The genesis of general relativity. Volume 4, Gravitation in the twilight of classical physics : the promise of mathematics

This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity; one of the fundamental physical theories of the 20th century. It contains the direct facsimile, transcript and explanation of and comments on the Einstein Zurich Notebook as written in 1912. The research by Einstein herein forms a pivotal part of his creation of the theory of General Relativity (1915) from Special Relativity (1905) and Newton's law of gravitation. Additional sources from Einstein and others who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development sources are presented here in translation for the first time. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity. All in all, the facets of this work, based on more than a decade of research, combine to constitute one of the most in-depth studies of a scientific revolution ever written. Table of Contents......Page 6 From an Electromagnetic Theory of Matter to a New Theory of Gravitation......Page 10 Mie's Theories of Matter and Gravitation......Page 11 Source text 1912–1913: Foundations of a Theory of Matter (Excerpts)......Page 21 Source text 1914: Remarks Concerning Einstein's Theory of Gravitation......Page 86 Source text 1915: The Principle of the Relativity of the Gravitational Potential......Page 116 Source text 1913: The Momentum-Energy Law in the Electrodynamics of Gustav Mie......Page 131 Including Gravitation in a Unified Theory of Physics......Page 143 The Origin of Hilbert's Axiomatic Method......Page 144 Hilbert's Foundation of Physics: From a Theory of Everything to a Constituent of General Relativity......Page 241 Einstein Equations and Hilbert Action: What is Missing on Page 8 of the Proofs for Hilbert's First Communication on the Foundations of Physics?......Page 358 Source text 1915: The Foundations of Physics (Proofs of First Communication)......Page 372 Source text 1916: The Foundations of Physics (First Communication)......Page 385 Source text 1917: The Foundations of Physics (Second Communication)......Page 398 From Peripheral Mathematics to a New Theory of Gravitation......Page 420 The Story of Newstein or: Is Gravity just another Pretty Force?......Page 421 Source text 1877: On the Relation of Non-Euclidean Geometry to Extension Theory......Page 459 Source text 1916: Notion of Parallelism on a General Manifold and Consequent Geometrical Specification of the Riemannian Curvature (Excerpts)......Page 461 Source text 1918: Purely Infinitesimal Geometry (Excerpt)......Page 469 Source text 1923: The Dynamics of Continuous Media and the Notion of an Affine Connection on Space-Time......Page 486 A......Page 509 B......Page 510 C......Page 511 D......Page 512 E......Page 513 F......Page 515 G......Page 516 H......Page 519 J......Page 520 L......Page 521 M......Page 522 N......Page 524 P......Page 525 R......Page 526 S......Page 527 V......Page 529 Z......Page 530 The transition from classical to modern physics in the ?rst half of the twentieth c- tury by quantum and relativity theories affected some of the most fundamental notions of physical thinking, such as matter, radiation, space, and time. This tran- tion thus represents a challenge for any attempt to understand the structures of a s- enti?c revolution. The present four-volume work aims at a comprehensive account of the way in which the work of Albert Einstein and his contemporaries changed our understanding of space, time, and gravitation. The conceptual framework of classical nineteenth-century physics had to be fundamentally restructured and reinterpreted in order to arrive at a theory of gravitation compatible with the new notions of space and time established in 1905 by Einstein's special theory of relativity. Whereas the classical theory of gravitation postulated an instantaneous action at a distance, Einstein's new relativistic kinematics rather suggested an analogy between the gravitational ?eld and the electromagnetic ?eld, propagating with a ?nite speed. It is therefore not surprising that Einstein was not alone in addressing the problem of formulating a theory of gravitation that complies with the kinematics of relativity t- ory. The analysis of these alternative approaches, as well as of earlier alternative approaches to gravitation within classical physics, turns out to be crucial for identi- ing the necessities and contingencies in the actual historical development. This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity; one of the fundamental physical theories of the 20th century. It comprises key sources from Einstein and others who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development. Some of these sources are presented here in translation for the first time. Einstein's famous Zurich notebook, which documents the pivotal steps toward general relativity, is reproduced here for the first time and transcribed in its entirety. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity. All in all, the facets of this work, based on more than a decade of research, combine to constitute one of the most in-depth studies of a scientific revolution ever written

This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity. Einstein’s 1912 Zurich notebook is published for the first time in facsimile and transcript and commented on by today’s major historians of science.

Additional sources from Einstein and others, who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development, are presented here in translation for the first time. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity.

v. 1. Einstein's Zurich notebook : introduction and source / Michael Janssen ... [et al.] v. 2. Einstein's Zurich notebook : commentary and essays / Michael Janssen ... [et al.] v. 3. Gravitation in the twilight of classical physics: between mechanics, field theory, and astronomy / edited by Jürgen Renn and Matthias Schemmel v. 4. Gravitation in the twilight of classical physics : the promise of mathematics / edited by Jürgen Renn and Matthias Schemmel.