136
DOC.
11
REVIEW OF LORENTZ
Published
in
Die
Naturwissenschaften 2 (1914): 1018.
Published
27
November
1914.
[1]Lorentz 1914b,
which
is
a
translation of
Lorentz
1914a. The lectures
were
given
in March
1913.
[2]On
pp.
20-22 Lorentz lists
two experimentally
testable
consequences
of
his
modified law
of
gravitation
(which is
Lorentz-invariant
up
to
quantities
of second
order).
The
first is
a
peri-
helion shift of
Mercury,
which Lorentz's
theory predicts
at
7.15 seconds of
arc per century,
i.e.,
much smaller than the observed value
(for
which the number of
44
seconds
is
quoted).
The
second
is
an
experiment involving
observations of
eclipses
of
Jupiter's
moons,
the
outcome
of
which would be different
in
Newtonian
theory
and
in
Lorentz's modified
theory.
Einstein does
not comment
on
the discussion
by
Lorentz
at
the end of the second
lecture,
wherein the
question
of the existence of
a
preferred
reference
system
is
raised.
Lorentz
expresses
his
personal
belief
in
the existence of such
a
system
in
the form of
an
ether
with
some
degree
of
substantiality.
The
same
topic
is
raised
in
Lorentz's
correspondence
with Ein-
stein
(see
H. A. Lorentz
to
Einstein, between
1
and
23 January 1915,
and Einstein
to H. A.
Lorentz,
23
January
1915; see
also
Kox
1988 for
a
historical
discussion).
[3]The
two
consequences
that
are
discussed
are
gravitational
redshift and
gravitational
light
deflection.
They
are
first derived from the
principle
of
equivalence;
the latter
consequence
is
then rederived from
a
more quantitative
consideration.