EINSTEIN'S MANUSCRIPT
ON SPECIAL RELATIVITY
5
and,
for
the most
part,
also
accessible to
nonspecialists.
It
offers various
insights
into
the historical
development
up
to
1912,
with
special emphasis
on
Einstein's
own con-
tributions
to this
development.
An
example
is
provided
by
Einstein's discussion of
Ritz's emission
theory
of
light.[15]
In
contemporary
letters Einstein mentioned
that
before
1905 he
himself
had
considered
an
emission
theory
as a
possible
solution
to
the
problems
of
the
electrodynamics
of
moving bodies;[16]
in his
manuscript
he
sys-
tematically
discussed
the
reasons
for
and
against
such
a theory.
References
in the
manuscript
to
contemporary
research
make
it
possible
to
give an
approximate dating
to
several
passages.
The
mention of
Paul
Ehrenfest's
name
in
connection
with
Ritz's
theory
on
[p.
21]
of
the
manuscript
is
probably a
reference
to
the
argument
in
Ehrenfest
1912. In this paper
Ehrenfest examines
the
conceptual
and
logical presuppositions
for
deciding
on
empirical grounds
between
an
emission
theory
of
light
and the
theory
of
relativity.
The
occurrence
of Ehrenfest's
name
allows
one
to
conclude that
this
page
was
written sometime after
the end
of
1911, perhaps
after
Ehrenfest's
visit to
Prague
in
February 1912.[17]
The
fact that later
pages are on
paper
of
Swiss manufacture[18]
indicates that Einstein
continued
to
work
on
his
manuscript
after
his return
from
Prague to
Zurich
at the end
of
July
1912.
Additional evidence for
this
fact
is provided
by
the
relation
of the
manuscript
to
Einstein's
own
contemporary
research: the
introduction of
a generalized
tensor concept
in
section
3 suggests
that
he
wrote
this
part
after he
began
his
collab-
oration
with
Marcel Grossmann
on a generalized
theory
of
relativity
in late
summer
of
1912.[19]
While
a
brief
note
by
Ilse
Einstein
dating
from
1922
flatly
states
that
the
manuscript
was
written in
1912,[20]
a
reference
to
later work
concerning
Ritz's emission
theory
on a
page
that
was
inserted in the
manuscript
indicates that
at
least revisions
to
it
were
made after
the
beginning
of
1913.[21]
The
reference
concerns
the
work of
the Dutch
astronomer
Willem
de
Sitter,
who used
observational data
on
double
stars
as
empirical
evidence
against
Ritz's
theory.
His
name
is
mentioned
in the
distorted
form
[15]See
§7
of
Doc.
1.
For
a
historical
discussion,
see
Vol.
2,
the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
the
Theory
of
Relativity,"
p.
263.
[16]See
Einstein
to
Paul Ehrenfest, 25
April
1912
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
384)
and
Einstein
to Paul
Ehrenfest,
before
20
June
1912
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
409).
[17]Ehrenfest
completed
the
paper
in
November
1911 and it
was
received
on
2
December
1911
(see Ehrenfest 1912,
p.
319).
For
Ehrenfest's visit
to Prague,
see
Klein,
M. 1970,
pp.
175-179.
[18]Beginning with
[p.
47], the
paper
is
of Swiss
manufacture,
as was
established
by
the
expert
who examined
the
document before
it
was
auctioned
by
Sotheby's
in 1987
(see Sotheby
auction
catalogue,
2
December
1987,
lot
53).
[19]See the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation
and
Relativity:
The Collaboration with
Marcel
Grossmann,"
pp.
294-301.
[20]The
note
is
on
the
verso
of Erich Marx
to
Einstein,
3
March
1922. See note 30
for
its
text.
Ilse
Einstein
was
serving
as
her
stepfather's secretary at the time.
[21]The reference
is
on
[p.
20a],
a page
that
is
written
on a
different kind
of
paper
than
the
pages preceding
and
following it,
as was
established
by
Sotheby's expert (see note
18).