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ALBERT EINSTEIN Historical and Cultural Perspectives
JERUSALEM EINSTEIN CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM 14-23 MARCH 1979 ORGANIZED BY
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Van Leer Jerusalem Foundation The Jerusalem Foundation Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies
ALBERT EINSTEIN Historical and Cultural Perspectives THE CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM IN JERUSALEM
EDITED BY
Gerald Holton and Yehuda Elkana
Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey
Copyright © 1982 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last printed page of this book This book has been composed in Linotron Trump Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey "Einstein and Israel," © Isaiah Berlin 1980. This essay has been published previously in Isaiah Berlin's Personal Impressions, edited by Henry Hardy (London: The Hogarth Press, 1980; New York: The Viking Press, 1981). "Einstein's Germany," © Fritz Stern 1979. ISBN 0-691-02383-2 pbk. Fizst Pnnceton Paperback printing, 1984
Contents
GERALD HOLTON Introduction: Einstein and the Shaping of Our Imagination HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EINSTEIN'S SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS
The Special Relativity Theory: Einstein's Response to the Physics of 1905 ARTHUR i. MILLER
The Quest for Unity: General Relativity and Unitary Field Theories PETER G. BERGMANN
MARTIN J. KLEIN Fluctuations and Statistical Physics in Einstein's Early Work MAX JAMMER
Einstein and Quantum Physics
RECEPTION OF EINSTEIN'S SCIENTIFIC IDEAS
p. A. M. DIRAC The Early Years of Relativity BANESH HOFFMANN
Some Einstein Anomalies
The Reception of Einstein's Ideas: Two Examples from Contrasting Political Cultures LOREN R. GRAHAM
EINSTEIN'S IMPACT ON SCHOLARSHIP AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY CULTURE ROMAN JAKOBSON ERIK H. ERIKSON
Centenary
Einstein and the Science of Language Psychoanalytic Reflections on Einstein's
CONTENTS NATHAN ROTENSTREICH
Relativity and Relativism
The Myth of Simplicity
YEHUDA ELKANA
Einstein and the Light of Reason
YARON EZRAHI
175 205 253
EINSTEIN AND DEVELOPMENTS IN THE JEWISH WORLD
Einstein and Israel
ISAIAH BERLIN
281
On Einstein and the Presidency of Israel
293
Jewish and Universal Social Ethics in the Life and Thought of Albert Einstein
297
YITZHAK NAVON URIEL TAL
Einstein's Germany
FRITZ STERN
319
EINSTEIN AND THE NUCLEAR AGE
PAUL DOTY
Einstein and International Security
BERNARD τ. FELD
347
Einstein and the Politics of Nuclear
Weapons
369
WORKING WITH EINSTEIN'. REMINISCENCES BY ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS
PETER G. BERGMANN BANESH HOFFMANN
Reminiscences Reminiscences
NATHAN ROSEN
Reminiscences
BORIS scHWARZ
Musical and Personal Reminiscences of
Albert Einstein ERNST G. STRAUS
397 401 405 409
Reminiscences
417
Index of Names
425
Subject Index
431
Gerald Holton
INTRODUCTION: EINSTEIN AND THE SHAPING OF OUR IMAGINATION
THE ONE-HUNDREDTH anniversary of Albert Einstein's birth oc casioned an outpouring of celebrations and scholarly meetings all over the world, and in the most diverse forums. These were touch ing and sometimes overwhelming testimonies to the continuing role that Einstein's ideas and ideals still play, both in the aspi rations of contemporary scientists and in the popular imagination. Those who attended several of these occasions in 1979 an