102
DOC.
1
MANUSCRIPT
ON SPECIAL
RELATIVITY
AD.
[81
600].
This document
is
written
on
72
sheets of 36x22.5
cm,
numbered
by
Einstein
in
the
upper right-hand
corner
(1-13, 13a,
14-20, 20a,
21-70).
In
this
transcription
these
page
numbers
are
placed
in the
margin
in
square
brackets.
Except
[p.
27], all
sheets have
writing
on
one
side
only.
The
verso
of
[p. 27],
which
is
omitted,
contains
calculations similar
to
the
ones
on [p. 5]
of Einstein's research
notes
on a
generalized theory
of
relativity (Doc.
10).
Four dif-
ferent kinds of
paper
are
used,
one
of which
can
be
identified
as
of
Swiss
manufacture;
it
was
used for
[pp.
47-69].
Einstein
began
the
manuscript
in
pencil,
but after
writing
seventeen
lines
switched
to
ink.
[1]See the
editorial
note,
"Einstein's
Manuscript
on
the
Special Theory
of
Relativity,"
secs.
II
and
III,
for
the
arguments
on
which
the
dating
of this document
is
based.
[2]Einstein's definition of electrical
charge
is
similar
to
the
definition of
charge
in his lecture
notes
for
a course on
electricity
and
magnetism at
the
University
of Zurich
(Vol. 3,
Doc.
11),
which
in
turn
follows Mach's definition of
mass
in
Mach
1908,
sec.
5.
[3]See
Heaviside
1892,
p.
199.
[4]Einstein's
use
of lower-case Gothic characters for
electromagnetic
vectorial
quantities
follows
Lorentz 1904b.
[5]At
this
point
in the
original text
Einstein
indicates
a
note
he has appended
at
the
foot of
the
page:
"Die Normale
soll
nach links
zeigen
für einen
Beobachter,
der die Kurve
in
der fest-
gesetzten Richtung
mit dem
Kopfe
voran
durchläuft
und nach
dem Inneren der
Fläche schaut."
[6]See
Siegel
1991
for
a
historical discussion of Maxwell's introduction of
the
displacement
current.
[7]At this
point
in the
original text
Einstein indicates
a
note
he has
appended at
the
foot of
the
page:
"Mit "e"
ist die
zeitliche
Ableitung
des
Vektors
e
bezeichnet; d. h.
der Vektor mit
den Komponenten
dex/dt,
dey/dt,
dez/dt."
[8]See
Rowland
1878 and
Rowland and Hutchinson
1889.
The
experiment
was
proposed
by
Maxwell
(see
Maxwell
1891,
vol.
2,
p.
415).
See, e.g.,
Laue
1911a,
pp.
9-10,
for
a
discussion.
[9]See
Maxwell
1891,
vol.
2,
p.
415.
[10]In
the
following equation
(S
should
be
e.
[11]This
deleted
passage
as
well
as
other similar
ones
suggest
that Einstein
originally
intended
to
add
a
section
on
vector
calculus
to
his
text.
[12]Einstein
uses
the
notations
ab,
(a,b),
or
(a
b)
for
the
scalar
product
of
two vectors
a
and
b.
The
vector
product is
denoted
by [a,b] or
[a b].
[13]The
pxx
etc.
in the
equations
below
are
Laue's notation
(see
Laue
1911a,
p.
82).
[14]See, e.g.,
Lorentz 1904b,
p.
156.
[15]At this
point
in the
original text
Einstein indicates
a
note
he has
appended at
the
foot of
the
page:
"Die auf
ein
unendlich kleines
geladenes
Teilchen
vom
Volumen
V
wirkende Kraft
^
ist
offenbar
Ä=
fV=
PV{e+[5,f)]}
=
e{e+g,f,]}(
wobei
e
die
elektrische
Ladung
des
Teilchens bezeichnet."
[16]See
Lorentz
1904b,
sec.
IV.
[17]For
Lorentz's
analysis
of
the
normal Zeeman
effect,
see,
e.g.,
Lorentz
1909, chap. 3.
[18]See
Einstein
1907j (Vol. 2,
Doc. 47),
§10,
for Einstein's earlier discussion of
experi-
ments
on
cathode
rays
as
empirical support
for
the
theory
of
relativity.
For
a
historical
account,
see
Miller
1981,
chap.
1.
[19]See,
e.g.,
McCormmach
1973
for
a
historical discussion of Lorentz's electron
theory.
[20]See
Lorentz
1904b,
§§26-28,
for
a
discussion.
[21]See
Röntgen
1888
and
Eichenwald
1903,
1904. See
also
Lorentz 1904a,
§17,
and Lorentz
1904b,
§34,
for discussions.
[22]See
Wilson
1904.
[23]See Lorentz
1904b,
§48.
[24]At
this
point
in the
original text
Einstein indicates
a
note
he has
appended at
the
foot of
the
page:
"Die
eingeführte Zerlegung
ist
insbesondere
gerechtfertigt
mit
Rücksicht auf den