DOC.
17
THE THEORY
OF RELATIVITY
439
Lecture delivered
to
the Naturforschende Gesellschaft
Zürich,
16 January
1911.
Published
in
Vierteljahrsschrift
der
Naturforschenden
Gesellschaft
in
Zürich
56
(1911):
1-14. Based
on
stenographic notes
taken of the lecture and later checked
by Einstein;
see
Naturforschende
Gesellschat in
Zürich.
Vierteljahrsschrift
56.
Part
2,
Sitzungsberichte
(1911):
IX.
[1]This
is
the
first
time Einstein
uses
the
term
"Relativitätstheorie"
in
the title of
an
article.
See Vol.
2,
the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
the
Theory
of
Relativity,"
p.
254,
for
a
discussion of
Einstein's
terminology.
The
exposition
Einstein
gives
in this
paper
resembles the
one given
in
Einstein
1910a
(Doc.
2),
although
most
technical details
are
omitted.
An
extensive
review
of
the
present paper
was
published as
Meitner
1912.
For
correspondence relating
to
Einstein's
prepa-
ration of
the
present paper,
see
Einstein
to
Carl
Schröter,
11
December
1910,
20
January
1911,
21 January 1911,
and Einstein
to
Zürcher and Furrer &
Co.,
11
July
1911.
[2]See,
e.g.,
Whittaker
1951, chaps.
4
and
5,
for
an
overview
of
nineteenth-century
ether
theories.
See
also
Hirosige 1966,
Miller
1981,
chap.
1,
and
Vol.
2,
the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
the
Theory
of
Relativity," pp.
255-257,
for discussions of
late
nineteenth-century optics
and
electrodynamics.
For
evidence of the
contemporary
debate
on
the
concept
of
ether, see,
e.g.,
Campbell
1910a,
1910b;
for
a
later discussion of this
concept
and
its
history
by
Einstein,
see
Einstein
1920.
[3]See
Fizeau
1851.
For earlier
references
by
Einstein
to
Fizeau's
results,
see
Einstein
1910a
(Doc.
2),
note
4.
[4]See
Lorentz
1895.
[5]Einstein
had
not
previously
stated
explicitly
that
his
principle
of the
constancy
of the
velocity
of
light
embodies the essential
content
of Lorentz's
hypothesis
that the ether
is
always
at rest.
[6]Einstein
1907j (Vol.
2,
Doc.
47).
The derivation
is
also
given
in
Einstein
1910a (Doc.
2).
[7]This
seems
to be
the
first
time
living
beings
are
introduced
to
illustrate the clock
paradox.
It
was
Langevin
who
first
used the
example
of
two
space
travelers
(Langevin 1911, pp.
49-53).
[8]Einstein
refers
here
to
the
experimental
determination of the transversal and
longitudinal
mass
of electrons.
See,
e.g.,
Miller
1981, §§12.4.4
and
12.4.5,
for
more
details.
[9]The
suggestion
to
use
the
light
emitted
by
canal
rays
for
a
test
of
special
relativity
was
first
made
by
Einstein in Einstein
1907e
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
41).
See Ives and Stilwell 1938
for the first
experimental
confirmation.
[10]See,
e.g.,
Einstein
1906e
(Vol.
2,
Doc.
35),
where Einstein
argued
that this
relationship
between
inertial
mass
and
energy is
the
necessary
and
sufficient
condition for the
validity
of
the
principle
of conservation of motion of
the center
of
gravity
in
the
presence
of
electrodynamical
processes.
[11]See
Minkowski 1909.
Minkowski died
on 12 January
1909.
[12]On
21 February 1911
the Naturforschende Gesellschaft Zürich devoted
its
meeting to
a
discussion of
the
principle
of
relativity,
in
which Einstein
participated.
He started with
a
further
elaboration
on
the derivation of the Lorentz transformation
equations
and ended with
a
brief
statement
on
the
light quantum hypothesis
(see
Docs.
18
and
20).