Einstein - His Life and Times

Einstein His Life and Times By PHILIPP FRANK. Contents include: I. EINSTEIN'S YOUTH AND TRAINING 1 Family Background 3 2 Childhood 6 3 Gymnasium in Munich 10 4 Intellectual Interests 12 5 Departure from Munich 15 6 Student at Zurich 18 7 Official of a Patent Office 21 II. CONCEPTIONS OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD BEFORE EINSTEIN 1 Philosophical Conception of Nature 25 2 Organismic Physics of the Middle Ages 27 3 Mechanistic Physics and Philosophy 28 4 Relativity Principle in Newtonian Mechanics 30 5 Ether as a Mechanical Hypothesis 32 6 Remnants of Medieval Concepts in Mechanistic Physics 34 7 Critics of the Mechanistic Philosophy 36 8 Ernst Mach: The General Laws of Physics Are Summaries of Observations Organized in Simple Forms 38 9 Henri Polncarl: The General Laws of Physics Are Free Creations of the Human Mind 40 10 Positivistic and Pragmatic Movements 42 11 Science at the End of the Nineteenth Century 45 HI. BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA IN PHYSICS 1 Life in Bern 49 2 Interest in Philosophy 50 3 The Fundamental Hypotheses of the Theory of Relativity 53 vli Contents 4 Consequences of Einstein's Two Hypotheses 55 5 Relativity of Time 57 6 Relativity of Other Physical Concepts 63 7 Equivalence of Mass and Energy 65 8 Theory of Brownian Motion 67 9 Origin of the Quantum Theory 69 10 Theory of the Photon 71 IV. EINSTEIN AT PRAGUE 1 Professor at the University of Zurich 74 2 Appointment to Prague 77 3 Colleagues at Prague 80 4 TA? Jews in Prague 83 5 Einstein's Personality Portrayed in a Novel 85 6 Einstein as a Professor 89 7 Generalization of the Special Theory of Relativity 91 8 Influence of Gravity on the Propagation of Light 94 9 Departure from Prague 98 V. EINSTEIN AT BERLIN 1 The Solvay Congress 101 2 Trip to Vienna 103 3 Invitation to Berlin 106 4 Einstein's Position in the Academic Life of Berlin 109 5 Relationship with Colleagues 112 6 Relationship with Students 116 7 Outbrea^ of the World War 119 8 German Science in the War 121 9 Lz'jfe iVz Wartime 123 VI. THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY 1 New Theory of Gravitation 127 2 . R0/<? 0/ Four-Dimensional Space 130 3 Einstein Suggests Experimental Tests of His Theory 133 4 Cosmological Problems 134 viii Contents 5 Expeditions to Test Einstein s Theory 137 6 Confirmation of the Theory 140 7 Attitude of the Public 142 VII. EINSTEIN AS A PUBLIC FIGURE 1 Einstein's Political Attitude 147 2 Anti-Semitism in Postwar Germany 149 3 The Zionist Movement 151 4 Einstein as a Pacifist 153 5 Campaigns against Einstein 158 VIII. TRAVELS THROUGH EUROPE, AMERICA, AND ASIA 1 Holland 167 2 Czechoslova'kia 169 3 Austria 174 4 Invitation to the United States 176 5 Reception by the American People 178 6 England 187 7 Einstein Tower and the Rathenau Murder 190 8 France 194 9 China, Japan, Palestine, and Spain 198