Only rarely were submitted papers rejected;

with “established” authors

— among whom,

after five articles

and

his

refereeing for Beibldtter (the supplement to Annalen), Einstein could by

—

then count himself nonsense. 8

happened only

Thus Planck had

“heuristic” paper

own

this

concepts.

on

The

unhesitatingly

on

even though

accepted

ran counter to his

relativity received

toward the end of

June, however, was highly unusual, even in appearance: prose,

more

Einstein’s

it

light quanta, treatise

in exceptional cases of patent

many pages

suitable to a philosophical journal, including

some

of

sen-

tences of almost offensive triviality alongside ideas of staggering audacity; and finally an elegant, albeit rather opaque, exposition of

electrodynamic problems without any theory.

No

new

beyond Lorentzian

results

one could have blamed the editor

if

he had had second

thoughts.

Max

Planck’s greatness as a physicist, however,

is

reflected also in

The Patent Office

202

the fact that this paper did not in the least strain his tolerance, but instead “immediately aroused

pened

in

the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

quium on

their doctoral theses

it

—of whom we

“There was

it.

was clear that

of 1905, the

first

Much

1 .

the

same hap-

Wilhelm Wien entered the room of the students

paper, Professor

Johann Laub

von

after the publication of Einstein’s

Wurzburg: immediately

working on

fall

When Max

was one by Planck on Einstein’s newly published

lecture he heard

On

lively attention.” 9

to Berlin as Planck’s assistant in the

Laue came

paper

my

one morning and instructed Jakob hear

shall

more

a lively discussion,”

—to

give a collo-

recalls,

“from which

later

Laub

was not too easy to get inside the new concepts of

it

time and space.” 11

Despite these

difficulties, interest in

the relativity theory spread,

but steadily and persistently.

not exactly

like

Rontgen

September 1906 honored Einstein with

offprint,

in

wildfire,

presumably because he was preparing

ment equations of

The

great

a request for

an

on the move-

a lecture

the electron. Paul Drude, the editor of Annalen

mentioned Einstein’s paper authoritative

book on

Handbuch der

Physik. In 1907

in

1906, both in a

optics and in an article

mathematics professor

at the

new

edition of his

on the same subject

Hermann Minkowski,

,

in

Einstein’s former

Polytechnic but since 1902 a professor at

Gottingen, requested an offprint because he and David Hilbert were

planning will

a

seminar on the electrodynamics of moving bodies. This,

as

be seen, was to have consequences for the mathematical formula-

tion of the theory. Einstein’s ideas also

under Planck

Breslau,

Max

formed

a circle

lively interest

among

the younger

When

Fritz Reiche, having obtained his doc-

in Berlin,

brought news of the new theory to

generation of physicists. torate

met with

Born, Rudolf Ladenburg, and Stanislas Loria there of enthusiastic young

relativists.

When Ladenburg had

asked for an offprint, Einstein was “highly delighted over your interest in that

paper and immediately sent off three copies, “one for yourself

and two for the other two gentlemen.” 12 In Munich, Arnold Sommerfeld, one of the few theoretical physics,

studied Einstein,

had likewise done

who

impresses

me

his

greatly,”

full

professors of

now

homework:

“I

he wrote to

Wien toward

have

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

A

the end of 1906.

203

year later his reflections had given

rise to

some

curious conclusions, which he unashamedly communicated to Lorentz:

But now we are

longing for you to

all

complex of Einstein’s this

treatises.

Works

comment on

whole

that

of genius though they are,

unconstruable and unvisualizable dogmatism seems to

contain something almost unhealthy.

me

to

An Englishman would

scarcely have produced this theory; perhaps

it

reflects, similarly as

with Cohn, the abstract-conceptual character of the Semite.

hope you

succeed in imbuing this inspired conceptual

will

skeleton with real physical

No

answer from Lorentz

good

a physicist to

I

is

life. 13

known, but Sommerfeld was much too

indulge in this attack of “sound

common

sense” for

long. In fact he seems to have written to Einstein directly a few days

and sent him some

later

offprints, naturally

without the anti-Semitic

remarks, as in January 1908 the two were keeping up a correspondence

which

in cordiality left

Perhaps

when

nothing to be desired.

this incident

had some repercussions many years

Einstein wrote about Sommerfeld “that this person, for

knows what subconscious reason, did not ring

Had Lorentz shown him Sommerfeld’s The most

Max

was

assistant geil,

Planck.

He

not only

Max von Laue

but was the

first

cept and developing

and

relativity

commended

it

it

him about

it?

theory after 1905

to the attention of his

his predoctoral student

to publish a paper linking

God

entirely true to me.” 14

letter or told

important figure in establishing

later,

Kurd von Mosen-

up with Einstein’s con-

further.

In this paper Planck proved that the “principle of least action,”

foundation of physics, remains correct in Einstein’s concept;

ensured the connection of the

relativity

tions of theoretical physics. 15

With

tial

this

a

this

theory with advanced formula-

proof Planck made

a substan-

contribution to the shaping of the theory, and his personal

engagement

greatly

enhanced

its

respectability.

Respectability was something Einstein’s theory needed, for two reasons. First,

it

did not initially differ

from Lorentzian theory

in

its

electrodynamic consequences, so that several years of explanatory

The Patent Office

204

work were needed before even well-disposed central difference

between the two views. Second, Einstein’s conclu-

movement of an

sions concerning the

mental findings

physicists could grasp the

electron ran counter to experi-

at the time.

Although Einstein,

probably every physicist, subscribed to the

like

principle that experience

some

theory, he had

the supreme judge of the usefulness of a

is

With regard

reservations.

to the relationship

between experiment and theory, he remarked in “Obvious subtle.” 16

him

as this postulate

He may have

in the

treatise

may

his Nekrolog that

at first appear, its application is

been reminded of the

very

conflict that confronted

development of relativity theory. In the

final section

of his

he had firmly declared that three formulas he had derived rep-

resented “a complete expression of the laws by which the electron

must move according

when he wrote

because

statement,

moving according

to the theory presented here.” 17

as

an assistant in Berlin, later

sacred

Newtonian

theoreticians

picture” line

fast electrons in electric

it

was

a

as a

first

privatdozent in Gottingen, and

its

velocity.

This was

a striking refutation

principle, conservation of mass;

and for many

cogent argument for an “electromagnetic world

—the more so

as

Kaufmann’s measurements were entirely

with the world picture of his Gottingen colleague

who

and mag-

Bonn. In 1902 he demonstrated that the mass

of an electron increases with a

bold

apparently

had been performed since 1897 by Walter Kaufmann,

finally as a professor in

of

electrons were

a

to entirely different laws.

Experiments on the behavior of netic fields

it,

That was

in

Max Abraham,

interpreted mass as a consequence of inherent electromagnetic

energy.

In 1904 Lorentz published his magnificent completion of his electronic theory,

which

in terms of physics differed

from Abraham’s. And

before the end of the year a third theory was put forward by Alfred

Heinrich Bucherer, representing rentz

s

ferent

and Abraham’s concepts. As laws

for

the

own

all

movement of

fascinating task of deciding

of his

kind of mediation between Lo-

a

three authors had obtained difelectrons,

between the

experiments. While he was

Kaufmann had

rival theories still

the

on the strength

engaged in delicate mea-

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes surements

ward

at the

very limits of what was observable, Einstein put for-

his theory of relativity

which were In

205

with formulas for the tracks of electrons,

identical with those in Lorentz’s theory.

November 1905 Kaufmann

published his tensely awaited results

in a preliminary report in the Sitzungsberichte of the Prussian (this is

the paper in which Einstein’s relativity theory

up

tioned) and followed this

Annalen. l%

in

However Kaufmann

ham’s theory

January 1906 with

Kaufmann concluded

men-

first

report in

a full

interpreted his results, they

best, Bucherer’s a little less well,

stein’s theories worst.

is

Academy

fit

Abra-

and Lorentz’s and Ein-

measurements

that his

were “not compatible with the fundamental assumptions of Lorentz and Einstein.” 19

He concluded that the endeavors

to base

all

physics

on

the relativity principle had failed, and he called for further experiments to prove the existence of an ether absolutely at rest. If experiment truly the

portray

supreme judge,

it,

as empiricist

were

philosophers of science like to

both Lorentz’s and Einstein’s theories would have met

sudden end

—

at least for the

time being.

And

a

when Lorentz

in fact,

learned about Kaufmann’s experiments, he found himself compelled to give

up

his theory: “I

am

at

my

wits’ end,” 20

he wrote to Poincare,

crushed. In September 1906 the problem was

general meeting of the Stuttgart.

What

movement of

German

on the agenda of the annual

Society of Scientists and Physicians in

mattered was not

just the correct

electrons, but a decision

formulas for the

between “world

pictures”: the

“electromagnetic” picture on the one hand, and on the other a picture

based on the relativity principle. lecture analyzed

Kaufmann’s

wrong, but neither was

it

Max

data;

beyond

Planck, cautious as ever, in his

he did not find their interpretation all

doubt, and he suggested that “in

the theoretical interpretation of the magnitudes measured there

some .

.

.

substantial gap that will first have to be filled before the results

can be used for

mann

is still

a definitive decision.” 21

In the discussion, Kauf-

fundamental error in the

insisted that “unless there

is

a

observations, the Lorentzian theory

is

liquidated” 22

needless to say, Einstein’s. Planck once

more advised waiting and con-

still

— and

with

it,

tinuing research “until the experiments eventually supply the decision.” In view of

Kaufmann’s experiments

this

was

all

he could do: the

The Patent Office

206

fact that the relativity principle

tive” 23

was not

How

a sufficient

did Einstein react to this controversy?

initiative, at least

he was writing aktivitiit

him

to

his opinion;

not publicly. In the

comprehensive

his

“really

more

attrac-

argument.

was presumably never asked for

own

seemed

The Expert

nor did he offer

fall

,

Class

on

it

of 1907, however,

article for the

und Elektronik he had to declare

III

his

when

Jahrbuch der Radio-

his position,

and

this

he did

with deep-rooted self-assurance.

To

begin with, Einstein with great fairness described Kaufmann’s

experimental setup, emphasized the “admirable care” of the measure-

ments, and compared the graph obtained by Kauffnann with the conclusions of relativity theory. 24

Never having had

a

high opinion of

exaggerated accuracy, Einstein would have been inclined “to regard the agreement as sufficient”

the deviations had not been outside the

if

range of error and, moreover, systematic. situation in

ment of

much

a verdict

atic deviations are

the same

way

as Planck,

He commented

by pleading

on

this

for a postpone-

and for further experiments: “Whether the systemdue to some not yet identified source of error or to

the fact that the foundations of the relativity theory are not in line with the facts, will only be determined with certainty

experimental material

What

when

a

more copious

available.”

is

he really thought emerges between the lines of his subse-

quent assessment of the

rival theories.

He

frankly admits that “Abra-

ham’s and Bucherer’s theories of electron movement present graphs

which are considerably closer to the graph observed than

is

the graph

derived from the relativity theory.” But while the famous Lorentz was “at his wits’ end,” the

man

at the

simply ignored Abraham’s results relating to

it

theory and

—refused to be

that their theories are correct their basic assumptions

Patent Office

is

rattled:

—who

in

1905 had

Kaufmann’s experimental “However, the probability

rather small, in

my

opinion, because

concerning the dimensions of the moving elec-

tron are not suggested by theoretical systems that encompass larger

complexes of phenomena.” 25 Einstein therefore does not even attempt to offer proof (which

would scarcely be possible anyway) that Abraham’s and Bucherer’s theories are wrong.

He

simply does not consider them “probable” by

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes metatheoretical criteria, because isolated

and

some of

207

their basic assumptions are

arbitrary. Basic assumptions,

he believes, must not be

invented ad hoc for specific cases but must cover wider areas

Only then does one encounter

physics as a whole.

ideally,

that “marvelous

complex of phenomena.” 26 In

feeling of realizing the uniformity of a

Einstein’s scientific credo this cannot be expected of ad tions; it

—

hoc assump-

can be expected only of principles.

Less than

a

year passed before Bucherer, in

a greatly

improved ver-

own

theory but the

sion of Kaufmann’s experiments, confirmed not his

formulas of Lorentz and Einstein. Bucherer wrote to Bern “that by careful experiments

I

have proved beyond any doubt the validity of the

relativity principle.” 27 Einstein

He

“friendly letter.” 28

thanked him by return of post in

unlikely to have been head over heels with

is

joy,

but he probably took satisfaction in having

was

right.

These measurements of electron a decision

tracks,

known

all

along that he

however, could not lead to

between Einstein’s and Lorentz’s

same laws of motion

a

theories,

which had the

for fast electrons. Further experiments

were

therefore needed to examine effects predicted by Einstein’s theory but

not by Lorentz’s.

One

such

possibility, as Einstein

had suggested in

“E = me2 supplement,” concerned the transformation of mass

his

into

energy in radioactive processes. Another possibility was the measure-

ment of time

dilatation, postulated

1907 Einstein published

a

only by relativity theory. In

proposal along those

course, that the differences between

moving

lines. It

March

was obvious, of

clocks could not be

mea-

sured by anything from a pocket watch to a precision chronometer.

But atoms emitting spectral

very accurate clocks and can,

lines are

moreover, be accelerated to very high

proposed experiments with then

known

as “canal rays,”

velocities. Einstein therefore

electrically

charged accelerated atoms,

whose frequencies of

oscillation should,

according to his theory, change. 29

Although canal ray experiments were then being conducted, especially

by Johannes

Stark, their accuracy

time dilatation. Einstein did not declared in 1911,

“is to

let go:

was not

sufficient to prove

“The main thing now,” he

conduct the most accurate experiments pos-

sible to test the fundamentals.

There

is

nothing

much

to be gained

The Patent Office

208

from

a lot

Not until

of pondering at the moment.” 30 But he had to be patient.

the early 1930s was the conversion of mass into energy con-

firmed in the study of nuclear reactions, and time dilatation was not directly

on the

proved until 1938. Until then any physicist choosing have opted

basis of experiment alone could

theory as for Einstein’s.

If,

as well for

a

theory

Lorentz’s

nevertheless, the theory of relativity gained

support so quickly, this was due not to conclusive experiments but to

most

the fact that

character and

its

responded to

physicists

axiomatic, fundamental

its

beauty.

There probably

is

no other theory

in

special theory of relativity,

had to wait

experimental evidence in

favor.

its

And

modern a

physics that, like the

quarter-century for direct

there

is

no other theory whose

eventual experimental confirmation was received with greater indiffer-

ence

—simply because no one had expected anything

Later in his

else.

life,

Einstein clearly formulated the difference between

on

principles” and “constructive theories.” Construc-

“theories based

“endeavor, from a relatively simple fundamental for-

tive theories

malism, to construe a picture of a more complex phenomena,” 31

as,

for

instance, the macroscopic properties of matter can be constructively

explained by assuming molecular movements. Theories of principle,

on the other hand,

are based

on “empirically found general properties

of natural processes, on principles from which mathematically formulated criteria follow,

representations,

which individual processes, or

must observe,” 32

as

is

and, of course, with relativity theory.

their theoretical

the case with thermodynamics

Each type has

its

advantages:

constructive theories are characterized by “completeness, adaptability,

and

clarity”; theories

of principle have “logical perfection and secure

foundations.” Indeed Einstein regarded constructive theories as “the

more important cations.

But

it is

ciple, in line

“sniffing out

At

this

point

category,” 33 presumably because of their

On

appli-

obvious that his great love was for theories of prin-

with his intention, dating back to his student days, of

what might lead

it

to the root of things.” 34

should be mentioned that Einstein, though he was the

creator of relativity theory, was not the creator of

paper

many

the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies

,

its

name. In

his

with which everything

— Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

209

began (and almost reached completion) he referred only tivity principle,” It

and he kept to

was Planck who,

at the

this

to the “rela-

formulation for the next few years.

meeting in Stuttgart discussed above,

first

spoke of Relativtheorie, ls “relative theory.” With Bucherer and others, this

soon became

ments with other

Relativitdtstheorie

physicists

was progressively, and

and

his

reluctantly,

though in headlines and in the

,

“relativity theory.” In his argu-

comments on drawn into

text of his

their work, Einstein

this

own

new

terminology,

publications he con-

tinued to speak of the “relativity principle.” In 1911 he eventually gave in

and used what had meanwhile become the

first

time in

a title

—Die

tancing himself from

it

Relativitdts-Theorie 36

common

term for the

—though not without

by quotation marks. In

this

dis-

form, within quota-

tion marks, he continued his ultimately futile resistance for a few

more

years. 37

Einstein’s uneasiness with this terminology

principle in

mind

is

not

on how

any theory, something that

in line with his

own

understanding of

the methodological status of the relativity principle 38

duced

it

may provide

to find the correct theory, but certainly not the

would have been

itself. It

justified, since a

A principle is something that has to be borne

in the formulation of

a useful hint

theory

a theory.

was

if

he had intro-

in the title of his great treatise as a “heuristic principle”

except that he had already used that term in his paper on light quanta three

months

When,

earlier.

after

World War I,

Einstein’s

name and

were catapulted into the public limelight, that the theory soon relative,”

and that

litical institutions,

appeared

as

became shortened

this

theory

was probably unavoidable

to the formula “Everything

is

formula was then applied also to morals, po-

and so on.

some

it

his relativity

To

obscurantist minds, relativity theory

particularly reprehensible Jewish contribution to

social decay.

Needless to “everything

is

say,

even in physics

relative.” Indeed,

it is

Max

arrant nonsense to claim that

Planck was instantly fascinated

by Einstein’s paper because, on the contrary,

it

revealed ways of

“finding the absolute, the universally valid, the invariant” 39 in natural

laws

—such

as the universally constant velocity

of light. In Minkowski’s

“four-dimensional” representation of 1908, the invariance of natural

The Patent Office

210

laws was developed with regard to the group of Lorentz transformations,

seemed

relativity postulate”

and “the term

40 feeble ... for the postulate of an invariance.”

Minkowski “very

to

When,

in the early

1920s, nonsensical controversies broke out over relativity theory, physicists believed that they could pull

renaming that this

name would

the generally accepted therefore retained

Whether

by

describe the method, not the physical content, of

it is

its

if

the

new name was

possibly

if after

such a long time

name were now changed.” 41

Relativity theory

“would only give

it

fire

“invariance theory.” Einstein agreed only to the extent

it

the theory. But he pointed out that even better,

out of the line of

it

some

rise to

confusion

name.

a “principle” or a “theory,” relativity

is

widely believed

to represent a scientific revolution, perhaps even the scientific revolution.

Those who

very good ness.

believe this

may be

perfectly correct, and

— except that they cannot

company

As with

a great

many

call

moreover

on Einstein

other things, he had his

own

in

as a wit-

views also on

revolutions in science.

Certainly Einstein referred to revolutions, though only sparingly

and only for very significant events, such

acting at a distance to the fields of Maxwellian theory. 42

shrunk from describing

though not evidently

in print

meant

letter.

A

“revolution” in science

break with tradition and

a

Nor had he

quanta as “very revolutionary,” 43

but in a private

him

to

his light

from forces

as the transition

a radical

new

ning, such as the field concept in the nineteenth century and

begin-

quantum

physics in the twentieth.

On the other hand, that heading. In the his light

he did not see

same

letter to

relativity

Conrad Habicht

in

which he

called

quanta “very revolutionary” he characterized what would later

be called

relativity

making use of modification

theory as “an electrodynamics of moving bodies,

a modification

is

certainly

of the theory of space and time”

no revolution. In

used the term “revolutionary” or any of with his theory of

used

theory as coming under

relativity,

and

at

—and

later years, Einstein

its

synonyms

a

never

in connection

times he would laugh

when

others

it.

This was certainly not due to modesty,

a virtue

toward which Ein-

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

211

had no inclination anyway. Like Isaac Newton, he might have

stein

said: “If I

giants.” 44

have seen farther,

For Einstein there was development of the sciences only

in the

pulling-down. lier

by standing upon the shoulders of

it is

.

.

a building-up,

if

another.

It

would be

something

The

one

like

tyrannical

theory of relativity

is

ruler

nothing but

sad

a

me-

the relativity theory had to overthrow the earlier

chanics,

a

Unless one generation can build on what ear-

.

ones have achieved there can be no science.

thing

never

overthrowing

a further step in

the centuries-old evolution of our science, one which preserves the connections discovered in the past, deepening

them and

adding new ones. 45

When

he paid

away by instructing There has been

a

sensation-hungry public:

a false

opinion widely spread

public that the theory of relativity cally

United States he began right

his first visit to the

is

tions.

The

Newton,

contrary

is

that

it is

true.

.

dations of physics on which

.

.

the general

to be taken as differing radi-

from the previous developments

Galileo and

among

in physics

from the time of

violently opposed to their deduc-

The

I

four

men who

laid the

foun-

have been able to construct

my

theory are Galileo, Newton, Maxwell and Lorentz. 46

Against this historical background Einstein saw relativity theory as

“simply

development of the electrodynamics of Maxwell

a systematic

and Lorentz. 47 And in

his

Nobel Prize speech he described

it

as

“an

adaptation of the foundations of physics to Maxwell-Lorentzian elec-

trodynamics.” 48 There are numerous quotations along those

from The

his later years,

New

was made

York Times

minutes there

is

:

But what did

Max von visit

the

the

first

man

gets the impression that every five

somewhat

a revolution in science,

at the

like a coup

Tetat in

republics.” 49

his colleagues think?

Laue’s impression

one,

in connection with a series of articles in

“The reader

some of the smaller unstable

lines:

“This

when he was

revolutionary” was

German physicist to summer of 1907. “During

the

Patent Office during the

is a

first

two hours of our conversation he overthrew the

entire

The Patent Office

212

mechanics and electrodynamics, doing so on

statistical

grounds.” 50 In

deconstruction of the classical foundations, Einstein’s radiation

this

theory probably held center stage, and this Einstein himself regarded as

“very revolutionary.”

Soon, however, his relativity theory, too, was viewed tion.

The

conservative

Max

Planck, of

all

as a revolu-

people, set the tone in the

spring of 1908, even though he replaced the politically objectionable

German

“revolution” with a

equivalent ( Kuhnheit boldness) ,

when he

referred to Einstein’s definition of time:

In boldness

it

exceeds anything so far achieved in speculative

natural science, in philosophical cognition theory; non-Euclidian

geometry

To

is

child’s play

by comparison. 51

Planck, “the revolution in the physical world picture” brought

about by the

relativity principle

was “in extent and depth comparable

only to that caused by the introduction of the Copernican world system.”

Sometime

later, Einstein’s

old teacher and mentor, Professor

Kleiner of Zurich, evidently reflected the majority view of physicists

when,

as a

matter of course, he remarked that the relativity principle

was being “described

as revolutionary” 52

justification as Einstein’s

In

fact, relativity

1905 and, of 1915

—

is

if

a

this

view had

much

as

own.

theory

we may

—and

—both the

the general theory of relativity

anticipate,

deepening rather than

special theory of relativity of

a revolution,

and Einstein

a per-

is

fecter of “classical” physics rather than a revolutionary. Nevertheless,

the reshaping of the fundamental concepts of time and space, for centuries regarded as a priori concepts, certainly

was

a revolution,

one of

the greatest in the history of science, even according to Einstein’s

although he preferred to see

criteria,

As rapidly

as relativity

it

merely

theory became

own

as a modification.

known among

physicists

and

mathematicians and was accepted by most of them, two of the greatest figures,

men who had

analysis

contributed a good deal to the establishment and

of the relativity principle, remained aloof

—Poincare

and

Lorentz.

As

for Poincare,

one cannot even say that he rejected Einstein’s

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes theory, because he quite simply ignored

Poincare, stein’s

who was

work

in

familiar with

Annalen

It is

scarcely credible that

German, should not have read Ein-

some time or

at

it.

213

other.

Did some of it, such

as

the synchronization of clocks by light signals or the Lorentz transfor-

mations, seem to

him too

familiar?

Was he looking for tributes in foot-

notes, and

was he put off by their absence? Did he think he had himself

presented

all

that

was necessary about the

papers of 1905 and 1906, in a elegant mathematical form?

relativity principle in his

more complete and incomparably more

Or was he not

greatly interested in

its

fur-

ther development, since he was not a physicist but a mathematician,

indeed the most famous mathematician in the world? Poincare preserved such total silence on these matters that

know nothing is

The one thing that is certain mentioning Einstein’s name whenever he had to

of his attitude or motives.

that he avoided

His

refer to relativity theory in later years.

later articles suggest that

he ignored not only Einstein’s name but also Einstein’s clung to his

more

as a

ject rather

own concept

he

of 1905, regarding the relativity principle

than as an axiom of physics generally; that he viewed the as

an independent hypothesis and not

quence derived from anything a

system

in Brussels in 1911. a success:

else

—with behind

as a

it all still

conse-

the ether,

at absolute rest.

Einstein and Poincare

not

ideas; 53 that

conclusion from electrodynamics and confined to this sub-

Lorentz contraction

and hence

we

The

met only once,

at the first

Solvay Congress

meeting, as Einstein reported to a friend, was

“Poincare was simply negative (toward the relativity

theory) and with the situation.” 54

all

showed

his perceptiveness

There was no occasion

little

understanding for

for a second meeting: Poincare

died in 1912 at the age of only fifty-eight. Just as Poincare kept silent about Einstein, so Einstein kept silent

about Poincare and about what he had read of Poincare’s work. This significant, since Einstein

care,

owed more than

just

is

one suggestion to Poin-

almost certainly including the definition of time. Did Einstein,

while formulating his relativity theory, half repress Poincare and half

overlook him, and did he later repressed Poincare altogether? stein for the first time

feel so

Long

mentioned

awkward about

this that

after Poincare’s death,

his

name,

it

was

he

when Ein-

in a different con-

The Patent Office

214

Academy of Sciences

In a lecture to the Prussian

text.

in Berlin,

Geom-

and Experience he referred to “the acute-minded and profound

etry

,

Poincare ,” 55 though he was referring not to Poincare’s synchronization of clocks but to his conventional analysis of the relationship

between physics and geometry. Not much lished

an interview pub-

Paris daily Figaro he spoke of his “great

on the front page of the

admiration for Poincare .” 56

later, in ,

Then

followed three

more decades of

silence until Einstein, in old age, in a letter containing a

thumbnail

listing

who had

of authors

mentioned Poincare along with

The

Hume

something

like

influenced his development,

and

Mach

57 .

following year there was a tempest in a teacup around the

second volume of Sir Edward Whittaker’s History of the Theories of Aether and its

Electricity

passages

tivity

on

—

in

many respects

relativity theory.

but an oddity in

a masterpiece,

Even the chapter heading “The Rela-

Theory of Poincare and Lorentz”

indicated the direction of

Whittaker’s thinking; he declared that Einstein’s contribution was marginal. land,

had

Max

Born, like Whittaker a professor at Edinburgh in Scot-

tried to talk his colleague

vain. In response to Born’s

by

a

widely respected

Myself,

I

some

this strange

it

whim, but

in

warning of what was about to be published

scientist,

Einstein reacted irritably:

have always derived satisfaction from

don’t think like

out of

sensible to defend

my

few

my

results as

but

efforts,

my

I

property,

old skinflint defending the few coins he has laboriously

scraped together. I’m not holding don’t have to read the stuff

it

against him.

.

.

.

After

all, I

58

.

Nevertheless, the episode

wrote to Bern, where

left a

mark on

a celebration

Einstein.

Four weeks

was being prepared for the

anniversary of relativity theory: “I hope

it

will

later

he

fiftieth

be ensured that the

merits of H. A. Lorentz and H. Poincare are also appropriately

acknowledged .”^ 9 After nearly half a century

this

was the

first

time that

Einstein even mentioned Poincare in connection with the special relativity theory.

T wo weeks before

his death, Einstein

spoke with

a

young

historian

of science. At one point the conversation turned to the vanity which,

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes Einstein observed, was found “in so

many

215

You know,” he

scientists.

me

that Galilei did not acknowledge

Abraham

Pais asked Einstein’s secretary

told his visitor, “it has always hurt

work of Kepler.” 60

the

After Einstein’s death,

about

a

book he had

lent Einstein.

A

few years

earlier,

he had asked

Einstein what influence Poincare’s great treatise of 1906 on the

dynamics of the electron had had on Einstein’s own work. Einstein

had never read

and

it,

Pais,

who had found

an offprint of

this

not

readily accessible article in an antiquarian bookstore, lent Einstein his

precious copy, but

unable to find the

it

was never returned to him.

article. 61

Now the secretary was

Poincare’s paper remained

Poincare and Einstein had passed

lost.

like ships in the night,

doing

everything possible to avoid one another.

Einstein’s relativity theory

Lorentz. For

more than

a

must have been

a strange

dozen years the Dutch praeceptor physicae had

struggled to adapt electrodynamics to the fact that to the ether

experience for

was not observable.

movement

relative

Elis efforts to “save” the relativity

principle had worked, albeit at the cost of complicated arguments and a

mountain of separate hypotheses. And now

a fairly

from Bern had simply turned the problem into actually succeeded with

it.

unknown man

a principle,

In 1906 Lorentz observed, with astonish-

ment and some melancholy,

that “Einstein simply postulates

have deduced, with some difficulty and not altogether

a

what we

satisfactorily, field.” 62

from the fundamental equations of the electromagnetic however, was

and had

That,

one-sided comment, because Einstein, on the other

hand, had easily derived from his two principles

had been forced to introduce

as

much

ad hoc hypotheses

of what Lorentz

— from the Lorentz

constant to the Lorentz force. Moreover, Einstein had established the validity of the principles as a

whole

As

it

and the kinematics based on them for physics

—something Lorentz had not even attempted.

was not then possible

to decide

between the two theories by

experiment, Lorentz tended to view the choice as

“Which of be

left to

the two

him” 63

is

modes of thinking

a

how he summed up

a

matter of

person follows his

opinion

in

will

taste.

probably

the Wolfskehl

The Patent Office

216

fall

of 1910.

Max

edit these lectures for publication,

thought

this

lectures he gave in Gottingen in the

had to

Born,

who

“absurd and

reactionary.” 64

In a series of lectures in Haarlem, the Netherlands, in 1913, Lorentz was even

more

more outspoken. He found

satisfactory,

“the older presentation

according to which the ether possesses a kind of

substantiality, space

and time are

strictly separable

and simultaneity can be defined without

from each other,

restrictions.” Realizing that

absolute simultaneity would imply infinite velocity, he also criticized

“the bold assertion that super-light velocities are unobservable as a

hypothetical restriction of what

is

one that cannot be

accessible to us,

accepted without reserve.” 65

Unlike Born, Einstein showed some understanding of Lorentz.

When

Lorentz’s lectures went into print the following year, Einstein

for the first time acted as a reviewer of a

theory.

He made no

work concerning

relativity

mention of Lorentz’s observation on the

ether,

time, or the velocity of light, but found everything else “clear and well

explained.”

He

interest in the subject should

No

“No one

added the recommendation: omit reading the

little

with

a serious

book.” 66

one ever suggested that Lorentz’s unwavering loyalty to the

ether physics of the nineteenth century had anything to do with professional vanity, with obdurate pride in his

own

achievements, or with

stubbornness. Lorentz was universally admired, not only as an authority and a wise guide through the problems of theoretical physics,

but also as an integrated and harmonious personality. This also

—precisely be-

by his numerous comments on relativity theory

cause his

own view was

lationship

different.

And

it is

by the

further confirmed

shoulders he himself stood, even

he

did.

re-

between Einstein and Lorentz.

Einstein had always regarded Lorentz as one of the giants

as

proved

is

This

if

that giant

intellectual admiration

personal relationship.

When

was reluctant to see

was soon matched by

else, I

might say

a

as far

happy

the two started to correspond in 1909,

Einstein was enthusiastic even at a distance: “I admire that

than anyone

on whose

I

man more

love him.” 6 ? This boundless admiration

was soon reciprocated, confirmed, and consolidated in personal contact.

In the later phases of Einstein’s

life

Lorentz

will

time and again

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes appear

as

kind of father figure, and as

a

a

217

splendid example of

unclouded respect despite professional disagreement.

One

of the major oddities in the customary accounts of the theory of

relativity

the assertion that

is

came

it

into being in close connection

with the empirical findings of Michelson and Morley’s ether-drift experiment.

A typical

example

an essay by Robert A. Millikan which

is

introduced the special issue of Review of Modem Physics published on Einstein’s seventieth birthday. Millikan states that the special theory of relativity

tion

may

be “looked upon

as starting essentially in a generaliza-

from Michelson’s experiment.” 68 This may not have been the

opinion of the

man whose

birthday was being celebrated, but

been the opinion of physicists generally for some time. been established with the

Max von Laue

in 191

1,

in

first

book on

It

a solid part

relativity theory, written

relativity theory” 69

and

1905 paper shows that

it

Yet

a

has since

a single glance at Einstein’s

no mention anywhere of

contains

allegedly vital experiment. This raises the question of

—

as the

of the folklore of physics.

straight to the relativity principle.

ing

it

by

argued, then, that the Michelson-Morley experiment led

is

actually

had

had clearly

which Laue described the experiment

“fundamental experiment of the

become

It

it

knew of

what

that experiment and

effect

it

this

what Einstein

had on

his think-

question not only of biographical interest but of some impor-

tance for the genesis and justification of relativity theory. In the 1950s the physicist Robert

S.

Shankland,

who thought

of

himself as a scientific heir of Michelson, asked Einstein (who was then

very old)

At

first

when

exactly he had

first

learned of Michelson’s experiment.

Einstein replied spontaneously that he had learned about

from H. A. Lorentz’s writings, but only

would have mentioned

it

in

my is

later,

my life.

I

me

guess

following

not so easy,

heard of the Michelson experiment. influenced

1905. “Otherwise

after

I

I

am

some

reflection,

not sure when

was not conscious that

directly during the seven years that relativity I just

took

it

I

paper.” 70 This information could not

have been correct, and two years qualified his answer: “This

it

for granted that

However, Einstein had learned of

it

was

he

I first it

had

had been

true.” 71

that experiment during the

first

The Patent Office

218

of those seven years, while he was

still

a student. In the

summer

Marie

tion between his third and fourth years he reported to Mileva

by Wilhelm Wien, and

72 that he had “read a very interesting paper”

this contains a list

vaca-

of thirteen experiments to prove the Earth’s motion

through the ether, including that of Michelson and Morley. In Lorentz’s Versuch of 1895, which Einstein studied carefully several times, the experiment its

consequences.

is

described in detail and discussed in terms of

and

Since Lorentz was induced by Michelson

Morley’s results to extend his electron theory by hypothesizing the contraction of dimensions, this

is

of decisive importance: a theory had

reacted directly to an experimental result, and Einstein can scarcely

have been unaware of this. But does

this

mean

that the experiment

was

therefore important also for the development of Einstein’s relativity

theory?

The

structure of Einstein’s treatise of 1905 does not suggest that

interpreting the ether-drift experiments in general or the Alichelson-

Morley experiment

in particular

had been of particular interest to him.

In setting out the problem, he extensively outlined the structural

asymmetry of the customary electrodynamic concept and followed

up with no more than

a

summary

this

reference to “the failure of attempts ”

—and

to detect a

motion of the Earth

relative to the ‘light

that

On

two arguments, he then elevated the

is all.

the basis of the

“principle of relativity”

from an assumption

medium’

to a presupposition.

of these “failed attempts” was Michelson’s, but despite racy and

its

importance to Lorentzian theory,

it

its

One

great accu-

was only one of many;

and Einstein pointed out to Shankland that the aberration of starlight and the Fizeau experiment would have been basis for his arguments.

a sufficient experimental

Both of these were well known,

like Faraday’s

induction experiment, whose interpretation had been Einstein’s

motiv in If the

his search for a

comprehensive principle.

Michelson-Morley experiment played any role

stein’s reflections, it

leit-

was only

at all in

indirectly, as part of the

Ein-

Lorentzian

theory, because Einstein was of course aware that the contraction of

dimensions must come out correctly in his

some

physicists

found

this step

own

arguments. Indeed,

of Einstein’s, from the problem to the

principle, particularly attractive: in the artificial

and contrived Lo-

”

r

Acceptance, Opposition, Tributes

219

rentzian hypothesis, contraction had been invented solely for the interpretation of the Michelson experiment; but in relativity theory

followed effortlessly from Einstein’s principles as a kinematic Einstein must have heard of

this,

because

at the

it

effect.

beginning of 1908 he

referred to the swift acceptance of his ideas and to the impression

which

his explanation of the theory

had made on

his colleagues: “If the

Michelson-Morley experiment had not brought us into serious embarrassment, no one would have regarded the relativity theory as a (halfway) redemption.” 73 This “redemption” evidently enhanced the

famous “fundamental experiment of the himself occasionally paid tribute to

though not

in

relativity theory.” Einstein

in systematic presentations, 74

it

any of his reconstructions of his mental processes. 75

Einstein’s last word, like

very precise, even though

most of his statements on

this topic,

is

not

was intended for publication:

it

4

my own

In

noteworthy

when

I

development Michelson’s part. In fact, I

was writing

explanation

is

my

cannot even

knew about

recall if I

on the subject

first treatise

that, for reasons

not play any

result did

of a general character,

The

(1905). I

had

it

a firm

idea of how this was compatible with our knowledge of electrody-

namics.

ment

It is

understandable therefore

did not play a decisive role in

why

the Michelson experi-

my personal

This was certainly an honest formulation, but failure

ment

struggle. 76

it

also testifies to a

of memory; Einstein was undoubtedly familiar with the experi-

in his youth, even if

he viewed

only

it

one element

as

whole body of confirmations that no movement

is

in the

demonstrable

rela-

tive to the ether.

It is

sometimes speculated whether

relativity

theory would have been

discovered, or

when

discovered

Einstein himself, in old age, conveyed the impression

it.

it

would have been discovered,

if

that in his youth he had merely plucked a ripe fruit

knowledge: “There

is

regarded

it

as

from the

tree of

no doubt,” he wrote two months before

death, “that the special relativity theory, in retrospect,

Einstein had not

was ripe for discovery in “not improbable that

if 1

we look

905

.

77

at its

development

As early

Mach would

his

as

1906 he

have hit upon the

The Patent Office

220 relativity

theory

if,

at the

time

when

mind was

his

still

youthfully fresh,

the question of the constancy of the velocity of light had already

engaged the attention of physicists.” 78

What

enabled Einstein, rather than anyone

sive step? If revolutionary

else, to

take this deci-

achievements in science imply independence

of the all-powerful traditions which often hold the leading figures in thrall,

then Einstein’s independence of thinking may, at the

have been due to his peripheral position

at least in part,

Patent Office.

His success certainly suggests that working on the margin of scientific

endeavor was not only no obstacle to him but perhaps

a positive

advantage. His “temporal monastery” in Bern was not intellectual isolation. It

enabled him, through intensive reading, to absorb ongoing

by academic fashions or by career

discussions, without being distracted

constraints

from developing

about Einstein also the

is

his

own

What

ideas.

is

so astonishing

not only the depth of the problems he addressed, but

width of

his interests.

Only

his

combination of breadth and

depth seems to explain his unique explosion of creativity in 1905, especially his discovery

of relativity theory.

No one else saw the structural problems of electrodynamics in such close connection with radiation theory;

and he alone, thanks to

his

“very revolutionary” paper of

March

point” on light quanta, found

easy to dispense with the idea of a sub-

stantial carrier

it

1905, on his “heuristic view-

of electromagnetic waves.

that enabled Einstein to bring together

dynamic theory, with

its

It

was

this liberating

H. A. Lorentz’s

concept of local time and

its

blow

electro-

contraction of

dimensions, the delicate status of relativity theory, and the prophetic insights of

lems into

Henri Poincare

a principle.

The

—

a stroke

of genius which turned the prob-

theory of relativity

discovery, but in 1905 only one

man was

may have been

able to discover

it.

ripe for

CHAPTER TWELVE Expert

The news that history itself.

Class

1

had been made

soon spread in professional of Bern

1

circles,

but

it

in physics in

spread

Bern

in 1905

less rapidly in the city

Apart from his colleagues Besso and Sauter, Professor

Gruner was probably the only person who

realized that Einstein had

much

accomplished quite exceptional things. In consequence, nothing

changed

in his lifestyle.

citizens,

he was

he

my

with people.”

only outward sign was

that, for the

good

now Herr Doktor. There were advantages in this, as when congratulating an acquaintance on his doctor’s

later said

degree: “In

The

experience,

it

quite considerably facilitates relations

1

Thus only his

doctorate, and not his other treatises, was referred to

in the application

which

his chief, Friedrich Haller, addressed to the

Swiss Federal Council, proposing Einstein’s long-overdue promotion.

He

had “increasingly familiarized himself with technology, so that he

now very successfully processes

quite difficult technical patent applica-

and

is

one of the most highly respected experts of the Office.” 2

On April

1,

1906, Einstein

tions

up by 600

became an Expert

II Class.

francs to 4,500 francs annually. This

lower range of

officials in his grade.

His salary went

still left

Although he

is

him

reported to have

asked jocularly on payday what on earth he was to do with

money, he was not 3

in fact satisfied with his salary

on more than one occasion Telegraph Directorate.

He

that

all

and evidently

tried

to get a better-paid job in the Post

certainly later reported with

tion that Federal Councillor

in the

Ludwig

221

some

and

satisfac-

Forrer, his friend and patron, had

The Patent Office

222

T elegraph

been “very furious” when he discovered “that the torate

me

had not wanted

an

as

official a

few years

earlier.” 4

Einstein therefore remained a “good patent slave.”

Patent Office what was due to

something to

tributed

reporting on a

drawer in

his

visit to

it,

He

and the Patent Office for

scientific

his

Direc-

its

gave the part con-

Rudolf Ladenburg,

output.

Bern, recounted that Einstein had pulled out a

desk and announced that this was his department of the-

oretical physics.

His duties

and so whenever he was

not demand

at the office did

free

he would work on his

a lot

of time,

prob-

scientific

lems. 5 Needless to say, he did not go about announcing this publicly.

Not even

his string quartet,

with

whom he met once a week during

the winter for musicmaking, had any idea

— even

though one of them was

really

was

Freies

Gymnasium

who

their second violin

a physics teacher at the

His fellow musicians remembered him

in Bern.

as

“an enthusiastic musician, a charming companion, and a modest person,” 6 but not as a

and

this

Some

new Copernicus. This was how

was how things remained

until

he

left

Bern

Einstein liked

in the

fall

people in the Patent Office, and also outside, found

unbelievable that the Expert

it,

of 1909.

it

almost

Class should have been offered a pro-

II

fessorship at the University of Zurich.

During the seven years

that Einstein spent in

seven different apartments.

un-Swiss way of

settled,

We

life,

do not know the reason

peak of

made moving

lived in

for this un-

but the fact that the Einsteins’

apartments were rented furnished probably at the

Bern he had

first

easier.

few

Even

—when the paper on the Brownian been completed — the Einsteins were on the move.

his productivity

movement had just They gave up their apartment at Kramgasse 49 in the old city center and on May 15, 1905, moved to Besenscheuerweg 28 in the Mattenhof district 7

on the

Michele Besso

outskirts.

lived

One

advantage of

this

address was that

nearby and he and Einstein were able to make the

fifteen-minute walk to their office together. After

enormously important matters

all,

the two had

to discuss during the five or six

weeks

from the idea triggered by Besso to the completion of the paper on relativity toward the end of June 1905. The memorial plaque on the arcade pillar of Kramgasse 49, to the effect that Einstein created “his

Expert

fundamental

on the

treatise

Class

II

relativity

223

theory ... in

this

house” should

therefore be treated with indulgence. “I

have moved again,” 8 Einstein reported to his friend Solovine in

the spring of 1906. As at the beginning of their married steins

were once more

in Kirchenfeld.

They rented

the Ein-

life,

the upper floor of a

small house in the typical local style, with a fine view of the Bernese

Oberland mountains. This apartment, the

first

moved

with their

own

at Aegertenstrasse 53,

remained their home

furniture,

probably

until they

to Zurich.

Einstein greatly regretted the departure of “the good Solo”: “Since

you

left I

home plaint,

haven’t been meeting anyone privately.

conversations with Besso have

perhaps

a little exaggerated,

come

was

to an

And now

the way-

end too.” 9 This com-

reaction to the cliquishness

a

of Bern society, and, no doubt, to Mileva’s marked distrust of other

home

people. But at

Hans

The

whose

Albert,

Einstein

now had

a small

companion,

his

intelligence at age three fascinated his parents.

boy had

father remarked, proudly rather than critically, that the

“already

grown

into a rather fine impertinent lad,” 10 and the

reported contentedly: just playing

son

“My husband

mother

often spends his free time at

home

with the boy.” 11

Their income was probably adequate for

a solid

bourgeois

lifestyle.

Mileva’s considerable dowry of 10,000 francs was regarded as a reserve

and not touched; when they divorced, many years

amount remained.

If the Einsteins lived a little less

later,

the

grandly than some

of his colleagues, this was because he had to support his mother,

was in

living with her sister

Hechingen,

visited their visit

who

Fanny and Fanny’s husband, Rudolf Einstein,

in the Prussian enclave of Wiirttemberg.

was enough money

full

for vacation trips. In

Even

so, there

August 1905 the Einsteins

former fellow student Helene Savic in Belgrade

may have been connected with

inquiries about Lieserl

—

their

—and sub-

sequently they spent a week with Mileva’s parents in Vojvodina. Over the following years they vacationed in the neighborhood of Bern, in resort villages, in the Simmental, the Valais, or the Bernese Oberland.

The

incredible, even

awesome, tempo with which Einstein completed

four epoch-making papers between

March and June 1905 could not

The Patent Office

224

—

one might be inclined to

last

fortunately,

work

at that intensity

continuing to

say, since

would have been bound

damage

to

his health.

But the reason was not physical exhaustion but exhaustion of subjects:

“There

is

not always

theme

a ripe

musing

for

At

over.

not one

least

that excites me.” 12 Einstein had a sure instinct for choosing not only

what problems

to address but also

what problems

would, of course, be the subject of the spectral there

is

no such thing

as a

to pass over.

lines,

but

I

“There

believe that

simple connection between these phe-

nomena and others already researched, so that the matter, for the moment, seems not too promising.” 13 That was a shrewd judgment, as atom was

the internal structure of the

still

nucleus had not yet been discovered, and

it

unknown, the atomic

was not

until 1913 that

Niels Bohr would propose a quantum-theoretical model of the atom. In 1905, at

work on

spectral lines could not have

gone beyond an attempt

phenomenological interpretation, even for Einstein.

he did not attempt

it

shows him to be

a

master of the

art

The

fact that

of the soluble,

ever searching for a “connection between phenomena.”

There was no shortage of soluble problems within the himself had opened up.

Thus

in

fields

September 1905 he published the

he

first

version of the equivalence of mass and energy as the most spectacular

consequence of the

more general

derivation of the formula

for an experiment to decide

the electron. tions,

The

The next E — me2 as

relativity principle.

between

rival theories

year would see

a

well as a proposal

of the dynamics of

proposal was solidly buttressed by theoretical reflec-

but the experimenters chose to go different ways. Einstein also

generalized and deepened his theory of the Brownian especially his “heuristic viewpoint”

eventually, another milestone

theory of

solids.

not spend

all

is

light quanta; in

was reached with

November,

his first

Mileva proudly reported that her husband

his free

to say that this

on

movement and

time playing with the boy:

by no means

his

“To

quantum

now

his credit I

only occupation outside his

did

have

official

work; the treatises written by him are piling up quite frighteningly.” 14 Six publications

1906.

—

all

—were

of them important

the rich harvest of

Expert

Such an enormous

a lot

Class

when

his creative ideas

of routine work remained to be seen

work

at the

225

output cannot have been easy, even for

scientific

genius like Einstein. Even

II

and

to,

had been developed, was on top of his

this

Patent Office. Ideas had to be arranged in

for publication, the

a

a

form

mathematics had to be tidied up, and

suitable

copy

a fair

had to be written for submission to the editor of Annalen, to be passed

on

reliable version available for

was

on his

would keep

to the printer. Cautious authors

and on

dissertation

his

probably waived

memory.

Now and

for changes

this precaution, relying

—quite certainly with molecular weight— there

from the

a

a rule,

month

or

was an opportunity for correcting mistakes, checking the

calculations,

parcel

As

editor.

however, the proofs would arrive from the printer after this

a

again

on the determination of

might be queries or requests

more;

have

checking proofs or in case the manuscript

lost in the mail. Einstein

his notes

a copy, so as to

and fnaking last-minute

would

revisions. After another

month

a

up

a

arrive with the offprints of the paper. Einstein built

own

small reference library of his

offprints, in

which he occasionally

scribbled afterthoughts or corrected printing errors. 15 His

manu-

and notes were usually thrown away once the offprints

scripts, drafts,

arrived.

These

offprints were,

edgment among draw attention

show

interest

we have

and

scientists.

still

An

are, the

currency of mutual acknowl-

author would send one to

a colleague to

to himself and his work, or a reader of a journal

might

and respect by requesting an offprint from an author. As

seen, Einstein as early as 1905

information network of physicists regularly later.

Some

inquiries

was involved

—sporadically

at

in this informal first

and more

were addressed to “Herr Professor Ein-

stein” at the University of Bern, 16

and the writers no doubt were aston-

ished to find that this author was employed not at the university but at

Some recipients of his letters, especially if they were renowned professors, may also have been taken aback to find them the Patent Office.

written on graph paper with a ragged edge, carelessly torn from

some

copybook. It

was the custom then among

dence had developed, to lend

it

a

physicists,

once

a lively

correspon-

more personal note by exchanging

The Patent Office

226 photographs. Einstein

young colleague received gentleman

in a

many

into line with this practice, 17 and

fell

a fine picture

smart check

Although most of the early

suit,

resting his

letters are lost,

a

showing an elegantly clad

arm on

a writing desk.

we may assume from

later

evidence that Einstein had always been an enthusiastic letter writer

where by

scientific topics

were concerned. Some idea of

this

is

conveyed

correspondence with Wilhelm Wien,

his partially preserved

became

1906, after the premature death of Paul Drude,

who

in

editor of

Annalen and thus one of the most influential physicists in Germany.

Throughout the summer of 1907, including mental, Einstein

with long

letters

his vacation in the

Sim-

bombarded the “highly esteemed Herr Professor” and terse postcards

me

“not to think too badly of

—so much so that he asked Wien my

because of

flooding you with

letters.” 18

This correspondence was concerned with

con-

difficult questions

cerning the interpretation of the velocity of light as a nonexceedable limit for signals. In the heat of battle Einstein occasionally tripped up,

but even

as a

young man he never

lost sleep

closer examination, unfortunately, everything cipitately in

to

in the

any transmission of

The

end

it

was perfectly

which was compatible with the

although

reported to you so pre-

my last letter has turned out to be wrong,” 19 he once wrote

Wien. But

theory,

I

“On

over his mistakes:

this did

a signal

not give

clear that the

Maxwellian

relativity principle, ruled

at a velocity

exceeding that of

out

light,

rise to a publication.

best opportunity for meeting influential professors and

maneu-

vering into position in the academic job market was provided by congresses. Einstein did

avoided

it.

not seize that opportunity, and perhaps even

Physicists then did not have conventions of their

would meet

in specialized

own

groups within the framework of the annual

general meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft der Naturforscher Arzte, the

German

Stuttgart in

but

Society of Scientists and Physicians.

Its

und

meeting in

1906 would have offered Einstein a good chance to

become acquainted with the

leaders in his field,

comparative nearness to Bern.

if

only because of

And he had no doubt

its

seen the notice in

Expert

Max

Physikalische Zeitschrift that

Kaufmann k Measurements the Electron a subject that ,

.

.

.

The stein

its

Class

227

Planck was going to speak there on

and Their

Significance for the

would have drawn attention

The Electrodynamics of Moving discussed there in

li

Bodies.

Dynamics of

to the author of

Nonetheless, Relativtheorie was

author’s absence.

following year,

when

the meeting was held in Dresden, Ein-

was again absent. In 1908, eventually, he did plan to go to

Cologne, but

this did

for recuperation. 20

not come about because he used

The two

his short leave

weeks’ annual leave from the Patent

Office to which he was entitled was certainly not very generous, but

managed

Einstein had really wanted to attend he probably could have a

few extra days. Probably he was not

university assistants’ posts had vant, 21

all

that eager.

The

if

poorly paid

attraction for a well-paid civil ser-

little

and besides he may have believed that one day the mountain

would come

to

Muhammad. And

indeed, the following year, 1909,

Einstein attended the annual meeting in Salzburg,

now

as a “guest

of

honor” entrusted with one of the keynote addresses.

We so, it

do not known whether Professor Gruner encouraged him

to

do

or perhaps even Professor Kleiner of Zurich University, or whether

was on

his

own

initiative that Einstein for a

Hahilitation as a privatdozent.

At any

rate,

second time applied for

on June

he sub-

17, 1907,

mitted an application to the director of education of the canton of Bern. 22 Enclosed with his petition were his dissertation and doctor’s

diploma, a curriculum vitae of only nine

from the It is

field

since, as

with his

dozent without writing possible,

ments.”

and “seventeen papers

of theoretical physics.”

probable that he had discussed

Gruner,

lines,

first

this step in

advance with Paul

attempt, he wanted to

become

a special Hahilitation thesis; this

under the university’s

rules, “for

a privat-

procedure was

other outstanding achieve-

No doubt Gruner would have persuaded Aime Forster,

the (by

then rather senile)

full

professor of physics, that the offprints sub-

mitted by Einstein

far

surpassed any normal Hahilitation thesis, but

once again, things did not work out. Einstein’s application ulty

was immediately circulated among the

members. By July 10 they had

all

read

it.

The

fact that

it

fac-

was not

The Patent Office

228

put on the agenda before the impending

began on July

supported

application professor,”

“in view of the important scientific

achievements of Herr Einstein, without demanding

a special Habilita-

Professor Forster, the head of the department

whose incompetence,”

—“about

Einstein later remembered, “stories were cir-

as

the younger people” 24

among

culating

unhappy

professors were

thesis.

a positive decision,

tion thesis.” 23

which

vacation,

Not until October 28 was the Only Gruner, who was no more than a “titular

about the lack of a discussed.

some of the

10, suggests that

summer

—recommended that the

appli-

cation be accepted “under the customary procedure.” It was therefore

decided, “after prolonged discussion, that the petition be refused until

Herr Einstein has submitted stein’s

a Habilitation thesis.”

second attempt to become a “great professor.”

No

railed against the “pigsty,” 25 as

doubt he again

first

attempt four years

and

also in the certain

knowledge that the

few old fogies

—

as

universities

we

after his

would not be

longer. In old age, looking back

episode, he remarked that “it a

he had

but this time with more justification,

earlier,

him much

able to ignore

ments

Thus ended Ein-

is

on

this

often the case that in small depart-

ourselves are

now

—

will stick together

and run the show.” 26

By then

the major scientific publishing houses had

Einstein.

The

in Leipzig,

first

to

whose proprietor assured him

The

in

following year the firm of

should produce “a

to notice

approach him was the renowned firm of Teubner

September 1907 that “my

presses will always be at your disposal in case plans.” 27

begun

little

monograph on

S.

the

you have any

literary

Hirzel proposed that he

more recent advances

in

physics and chemistry,” written “in an easy, not to say popular, style to

make

it

accessible to the chemist as well as the physicist.” 28

the idea appealed to

even though

I

am

mind two weeks book, because

When

I

Eilhard

initially

hoped

to “undertake the task,

seriously overloaded with work,” 29 he

later:

am

relativity theory,

him and he

“Unfortunately

I

am

changed

his

quite unable to write that

unable to find the time for

Wiedemann

Although

it.” 30

suggested that he write a book on

presumably for the publishing house of Vieweg in

Braunschweig, Einstein declined after

a

lengthy period of considera-

Expert tion

—

Class

229

time not only for reasons of time but also because of the

this

how

subject matter: “I cannot imagine sible to

II

broad

circles.

this topic

Comprehension of the

could be

subject

made

demands

acces-

a certain

schooling in abstract thought, which most people do not acquire

because they have no need of it.” 31

Even script

in later years publishers

it

difficult to extract a

from Einstein. Despite the large extent of

wrote only two books:

and

found

his publications,

He

level. 33

graph on

never wrote

at

an academic

even an authoritative mono-

a textbook, or

a particular field

about what was already

he

popularized exposition of relativity theory 32

a

reworking of four lectures on the same subject

a

manu-

of research. His interest was not in writing

common

knowledge, but in pursuing what he

himself did not yet know.

In September 1907, while his Habilitation application was at the

University of Bern, Einstein had agreed to write

sive article

on the theory of relativity. What began

as a

a

still

pending

comprehen-

commissioned

job turned into a stroke of genius, perhaps his greatest. Johannes Stark, Einstein’s senior

by only

five years

but already

professor (albeit a

a

provisional one) in Greifswald, had founded th & Jahrbuch fur Radioaktivitdt It

und Elektronik ( Yearbook of Radioactivity and

was

was to appear. Einstein

in this annual that Einstein’s article

accepted “gladly” but asked Stark to help

Electronics) in 1904.

him with

the literature, as he

was unable “to inform myself on everything that has appeared on subject, as the library

own

papers,

(1904),

I

am

is

closed during

my

acquainted only with

free time.

a

notice.” 34

paper by H. A. Lorentz

papers concerning the subject have not

Presumably Einstein was

listing

nals have

been quite

as difficult as Einstein

evidence not so

much

come

to

my

only offprints sent to him,

because he must have read a good deal more.

is

my

one by E. Cohn, one by Mosengeil, and two by Planck. Other

theoretical

fore

Apart from

this

Nor

made

can access to jour-

out.

The

list

there-

of the state of his knowledge as of his

selective treatment of literature.

Einstein had only two months to write his Jahrbuch

article. 3 '

After one

month, he informed Stark that he had “so arranged the work that

The Patent Office

230

anyone couid find theory and

its

way with comparative

He had

applications so far.” 36

clarification of the

ease into the relativity

much

devoted

care “to the

assumptions used,” and he was anxious, by means of

and simplicity of the mathematical development,” to make

“clarity

work more

“the

his

attractive.” 37 In this, despite the pressure

of time, he

succeeded superbly.

The

report,

On

the Relativity Principle

and

the Conclusions

and range of

ltd 8 gave an excellent overview of the foundations

from

Drawn

the principle for electrodynamics, mechanics, and thermodynamics.

The

advances achieved by the theory as formulated in this report were

later

most

It

strikingly

summed up by Einstein

in his

Nobel

reconciled mechanics and electrodynamics.

It

lecture:

reduced the

number of logically independent hypotheses of the last-named.

It

enforced a cognition-theoretical clarification of the basic concepts. It unified the

impulse theorem and the energy theorem;

it

proved the essential unity of mass and energy. 39

However, what would not

digm of all

physics,

fit

into the relativity principle

was the para-

Newton’s theory of gravity. There were

also a

few

other problems, predominantly having to do with cognition theory

and

aesthetics.

We

do not know

first felt

at

what point between 1905 and 1907 Einstein

that his relativity theory as formulated in

On

namics of Moving Bodies could not be the final word.

probably gave

rise to further

thought

ited to “inertial systems,” that

is,

fairly

the Electrody-

One problem

soon: the theory was lim-

to referential systems in

uniform

nonaccelerated motion relative to one another. This restriction, as he later observed,

status of

“was really more

one single

state of

than the privileged

difficult to tolerate

motion,

as

was the case

in the theory of a

resting luminiferous ether, because that theory at least proposed a real

reason for that privileged status, namely the luminiferous ether.” 40

With

the discarding of the ether, the

demand

for a

broadening of the

theory seemed to Einstein the most natural thing in the world. But

what he

called his

“need of generalization” 41 was not enough; there

was another stumbling block:

“It

was only when

I

endeavored to pre-

Expert

Class

II

231

sent gravitation in the framework of this theory that

the special theory of relativity was only the

realized that

I

step in a necessary

first

development.” 42

we do not know

when these endeavors began, or how intensive they were, but we do know when the breakthrough came in October or November 1907, when the first half of his Again,

precisely

—

Jahrbuch

article

November all;

was ready and the second remained

he was not yet sure

1

to be written. 43

On

he would deal with gravitation

if

at

otherwise, he would surely have mentioned this to his editor.

When

the article was finished on

essentially an overview,

were followed by

pages, contained entirely

Under

the heading

December

new

1,

the

first

four parts,

which, on nine

a fifth part

material.

“The

and Gravitation,”

Relativity Principle

Einstein makes a connection between the generalization to any refer4T

system on the one hand and the

ential

on the

other.

What is

—

is

treatment of gravity

developed here, on the basis of a convergence of

the two problem areas

matic

relativistic

—

a

convergence

as surprising as

it

is

enig-

not an axiomatic theory but only the outline of the begin-

ning of a lengthy development which, eight years

later,

would

the “general theory of relativity.” But the outline already

is

result in

bold, even

revolutionary. If the relativity theory of 1905 was a revolution, then this revolution

too “devours

its

children.”

The

principle of the con-

stancy of the velocity of light, only just established, in the sense that the velocity

stein

field.

While

Christmas Eve 1907 was not origin,

“modified”

were

his colleagues

new ideas he had put forward

was already marching on. That was

was of Jewish

now

and direction of propagation of light are

influenced by a gravitational struggling to assimilate the

is

his destiny

and

festive in the Einstein

still

in 1905, Einhis greatness.

household.

He

and her Serbian Orthodox Church did not

observe the birth of Christ until January. So he used the break to write letters.

article

with

“During October and November

on the

new

I

was very busy with an

relativity principle, partly reporting

matters,” he informed

Conrad Habicht.

and partly dealing

“Now

I

am

con-

cerned with another relativity-theory reflection on the law of gravitation,

by which

I

hope

to explain the

still

unexplained secular changes

232

The Patent Office

in the perihelion distance of Mercury.” 44

despite

its

He had

thus focused on what,

minuteness, was a serious stumbling block in Newton’s

theory of gravitation. In a short postscript Einstein added: far

it

doesn’t seem to

before

it

did

work out

work

out.” It

.

.

but so

would take eight laborious years

—before, on November

the general theory of relativity in front of him.

15, 1915, Einstein

had

PART

III

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

From “Bad Joke” to “Herr Professor”

“I

must confess to you

sit

in an office for eight hours a day!

This

is

that

I

was amazed to read that you have But history

is full

how Johann Jakob Laub, Wilhelm Wien’s

to

of bad jokes.”

1

collaborator in

news that the “Esteemed Herr Doktor,”

Wurzburg, reacted

to the

from whom,

beginning of 1908, he had requested an offprint

at the

and for whose sake he was willing to come to Bern for three months,

was to be found not

Much

the

at the university

same may have been

1906 Ordinarius, or

full

but

felt

at the

Patent Office.

by Arnold Sommerfeld, since

professor, of theoretical physics in

Munich. At

the beginning of January he had written a letter which had given Ein-

other physicist has yet approached

me

with such frankness and benevolence.” 2 At the same time, Einstein

felt

stein exceptional pleasure:

it

necessary to tone

“No

down Sommerfeld’s compliments: “Because

of

my

lucky idea of introducing the relativity principle into physics you (and others)

now

feel quite

Those

greatly overrate

my

scientific abilities, so

physicists

Einstein was

who had

still

felt

already seen the light about his

I

work

“quite shaken” at the thought that Albert

employed

at the

Patent Office.

earned the kind of reputation that made the offer of a

so that

shaken.”

would probably have

only

much

He

had by then

a university chair

matter of time.

Einstein himself had been thinking of a change in his career ever since the beginning of the year, and he had probably discussed the matter

with Jakob Ehrat,

who had come from Zurich 235

over Christmas and

who

The New Copernicus

236

was himself thinking of becoming Marcel Grossmann he voiced

his “sincere

my

under

private scientific activities

The

of the past three years

efforts

less

wish to be able to continue

unfavorable circumstances.” 4

—twenty-five publications, culmi-

nating in the tour de force of the Jahrbuch

growing volume of

his scientific

sented not only an intellectual but also

all

Marcel Grossmann, Einstein’s

achievement even

if

more exhausting must

Patent Office.

at the

“lifesaver,”

Zurich Polytechnic in 1907,

at the

along with the

—would have repre-

a physical

How much

been on top of his work

that have

article,

correspondence

they had been his main occupation.

To

Patent Office “expert,” 3

a

had become

a professor

after a career in the school service,

and Einstein once more turned to him for advice. Einstein was aiming not

an academic post, but, with almost touching modesty,

at

at a

teaching post at the Technical College in Winterthur, 5 the institution

where he had worked

now

spring of 1901. “I

make

a

my

how

does one go about this? Could

admirable person as

a teacher

and

Would

etc.)?

there be any point in

Wouldn’t

citizen?

I

I

my Semitic my stressing my scien-

bad impression on him (no Swiss-German

appearance, tific

ask you:

in the

on somebody and verbally convince him of the great

possibly call

worth of

two months

as a stand-in teacher for

dialect,

papers on that occasion?” 6

We

do not know

terthur, but at the

apply:

he learned

gymnasium

about the

if

salary,

Einstein actually applied for a post in

—probably from Grossmann—of

in Zurich.

found

“With reference

it

He

first

would add that

I

new vacancy

corresponded with the principal

acceptable, and

on January 20 decided

to

to the advertisement of a teaching post for

mathematics and descriptive geometry, tion. I

a

Win-

would

also

I

hereby apply for that posi-

be prepared to teach physics.” 7

enclosed his dissertation as well as “the rest of

my

scientific

He

papers

published hitherto.” There were twenty-one applicants for the job; three of them were short-listed. Einstein was not as the records

contain no assessment of him,

among the

three,

we must assume

and

that his

application was not even considered.

Meanwhile, though, Einstein had another iron Habilitation. ties

He

and had

had abandoned

now

in the fire

—

his

his earlier opposition to the formali-

prepared the prescribed

thesis.

On

February

11,

— From “Bad Joke”

you

now

friends, has

time and after

To

Bern.

end

this

in the City Library, as well as the advice of several

induced

all

237

Gruber of his change of mind: “My con-

1908, he informed Professor versation with

to “Herr Professor

my

try I

me

change

to

my

intention for the second

luck with Habilitation at the University of

have submitted

a Habilitation thesis to the

Dean.” 8

And now the proverbially slow Bernese were suddenly in a hurry. Some of the professors were probably afraid that their earlier denial of a Habilitation to the only physicist in Bern who was known beyond the borders of Switzerland might cast a bad light on the department rather

than on the candidate.

The minutes

The

procedure was

Energy Distribution

a thesis entitled Conclusions from the

Theorem of Black Body Radiation Concerning ,

“The

speedily set in motion.

of a faculty meeting on February 2 report that Einstein

had submitted

tion.

now

thesis has

the Constitution of the Radia-

been circulated among the faculty members. Herr

Prof. Forster proposes in writing that the Habilitation thesis be ac-

cepted and Herr Einstein invited for this

proposal a resolution.” 9

ture,

On

physics,

a

The

colloquium.

made

a

trial lec-

,

unanimously recom-

privatdozent for theoretical

and the following day the director of education of the canton

By

of Bern issued the appropriate document.

document, Einstein’s

He

makes

Thermodynamics was given,

faculty thereupon

that the candidate be

faculty

Thursday, February 28, the

the Limits of Validity of Classical

along with

mended

On

The

a trial lecture.

did not keep

it.

thesis

To

the

was returned to him

judge by

its title, it

same mail

as the

at Aegertenstrasse.

must have been

a prelimi-

nary study for work to be published the following year. 10

Even before the formal proceedings, Einstein had

to spend a class

to

his

to

I

on lecturing

.

.

.

will

be optimally used,

i.e. I

would

like to

run

adapted to the degree of knowledge and the interests of the stu-

dents.” 11

While the professor and

the privatdozent very quickly agreed

on the delimitation between the main this

be understood

— whose lectures own colloquia were supplement— that he was anxious that “the time that have

by Professor Gruner represent a

let it

lectures and Einstein’s class

—the

conversation taking place at the tourist cafe Chalet Bovet

“knowledge and

interests” of the

quite another question. In his

few physics students in Bern were

first class in

the

summer semester

of

The New Copernicus

238

1908 Einstein had an audience of exactly three 12

—and these were not

students but his loyal friends from the Patent Office, Michele Besso »\

and Heinrich Schenk; and Lucien Chavan from the Postal and Telegraph Administration.

On

Tuesday and Saturday of each week, they

had to get up early and climb up the Grosse Schanze, where Einstein

would begin the

morning so

class

(on “molecular theory of heat”) at seven in the

that he and his colleagues could start

Office at eight.

Chavan

at least, as

is

shown by

written in French, 13 did not miss a single

In the winter semester, Einstein

from this

six to

more

seven o’clock, his topic

his meticulous notes,

his class to the evening,

were joined by

a

genuine

Stern from Lithuania; but he was not a physicist but a

student of insurance mathematics with an interest in science.

summer

the 1909

Patent

being “radiation theory.” At

civilized time, the three friends

Max

student,

at the

class.

moved

now

work

semester, the three friends

pursue their education under Einstein,

Max

When,

no longer chose

in

to

Stern remained his only

student. Einstein thereupon canceled the class.

The

circle

of friends of the newly appointed privatdozent was soon

joined by Johann Jakob Laub,

who

arrived in

Bern

in

March 1908 and

would henceforward pride himself on being Einstein’s

t

H. December

19 19 nr. 50

€ Inzc pr9 i

Berliner

fees

28 Jafjrgang .

fj

e

f

»

ts

25 Pfg.

Jllulfrirte 3cituna

brfiVn nit&

10.

“A

New

fturfdiiiiitKH

rim>

Sen Ifrlcimutlffrii

Giant

in

uiiillfle

ti Mi's

llmumljimn itiifmr

Jleptriiltut,

‘JlnnirlH'lruditinifl

SUpIcr un&

World History

.

.

.

bcOtulv

i

".'tcwlon rtlriftnmlifl fin#.

whose researches mean

complete overthrow of our views of nature,” 1919.

a

1

1.

Lecturing

at the

College de France, Paris, 1922

12. Einstein

about 1920,

theory of relativity.

a

time of intense public interest in the

13.

With Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, who was

father figure.

Einstein’s scientific

14.

With

his

second wife, Elsa, in Berlin, 1921.

From "Bad Joke”

The

to “Herr Professor

concepts of space and time which

sprung from an experimental physical

Their tendency

by

is

a radical one.

wish to present to you have

I

soil.

Therein

lies their

Henceforward space by shadows, and only

itself will totally decline into

a

itself

strength.

and time

kind of union of

The man who

the two shall preserve independence.” 38 cally

243

so bombasti-

prepared his audience for the epoch-making significance of his

exposition

whose

was Hermann Minkowski, the famous mathematician

young Einstein had avoided

lectures at the Zurich Polytechnic

but whose

class

on

analytical

mechanics he had appreciated

theoretical lecture there. In 1902

Minkowski had been

tingen to a chair specially created for

There Minkowski subscribed

Hilbert.

masters of Gottingen mathematics

him

Got-

invited to

at the insistence

to the belief of the

only

as the

of David

two grand

— Felix Klein and Hilbert—that the

fundamentals of physics were really too

difficult for physicists

and

should be handled by mathematicians.

Such

a

mind could not long overlook

trodynamics of

Moving

Bodies. Jointly

nized a few seminars on

Einstein’s paper

On

the Elec-

with Hilbert, Minkowski orga-

new developments

in electrodynamics in

1907-1908, which were followed by a lecture in Gottingen and publications of high quality.

he observed to

As

for the paper of his erstwhile student,

Max Born: “I really wouldn’t have thought that!” 39 Max Born even reported that Minkowski

had told him of his “great shock when Einstein published

which the equivalence of relative to each other

his

paper in

different local times of observers

moving

was pronounced;

for

he had reached the same

conclusions independently but did not publish to

There

work out

is

few

his assistant

Einstein capable of

first

a

them because he wished

the mathematical structure in

no evidence

at all

all

its

splendor.” 40

of “same conclusions”; one can excuse the

statement only by Minkowski’s tendency to confuse physics with

mathemadcs. That he should have discovered anything of relativity independent of and before Einstein

is

like the

theory

very doubtful.

But there could be no doubt about the glory of the mathematical structure

which Minkowksi had found

theory of relativity and which he flood of words.

now

in

and extracted from the

presented to his audience in

Minkowski presented not only

a

new and

a

exceedingly

elegant form of Einstein’s theory, but simultaneously a highly stylized

The New Copernicus

244

among

vocabulary which would earn relativity theory special notice physicists

and more generally.

of “world points” that life

He

made up

spoke, for example of a multiplicity

the “world,” within which the “eternal

of the substantial point” formed a “world line.” Einstein’s principle

of relativity was rededicated as the “postulate of the absolute world.”

For the

first

relations

time in the context of relativity theory, he stated that “the

under review only unfold their inner being of great simplicity

in four dimensions,”

and the mystical

was heightened by the

thrill

of the “fourth dimension”

fact that in this concept,

time figures as an

imaginary coordinate.

Minkowski concluded balance sheet:

would

“The

his address

absolute validity of the world postulate

like to believe, the true

ture, first hit

his

is,

if

not

all

as I

core of an electromagnetic world pic-

by Lorentz, further carved out by Einstein, and now

exposed .” 41 Even

between

with an apodictically formulated

his listeners

fully

were able to follow what came

programmatic introduction and

his definitive conclusion,

they probably gained the impression that here a

new

physics had been

born, cerebrally, out of mathematics, without recourse to experiments

and relying

solely, as

mony between Only tivity

a

Minkowksi assured them, on

“prestabilized har-

pure mathematics and physics.”

few of Minkowski’s listeners would have realized that

theory was here running a risk of being deprived of

foundations, but

among

theory of relativity

it

physical

those few was Jakob Laub. Having studied the

at its source,

he acquainted himself, on

Wurzburg, with Minkowski’s work and was astonished siasm

its

rela-

his return to

at the

enthu-

was arousing, especially on the part of the mathematician

Matthias Cantor.

If Einstein’s

work were not

available,

he wrote to

Bern, “we would find ourselves with Minkowski’s transformation equations for time

(as far as

the physical interpretation

is

the same situation, at best, as with Lorentz’s ‘local time.’

concerned) in ” 42

Minkowski’s torrents of words and his concept of four-dimensional space-time did not, from a physical point of view, offer anything new,

compared with Treating time

as

Einstein’s

theory or indeed even with Lorentz’s.

an imaginary magnitude

is

merely

a

mathematical

device which illustrates certain analogies between the three spatial

coordinates on the one hand and time on the other, and which makes

From “Bad Joke” it

to "Herr Professor”

245

possible for the Lorentz transformations of relativity theory to

be represented in scribed with the

a

four-dimensional Euclidian space and to be de-

same mathematics developed

for rotations in a three-

dimensional space. Even Minkowski’s dramatically emphasized “union” of space and time should be “relativized” inasmuch as the transformation equations

do not allow

for confusion

between the two:

a

time

coordinate always remains recognizable as such.

When,

few months

a

later,

Einstein read Minkowski’s lecture in the

February issue of Physikalische

Zeitschrift

he was not impressed by

and he regarded the four-dimensional formulation erudition.” 43

He

it

“superfluous

credibly reported to have said with a sigh: “Since

is

the mathematicians

understand

as

it,

pounced on the

relativity

theory

no longer

I

myself.” 44 Later, he poked fun at the mystical frisson of

the “fourth dimension” as a “sensation not unlike that of a ghost in the theater.

And

familiar

world

no statement can be more banal than

yet, is

four-dimensional time-space continuum.” 45

a

Minkowski’s four-dimensional presentation had been only

If

matter of elegance,

makers

—

a

it

could have been

during his

him-

efforts, in 1912, to generalize his relativity theory.

Now

was to discover

as “superfluous erudition”

but paid tribute to the “important idea, without which the theory of relativity might have remained stuck in

was not able

months

it

for

usefulness, as Einstein

he no longer saw Minkowski’s formulations

stein

a

the tailors and shoe-

left to

dictum of Boltzmann’s often quoted by Einstein. But

combined elegance and self

that our

after the

to express his gratitude to

Cologne

its

.

.

.

general

diapers.” 46 Ein-

Minkowski

in person; four

lecture, at the age of forty-four,

Hermann

Minkowski died of appendicitis. After the Cologne meeting the question was being asked

more how much longer stein’s

the “bad joke” in Bern could continue. Ein-

former fellow student Kollros

meeting

—

in April

Rome, he was

1908

strolling

more and

—

recalls

how

even well before that

at the International Physicists’

Congress

in

through the gardens of the Villa d’Este with

Lorentz and Minkowski: “Both of them acknowledged the great importance of the ideas introduced by the twenty-six-year-old scientist.” 47

Minkowski’s lecture in Cologne made

it

even clearer that Ein-

The New Copernicus

246

than in

stein

belonged in

culty

was that there was then no vacancy for

In the still

ties

a university rather

a

patent office.

The

diffi-

a physicist in his specialty.

decade of the twentieth century theoretical physics had

first

not quite “come of age” in the academic world. 48 At most universi-

was represented by “extraordinary”

it

whose

professors,

status

they came under the

Few

modestly. fessor

(who

full

is,

nontenured

“full” professor

of physics;

professor administratively and were paid only

universities could afford, in addition to the full pro-

in that case

second, equal

was below that of a

—that

was called professor of experimental physics),

a

professor, the professor of theoretical physics. Berlin

full

and Gottingen did have such an arrangement, though,

when Arnold Sommerfeld was appointed

as did

Munich

The young

in 1906.

privat-

dozent from Bern would have been an ideal choice for one of the nontenured professorships of theoretical physics, but there were barely

two dozen such posts these were it

filled.

The

in the

German-speaking countries, and

all

of

only exception was the University of Zurich, but

had no actual vacancy; the establishment of a nontenured professor-

ship remained to be wrested

from the

authorities.

Only

after involved

arguments was the post created and Einstein invited to take

Professor Alfred Kleiner in Zurich had been trying for a

it.

number of

years to lighten his teaching load by having a theoretical physicist

appointed.

He

had met with opposition from the cantonal education

authorities; but

when Paul Gruner was

nontenured professor, Kleiner rekindled authorities in Zurich

invited to his

Bern

in

1906

hope that even the

might now see the need for

a

as a

thrifty

second professor of

physics.

What former

is

more, Kleiner already had

—

candidate for the post

his

who in the meantime had found an German Museum in Munich. Kleiner persuaded

assistant Friedrich Adler,

interesting job at the

Adler to return to Zurich and saw to tation right

lished,

a

away, in

December

it

1906. 49

that Adler obtained his Habili-

The

post was slow to be estab-

even though the Social Democrat members of the Education

Council were eager to bring Adler to the university rade.” But

when,

in the winter semester of

as its first

“com-

1908-1909, Kleiner was

From "Bad Joke” elected rector of the university,

to "Herr Professor

looked

it

as if the

247

new

professorship

would soon be authorized.

man

between becoming

many

had always

vacillated

a physicist, a philosopher, or a politician.

His father

Friedrich Adler, a

was urging him toward

of

talents,

a professorship in physics,

own

while his

nations were in the other two directions. Adler believed that

if

incli-

he was

given the professorship he would be able to follow his philosophical interests rather than physics. It

is

likely that Kleiner gradually

came

to

the conclusion that Adler might not turn out to be a fully committed

him of

physicist and would, therefore, not relieve

workload

June

he had hoped. At any

as

rate, in a

1908, recorded by Adler from

19,

much

as

of his

tortuous conversation on

memory, 50 the professor

informed Adler that he would probably not be heading the

of can-

list

didates.

possible that influential people

It is also

Kleiner that he should consider another

had

tions

lately

may have

scientist,

aroused a lot of attention. Adler

suggested to

one whose publica-

named him

in a letter

written to his father that same day:

I

who

forgot to say

who on

will

principle and

most

likely get the professorship

will,

man by

name of

it

rather than myself, and

whom

and with

I

Einstein, I

who was

is

and on the other

Germany,

Office.

.

expect,

it is

all

.

.

a fine

what one wants

a

it is felt

that a

man

it

way they

like that

thing that this

and

.

.

.

is

a

same

For the

treated

him

in the

to be a scandal, not only here but

Objectively therefore,

difficulties,

A few

he gets

of course that, on the one hand,

they have a bad conscience about the

also in

if

a student at the

attended several lectures.

people involved the situation

past,

man

apart from any awkwardness, be very pleased. This [the]

time as

a

from the point of view of the people

involved, should certainly get it I

—

if

should

sit

in the Patent

the business goes the

man

way

I

has asserted himself despite

strengthens one’s belief that one can do

to do. 51

days later Einstein’s class on “molecular theory of heat” had

fourth person in the audience, his former supervisor Professor

The New Copernicus

248 Kleiner. Kleiner had

Laub: “That day

come

I really

“to inspect the beast,” as Einstein wrote to

—partly because

did not lecture wonderfully-

I

had not prepared myself well and partly because the situation of being inspected was getting on

my

When

nerves.” 52

Kleiner

made some

remarks about Einstein’s teaching, the candidate agreed and

critical

added that irritated,

“after

all,

they need not have invited me.” 53

no longer had

The

professor,

that intention anyway; and Friedrich Adler

reported to his father that, according to Kleiner, Einstein was “a long

way from being

therefore has changed, and the Einstein business

Einstein heard about

it

The

he holds monologues.

a teacher, that

he reacted

professorship has fallen through.

stoically:

There

closed.” 54

is

“The

situation

When

business with the

enough school-

are quite

masters even without me.” 55

His stoicism, however, ended when he learned from Laub that Kleiner’s

impression

of the

through the academic grapevine:

“I

in a letter for spreading unfavorable

my

had reached Wurzburg

“visitation”

now

seriously reproached Kleiner

rumors about me, thereby making

difficult position a definitive one.

Because such

a

rumor must

kill

any hope of getting into university teaching.” 56 Kleiner meanwhile,

we know from

Friedrich Adler, had

must propose Einstein

come around

in the first place, because

to the

as

view “that he

he could only make

a

proposal that would get through, and everyone was astonished that Einstein that he

still

had no position.” 57 Kleiner therefore informed Einstein

would gladly

invite

him

to Zurich provided Einstein could first

convince him that he had some talent

On

as a teacher.

Einstein’s suggestion, therefore, a lecture

was arranged

at the

Physikalische Gesellschaft (Physics Society) in Zurich, and in mid-

February 1909 Einstein

out for

set

this

“exam.”

colleague Ehrat and Ehrat’s mother could put

“One

is

far less

He

was glad that

him up

at their

aware of one’s life-and-death situation than

if

his

home:

one has

among strangers.” 58 This time the candidate met This is how Einstein summed it up for Laub: “I was

to blunder about

with approval.

really lucky. Totally against

my usual

habit

return to Bern, he wrote to Ehrat: “There

we

will

Kleiner,

many more on

whom

I

times called

sit

I is

lectured well.” 59 After his

now

a real

prospect that

comfortably together, because the stern

on Friday, expressed himself very benevo-

From “Bad Joke”

my

lently about the result of

to “Herr Professor”

249

‘exam’ and hinted that certain things

would probably follow soon.” 60 Kleiner immediately requested riculum vitae from Einstein and inquired

a cur-

he would be able to

if

start

the following semester. Einstein said that he would, “without having officially

league

informed myself on

this point.

But

I

know

that a former col-

month after giving notice.” 61 However, the not come through in time for the 1909 summer

the Office one

left

appointment did

semester, because overcoming

all

kinds of opposition within the

Zurich bureaucracy took some time.

The stein.

“stern Kleiner” immediately

Needless to

say,

composed

he emphasized that

his assessment of Ein-

his candidate

was “one of

the most important theoretical physicists” of the day “since his treatise

on the that.”

relativity principle

More

cations, in

original

[was]

fairly universally

remarkable

and

ideas,

a

in the conception

profundity aiming at the elemental. Also

the clarity and precision of his style; in

is

as

was Kleiner’s characterization of Einstein’s publi-

which he saw “an extraordinary acuteness

and pursuit of

acknowledged

man

has created a special language, which in a

many respects he

of thirty

is

a clear sign

of independence and maturity.” 62 Only on Einstein’s ability as a teacher was Kleiner reluctant to pass a final judgment, though he

expressed the belief “that Dr. Einstein will prove his worth also as a teacher, because he

open

to advice

is

too intelligent and too conscientious not to be

whenever necessary.”

This recommendation was received by the faculty commission

up

for

set

appointment of the new Extraordinarius the nontenured pro,

The commission had nine names before it. Friedrich Adler was even considered. The commission inclined toward Walter Ritz, a

fessor.

not

privatdozent in Gottingen, “because he

is

Swiss and, in the judgment

of our colleague Kleiner, exhibits ‘an exceptional talent, bordering on genius/

” 63

Ritz,

however, had to be excluded from consideration

because he was incurably

ill

with tuberculosis. 64

Thus everything now

pointed to Einstein.

On March ence Section

4,

II

1909, a secret ballot

among

the

full

professors of Sci-

of the Department of Philosophy produced ten votes

in favor of Einstein

and one abstention.

The

result

was immediately

passed on for confirmation to the director of education of the canton

The New Copernicus

250

of Zurich, along with some remarks, evidently considered useful, on Einstein’s Jewish origin. In these, the professors revealed the

creet anti-Semitism

then typical of academic

65 ,

were evidently trying to counteract. Kleiner,

circles,

same

dis-

which they

had

in his judgment,

emphasized that “about the personal character of Dr. Einstein nothing but the best reports are

known

made by

all

who know him .” 66 He

himself had

Einstein socially for six years and was “unhesitatingly prepared

to have

him

my

as a colleague in

supplement to

immediate proximity.” As

a

kind of

this character reference, the dean, Professor Stoll,

an

anthropologist, had this to say:

The above remarks by our colleague Kleiner, based as they are on many years of personal contact, were the more valuable to the commission, and indeed to the department Dr. Einstein

is

an

Israelite,

and

as a

whole, as Herr

as the Israelites are credited

scholars with a variety of disagreeable character

traits,

among

such

as

importunateness, impertinence, a shopkeeper’s mind in their

understanding of their academic position, cases with

that

some

among the

On

justification.

etc.,

and

the other hand,

Israelites, too, there are

in

it

men without

of these unpleasant characteristics and that

it

numerous

may be even

said

a trace

would therefore not

man merely because he happens among non-Jewish scientists there

be appropriate to disqualify a to be a Jew. After

all,

are occasionally people

even

who, with regard to

a mercantile

under-

standing of their academic profession, display attitudes which one is

otherwise accustomed to regard as specifically “Jewish.”

Neither the commission, nor the department therefore thought

Semitism”

it

compatible with

as a principle

on

its

as a

whole,

dignity to write “anti-

its

banner, and the information which

our colleague Herr Kleiner was able to furnish on Herr Dr. Einstein has put

our minds completely

at rest 67 .

Despite the extremely carefully formulated proposal, there was massive opposition to Einstein in the Directorate of Education

however, because of anti-Semitism but on Social Democrats,

who

political

—

grounds.

not,

The

held the Directorate of Education in the can-

tonal administration, were bitterly disappointed that anyone other

From "Bad Joke”

to "Herr Professor”

251

than their comrade Friedrich Adler should have been proposed by the university. Adler, for his part,

was in the awkward position of being

favored by his political friends in the administration, but not by the

oscillated for

—which

we have seen) had some time between mechanics, Mach, and Marx were

professor or the faculty. His interests

(as

—

gradually turning toward Marx; and he decided to put an end to the

which had been going on over

affair,

gesture,

by

telling

He

a year.

did so with a grand

everyone that Albert Einstein from Bern was the

better physicist and therefore should get the professorship.

There remained some problems with

salary. In line

with their

custom, the Zurich authorities wanted to give the nontenured pro-

gymnasium

fessor a salary significantly lower than that of a

teacher.

This would have been about half of what Einstein had been receiving Patent Office. Einstein remained inflexible on this point, and he

at the

“My pay is roughly the same as give me a lot less, but in that

got his way:

at the Office. Initially

wanted to

case

out.” 68

hours

On a

I

they

would have bowed

the other hand, he had to undertake to teach six to eight

week, 69 although nontenured professors, according to the

Zurich education law, had to teach only four to

On May

1909, by which time the

7,

six

hours.

summer semester was

in full

swing, Einstein was appointed by the Governmental Council of the

Canton of Zurich,

for the period of six years

customary for nontenured

professors, with a salary of 4,500 francs, plus “listener” and “examina-

He

tion” fees due under the regulations.

was

to

assume

his position at

the beginning of the winter semester on October 15, 1909. “So

am

an

official

now

I

of the guild of whores” 70 was his bitter summing-up of

the prolonged and annoying stage details, his

affair. If

he had known of

all

the back-

comment would have been even more vehement.

Before Einstein took up his professorship, he received an honorary degree. This, too, did not

come

to pass without incident, but

an innocent and comical nature, later:

“One day

I

as

received a large envelope at the Patent Office, con-

some words

even believe in Latin) which seemed to

interest,

basket.” 71

and therefore landed

Only

was of

he himself recalled four decades

taining an elegant sheet of paper with (I

it

later did

at

once

he learn that

this

in picturesque print

me

impersonal and of

in

the official wastepaper

was an invitation to

little

a cele-

The New Copernicus

252 bration

on July

founding of

8 of the 350th anniversary of Calvin’s

Geneva University and

on

that,

this festive occasion,

When

awarded an honorary doctorate.

there was

he was to be

no response from

Bern, the Genevans got their fellow citizen Louis Chavan to persuade Einstein to travel to Geneva, without Einstein’s having any clear idea

of what awaited him there:

So

I left

on the proper day and already

that evening

met

Zurich professors in the restaurant of the hostelry where

accommodated. come.

When

I

.

.

.

kept

to confess that

I

Everyone explained

had not the

with me.

I

My proposal

As

it

I

was

to

march

in

only had a straw hat and an informal suit that

I

would dodge

was firmly

it

a droll

rejected,

course as far as

my

was concerned.

was raining

heavily, the festive procession

streets of the old city to the as “rather

had

I

But the others were

following day

and the ceremony accordingly took participation

what capacity they had

in

faintest idea.

The

informed and briefed me. the procession, and

we were

they put the question to me, and

silent,

few

a

Cathedral of

St.

through the narrow

Pierre struck one reporter

too quiet and like a funeral cortege,” 72 but there was no

mention of

a

man

among all the dignitaries of office, who had arrived from

in a straw hat

gowns, uniforms, and chains

in their

the four

corners of the earth. During the subsequent ceremony at Victoria Hall,

Geneva concert

the richly decorated

Neuve, there was

a kind of

hall

behind the Place

academic mass baptism, during which no

fewer than 110 honorary doctorates were handed out. thus honored were

some of

stein.

He

probably owed his

at

a certain

Goschenen

first

Ernst Zahn,

a dialect

— and of course Albert Ein-

doctorate (honoris causa) to Charles

Eugene Guye, professor of physics

in

Geneva,

who had

investigated

the velocity-dependence of beta rays and in that context had

come

those

the great figures of science, like Marie

Curie and Wilhelm Ostwald, but also poet and station restaurateur

Among

no doubt

across the theory of relativity.

Einstein described the conclusion of the day as follows:

The

celebration ended with the

have attended in

my entire

most opulent

life. I

said to a

festive repast that I

Genevan

patrician

who

From "Bad Joke”

“Do you know what

next to me:

sat

were

here?”

still

opinion,

to "Herr Professor”

When

253

Calvin would have done

if

he shook his head and asked for

he

my

“He would have built a huge stake and burnt us all gluttony.” The man did not say another word and

I said:

for our sinful

thus ends

my recollection

Immediately before

of that memorable celebration.

Geneva, on July

this short trip to

1909,

6,

Einstein had handed in his notice at the Patent Office, effective

from October

15.

Haller placed on record that the Expert

“performed highly valued

services.

However, Herr Einstein

Office.

His departure

is

a

II

Class had

loss

to the

that teaching and scientific

feels

research are his real profession, and for that reason the Director of the

made no attempt

Office

to bind

him

to the Office

by better

financial

arrangements.” 73

As

for his “real profession,”

March

the middle of

come

to

Bern

to see

a

name of Ayao Kuwaki had admittedly, from Tokyo but from

Japanese by the

him

—not,

where since 1907 he had been studying under the most famous

Berlin,

physicists.

He

did not

want

The meeting must

stein.

he must have been pleased that about

to return to Japan without having

have been

because Kuwaki’s

success,

a

journey was taking him through Paris and Einstein

met Ein-

commended him

to

the care of Solovine “in the belief that you are sure to enjoy meeting

him.” 74 Kuwaki, Einstein’s

first

a future

professor at the University of Fukuoka, was

contact with Japan, whose physicists would soon

important contributions to

relativity theory.

Although Einstein owed and

his

his professorship, his

growing reputation to

any regrets,

left it to

work with

his relativity theory,

honorary degree, he now, without

other scientists while he himself devoted

energies to radiation theory playful

make

his “little

— along

all

his

with his by no means merely

machine.”

“I

am

ceaselessly concerned

with the constitution of radiation,” 75 he wrote to Laub,

who had mean-

while joined Philipp Lenard in Heidelberg. “This quantum question is

so enormously important and difficult that everybody should

on

work

it.”

Einstein was not alone in this view. In his lecture at the International

Congress of Physicists

in

Rome

in April 1908,

Lorentz had

first

The New Copernicus

254 suggested that

it

would not be possible

formula into the Maxwellian

to integrate Planck’s radiation

field theory,

and that

“more revolutionary” than Planck would wish

number of years

to

come Planck was

it

was therefore

Although for

to admit.

a

reluctant to recognize his formula

beginning of the end of classical physics, and particularly reluc-

as the

tant to follow Einstein’s views, his conviction

began to crumble

in

1908. Nothing, or not much, of this appeared in Planck’s publications,

but

was reflected

it

correspondence with Lorentz and

in his extensive

with Wien.

From

his position at the Patent Office, Einstein

debate in a survey paper,

this

On

had taken part

the Present State of the Radiation

Problem. As soon as he received his offprints, he sent one to

Lorentz in Leyden,

as “the

modest

in

Hendrik A.

result of several years’ reflections. I

have not succeeded in penetrating to a real understanding of the matter.” 76 Unlike Planck, criticized for “finding

who “made

and

per,” 77 Lorentz

it

totally

whom

Einstein, despite his great respect,

difficult to enter into the

wrong

objections to

arguments of others”

[his]

last radiation

pa-

must have replied most sympathetically. Not only was

this the start

of an “exceedingly interesting correspondence,” 78 but

from then on,

albeit at first

only in writing, Lorentz became Einstein’s

scientific father figure. 79

All

through the summer, Einstein worked on

“You can hardly imagine,” he complained pains

the

I

have taken to think up

quantum

it.” 80

theory. So

He would

had to give

also

his first

far,

a satisfying

however,

I

to

his radiation theory.

Johannes Stark, “what

mathematical execution of

have not been successful with

have liked to produce something

definitive, as

he

major lecture in September. But even without

breakthrough in quantum theory, his appearance convention in Salzburg was

a

memorable

at the

a

Naturforscher

event, both for Einstein’s

reputation as the most important physicist of the younger generation

and for the history of physics.

Only Bern.

a

Now

handful of his younger colleagues had visited Einstein in every physicist, including the top names, had an opportu-

nity in Salzburg to “take a closer look at the beast.” Einstein in turn

was able

to

meet

his

correspondents face to

face:

the universally

respected Planck and Sommerfeld, for instance, as well as

some

From "Bad Joke” younger

scientists. 81

to “Herr Professor”

And he must have

Zeiss

Works

in Jena,

scopic methods, to

by projecting

make

on

it

was

enjoyed the deliberately crowd-

Henry

pleasing opening address, in which

Siedentopf, of the Carl

with his newly developed ultramicro-

able,

the Brownian

movement

At the center of

a wall.

255

impressively visible

interest,

“problems of radioactivity on the one hand and the

however, were

relativity principle

on the other.” 82 Einstein could very easily have allowed himself to be lionized as the

founder of the

accordance with academic

relativity principle and, in

custom, could have shown his thanks by

a

comprehensive lecture on

the subject. Indeed, Planck had probably invited intention. 83

But that was not Einstein’s

similar occasions in the future. In the

lecture

was On

tivity Principle)

the

style, either in

now left

just that

Salzburg or on

words of Max Born (whose own

Dynamics of the Electron

Einstein

him with

in the Kinematics of the Rela-

relativity “to lesser prophets.” 84

Einstein himself chose instead the theme on which, in his belief,

“everyone should work,” The Nature and Constitution of Radiation

The assembled creme

de

la

creme of scholarship, who had come

85 ,

to

hear him on the afternoon of September 21, was assured that

we

are

.

.

.

standing at the beginning of a not yet assessable

but undoubtedly most significant development. to present tions,

is

largely

confidence in

them

my own

about

personal opinion, or the result of reflec-

which have not yet been adequately

nevertheless present

other

my

What I am

here, this

views, but to

among you may be induced

is

verified

by others.

If I

due not to an excessive

my

hope that one or the

to concern himself with these

problems. 86

These words

reveal a

lot: his

typical

modesty, combined with

a

decent

reference to his scientific existence on the periphery, outside the universities,

and to the widespread disregard of his work on radiation and

quantum theory

— but

also an attempt to point his colleagues in appro-

priate directions.

Right

at the

beginning, he set out his conviction

with considerable opposition

— that

stood and described solely as

a

light could

—which

still

met

no longer be under-

wave phenomenon, but

that, at the

same time, something “It

New Copernicus

The

256

like a

granular structure must be ascribed to

cannot be denied that there

facts

which show that

exists a large

group of radiation-related fundamental properties

light possesses certain

which can much more

easily

it:

be understood from the standpoint of

Newtonian emission theory than from the standpoint of wave theory.” For the

ment

future,

he ventured to predict that “the next phase of develop-

in theoretical physics will bring us a theory of light that will be

wave theory

susceptible to being understood as a kind of fusion of the

and the emission theory of

light.”

This

announcement of the combination of ticle,

an interpretation which would

may be

light as

wave and

He

first

light as par-

developed quantum

later, in fully

mechanics, be called “complementarity.”

seen as the

saw the aim and purpose

of his lecture as the argument “that a far-reaching change in our concepts of the nature and constitution of light

Of

indispensable .” 87

course, Einstein also referred to relativity theory, but only to

the extent that the inevitable.

The

abandonment of a pure wave theory of light seemed

abolition of the ether in relativity theory had already

“changed ideas on the nature of light in so light as a

sequence of

states

rived a second

far as it

does not und erstand

of a hypothetical medium, but instead as

something existing independently,

whose

is

just like

matter .” 88 Einstein de-

argument from the equivalence of energy and mass,

relationship he once

more

briefly

developed for his

listeners, in

order to attach the conclusion that this “something existing independently like matter” shares with a “particle theory of light the characteristic

of transferring inert mass from the emitting to the absorbing

body .” 89 After these preliminaries, he turned to radiation theory proper and

demonstrated to

his

audience that a direction has to be ascribed not

only to the absorption of radiation but also to

its

emission

contradiction of the Maxwellian theory that radiation

is

—in direct

emitted as a

spherical wave. Einstein demonstrated, moreover, not only that the

concept of energy quanta made

it

possible to derive Planck’s radiation

formula, but that from the validity of that formula necessarily followed a

quantum

structure

of radiation, and that, in consequence, the

Maxwellian equations could no longer be regarded

Hardly anyone, however, was prepared

as strictly correct.

to follow Einstein this far.

From "Bad Joke”

to "Herr Professor”

257

In the discussion which followed, his only supporter was Johannes Stark. Planck, representing the majority view,

was reluctant

with the greatest respect for Einstein’s achievement light

give

—though

— “to assume the

waves themselves to be atomistically constituted, and hence to

up the Maxwellian equations. This seems

my opinion,

is

to

me

a step

which, in

not yet necessary .” 90

Even though Einstein was unable

to convince either the authorities

or his younger colleagues by his bold outline of a future radiation theory, his

first

appearance before

achievement received

scientists .” 91 stein’s

And

a

its

few decades

major audience of physicists was

Max Born

nevertheless a complete success. stein’s

a

felt

that in Salzburg “Ein-

seal before the

later, it

assembled world of

would become

clear that Ein-

Salzburg lecture, in Wolfgang Pauli’s words, could be “seen as

one of the turning points

in the evolution of theoretical physics .” 92

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Professor

in

Zurich

In mid-October, in time

for the start of the semester, Albert Ein-

stein arrived in Zurich, with

Mileva and their son Hans Albert. In the

move he had overlooked

excitement of the

army

the police and

malities associated with removal to a different canton,

for-

and he therefore

mailed his “service book” and residence permit to Lucien Chavan with a request to notify the

Bern police and the

district

army headquarters

of his change of residence. “Things have started moving here,”

wrote to

my new

his friend in Bern. “I like

position a

lot.

But

1

he it’s

exhausting work.”

The at

moved

Einsteins

to the middle floor of a three-story building

Moussonstrasse 12 on the slope of the Ziirichberg, the

looking the

was

city. It

in the

Institute of the Polytechnic

on Ramistrasse dred yards

69,

down

are

immediate neighborhood of the Physical

and also close to the university’s

which Einstein could reach by

the Glorias trasse.

surprise that the Adlers

strolling a

On moving in,

had an apartment

in the

on very good terms with Einstein, who

lives

institute

few hun-

they found to their

same building. above

a

.

.

.

Bohemian household

“We

us, and, as it

happens, we’re closer to them than any of the other academics.

run

over-

hill

They

our own],” 2 Friedrich Adler re-

[like

ported to his father. Hans Albert and the Adlers’ daughter, Assinka,

became

friends

crowd of eight too

much

and would play

garden or in the street with a

in the

to ten children of their

for the parents, they could

turbed discussions. “The more

wrote in the same

letter,

“the

I

more

own

age.

When

withdraw to an

the noise got

attic for

talk to Einstein,” Friedrich I

258

realize that

my favorable

undis-

Adler

opinion

— Professor of him was

Among today’s

justified.

Zurich

in

259

physicists his

not only one of the

is

clearest,

but also one of the most independent minds, and

selves in

agreement on questions which the majority of other

we

find ourphysicists

would not even understand.” Following his sabbatical leave during the summer semester, Adler

was standing

in for the Ordinarius the ,

head of the department,

who

in

turn was substituting for the Rektor, the principal. In consequence,

Adler gave

a

number of lucrative freshman went with them,

ratory workshops that

now

lectures, as well as the labo-

so that the

two neighbors were

also colleagues. Einstein gave a four-hour lecture, “Introduction

to Mechanics,” attended

by seventeen students;

a

two-hour

“Thermodynamics,” attended by nineteen students; and “Physical Seminar”

on

a

class,

one-hour

problems of research, attended by

topical

twelve students.

“My new Jakob Laub.

profession “I

am on

is

my liking,” he reported to with my students and hope I’ll

much

very

to

very close terms

new professor being made on me. I am

be able to give some ideas to some of them.” 3 But the also discovered that “very great

taking lot

my lectures

demands

are

very seriously, which means that

I

have to devote

a

of time to preparation. Six hours a week plus one evening seminar

may not sound

too bad, but

a lot.” 4

it is

“my

Besso in Bern he observed that

Bern. But one learns a lot doing regretfully that

expected.” 6

He

added,

“It’s

due to

To

greater

my

a

postcard to his friend

really free time

it.” 5

“my new post makes

On

less

is

than in

Sommerfeld, too, he

said

demands on me than

had

poor memory,

I

as well as to the

now I had concerned myself with my subject merely as This may have been taken as a kind of fishing for compli-

fact that until

an amateur.” ments, but

it

probably meant no more than that in the past he had

practiced physics as a hobby,

gave his

official

on December

much

inaugural lecture

1 1,

on The

At the lectern Einstein taught in Bern as

a

—

like

playing the violin. Einstein

his first

but by no means his

Role ofAtomic Theory in the

really

was

a

beginner.

privatdozent to

a

The two

He

was well aware of that, and

Physics

classes

.

he had

handful of his friends could

hardly be considered training for the demands of course.

New

last

a

major university

for this reason did not

want

to

The New Copernicus

260 write a

book about

ence so

far, it

“As

relativity theory:

I

have

would be downright irresponsible

obligations until I’ve

become more

teaching experi-

little

familiar with

to undertake further

my new profession .”

As for the time-consuming preparations mentioned by Einstein letters, his

no evidence of

students certainly saw

later recalled that “the entire

7

in his

Hans Tanner

these:

manuscript he carried with him consisted

of a scrap of paper the size of a visiting card, on which he had outlined the ground he intended to cover with us .” 8

Tanner was the only

dent to take his doctor’s degree under Einstein, and of all his lectures Actually,

at

stu-

a regular attender

Zurich University.

Tanner regarded the scanty notes

an advantage,

as

because “Einstein had to develop everything out of himself, so that gained a direct insight into his working technique. able to witness the often curious paths along

which

.

.

We were

.

we

thus

a scientific result

is

sometimes reached.” This kind of participation in the creative process of science

may not

always have been easy for students accustomed to

pedagogically structured, methodical teaching; but any problems of

comprehension were mitigated by the

what

in those days

was

a totally unprofessorial

relationship with his students

revered teacher, Sommerfeld.

—

just

Thus

as

this

and indeed informal

he had promised

we

asked a

silly

own

whenever something

academic method proved successful:

was not long,” Tanner reports, “before we abandoned case

his

Einstein encouraged his students

to ask questions at any time during his lecture,

was unclear to them, and

had

fact that Professor Einstein

all

“It

shyness in

question.”

In the audience at the thermodynamics lecture, which was intended for advanced students,

was

also

Adolf Fisch,

who had

graduated from

the cantonal school in Aarau along with Einstein, had subsequently

studied at the “Poly,” and recalls that “Einstein

now was

a teacher in

Winterthur. Fisch

took great trouble to offer the students some-

thing of substance and something new.

He

kept asking

if

he was being

understood. During the breaks he would be surrounded by

women

students anxious to ask questions, and he would patiently and

kindly try to answer them .” 9 after his

custom

men and

The atmosphere was

evening seminar. Right from the to proceed to the Terrasse cafe

first

particularly informal

semester,

it

became

his

on the Bellevue, where the

Professor

Limmat

261

Lake Zurich, and continue discussions there

leaves

closing time. Arnold

young

Zurich

in

until

Sommerfeld would have been pleased with

this

professor.

Einstein’s relations with his colleagues

He must

were

also entirely amicable.

have been relieved to find that Alfred Kleiner, formerly

his

doctoral supervisor and now, as Ordinarius his superior, was putting ,

no

difficulties in his

way. “Kleiner

is

odd but

tolerable,” 10

Besso; and to

Laub he even described Kleiner

He’s treating

me

me.” 11

Two

and

like a friend

months

later

is

I

he wrote to Laub that although the head of

a great liking.” 12

have

very nice person.

not holding anything against

the institute was “not a superb physicist, he

whom

as “a

he wrote to

is

a splendid

Having observed the

assembled in Salzburg, Einstein evidently took

person for

scientific elite

tolerant view of

a

Kleiner’s professional mediocrity: “It seems that scientific reputation

and personal

qualities

nious person

do not always go hand

in hand.

To me a harmo-

worth more than the most sophisticated formula-

is

basher or system inventor.” 13 Nevertheless, his relations with Kleiner

had

among

a professional character; his friends

came

his colleagues

from elsewhere.

There was “lifesaver”

a joyful

from

Polytechnic.

his student days

He

and

now professor

of geometry

also developed a friendship with another

cian at the “Poly,” with earlier years,

reunion with Marcel Grossmann, Einstein’s

whom

his relations

Adolf Hurwitz. As

seminars but had

a student,

tried, unsuccessfully, to

at

— and

a

native of

become

Hurwitz’s home.

Bohemia

his assistant.

Extraordinarius. Stodola had briefly

was

a

student at the Polytechnic, and

cated to

him an

as a piece in a

recalled

how

When

Now

—chamber music

And Aurel

Stodola, pro-

on steam and gas

tur-

— actually attended the lectures of the

new

into genuine friendship.

in

Einstein had cut Hurwitz’s

fessor of mechanical engineering, an authority

bines

mathemati-

had been rather cool

they were brought together by their love of music

was played on Sundays

at the

met Einstein while

now

the latter

their acquaintance ripened

Stodola retired in 1929, Einstein dedi-

extensive article in a Festschrift for the occasion, as well

Zurich daily paper. In the newspaper

“to his delight and his

article,

uncomprehending alarm

splendid figure appeared in the auditorium” to attend the

Einstein Stodola’s

new

pro-

The New Copernicus

262 fessor’s lectures

on developments

in theoretical physics, “partly for the

sake of pure knowledge and partly with a view to utilizing what he had heard.

When

the class was over, Stodola, always readily spotting the

essential point,

would ask profound questions which often contained form.” 14

justified criticism in a refreshing

was

Einstein’s closest friend, however,

Zangger. Zangger, his senior by

renown and

as

as director

medical man, Heinrich

a

five years,

had gained international

of the Forensic Medicine Institute at the university

one of the pioneers of “disaster medicine,” and

not easily be overlooked in Swiss

Zangger had met Einstein

in 1905,

his views could

and academic

political

when he had been

circles.

wrestling with

some unfamiliar mathematical problems and Aurel Stodola had suggested that he consult Einstein in Bern

—who

in fact

had been able to

help him. As dean of the medical faculty, Zangger had supported Ein-

appointment

stein’s

became

friends. Einstein later

virtually unlimited”; 15

a

who

publications. 16

after his

arrival

men

the two

recorded that “his range of interests was

he was

could also be discussed and Einstein’s

and

in Zurich,

man

whom

with

physical problems

provided an impetus for

Einstein,

moreover,

at least

credited

one of

him with

“sound judgment also with regard to persons and things on which professional knowledge was really

much

his

too meager.” This proved a

considerable advantage, as Zangger was probably Einstein’s most

com-

mitted champion in dealings with the Swiss authorities, both in Zurich

and with the federal government in Bern. Later, Mileva had parted, Zangger was

whenever they were unable

With

a patient

to resolve their

after Einstein

and

mediator between them

problems themselves.

the exception of a few physicists and mathematicians, and per-

haps Heinrich Zangger, hardly anyone would then have been aware that the

To

newly appointed professor was one of the giants

most of his colleagues, he probably appeared

student in Zurich

—

a rather

as

in his field.

he had while

awkward eccentric with

a

still

a

sharp tongue,

who

“with his somewhat shabby clothes, his too short trousers, and his

steel

watch-chain” 17 did not

fit

the accepted image of a Swiss professor.

This view was prevalent not only among the the students and the assistants.

faculty,

but also

among

— Professor

Zurich

in

263

This changed dramatically when, during the spring break

March, Einstein was entific authority,

visited

by Walther Nernst, an unchallenged

and moreover wealthy and popular

invention of the “Nernst lamp”

AEG for

Rathenau of the

working

an assistant

as

technic, recalls that

was Nernst’s

it

be

George Hevesy, then

Chemistry

visit

Institute of the Poly-

which made “Einstein famous

had come to Zurich

a clever fellow if the great

Zurich to talk to him.’

ested in

of his

as a result

Then

an unknown.

as

and people in Zurich were saying: ‘That Einstein must

arrived,

Nernst

sci-

had sold the patent to Emil

million gold-marks.

at the Physical

in his circle. Einstein

Nernst

a

—he

in

— the

first

Nernst comes

all

the

way from

Berlin to

” 18

physicist to visit Einstein in Zurich

him because he had taken

—was

inter-

seriously Einstein’s paper of 1906

on the quantum-theoretical interpretation of the

specific heat of solids.

Nernst’s theorem on the behavior of thermodynamic magnitudes

approaching absolute zero was referred to by

“my theorem” namics by

inventor simply as

but would soon be called the third law of thermody-

his colleagues,

reflections.

stein’s

its

At

and

his

it

could be put on

Physical

University, Nernst had set in

a

Chemistry

new

footing by Ein-

Institute

of Berlin

motion an extensive program

for the

experimental investigation of these relationships in which Heinrich

Rubens, professor of experimental physics, participated both with teams within the university and tute in Charlottenburg.

Einstein’s

and

had

his

When,

quantum theory of

at the

Reich Physical-Technical

in 1909,

solids best

Insti-

Nernst came to believe that fit

both the measured values

theorem, Einstein was absolutely delighted. Henceforward he

—along with

Planck,

who

especially liked his relativity theory

another champion in Nernst. Nernst admittedly did not understand

much

of relativity theory but (unlike Planck) was ready to follow Ein-

stein’s

quantum

ideas,

even though only pragmatically and in his

own

specialized field, not in radiation theory generally.

Einstein was enormously pleased with the

Nernst

left

than he informed Jakob Laub:

to specific heat ited

seems to be

brilliantly

visit.

No

sooner had

“My predictions with

confirmed. Nernst,

who

regard

just vis-

me, and Rubens are busily engaged on their experimental

verifica-

The

data for

tion, so that

we

will

soon be enlightened about them.” 19

New Copernicus

The

264

diamond had given

investigations of

good agreement, but further

a

How-

other materials soon showed that this had been an exception.

few years Nernst’s concern with

ever, over the next

into the center of scientific interest and

moved quantum theory

this “revolutionary” physics to

thereby greatly helped

That

in this field, too, Einstein

enhanced

had

laid the

not, Einstein

summer semester

been

twelve.

For

Work

up

To Sommerfeld he

a piece

Advanced Stu-

a theoretician, this

appears to have

Hans Tanner

On

“My anxieties

the other hand, he

at the

five

now had

years younger than Einstein,

petent pianist, and playing duets with

cerned

And

as

an

assis-

a

who had just and Hopf had

Naturforscher convention in Salzburg and found them-

selves in tune not only in physics but also musically

Einstein.

might blow

about the labora-

taken his Ph.D. under Sommerfeld in Munich. Einstein

met

it

that he

him of some of his workload. This was Ludwig Hopf,

Nuremberg,

native of

of apparatus for fear

complained:

tory were largely justified.” 22 tant to relieve

and in

for

nerve-racking duty: he admitted to

scarcely dared to “pick

up.” 21

a price;

of 1910, in addition to his lectures and seminars,

who numbered

a

foundation 20 further

found that teaching exacted

he was put in charge of “Daily Practical dents,”

gain acceptance.

his reputation.

Famous or the

problem

this

him was

Einstein’s musings at the time

a

.

Hopf was

a

com-

form of relaxation

were indeed

tiring,

they were exclusively with quantum theory and

its

for

con-

almost

insoluble puzzles.

“The quantum theory

is

a certainty for

lantly after Nernst’s visit. specific heat, “still

me,” 23 Einstein declared jubi-

But that was true only of solids and their

and then only with the qualification that the theory was

rather unsatisfactory” because

our mechanics, and

all

“it

presupposes the invalidity of

attempts to adapt molecular mechanics to the

imperious demands of experience have been unsuccessful.” 24 Matters

were even worse regarding the quantum theory of radiation, whose problems had concerned Einstein ever since Planck published his radiation formula at the turn of the century. “In the matter of light

quanta

I

have not yet arrived

at a solution,

though

I

have discovered

Professor

some

significant things,” 25

1909.

The

Zurich

in

he wrote to Jakob Laub on the

next sentence sounded like

I

came

a similar

New

a

egg of mine

can’t hatch this favorite

see if

265

Year’s resolution:

“I’ll

Ten weeks

later

after all.”

message: “With regard to the quanta

interesting things, but nothing that’s ready yet.” 26 esting things,” described tion,” was, as first

by Einstein

mooted

to

wave character

a

—

it

of the “inter-

for radiation. In this context Einstein in a letter

to the “Almighty”

“Can the energy quanta on

Almighty

One

corpuscular and, simultane-

the one

seems-^-managed the

and

his sophisti-

hand and Huygens’s prin-

on the other be combined? Appearances

ciple

have found some

1905 and turned over one way and

in

Sommerfeld once again referred

cation:

I

“core of the whole ques-

as the

another in 1909, the compatibility of ously, a

day of

last

are against

but the

it,

trick.” 27

Einstein was obviously delighted that Sommerfeld wanted to

him

in

Zurich

at the

end of the semester, but he did not

encouraging him: “Because

I

visit

feel like

haven’t been able to produce anything

halfway complete on the problem of the quanta.” 28 That did not put

Sommerfeld

off.

At

his institute in

Munich

his colleagues

were sur-

prised that their professor should be in such urgent need of recuperation even before the for a week. 29

The

end of the semester that he had to

nature of that recuperation

is

a real

Zurich

revealed in a letter from

Einstein to Jakob Laub: “Sommerfeld was with cuss the light

travel to

me

for a

week

to dis-

problem and some points of relativity. His presence was

pleasure to me.” 30 Einstein had

now

the matter of quanta. Quite unlike Planck,

extent associated himself with

respected ally in

Sommerfeld had “to

a great

the application of statistics.”

efforts, the

week’s discussions produced

nothing that even came near to

a

breakthrough: “I haven’t got any fur-

ther with the constitution of light. it.” 31

a

my view on

But despite their combined

mental hidden behind

gained

There

is

something very funda-

This assumption was to be confirmed over

the next fifteen years. Meanwhile, however, Einstein succeeded, jointly

with Ludwig Hopf, in producing two papers 32 which supported his thesis that a

quantum theory of radiation would

donment of

classical physics.

up, “was disappointing for

all

call for a radical

Wolfgang

“The

result,”

those

who were

still

Pauli

aban-

summed

vainly hoping that

The New Copernicus

266

Planck’s formula might be derived merely by a change in the statistical

assumptions rather than through sical ideas

in the

autumn Einstein believed he could

end of the tunnel: “At

this

see the light

moment I am very hopeful

of solving

the radiation problem, moreover without any light quanta.

curious

clas-

concerning elementary microphenomena .” 33

At one point at the

fundamental break with the

a

how

I

am

very

the business will turn out .” 34 In this not merely revolu-

tionary but downright reckless approach he even toyed with the idea of

abandoning well-tested and sacred principles of physics: “One would have to give up the energy principle in later Einstein

its

present form.” But a

characterized his strenuous efforts by invoking the

Almighty’s adversary: “Again nothing has radiation problem.

The

come of the

been fascinating to glance over a

me .” 35

his notes:

it

would have

he designed

his shoulder as

It is

a physics

modified or even abandoned energy principle.

Although he owed

his

fame and

his professorship to his relativity

theory, and although he occasionally pondered

did not publish anything in that

university but, at the beginning of

On

House

that occasion he

board with clocks, to

is

in

Zurich

Zum

May,

it

Einstein

in his lecat the

to the Naturforschende

Riiden on the

Limmat embank-

reported to have covered

illustrate the

36 ,

on the subject was not

a

Gesellschaft at the Guild

it

nor did he deal with

field,

tures or seminars. Elis only lecture

ment.

solution to the

Devil merely played a poor joke on

most regrettable that Einstein did not keep

with

week

a

small black-

concept of simultaneity, and, after

an exhausting lecture, to have asked:

“What

is

the time, actually?

I

don’t have a watch .” 37 Einstein interest even

soon discovered that

among

circles

due to Ludwig Hopf,

relativity

theory was

arousing

unconnected with physics. This was partly

who was

fascinated not only

by physics but

also

by psychoanalysis, or “depth psychology.” Immediately after his arrival in Zurich, Hopf had called on the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung and nad introduced Einstein to him. Einstein was Jung’s dinner guest on several occasions, and there also met Eugen Bleuler, the director of the internationally famous Burgholzli psychiatric institution, as well as a

number of other medical men

interested in relativity.

“He

tried,

with

Professor

more or

less success, to

recalled, “but as

to follow his ficulties

Zurich

in

267

teach us the fundamental arguments,” Jung

non-mathematicians we psychiatrists found

argument .” 38 Einstein,

for his part,

seems to have had

dif-

with the psychiatrists, and in consequence the conversations

were not continued for long. Jung’s impression of stein

difficult

it

was that one could “hardly imagine

Evidently,

while the other

is

with Ein-

between

a greater contrast

The one

the mathematical and the psychological mentality. tative in the extreme,

his talks

quanti-

is

qualitative in the extreme .” 39

Jung not only made the common mistake of regarding

mathematics

as the essential aspect

of physics but also failed to per-

ceive the intuitive content of creative natural science.

Needless to

say,

loved

machine.” Paul Habicht, the instrument manufacturer,

“little

Professor Einstein continued to care about his be-

came over from Schaffhausen “got the

little

machine to function

rad, Einstein’s friend

and by then

several times and, to Einstein’s delight,

a teacher

traveled to Zurich.

all

right .” 40 His brother

Con-

from the happy days of the Akademie Olympia of mathematics in Schier, canton Grisons, also

They both

stayed with the Einsteins, and the three

of them tinkered and experimented at the university laboratory. For the spring break Einstein “cordially invited [them] to

experiments with the It’s

got to be finished

little

at

last

you .” 41 The three worked hard and

before

someone

successfully.

applied for, and obtained, a patent for the 42 ,

the final

machine and then button up the business.

long

the paper was published

make

Einstein,

The Habicht brothers machine”; and when

“little

the initiator, renounced any

— apart from

authorship and contented himself

else gets in before

a citation

of his original

—with

notation that

publication and the obligatory acknowledgment

a

the experiments had been conducted “jointly with A. Einstein at the

Zurich University laboratory.” tions: potentials

sured with

it,

of

less

The new machine came up

than one-thousandth of

to expecta-

could be mea-

a volt

so that “a single radioactive elementary process

.

.

.

could

readily be demonstrated with the instrument .” 43

Einstein followed the further career of the

“little

machine” with

intense interest. Paul Habicht presented the perfected invention at the

Berlin Physical Society and scored a huge success.

“The

fellows nearly

New Copernicus

The

268

stood on their heads,” 44 Einstein reported to Besso. “I’m tremendously

Habicht already has quite

pleased.

accuracy

its

few orders.” 45 However, Einstein

For one

in regarding the machine’s future as secure.

was mistaken thing,

a

left

something to be desired, and for another

within a few years, rendered obsolete by the

When Paul Habicht died in

tion technique.

new

it

was,

electronic amplifica-

1948, Einstein in his letter

of condolence to Conrad included a “recollection of the old days,

when

together with your brother

machine

I

worked on the

measurement of small

for the

voltages.

little

influence

That was

fun, even

though nothing useful came of it.” 46

Compared with with the

“little

Einstein.

his reflections

machine” must have been something

Much

problems in

about the intricacies of quanta, his work

the

same was probably true of

classical physics.

why

the sky

effect,” first described in

is

when

sent through the

a

beam of

medium.

It

light of

seemed

“opalescence” must be due to scattered light, but

what the

light of the

means

silly

1869, in which a bluish “opalescent” tint

appears in a gas or a liquid

combination

—but by no

His starting point was the “Tyndall

blue.

is

paper on fluctuation

This was once more concerned with

the reality of molecules and the childlike

question of

a

like light relief for

whatever color

plausible that this

it

was not

by

clear

primary beam was scattered. Tyndall

initially

assumed that the scattering was caused by minute contaminations the

air,

in

but Lord Rayleigh subsequently demonstrated mathematically

that the light was being scattered cules of the air

itself.

by the irregularly distributed mole-

This view was accepted until 1908, when Marian

von Smoluchowski 47 showed by density fluctuations

that the scattering of the light

was caused

in the gas or liquid, provided these fluctuations

extended over minute volumes within the range of one wavelength of the light. Einstein, subtle of

who

greatly esteemed

Smoluchowski

as

one of the “most

contemporary theoreticians,” 48 intended to develop

and particularly

to obtain an exact

erally scattered light: “I

am

this idea,

formula for the intensity of the

at present writing a

lat-

paper on the opales-

cence of gases and liquids,” 49 he informed his friend Laub in the

summer

of 1910. “Quantitative implementation of Smoluchowski ’s

Professor

in

Zurich

theory. I’ve finished with the basic part. It

What

is

269 an entirely

theory.”

strict

Einstein dispatched to Annalen in October 50 was a mathemati-

cally rather

complicated derivation of

a

why

formula explaining

from the sky opalesces blue during the day and reddish

light

morning and evening. Einstein saw the “main

the

in the

result” of his investiga-

tion as the fact that his formula “permits an exact determination of the

constant N,

the absolute size of the molecules.” 51

i.e.

more suggested

a

method

Thus he once

for the experimental determination of the

Avogadro number. That he made use of the blue of the sky

to convince

the last doubters of an atomic view of matter was entirely in line with his endeavor,

formulated ten years previously, “to recognize the unity

of a complex of

phenomena which appear

as totally separate things to

[sense] perception.” 52

Smoluchowski was delighted with Einstein’s “ingenious tion” 53 and regarded his paper

forward” in science. His

own

mula proved exceedingly

on opalescence

as a “substantial step

experiments for verifying Einstein’s for-

difficult,

however, because what

volume of the atmosphere

cently visible in the vast

calcula-

is

magnifi-

is

not easily imitated

working

in a small laboratory setup. Eventually, despite the difficult

conditions at the University of I

—he

had become

a

full

Cracow

sults

which

When

.

.

.

satisfactorily agree

stein in an obituary

The sical

“strict

1913

phenomenon

War

— Smoluchowski

justifying quantita-

“Improvised photometric measurements yielded re-

Smoluchowski died

a fine, sensitive,

Poland during World

professor there in

achieved a fine demonstration of the tive statements:

in

with the theoretical formula.” 54

in 1917, at the age of only forty- five, Ein-

mourned “not only the

brilliant researcher

but also

and benign person.” 55

theory” of opalescence was Einstein’s

mechanics and simultaneously

his last

last

paper on

major publication

clas-

as Extra-

ordinarius at the University of Zurich.

Ever since April 1910 Einstein had been, Zurich. After less than

six

months

it

in a sense,

became

“on

clear that, as

call” in

had been

expected, the post of an “extraordinary” professor could only be a

halfway station for him, pending an offer of

came from

the

German

a

regular chair. This offer

University in Prague, and

if

the appointment

The New Copernicus

270

procedure 56 had not again been so protracted Einstein might have

left

Zurich after two semesters there instead of after three.

The

—

initially

prepared to

move

informal to

—inquiry

as to

Prague must have come in March 1910, because

on March 30 Friedrich Adler wrote been asked

“if

he would accept

to his father that Einstein

had

another university.” 57

On

a post at

who was

April 29 Einstein informed his mother, sister

will

and brother-in-law

in Berlin, of

probably be invited to

it

will be.” 58

“some rather interesting news.

I

with

a

Em getting now. I’m not yet allowed to

But he did

tell

Friedrich Adler, because Adler

reported to his father the same day that in Prague,

then staying with her

a great university as a full professor,

considerably bigger salary than say where

whether Einstein would be

it

and that Einstein headed the

was the German University

list

of names for the post of

professor of theoretical physics. 59

In Prague the academic procedures had begun as early as January, as Elofrat

pich, the

— an honorific in the Austrian monarchy— Ferdinand Lipincumbent of

semester of 1910.

a chair,

intended to retire in the

The department had

up

therefore set

mission, which included the mathematician

whom convention. On

summer

a small

com-

Georg Pick and met

the

experimental physicist Anton Lampa,

Einstein had

burg

April 21 the department

at the

Naturforscher

in Salz-

approved the recommendations of that commission to the effect that the chair of mathematical physics should

become

a chair of theoretical

physics, with the cabinet for mathematical physics being simultane-

ously converted into an institute of theoretical physics.

It also

proved the appointment proposal, with Einstein heading the immediately passed

it

on

authorities, the

expert opinion.

It is

and

to the Ministry of Education in Vienna. 60 In

order to lend greater weight to

and royal

list,

ap-

its

recommendation

department had asked

to the imperial

Max

Planck for an

probable that Planck described Einstein as one of

the most important physicists and the inspired inventor of relativity theory, though with regard to that he could not judge yet nately, a

quantum theory he would point out 7

,

whether Einstein was always

book by Max Planck had been published

spring of 1910, with a euphoric statement

naming

right. 61

Fortu-

just then, in the

Einstein’s relativity

theory in the same breath as Copernicus; this was bound to impress

Professor the ministers and indeed

Emperor

in

Zurich

271

Francis Joseph. This

is

what Planck

had written on the theory of relativity and the resulting revision of the concept of time: In boldness

probably surpasses anything so

it

achieved in

far

speculative natural science, and indeed in philosophical cognition

theory; non-Euclidian geometry

And

child’s play in

is

comparison.

yet the relativity principle, in contrast to non-Euclidian

geometry, which so

far has

been seriously considered only for

pure mathematics, has every right to claim real physical meaning.

This principle has brought about

a revolution in

our physical pic-

ture of the world, which, in extent and depth, can only be

com-

pared to that produced by the introduction of the Copernican

world system It is

62

r

.

probable that toward the end of April Einstein had been

informed by Anton Lampa about the main aspects of the developments in Prague.

Then,

for a while, there

from Vienna, and Sommerfeld:

Prague

“I

after that the

was no news either from Prague or

news was not good. In July he wrote

won’t get to Prague.

—has made

difficulties .” 63

The

To Laub

—

ministry

as I

to

hear from

he was more outspoken:

“I

was proposed only by the department; the ministry, however, has not accepted the proposal because of my Semitic origin .” 64

It is

impossible

now to establish the precise role played by anti-Semitism, but we do know that the ministry wished to appoint not the foreigner listed in first

place, but the

second candidate, Gustav Jaumann, professor

at the

who was Austrian. Such

disre-

Technical College in Briinn (now Brno)

gard of proposals from universities was by no means unusual in che Austrian monarchy.

Johannes

The

Stark, but the

previous year the department had favored

appointment had gone to Anton Lampa

65 ,

an

who was now championing the foreigner Einstein, though unsuccessfully. The “most humble submission of the most obedient

Austrian,

Minister of Education and Instruction, Karl Count Stiirgkh,” to His Imperial and Royal Majesty Francis Joseph contained the statement:

“Although the Collegium of Professors attaches special importance to the appointment of Professor Dr. Einstein, listed in

first

place, in

view

of his brilliant achievements in the area of modern theoretical physics,

The New Copernicus

272 I

yet believe that negotiations should

Jaumann

in Briinn, listed in

be initiated with Professor

first

second place.” 66 Here ends the

first

part of

the appointment procedure.

Although Einstein would have to wait

for

some time

for his full profes-

sorship and the “big salary,” the offer from Prague meanwhile was

him

benefiting

His students, on the

in Zurich.

Tanner, had addressed

initiative

of

Hans

with fifteen names, to the

a petition, signed

“Honorable Directorate of Education of the Canton of Zurich” questing

it

“to

do

its

utmost to preserve

teacher for our university.” 67

manner he succeeds

They

this

pointed out that “in an admirable

physics so clearly and comprehensibly that

we

would prove of great benefit

problems of theoretical

it is

moreover he manages

rapport with his listeners that

The

outstanding scientist and

in presenting the difficult

to follow his lectures;

a great

pleasure for us

to establish such perfect

are convinced that such teaching

to our university.” 68

Directorate of Education shared that opinion and within three

proposal to the Governmental Council, even

weeks submitted

a

though the

from Vienna had by then become known

refusal

“It appears,” the protocol

the threatening danger of

moment

the

of the Governmental Council

Herr Professor

feels that

in Zurich.

states, “that

Einstein’s departure has for

disappeared owing to a negative attitude by the supreme

state authorities of Austria.

sity

re-

The

Educational Council nevertheless

Herr Professor Einstein should again be

by some kind of improvement

our univer-

tied to

in his position.” 69 It

was decided,

therefore, to raise Einstein’s annual salary “in the event of his further

staying at the University of Zurich francs to 5,500 francs.” 70 this decision Einstein

son, Eduard,

The

became

raise

on October

from 4,500

15, 1910,

was well timed, for two weeks

after

His second

a father for the third time.

was born on July 28.

Although both Einstein and Mileva were fond of Zurich, he was acutely aware that as an Extraordinarius he was not an equal

the faculty.

And although

in the future, a

more

his financial situation

would be

member

of

less strained

he was clearly determined to take the next opportunity of

radical

change

in his position.

surprise turn of events in Prague.

This opportunity came with

a

Professor

in

Zurich

273

summer of 1910 Gustav Jaumann must have heard that while the ministry in Vienna wished to appoint him to the post in Prague, the faculty had listed him only in second place. To this he is Sometime

in the

reported to have angrily declared that he “would have nothing to do

with

a university that

real merit.” 71

was chasing

after

Jaumann confronted

modernity while being blind to

the ministry with exorbitant salary

demands and thus caused the breakdown of

negotiations. 72 In conse-

quence, Count Stiirgk, the minister, had no choice but to

come back to

the foreigner, Einstein.

On

September 20 Einstein received an

invitation for a discussion of

appointment terms, and on September 24 he traveled to Vienna. 73 His salary

was agreed

exchange

a little

to at 8,672 Austrian crowns, 74 at the official rate of

over 9,000 Swiss francs and thus a handsome increase

over his pay in Zurich. also have to

become

The

fact that as

a subject

not bother him unduly,

an Austrian professor he would

of His Imperial and Royal Majesty did

were prepared to overlook

as the authorities

his retention of Swiss citizenship.

More

difficult, evidently,

was the problem of

religion. In Switzer-

land Einstein had always described himself as “without religious

denomination” on

official questionnaires,

in Francis Joseph’s empire. In the

but

this

was not acceptable

view of the old monarchy

it

was

inconceivable that a person without religious denomination could

swear

a

proper oath of allegiance.

When the

Einstein, he simply declared that he

was

a

problem was explained

Jew, whereupon “Mosaic”

was entered on the form. 75 Einstein scarcely saw

this

concession to

Austrian bureaucracy as a return to the religion of his forebears.

was simply prepared,

to

in return for a full professorship, to render

He

unto

Caesar that which was Caesar’s, without feeling particularly disturbed about

it.

When

his friend Paul Ehrenfest,

as his successor in

Prague

whom

in 1912, declined to

Einstein showed no understanding: “It worries

he wished to propose

make

me

spleen of being without religious denomination; the sake of your children? Besides, once

can return to

Although

this curious all

you

this concession,

that

you have the

why not drop

it

are a professor here

for

you

hobby.” 76

obstacles had

now been removed,

the appointment

The New Copernicus

274

was some time

means

December

in coming. In

certain that

I

will get

in various places that I’ve

away from Zurich. d me,

December

far

who approved

Count it

Stiirgkh,

been stated I

was

submit the pro-

only on January

January 20 Einstein applied for release semester from his duties in Zurich.

by no

no appointment has come.” 77 Not

16 did the minister,

posal to the emperor,

it’s

“It’s

been appointed to Prague, and indeed

promised appointment. But so until

Einstein wrote:

at the

On February

6,

1911. 78

On

end of the current 10 the Governmental

Council met his request, regretting “that the university

is

losing the

outstanding scholar and that the cantonal authorities had not been given a chance to try to keep It is

not quite clear

why

for our university in the future.” 79

him

Einstein did not try to obtain in Zurich

what was being offered him

in Prague. After

all,

Prague was not

a

“great university,” as he had said to his mother, and certainly not a center of research in physics. In fact, “there

was no doubt that

at this

German University in Prague was suffering from a loss of importance among German universities.” 80 Einstein possibly believed time the

was nothing more to be gotten out of Zurich, and perhaps

that there

he was also reacting to certain “conflicts” within the department, referred to in a letter

“Einstein

knows

from Kleiner to

a colleague, to the effect that

that he cannot expect

any personal engagement on

the part of representatives of the department.” 81 At any rate, settled that Einstein

would move

to

Prague

it

was

as a full professor in the

spring.

At the beginning of

his last

semester in Zurich, while he was

waiting for confirmation from Vienna, he had a pleasant surprise. In early

November he had

received a letter from Emil Fischer, the

famous professor of chemistry in Berlin: “Your great theoretical papers in the

field

of thermodynamics,” he wrote, “have caused a sen-

sation in the world of science, and in our circle there

is

frequent talk of

them, especially since Herr Nernst has occupied himself with the experimental verification of your conclusions concerning the law of

Dulong and was acting

Petit.” 82

as a

But the

real surprise

go-between for

was very pleased “that German

a

man

was the news that Fischer

in the chemicals industry,

scientists like yourself,

who

Herr Planck,

Professor

Zurich

in

275

and Herr Nernst have taken over the leadership in feels that it is the

brilliant

work

a little

— altogether

and 1912.”

himself saw

fit; it

The

first at

in

tied to

that

to be

annual

three

once, and the other two

any obligation or

as

it

he

restriction.

German nationality fifteen years previbeing included among “German scientists”; he

given up

ously, did not object to

conveyed

promote

recipient of the donation was to use

would not be

who had

Einstein,

marks

15,000

installments of 5,000 marks each, “the in 1911

to

by material support.” This support proved

generous

exceedingly

Germany

duty of wealthy people in

and he

this field,

his sincere thanks, first to

Emil Fischer, whose

had

praise

honored and even more greatly embarrassed” him, consid-

“greatly

ering that “every day

I

am keenly aware

of how impotently

the urgent problems of our science,” 83 and also to the

pared to donate such considerable sums” and assure “that

I

will apply the

sums entrusted

to

am

man “who

whom

me

I

facing is

pre-

he wished to

as conscientiously as

possible.”

The

generous donor was Dr. Franz Oppenheim,

a

cofounder and

shareholder of the Aktiengesellschaft fur Anilinfabrikation, better

known

as Agfa,

who

lived in a princely

and could rightly regard himself served as treasurer to the

as

He

readiness to accept his

anonymous

in

Berlin-Wannsee

one of the “wealthy people.”

German Chemical

greatest benefactors. 84

Emil Fischer “not

mansion

He

Society and was one of its

was “very pleased” 85 to learn of Einstein’s

to disclose

would be more agreeable

offer.

my

He

name, because

Professor

to

requested his go-between I

believe this

way

Einstein

was

Einstein.”

delighted that “the capital promised would indeed greatly facilitate his scientific

work.” 86 There

is

no information on how the money was

used.

In January 1911 Einstein received not only the confirmation of his

appointment

in Prague, but also

from Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

an “exceedingly cordial” invitation for a lecture in

Leyden. “You can

hardly imagine,” Einstein wrote to his scientific father figure,

much

I

am

“how

looking forward to making your personal acquaintance.” 87

At the same time he thought

it

a “curious

undertaking to bring theo-

The New Copernicus

276 retical physics to

timidity, as

encounter

I

am

Leyden. And

yet, I

am

not gripped by any sense of

convinced that with you and those around you

a friendly attitude

I

will

and not severe criticism.”

As Mileva’s mother happened to be

them

visiting

Zurich and

in

looking after the two children, the Einsteins could travel together.

They boarded where

it

burns

down

their train

on Wednesday, February

8,

and from Basel,

stopped, sent a postcard to Friedrich Adler: “If the house or anything else amusing happens, please cable us c/o

H. A. Lorentz, Leyden.” 88 The following day they arrived

Prof.

Leyden, where die Lorentzes put them up.

The

lecture

in

was on Friday,

followed in the evening by long conversations with Lorentz; these

continued the next day,

such

first

in a small circle with brilliant colleagues

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and Willem Hendrik Keesom, and

as

in the evening

once more

just

On

with Lorentz.

home, they

for Antwerp, where, before returning

left

“favorite uncle” Caesar

No “Now

Sunday the Einsteins visited the

Koch.

sooner was he back in Zurich than Einstein thanked Lorentz: I

am

back here in

my

study, filled with the

memories of the wonderful days which your proximity. radiating

.

.

.

There

so

is

much

from you that throughout

my

I

kindness and stay

that kindness and honor.” 89

all

had of Lorentz was even brighter later declined

beautiful

was permitted to spend

after his

in

human warmth

was not even possible

it

for the tormenting conviction to develop that

recipient of

most

I

am

an undeserving

The image that visit, and when

Einstein

Einstein

an appointment to the University of Utrecht in the

Netherlands, he apologized to Lorentz “with a heavy heart, like one

who

has done a

wrong

Lorentz continued

to his father.” 90 Einstein’s

after Lorentz’s death.

At

profound respect for

his graveside Einstein

pointed out that “his unfailing kindness and generosity, his sense of justice,

combined with an

made him

a leader

intuitive insight into

wherever he found himself. Everyone followed him

gladly, because they felt that

he never wanted to dominate them, but

always only to serve them.” 91 recorded:

people and conditions,

“To me,

encountered during

And even

personally, he

my life.” 92

in his old age,

meant more than

ail

Einstein

the others

I

Professor

move

Before his drawers.

A few

along with

lesser papers

had to look

—who

Ludwig Hopf

as his assistant

after

was

his doctoral student,

on

right.

not been theory

Univer-

but also his

since April

1910 editor-in-chief of the Social Democrat paper Volksrecht a

last

extraordinary professorship, he had

hoped “that Adler would succeed me.” 94 Adler, however,

no more than

in

Then he

who had

first

,

accompany

assistant’s post at the

of Basel. 93 Tanner was not only Einstein’s

own

to

a subject related to the kinetic

him obtain an

doctoral student. As for his

now

—had checked and put

Hans Tanner,

of gases. Einstein helped

offered

desk

his

were completed and sent off to Annalen

able yet to complete his thesis

sity

up

whole bunch of corrections, including the big mistake

a

Prague

to

277

to Prague, Einstein wished to tidy

his doctoral thesis that

him

Zurich

in

,

had

one-hour “Cognition-Theoretical Introduc-