The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 3 (English): The Swiss Years: Writings, 1909-1911. (English translation supplement)(3 Collected Papers of Albert Einstein)

This volume of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein presents Einstein's writings for the two-year period starting in October 1909. The initial date marks Einstein's departure from the Swiss Patent Office at Bern, which had been his professional home for seven years, and the beginning of his first academic appointment, at the University of Zurich. The volume concludes with the masterful report that Einstein, by then a full professor at the German-language university in Prague, gave to the original Solvay Congress, the first international meeting devoted to the problems of radiation and the quantum theory. Most of Einstein's efforts during these years went into his struggle with these ever more perplexing problems of quanta, on which he made discouragingly little progress. Einstein's new academic career naturally required him to teach, and almost half of this volume consists of the previously unpublished notes he wrote in preparation for his lectures on mechanics, on electricity and magnetism, and on kinetic theory and statistical mechanics. The last of these are particularly interesting in reflecting some of his research interests.Several papers here are concerned with aspects of the special theory of relativity, but it is Einstein's article of June 1911 that is a harbinger of things to come: it contains his calculation of the bending of light in a gravitational field on the basis of his equivalence principle. Martin J. Klein is Bass Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics at Yale University and Senior Editor of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. A. J. Kox teaches history of science at the University of Amsterdam, Jurgen Renn is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Physics at Boston University, and Robert Schulmann is Assistant Professor of History at Boston University.

Table of Contents:
Publisher's Foreword ix Preface xi 1.Lecture Notes for Introductory Course on Mechanics at the University of Zurich, Winter Semester 1909/1910 1 2.The Principle of Relativity and Its Consequences in Modern Physics (Le principe de relativite et ses consequences dans la physique moderne), Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles 29 (910) 117 3.Response to Manuscript of Planck 1910a (Antwort auf Planks Manuskript), Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles 29 (1910) 143 4.Lecture Notes for Course on the Kinetic Theory of Heat at the University of Zurich, Summer Semester 1910 144 5.On the Theory of Light Quanta and the Question of the Localization of Electromagnetic Energy (Sur la theorie des quantites lumineuses et al question de la localisation de l'energie electromagnetique), Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles 29 (1910) 207 6.On the Ponderomotive Forces Acting on Ferromagnetic Conductors Carrying a Current in a Magnetic Field (Sur les forces ponderomotrices qui agissent sur des conducteurs ferromagnetiques disposes dans un champ magnetique et parcourus par un courant), Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles 30 (1910) 209 7.On a Theorem of the Probability Calculus and Its Application in the Theory of Radiation (Uber einen Satz der Wahrescheinlichkeitsrechnung und seine Anwendung in der Strahlungstheorie), with Ludwig Hopf, Annalen der Physik 33 (1910) 211 8.Statistical Investigation of a Resonator's Motion in a Radiation Field (Statistische Untersuchung der Bewegung eines Resonators in einem Strahlungsfeld), with Ludwig Hopf, Annalen der Physik 33 (1910) 220 9.The Theory of the Opalescence of Homogeneous Fluids and Liquid Mixtures near the Critical State (Theorie der Opaleszenz von homogenen Flussigkeiten und Flussigkeitsgemischen in der Nahe des kritischen Zustandes), Annalen der Physik 33, 1910 231 10.Comments on P. Hertz's Papers: "On the Mechanical Foundations of Thermodynamics" (Bemerkungen zu den P. Hertzschen Arbeiten: "Uber die mechanischen Grundlagen der Thermodynamck"), Annalen der Physik 34 (1911) 250 11.Lecture Notes for Course on Electricity and Magnetism at the University of Zurich, Winter Semester 1910/11 (Einfuhrung in die Theorie der Elektrizitat und des Magnetismus) 251 12.Comment on Eotvos's Law (Bemerkung zu dem Gesetz von Eotvos), Annalen der Physik 34 (1911) 328 13.A Relationship between Elastic Behavior and Specific Heat in Solids with a Monatomic Molecule (Eine Beziehung zwischen dem elastischen Verhalten and der spezifischen Warme bei festen Korpern mit einatomigem Molekul), Annalen der Physik 34 (1911) 332 14.Correction to My Paper: "A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions" (Berichtigung zu meiner Arbeit: "Eine neue Bestimmung der Molekuldimensionen"), Annalen der Physik 34 (1911) 336 15.Comment on My Paper: "A Relationship between Elastic Behavior... " (Bemerkung zu meiner Arbeit: "Eine Beziehung zwischen dem elastischen Verhalten ... "), Annalen der Physik 34 (1911) 338 16.Comment on a Fundamental Difficulty in Theoretical Physics (Bemerkung Uber Eine fundamentale Schwierigkeit in der Theoretischen Physik) (1911) 339 17.The Theory of Relativity (Die Relativitats-Theorie), Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zurich. Yerteljahrsschrift 56 (1911) 340 18."Discussion" Following Lecture Version of "The Theory of Relativity," Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zurich. Sitzungsberichte (1911) 351 19.Notes for a Lecture on Fluctuations (10 February 1911) 359 20.Statement on the Light Quantum Hypothesis, Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zurich. Sitzungsberichte (1911) 364 21.Elementary Observations on Thermal Molecular Motion in Solids (Elementare Betrachtungen uber die thermische Molekularbewegung in festen Korpern), Annalen der Physik 35 (1911) 365 22.On the Ehrenfest Paradox. Comment on V. Varicak's Paper (Zum Ehrenfestschen Paradoxon. Bemerkung zu V. Varicak's Aufsatz) Physikalische Zeitschrift 12 (1911) 378 23.On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light (Uber den Einflutss der Schwerkraft auf die Ausbreitung des Lichtes), Annalen der Physik 35 (1911) 379 24.Excerpts of Discussions Following Lectures Delivered at 83rd Meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher and Arzte, 25 and 27 September 1911, Physikalische Zeitschrift 12 (1911) 388 25.Discussion Remarks Following Lectures Delivered at First Solvay Congress (1911) 391 26.On the Present State of the Problem of Specific Heats (Zum gegenwartigen Stande des Problems der spezifischen Warme), in Eucken, Arnold, ed., Die Theorie der Strahlung und der Quanten. Verhandlungen auf einer von E. Solvay einberufenen Zusammenkunft (30. Oktober bis 3. November 1911), mit einem Anhange uber die Entwicklung der Quantentheorie vom Herbst 1911 bis Sommer 1913. Halle a. S.: Knapp, 1914. (Abhandlungen der Deutschen Bunsen Gesellschaft fur angewandte physikalische Chemie, vol. 3, no. 7) 402 27."Discussion" Following Lecture, "The Present State of the Problem of Specific Heats" (Doc. 26), 3 November 1911 426