DOC. 56 THE RADIATION
PROBLEM
553
zum
Wien'schen
Verschiebungsgesetz
und
zur
in
der
Grössenordnung
sicher
richtigen
Planck'schen
Bestimmung
des
Elementarquan-
tums
gelangt,
erscheint
mir
doch
recht bedeut-
sam").
[64]
See note 62.
[65]
See note 62.
[66]
See
note
39.
[67]
Because
of
the size
of
the dimensionless
factor,
Lorentz
rejected
Einstein's
argument:
"I
cannot declare
myself
in
agreement
with
your
opinion
that h is
probably
related
to

(charge
of
the
electron);
in
any case
I
doubt it
very
much,
since the three
missing
decimals
are no
trifle"
("Mit
Ihrer
Meinung,
daß h wohl mit
e (Ladung
des
Elektrons) zusammenhängt,
kann ich mich
nicht einverstanden
erklären;
jedenfalls
zweifle
ich sehr.
Denn die drei fehlenden Dezimalen
sind keine Kleinigkeit")
(Hendrik
Lorentz
to
Einstein,
6
May
1909).
Today
e2/hc
is
known
as
the fine
structure
constant.
[68]
In
Levi-Civita
1907,
Levi-Civita found
a
solution
of
the field
equations corresponding
to
the motion
of
a
stable,
isolated
charge moving
at
the
speed
of
light.
[69]
The
notion
of
a rigid
electron
was
intro-
duced in Abraham
1902b, 1903. Poincare intro-
duced
a
deformable electron
possessing
internal,
nonelectromagnetic
stresses
(see
Poincare
1906).
[70]
In
a
letter to Hendrik Lorentz
of
23
May
1909,
Einstein considered
the
possibility
that the
differential
equations
could be both linear and
homogeneous
if
one
regarded
electrons and
light
quanta
as point singularities.
But
linear,
homo-
geneous equations
would not be
possible
"if
one
wants
to
avoid the introduction
of
singular
points,
which would
probably
be the most satis-
factory"
("wenn
man
ohne die
Einführung
sin-
gulärer
Punkte auskommen
möchte,
was
wohl
am
befriedigendsten wäre").
[71]
For
a
discussion
of Einstein's
early
at-
tempt
to
construct
a
unified field
theory
of
matter
and
light, see
the editorial
note,
"Einstein's
Early
Work
on
the
Quantum Hypothesis,"
pp.
147-148, and
McCormmach 1970a.
[72]
Planck
1906c,
p.
vi
(the
last word
is
"Mo-
lekularbewegungen");
see
also
pp.
220-221.
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