ELECTRODYNAMICS OF
MOVING
MEDIA 505
At the time
of
their
collaboration,
Laub
was
Assistent to Wilhelm Wien,
Professor of
Physics
at
the
University
of
Würzburg.[11]
Laub's
interest in the
theory
of
relativity
had
already
led
to two
articles
applying
the
theory
to
optical
problems.[12]
He
started to
corre-
spond
with
Einstein,[13]
and
on
2
February
1908
suggested
that he
come
to Bern to work
with him. On
1
March Laub wrote that he
planned
to
arrive
at
the
beginning
of
April.[14]
The datelines
of
their
joint
papers[15]
suggest
that both
were
written
during a
little
over a
month
of
collaboration,
after which Laub returned
to
Würzburg.[16]
Laub showed the
manuscripts
to Wien who, in
addition to
being
Laub's
superior, was a
co-editor of
the
Annalen;
he
added
several references at
Wien's
suggestion.[17]
At the time
they
wrote their
papers,
Einstein and Laub
evidently
were
not at
ease
with
the four-dimensional
approach. They justified publication
of
a more elementary
derivation
of Minkowski's
field
equations
in
their first
paper on
the
grounds
of
the
"rather
great
[mathematical]
demands"
("ziemlich
große
Anforderungen")
placed on
readers
by
Min-
kowski's
work.[18]
The second and final section
of
the
paper applies
Minkowski's
equa-
tions to the Wilson
effect,
the
occurrence
of
equal
and
opposite charges on
the two surfaces
of
an uncharged
dielectric
cylindrical
shell when it
is
rotated
in
a magnetic
field.[19]
They
showed,
for
a
dielectric with
significant magnetic permeability,
that
Minkowski's
equa-
tions
predict a
different
charge density
than do
Lorentz's.
The Minkowski
prediction
was
confirmed
several
years
afterward.[20]
The
discovery
of
several incorrect factors
of
1/c
in their
equations
led Einstein and Laub
to
publish a
correction
to the
paper.[21]
Einstein wrote
consolingly
to
Laub that
"well
patched
is
always
still better than full
of holes"
("gut
geflickt
ist immer noch
besser
als
verlöchert").[22]
A second correction
was soon
needed.
Max Laue criticized
Einstein
and Laub's
discus–
[11]
Laub studied at
Göttingen
from 1902
to
1905,
and then
went to
Würzburg
to
work with
Wien. He submitted
a
doctoral dissertation
on
secondary
cathode
ray
emission in
1906,
but had
already developed a particular
interest in the the-
ory
of
relativity.
See
Pyenson
1976 for
a
discus-
sion
of Laub's
career
that
emphasizes
his work
with Einstein.
[12]
See
Laub
1907, 1908.
For
Einstein's
com-
ment
on
the first
paper, see
Einstein
1907j (Doc.
47),
p.
414. For
Laue's
comments,
see
Max
Laue
to Einstein,
4
September
1907.
[13]
The first known letter in their
correspon-
dence
is
Jakob Laub to Einstein, 27
January
1908.
[14]
In
a
letter to Mileva Einstein-Maric
of
17
April
1908,
Einstein stated that he
was working
with Laub.
[15]
Einstein
and
Laub 1908a
(Doc. 51) is
dated 29
April,
and Einstein
and
Laub 1908b
(Doc.
52) is
dated
7
May.
[16]
Jakob Laub
to Einstein, 18
May
1908, is
written from
Würzburg.
[17]
See
Jakob Laub to Einstein
18
May,
19
May,
and 30
May
1908 for
reports
of
comments
by
Wien
on
the
two
papers.
[18]
Einstein and
Laub 1908a
(Doc. 51),
p.
532.
[19]
See Wilson 1904.
[20]
See Wilson
and
Wilson 1913. Soon after
the Einstein-Laub
paper was
written,
Wien
sug-
gested
the
possibility
of
testing
the
prediction
with
an
iron solution
(see
Jakob Laub
to
Ein-
stein, 19 May 1908),
but
nothing seems
to
have
come
of this
suggestion.
[21]
See
Einstein
and
Laub 1908c
(Doc. 53).
[22]
Einstein to Jakob Laub, mid-October 1908
(excerpt
from the auction
catalogue
of
Gerd
Ro-
sen, Berlin,
April
1961,
p.
3,
item
no.
2365a).