624 APPENDIX
A
Although
the broad outline of
the
course
follows that of Einstein's lecture
notes
for
an introductory
course on
mechanics
at
the
University
of
Zurich,
given
in
winter
semester
1909/1910
(Vol. 3,
Doc.
1),
it is
clear that Einstein had made several revi-
sions. He
began
with
a more
systematic
and
comprehensive
introduction
to vector
algebra
and
then moved
quickly
on
to
a
discussion of
the
mechanics of
systems.
Mach's ideas
on
the
foundations of
mechanics,
which Einstein had alluded
to in
the
beginning
of the
course
three
years earlier,
are now
explicitly
discussed. The mathe-
matical methods of
Lagrange
and
Hamilton take
on
greater
prominence,
in
part
because Einstein needed them for the introduction
to
statistical mechanics which
he
presented
at
the conclusion of the notebook.
b. "Thermodynamik"
(2
hours)
Dällenbach's
notes
comprise
92
manuscript pages
of
one
notebook
(SzZE Bibliothek,
Hs.
304:1223).
Several
topics
that had
played
a
role
in
Einstein's earlier research
are
mentioned,
such
as
osmotic
pressure,
Brownian
motion, and
capillarity.
Einstein
apparently
laid
a
strong emphasis
on
applications,
in
particular
to
chemistry.
He
also
discussed
arguments
that touched
on
his
contemporary
research
interests;
examples
are
provided
by
the
third
law
of
thermodynamics,
on
which Einstein had
a
disagree-
ment
with Nernst
(see
Doc. 22),
and the
law
of
mass
action,
which
played
a
role
in
his
derivation of
the law
of
photochemical equivalence (see
Einstein 1912b
[Doc. 2]).
c.
"Physikalisches
Seminar"
(2
hours)
Dällenbach's
notes
on
the
physics
seminar Einstein
gave
in
winter
semester
1912/
1913
appear
to
fill the first 70
manuscript pages
of
a
notebook
(SzZE
Bibliothek,
Hs.
304:1222).
The remainder of
the
notebook contains material that
presumably
was
presented
in
the
physics
seminar
the
following semester (see
below).
Einstein discussed
a
broad
variety
of
subjects
in
his seminar,
paralleling topics
on
which he lectured in
other
courses
in this semester. He
began
with
a
discussion of
problems
from
mechanics,
which culminated
in
an
analysis
of
geodesic
motion that
may
have been relevant also
to
his
contemporary
work
on
gravitation.
He
then dis-
cussed various
problems
related
to
the
theory
of
gases and
liquids, and,
after
a
brief
exposition
of
thermodynamics,
returned
to
mechanics.
He
extensively
discussed the
equations
of motion
in
a
rotating
frame of
reference,
another
topic
with
a bearing on
his
contemporary
attempts
to
generalize
the
theory
of
relativity.
The
subsequent
sec-
tion of the
notes
deals
with
the
thermodynamics
of
radiation,
leading
to
a
derivation
of Wien's
displacement
law.
2.
Summer Semester
1913
a.
"Mechanik
der
Kontinua"
(3
hours)
Dällenbach's
notes
cover pp.
64-185
in his
second notebook
on
mechanics
(SzZE
Bibliothek, Hs. 304:1221).
The
notes
indicate that Einstein's
course on
the mechanics