Publisher's
Foreword
We
are
pleased
to be
publishing
this
translation of Volume 4
of
The
Collected
Papers
of Albert
Einstein. The
translations, like the
documentary (original-language) editions,
will
occasionally
be
published
out
of
sequence
but
within
a
year
of
publication
of the
documentary
editions.
This
volume follows volume
5.
While
every
effort
has been
made
to
ensure
the
scientific
accuracy
of
these
translations,
they are
not
intended for
use
without
the
documentary
editions,
which
provide
the extensive editorial
commentary necessary
for
a
full
historical
and
scientific
understanding
of
the
source
documents.
We
are once again
extremely
grateful
to Dr. Anna
Beck
and
Professor
Don
Howard
for their
expertise
and hard work
on
this
volume
as
well
as
the
earlier
ones.
This is
their
last
volume,
and the
translation
project
will
continue
on
a
more
limited scale in the
future
with
new
translators
and
consultants.
The
translation
project is
no
longer
funded
by
the
National Science
Foundation,
and
we
continue
to
seek funds
to
keep
the
project
going indefinitely.
Volumes
6 and 7
(both
of which
are
Writings volumes)
will contain
only
selected
translations,
some
of
which
have
been
previously
translated elsewhere.
Volume
8 (an
important correspondence volume)
will be
translated
in full and will
likely
appear
before volume
7.
We also
thank
Dr.
Michael Perlman for
allowing
us
to make
use
of
his
desk-top
publishing
skills
once
again.
Without
his
efficient, conscientious, and expert
handling
of the
complex
material
herein,
this
volume's
production
would
have been much
delayed.
Princeton
University
Press
April
1996
The
attentive reader
will
notice
that,
from
page
39
to
the end
of Document
1,
many
of
the
fraktur letters
in the
displayed equations
(which
letters denote
vectors,
according to
the custom
of
the
era)
are
less bold
than
the
frakturs
in the rest
of
the text. The
discrepancy
was
caused
by an
endgame
technical
problem. My
apologies.
Michael Perlman
ix