126
EINSTEIN
ON
THE
STATIC
FIELD
conceded that Minkowski's formalism could
only
be
used if restricted
to
infinitesimal
transformations
and
had
published a
correction
to his
earlier
theory.[30]
Einstein,
on
the other
hand,
argued
in
his
paper
that for variable
c
the
Lorentz transformations
could
not
even
hold
infinitesimally.[31]
Abraham,
who
was
notorious for
his
vehement
polemics,[32]
did not
wait
long
to
respond.
He
had
accepted
several
aspects
of Einstein's criticism
and
was
prepared
to
revise
his
equations
of
motion,[33]
but
he
now
radically questioned
Einstein's
theory
of static
gravitation
as
well
as
the
principle
of
relativity
itself. While
he
agreed
that
for variable
c
the infinitesimal
Lorentz
transformations would
not be
integrable,
he
turned this observation into
an
argument against
the
validity
of
the
theory
of
relativity.
By
abandoning
the
validity
of the
Lorentz
transformations, he claimed,
Einstein him-
self had
given
up
his theory
of
relativity. Referring to
the
weak
point
in Einstein's
theory
of
the
static
field-the
restricted
validity
of
the
equivalence principle-he
con-
cluded: "This
most recent
theory
of Einstein's thus also
rests
on shaky
ground."[34]
Einstein
responded
in
Einstein 1912h
(Doc. 8)
with
a
reflection
on
the fundamental
principles
of
the
theory
of
relativity;
he
stressed
in
particular
that the
original
relativity
theory
would
always
remain valid
in
the
case
of
a
constant
gravitational potential.
When Abraham
repeated
his criticism
in
Abraham
1912h,
Einstein
simply
broke off
the
discussion.[35]
Neither did Einstein
react
when Abraham
published
a
modified
theory
of
gravitation
later
in
1912,[36]
and he
only
briefly
commented
on
it in
late
1913
when he
gave
a
lecture
on
the
status
of the
gravitation problem
in Vienna.[37]
Abraham's
theory,
however,
continued
to
have
an
impact
on
the
contemporary
dis-
cussion of
the
problem
of
gravitation.
It
became
the
starting point
for
a
modified scalar
theory
of
gravitation
by
Gunnar
Nordström,[38]
which Einstein
in 1913
considered
to
[30]See
Abraham
1912c,
in
which Abraham refers
to
"the correction of
an
oversight,
to
which
Mr.
Einstein
kindly
drew
my
attention"
("ein
Versehen
zu
berichtigen,
auf welches ich durch
eine freundliche
Mitteilung
des Herrn Einstein aufmerksam
geworden bin").
[31]See Einstein 1912c
(Doc.
3), §4.
[32]See
Cattani and De Maria
1989.
[33]See
Abraham
1912f,
p.
1058,
and Abraham
1912g,
p.
794.
For evidence of
an
exchange
between Einstein
and
Abraham
regarding
this
problem,
see
Einstein
to
Wilhelm
Wien,
17 May
1912
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
395),
and Einstein
to
Heinrich
Zangger,
20
May
1912
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
398).
[34]"Es
beruht also auch diese
neueste
Theorie
von
Einstein auf schwankendem Grunde"
(Abraham
1912f, p.
1058).
[35]See
Einstein 1912i
(Doc. 9),
which
is
dated
August
1912
and
was
probably
written
at
a
time when Einstein
was working intently
on
the
dynamics
of
gravitation.
See the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation and
Relativity:
The Collaboration with Marcel
Grossmann,"
pp.
294-
301,
for further discussion.
[36]See Abraham
1912g,
which
was published on
1
September
1911.
[37]See
Einstein 1913c
(Doc.
17),
pp.
1250-1251.
[38]See
Nordström
1912.
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