DOC. 25
FOUNDATIONS OF
GENERAL THEORY
577
Published
in
Physikalische Zeitschrift 15
(1914):
176-180. Dated
January 1914,
received
24
January 1914, published 15 February
1914. A
two-page fragmentary manuscript
version of the
paper
is
preserved
and is
identical with
the
corresponding pages
in
the
published
text.
The
first
manuscript page
[81
159]
is
enclosed
by
Einstein
in
an
undated letter
to
"Herr
Kollege"
and
is in
the Schweizerische Landesbibliothek in
Bern,
Switzerland. The second
page
[70 194]
is
interleaved with the
manuscript original
to Doc.
31
and
is in
the Schwadron
collection,
Einstein
file
no.
38 at
Hebrew
University.
[1]Einstein
referred
to his
work
on
the
manuscript
for
this
paper
in
Einstein
to
Elsa
Löwenthal,
after
21
December
1913
(Vol.
5,
Doc.
497);
in
Einstein
to
Heinrich
Zangger,
ca.
20
January
1914
(Vol.
5,
Doc.
507),
he stated that he had finished
the
manuscript
"in
the
last few
days"
("in
den letzten
Tagen").
The
first two
pages
of the
manuscript
of
this
paper cover
the
text
from the
beginning
until the words "Hierauf
ist
es
zurückzuführen,
daß die"
at
the
end of
sec.
5
on p.
177
of the
published
version.
[2]Mie
1914a,
1914b. In
Einstein
to
Erwin
Freundlich,
ca.
20
January
1914
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
506),
Einstein characterized Mie's criticism
as a
"heated
polemic" ("hitzige
Polemik").
[3]See
Einstein and Grossmann
1913
(Doc. 13).
In
addition
to this
paper,
Mie
1914b cites
Einstein 1913c
(Doc. 17)
on p.
172. In Mie
1914b,
p.
175,
Mie writes: "With
all due
respect
for
the
extraordinarily probing
and laborious work that Einstein has
engaged
in to
achieve
the
goal
he set
for
himself,
one can
only
characterize his
attempt
as
having produced
a
negative
result"
("Bei
aller
Anerkennung
der außerordentlich
scharfsinnigen
und mühsamen
Arbeit,
die
Herr Einstein
zur
Erreichung
des
gesteckten
Zieles
aufgewendet hat,
kann
man
doch nicht
anders
sagen,
als
daß
sein
Versuch
nur
ein
negatives
Resultat
gehabt
hat"). Mie
claims that
Einstein had neither succeeded
in generalizing the relativity
principle nor
in
establishing
the
equivalence
of
gravitational
and inertial
mass
(see
Mie
1914b,
p.
176).
[4]In
a
letter
to
Ernst
Mach,
Einstein refers
to this
argument
with
the words "for the time
being,
this
epistemological argument is all I
can
advance in favor of
my
new
theory" ("bis
jetzt
ist
jenes
erkenntnistheoretische
Argument
das
Einzige,
was
ich
zugunsten
meiner
neuen
Theorie
vorbringen
kann." Einstein
to
Ernst
Mach,
second half of December
1913
[Vol. 5,
Doc.
495]).
[5]For
Mie's
comparison
of
the
role
played
by
the
speed
of
light
in his
own
and in Einstein's
theory,
see
Mie
1914b,
p.
172.
For the
following argument,
see
Einstein and Grossmann
1913
(Doc. 13), part
1,
§2.
[6]In Mie 1914b,
pp.
171-172,
Mie
gives
an
account
of Einstein's
equivalence hypothesis,
comparing
it to
the transformation
properties
of
the
gravitational potential
in
his
own
theory,
which
he
summarizes
in the
"theorem of the
relativity
of
the
gravitational potential" ("Satz
von
der Relativität des
Gravitationspotentials").
[7]See
Minkowski
1909.
[8]In
Mie
1914b, p. 176,
Mie
asserts:
"The
generalization
of
the
principle
of
relativity
which
has been achieved
in
Einstein's
paper
refers
only to
linear
transformations
and
hence has
nothing
whatsoever
to
do with accelerated motion"
("Die Verallgemeinerung
des
Relativitäts-
prinzips,
die in
der Einsteinschen Arbeit erreicht worden
ist,
bezieht
sich
nur
auf
lineare Trans-
formationen,
hat also mit
beschleunigten Bewegungen gar
nichts
zu
tun").
[9]See
eq.
(5c)
on
p.
1257
of Einstein 1913c
(Doc. 17).
[10]See,
e.g.,
Abraham
1914a,
p.
25,
for criticism
along
these
lines. In
contemporary
letters
Einstein characterized
the
intentions of his
colleagues
in
a
similar
way,
but also
expressed
satisfaction that his
theory
was
being
discussed;
see, e.g.,
Einstein
to
Erwin
Freundlich,
ca.
20
January
1914
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
506),
where
he
writes,
after
mentioning
Mie's criticism: "I
am
pleased
that
my
colleagues
come
to
grips
with
the
theory
at
all,
even though,
for the time
being,
only
with the
intention of
killing
it"
("Ich
freue mich
darüber,
dass
die
Fachgenossen
sich
überhaupt
mit
der Theorie
beschäftigen,
wenn
auch
vorläufig
nur
in
der
Absicht,
dieselbe
totzu-
schlagen").
See
also Einstein
to
Heinrich
Zangger,
ca.
20
January 1914
(Vol. 5,
Doc.
507),
for
a
similar
comment
and the editorial
note,
"Einstein
on
Gravitation
and
Relativity:
The Collab-
oration
with
Marcel
Grossmann,"
pp.
296-298,
for
a
discussion of
the
restricted covariance of
Einstein's
theory.