DOC. 17 PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION
501
Published
in
Physikalische Zeitschrift 14
(1913):
1249-1262. Lecture delivered
to
the
85th
meeting
of
the GDNA, Vienna,
on
23
September 1913, published 15
December
1913.
[1]A
summary
of Einstein's lecture
appeared
as
Referat 1913,
pp.
90-93.
At the end
of
May
1913 Einstein had
been
asked
to
submit
the
manuscript
of
his
lecture
to
the
editor of the
proceedings
(GDNA
Verhandlungen
1914) (see
Einstein
to
Alexander
Witting,
24
May 1913
[Vol.
5,
Doc.
440]).
Einstein submitted
the
manuscript
on 11
August 1913, requesting proofs
before
5 September (see
Einstein
to
Alexander
Witting,
11
August
1913
[Vol.
5,
Doc.
464]).
Around the
same
time
he
wrote to
Elsa Löwenthal: "The talk for Vienna
is finished. It has
turned
out
interesting,
but too
long, so
that
the
piece
will
only
be
palatable
later
in
print"
("Der
Vortrag
für Wien
ist
fertig.
Er ist
interessant
ausgefallen,
aber
zu lang,
sodass das
Ding
erst
nachher
im
Druck
geniessbar
sein
wird." Einstein
to
Elsa
Löwenthal, 11?
August
1913
[Vol. 5,
Doc. 465]).
[2]See
Hertz 1892.
For Einstein's
early reading
of
Hertz,
see,
e.g.,
Einstein
to
Mileva
Maric,
10 August
1899
(Vol.
1,
Doc.
52).
[3]An
overview of
the
discussions
on
gravitational
theories around
the turn
of
the
century
is
found
in
Zenneck
1903;
see
also
Ritz
1909
and the
introduction
to
Abraham
1915.
For
a
contemporary survey
of
attempts to construct
a
relativistic
theory
of
gravitation,
see
Abraham
1915.
[4]Earlier Einstein had
argued
that
the
available
empirical
material
was
insufficient
to gen-
eralize
relativity theory
to
include accelerated motion
(see
Einstein
to
Arnold
Sommerfeld,
19
January
1910
[Vol.
5,
Doc.
197]).
[5]See, e.g.,
Minkowski 1909.
For
a
similar evaluation of
the
heuristic
advantages
of Min-
kowski's four-dimensional
formalism,
see
Einstein
to
Arnold
Sommerfeld,
July
1910
(Vol.
5,
Doc.
211).
[6]This condition
played
a
crucial role
in
the
derivation of
the
gravitational
field
equations
of Einstein and Grossmann
1913
(Doc. 13) (see
the
discussion
in
§7
below).
[7]For the
role
played
by
this
equality
in
Einstein's
development
of
a
theory
of
gravitation,
see
the
editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation
and
Relativity:
The Static
Field,"
pp.
122-124.
This served
as
Einstein's criterion for
excluding
Mie's
theory
of
matter
from his
account
of
gravitational
theories
in this
lecture
(see
Einstein
et
al. 1913
[Doc. 18],
p.
1263).
[8]Einstein
excluded Abraham's
theory
from
his
discussion of
gravitational
theories
in this
lecture
on
the basis of
this
criterion
(see
below).
For Abraham's
reaction,
see, e.g.,
Abraham
1915,
pp.
515-516.
[9]For Einstein's
use
of
this
postulate,
see §4
below.
[10]For
a
later review of Abraham's
theory,
see
Abraham
1915;
for
a
historical
account
of
its
relationship
to
Einstein's
work,
see
the
editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation
and
Relativ-
ity:
The Static
Field,"
pp.
124-127.
[11]Eötvös 1891 and
Hess
1891;
see
also
the
discussion
in
Einstein and Grossmann
1913
(Doc.
13),
pp.
3-4.
[12]See Einstein
1911h
(Vol.
3,
Doc.
23), §2,
for
an
earlier discussion of the
equivalence
of
energy
and
gravitational
mass.
[13]For
a
comprehensive
historical
account
of Nordström's contributions
to
the
understanding
of
gravity,
see
Isaksson
1985.
For
a
historical discussion of Einstein's
report
on
Nordström's
theory,
see
Pais
1982,
pp.
232-234;
for discussions of
the
reciprocal
influences of Nordström's
and Einstein's
theories,
see
the
editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation
and
Relativity:
The
Collaboration with Marcel
Grossmann,"
pp.
298-300, and
Norton
1992b.
The
four-dimensional
formalism used
in
the
following
was
earlier
applied to
Einstein's
theory
of
the
static field in
Einstein and Grossmann
1913
(Doc.
13),
part
1,
§1.
[14]See
Planck
1906a.
"Ix" and
"Iy"
should
be
"Ix"
and
"Iy."
[15]"dx," "dy,"
and
"8z"
should
be "ax,"
"ay,"
and
"az,"
respectively;
"5H" should
be
"aH."
[16]Nordström
expressed
the
equation
of motion both
in
the
first and in the second version
of
his
theory as an
equation
for the
ponderomotive
force
(see
Nordström
1912,
p.
1126,
and
Nordstrom
1913b,
p.
534).
[17]"dt
=
0" should
be
"Jt
=
0."
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