INTRODUCTION
TO
VOLUME
2
The
works included in this volume established Einstein
as a
central
figure
in
twentieth-century
theoretical
physics.
He submitted the first
paper as a
recent,
still-unemployed graduate
of
the Swiss Federal
Polytechnical
School
(ETH)
in
Zurich.
The last
major
paper
is the
published
version
of
a
lecture
that Einstein
as
newly appointed
nontenured
professor
(Außerordentlicher Professor)
in theoreti-
cal
physics
at the
University
of
Zurich
gave
to the
Physics
Section
of
the Gesell-
schaft
Deutscher
Naturforscher und Arzte
at
their 1909
meeting.[1]
The
invitation
to attend and
speak
at the
Salzburg meeting as an
honored
guest
("Ehrengast")
of
the German
Physical Society
constituted official
recognition
of Einstein's
standing
in the
German-speaking physics community.
The recommendation
for
his
Zurich
appointment
states:
"Einstein
currently
ranks
among
the most
important
theoreti-
cal
physicists"
("Einstein
gehört gegenwärtig zu
den bedeutendsten
theoretischen
Physikern").[2]
By
1909 Einstein
was actively corresponding
with such well-known
physicists
as
H. A. Lorentz, Max
Planck,
Arnold
Sommerfeld,
Johannes
Stark,
and
Wilhelm
Wien.
Einstein's
correspondence
from this
period,
to be
published
in Volume
5,
provides important
additional documentation
of
the
development
of
his ideas. In-
sofar
as
these letters
are
relevant
to
an
understanding
of Einstein's
writings
and
their
context,
they are
cited in the editorial
notes
and footnotes in this volume.[3]
The work that led
to Einstein's
widespread
recognition as
a
major
figure
in
theoretical
physics
is embodied in three
papers
written in
1905,
while
Einstein
was a
technical
expert
in the Swiss Patent Office. Two
of
the
papers
dealt with
important problems
of
contemporary physics,
while the third formulated
a
prob-
lem that
could
not
be solved without
overturning
the foundations
of
that
physics.
Einstein's
first
paper
on
relativity
resolves
paradoxes
that had
arisen
in his
attempt
to
integrate
the results
of
numerous experiments on
the
electrodynamics
and
optics
of
moving
bodies into
Lorentz's
electron
theory.[4]
It did
so by introducing a new
[1]
Einstein 1909c
(Doc. 60).
[2]
Otto
Stoll, Dekan, Philosophical
Faculty
of
the
University
of
Zurich,
to Heinrich
Ernst,
Er-
ziehungsdirektor,
Canton
of
Zurich,
4 March
1909, SzZSa,
U
110
b 2
(44).
[3]
The Introduction and the editorial
notes
in
this volume
refer
to
Einstein's
activities
only
when
they are
directly
relevant to his
writings.
Einstein's
career during
this
period
will be dis-
cussed in Vol.
5,
the
Correspondence
for The
Swiss
Years
(1902-1914).
[4]
See Einstein
1905r
(Doc. 23).
For
a
discus-
sion
of
Einstein's
work in this
field,
see
the edi-
torial
note,
"Einstein
on
the
Theory
of
Relativ-
ity,"
pp.
253-274.
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