DOC.
2
RELATIVITY
AND
ITS CONSEQUENCES 175
present paper
did
not
contain
new insights:
"My paper
in the
Archives
[des
sciences
physiques
et naturelles] merely comprises a
rather
general
discussion of the
epistemological
foundations
of the
theory
of
relativity,
no
new
views whatsoever,
and almost
nothing
that
is
quantitative"
("Meine
Arbeit
im
Archiv enthält nichts
als
eine ziemlich breite
Ausführung
der erkenntnis-
theoretischen
Grundlagen
der
Relativitätstheorie, gar
keine
neuen
Ueberlegungen
und über-
haupt
fast nichts
Quantitatives") (Einstein
to
Jakob
Laub,
27
August
1910).
[3]See
Hertz, H. 1890.
[4]See Fizeau
1851.
Fizeau's result
apparently played
a
role
in
Einstein's
development
of
special relativity; see
Einstein
to
Mileva
Maric, 10
September
1899
(Vol. 1,
Doc.
54).
Never-
theless,
he laid much
less stress
on
the
importance
of the Fizeau
experiment
in his
earlier
publications
on
relativity,
such
as
the
review
article Einstein
1907j
(Vol. 2,
Doc.
47),
than he
does here.
See,
however,
Einstein
1909c
(Vol. 2,
Doc.
60),
p.
484,
and Einstein
1911i
(Doc.
17),
for
assessments
of the Fizeau
experiment
similar
to
the
one given
here.
[5]Lorentz
1895, 1906. A copy
of
the
second
edition,
bearing
Heinrich
Zangger's signature on
the title
page,
is in
Einstein's
personal library.
[6]See Wien 1898
for
an
overview of
experiments
related
to
detecting
the earth's motion
through
the
ether;
for evidence of Einstein's
reading
of
this
paper,
see
Einstein
to
Mileva
Maric,
28
September
1899
(Vol.
1,
Doc.
57).
[7]Michelson
and
Morley
1887.
[8]See
Lorentz
1892
and FitzGerald
1889.
[9]The
following example
first
appears, though
in
abbreviated
form,
in
the first section of
Einstein
1905r
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
23).
It
is not
mentioned
in
Einstein
1907j (Vol.
2,
Doc.
47).
See
Holton
1988, pp.
217-225,
and Miller
1981, chap. 3,
for
a
detailed discussion of Einstein's
reasoning
and
its
background.
[10]For
Einstein's earliest
attempt
to
extend the
principle
of
relativity to
accelerated reference
systems, see
Einstein
1907j
(Vol. 2,
Doc.
47).
[11]See
Einstein
1907e
(Vol. 2,
Doc.
41)
for
an
earlier
example
of this
generalization
of the
concept
of
a
clock.
[12]tB'
should
be
tB'.
This
passage is
the
first
time that Einstein
points
out
that
signals
of
any
kind
can
be
used
to
establish
a
definition of
simultaneity.
[13]The
concepts
denoted here
as
"configuration
geometrique"
and
"configuration
cinema-
tique" were
first
introduced
by
Einstein
in
Einstein
1907j (Vol. 2,
Doc.
47),
p.
417.
[14]From
this
point to
p. 135, §7.4,
the
exposition
closely
follows
Einstein
1907j (Vol. 2,
Doc.
47),
§§3-5.
[15]Einstein
1905r
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
23);
the volume number should
be
17
instead of
16;
and
Einstein
1907j (Vol.
2,
Doc.
47).
[16]A
derivation of the Lorentz transformation from the
equivalence
of these
two
equations
earlier
appeared
in
Einstein
1907j (Vol. 2,
Doc.
47), p.
419.
[17]See
Lorentz
1904.
[18]Stark
1906.
[19]In reaction
to
Stark's
measurements
of
the
Doppler
effect
of
canal
rays
(see
the
preceding
note),
Einstein
in 1907
discussed the
use
of
the
light
emitted
by
canal
rays
for
a
test of
special
relativity; see
Einstein
1907e
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
41).
See Ives
and
Stilwell 1938
for the first
experimen-
tal confirmation.
[20]The
argument
that
follows
was
first
given
in
Einstein
1907h
(Vol. 2,
Doc.
45),
pp.
381-382.
Einstein
extensively
discussed
the
problem
of
superluminal velocities in his
correspondence
with Wilhelm
Wien; see
the editorial
note in Vol.
5,
"Einstein
on
Superluminal Signal
Velocities."
For
a more
detailed discussion of
the
preceding equation,
first
derived
by
Laue,
see
Einstein
1907j
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
47), pp.
424-427.
[21]Minkowski
1909. Initially,
Einstein
was
apparently
not at
ease
with Minkowski's
four–
dimensional formalism for
relativity; see
Einstein
1908a
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
51),
p.
532.
For
a positive
comment
on
Sommerfeld's
contemporary
use
of
it, see
Einstein
to
Arnold
Sommerfeld,
July
1910.