264
THEORY
OF
RELATIVITY
lich
für
einen
Beobachter,
der bei der
Lichtquelle
sitzt. Ich entschied mich für
das
erstere...[64]
In
1924,
Einstein described the sudden resolution
of
his dilemma:
After
seven years
of
reflection in vain
(1898-1905),
the solution
came
to
me
suddenly
with the
thought
that
our concepts
and laws
of
space
and time
can
only
claim
validity
insofar
as they
stand
in
a
clear
relation to
our
experiences;
and
that
experience
could
very
well lead
to
the alteration
of
these
concepts
and laws.
By a
revision
of
the
concept
of
simultaneity
into
a more
malleable form,
I
thus
arrived at the
special theory
of
relativity.
Nach
siebenjährigem vergeblichem
Nachdenken (1898-1905) kam
mir
plötzlich
die
Lösung
mit dem
Gedanken,
daß
unsere Begriffe
und Gesetze über
Raum
und
Zeit
nur
insofern
Geltung beanspruchen
dürfen,
als sie mit den
Erlebnissen
in
klaren
Beziehungen
stehen,
und daß die
Erfahrung
sehr wohl dazu führen
könne, daß wir diese
Begriffe
und Gesetze abändern. Durch eine Revision des
Begriffes
der
Gleichzeitigkeit
unter
gestaltbarer
Form
gelangte
ich
so zur spe-
ziellen Relativitätstheorie.[65]
In
a
talk at
Kyoto University
in
1922,
Einstein
is
reported
to have said that, after
a
year
of
struggle
with the
problem
of
how to reconcile
Lorentz's
theory
with his ideas
on
rela-
tivity,
he visited
a
friend
one day
to discuss the
problem
in
detail with him. The next
day
Einstein
said to his friend:
"Thanks
to
you, I
have
completely
solved
my problem."[66]
The friend
was presumably
Michele
Besso,
then his
colleague
at the Swiss Patent Office
and the
only person
whose
help
is
acknowledged
in
Einstein's
first
paper
on relativity.[67]
Work
on
this
paper was apparently completed very rapidly
after this. In 1952
Einstein
wrote
that
"between
the
conception
of
the idea for the
special theory
of
relativity
and the
completion
of
the relevant
publication
five
or
six weeks
elapsed"
("Zwischen
der
Kon-
zeption
der
Idee
der
speziellen
Relativitätstheorie und der
Beendigung
der
betreffenden
Publikation
sind
fünf
oder sechs Wochen
vergangen").[68]
Einstein's comments
suggest
the
following stages
in
his work
on
the
theory
of
relativity:
(1)
He became convinced
that,
as
is
the
case
for mechanical
phenomena,
only
the
[64]
Einstein to Paul Ehrenfest,
20 June 1912.
The letter
explains
in
some
detail
why
he had
re-
jected
the emission
theory.
For additional
accounts
of
his
early
interest in
an
emission
theory,
see
Einstein
to
M.
Viscardini, 28
April
1922;
Einstein
to
C. O.
Hines,
February
1952;
and Einstein to
A.
Rippenbein,
after 25
August
1952.
[65]
This
recording
is transcribed in Herneck
1966a;
the
quotation
is from
p.
134. Herneck
1976,
p.
349,
describes the
provenance
of
the
recording:
"The
discographic
document
of
Feb-
ruary
6, 1924,
is
registered
in the
catalogue
of
the former
'Institute
for Sound Research'
of
the
University
of
Berlin under
the
file
number
'Au-
tophon
Nr.
56'.
I
have transcribed the text from
a copy on magnetic
tape"
("Das
diskogra-
phische
Dokument
vom
6.2.1924
ist in der Kar-
tei des
ehemaligen
'Instituts für
Lautforschung'
der
Berliner Universität unter der
Signatur
'Au-
tophon
Nr.
56'
registriert.
Den Text habe ich
nach
einer
Magnetbandkopie
aufgezeichnet").
[66]
See the
report
of Einstein's
talk,
given on
14
December
1922,
in
Ishiwara
1971,
pp.
78-
88.
[67]
See Einstein
1905r
(Doc. 23), p.
921.
[68]
Einstein
to
Carl
Seelig, 11
March 1952.