I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 2 x x x v i i
Einstein spoke at the University of Chicago on the special and general theories
of relativity on 3, 4, and 5 May (Appendix D). Even though less technical in char-
acter, the relativity material was broadly similar to the subsequent Princeton
lectures. In an interesting remark, documented by the transcript of an auditor’s
stenographic notes, Einstein is reported to have said that an observational confir-
mation of the relativistic prediction of gravitational light bending is “a task of
utmost importance, the solution of which we may hope will soon be achieved by
the astronomers.” It is unclear whether this was a qualified description of the results
of Eddington’s 1919 eclipse expedition, or whether the transcript reflects a misun-
derstanding of Einstein’s spoken words by a note taker who was proficient in the
German language but may not have had a scientific background. Einstein may have
been referring here to a new, upcoming expedition that would test (and eventually
provide another confirmation of) the light bending prediction during the eclipse of
21 September 1922 (see Docs. 217, 233, 308, 320, and Calendar entries of 24–27
August). In his lectures at CCNY, Einstein had apparently referred only to the grav-
itational redshift as not yet being “satisfactorily determined.” And, according to a
report of his lectures there, he “brought repeated applause from his audience by his
generous reference to the British scientists who, in spite of the war, fitted out two
costly expeditions to test the truth of his theory” (Appendix C).
A most intriguing remark appears during Einstein’s brief explanation of the de-
velopment of special relativity, found in a transcript of an address he delivered on
4 May at the Parker School in Chicago (Appendix D). Einstein most likely spoke
at one of the weekly all-school Morning Exercises that had been held since the
school’s founding in 1901 by Colonel Francis Wayland Parker, a former superin-
tendent of Chicago’s public
schools.[33]
On this occasion, and perhaps to please the
local audience, Einstein stated that, already as a student, he had come across the
Michelson-Morley experiment: “But when I was a student I saw that experiments
of this kind [i.e., ether drift experiments] had already been done, in particular by
your compatriot, Michelson.” (“Aber als ich im Studium war, da sah ich, dass Ex-
perimente dieser Art schon gemacht worden waren, insbesondere von Ihrem
Landsmann, Michelson.”) He continued: “He proved that on Earth one does not no-
tice that it moves, but rather that everything on Earth takes place as if the Earth were
in a state of rest.”
The role played by Michelson’s famously null 1887 ether drift experiment in the
development of Einstein’s thinking on relativity has long been the subject of
scholarly debate. Some researchers have even entertained the possibility that in
1905 Einstein had been unaware of the experiment, to which there is no reference
in his celebrated paper on the electrodynamics of moving bodies of that year